This is a brief guide which I created to help both newcomers and veterans of this hobby to create their own campaign worlds. Nothing can breath life into a world for the players like handing them an old, hand-drawn map of "The Realm".
Hopefully this step-by-step guide can help those maps look a little better, and get potential cartographers out to the gym so they don't feel bad about wasting the whole day indoors mapping!
1. Draw up a rough outline of the edge of the continent. There will likely be things like peninsulas and large "bays". Have the coastlines follow a general path, but be jagged and irregular rather than drawing a smooth line. Don't go overboard or else it will look crazy.
2. Wait a while. Eat an apple and a protein bar. Clif Bar makes delicious protein bars called "Builders". These come in many delicious flavors, and are the best-tasting ones I have found thus far.
3. Make mountain ranges. Mountains extend in long chains, not clustered clumps. The range will be more dense where two ranges converge, and they will be taller. Peninsulas may have mountains along their spines. When a mountain range ends at a coastline, there is likely to be a few islands that extend off the continent.
4. Wait a while. Put on your workout clothes, go to the bathroom.
5. Add rivers and lakes. Rivers often flow from the mountains and multiple rivers may combine to make one large river. Rivers will in some ways look like trees. A trunk with branches sticking out. (To clarify: Many smaller tributaries may flow into a single, larger river. Again, do not overdo it or your previously "fertile plains" will begin to look like a "saturated bog". Also, it is easy to make too many rivers or tributaries and take up space that could be used for cities, symbols, etc...) As a rule, I only map rivers which are of some size or importance, and just a few (2-4 for a large, long river) tributaries. Rivers will collect in lakes where the land is low-lying. Every lake needs a source. Lakes will drain to the ocean. Just like your coastline, you want the river to follow a general direction (But do not make them "jagged" and "irregular". Rivers do not turn back into themsleves and proceed across the continent in wild curves and u-turns. Rivers tend to roll across the landscape in a more gentle, sweeping fashion.
6. Wait a while. Hit the gym. Do the following for your best time:
21 95lb. Thrusters
21 Pullups
400 metre run
15 95lb. Thrusters
15 Pullups
400 metre run
9 95lb. Thrusters
9 Pullups
400 metre run.
7. Add forests. Forests will grow where there is water. Cluster forests around "wet" areas that have rivers or around lakes. Forests love to hug mountain ranges, thriving off seasonal runoff than doesn't neccessarily form into rivers, but rather creeks and streams that you won't bother mapping.
8. Wait a while. Drink some gatorade or (even better) water.
9. Add swamps. Swamps will form in saturated areas. Places where two rivers converge, or in a river delta. Don't make too many swamps. You only need one or two.
10. Wait a while. Back to the gym. Do the following for time:
15 135lb. Deadlift
15 Handstand Pushups
15 135lb. Deadlift
15 Handstand Pushups
15 135lb. Deadlift
15 Handstand Pushups
11. Place cities, towns, monuments, etc... Settlements will need a way to survive and so are often situated near rivers, the coastline, etc... Before placing anything, ask why would they build this here? Rivers can support larger cities. Well-water can support small settlements.
12. Wait a while. Make a protein shake. Drink it. If you are like me, and dislike the taste of most protein shakes, eat another protein bar, or have some cottage cheese mixed with fruit.
13. (optional) Make borders. Use natural features like mountain ranges or rivers especially. Ask how the kingdom was able to expand here, and how do they defend their realm. Why did they stop at this point?
14. Wait a while. Take a shower.
15. Make another draft, using your original as a guideline...you'll find things you want to change, so don't be afraid to change them.
16. Wait a while. Go to sleep and wait until morning to do your final draft.
17. Make another draft. You will change a few more things, but when you are done, you will polish the map. Do your shading first, and then darken the outlines.
By now, your map should look alright. As with anything, creating beautiful, immersive maps takes practice. Don't be discouraged if on your first try, the map doesn't turn out how you envisioned it. Go ahead and make another! You will find that as you make different versions and drafts, you will take your best work from all your previous attempts and it will integrate itself without any additional effort on your part.
Good Luck!
So there it is. A lot of this is well-known to those who have been creating worlds for years now. Though if you are new to world-building, or just never got the hang of mapping, I hope that this brief guide was of some use to you.
-Neinnheppinn Krakr
I'd just like to say that some campaign settings can be made better by breaking these rules--rivers that flow uphill, a single, enormous mountain placed in the middle of an incredibly flat area, or a freshwater lake that appears to drain and fill itself. Hey, this is a fantasy game.
I have yet to draw the map for my mostly aquatic campaign. Do you have any pointers there?
Korra Chakak the Hunter
Great article, just a few comments:
3. Make mountain ranges. Mountains extend in long chains, not clustered clumps. The range will be more dense where two ranges converge, and they will be taller. Peninsulas may have mountains along their spines. When a mountain range ends at a coastline, there is likely to be a few islands that extend off the continent.
'Ranges' of mountains do not converge. A range of mountains can be something as simple as mountains separated by a river. They do not even have to be of separate geological features to be separate ranges. A large area of many ranges/mountains is a cordillera (such as the American cordillera which consists of such groupings of mountains as the Rocky Mountains, the Andes Mountains, the Sierra Nevadas, as well as many hundreds of mountain ranges). Mountains become taller and more dense depending on the interaction of plate tectonics that form the mountains. Two plates colliding and pushing each other upwards will create taller, denser mountains; as opposed to when one plate goes on top of another (or pushes the other one underneath it). Also, a coastline with cliffs can be a sign of passing plates, which could create islands in some instances.
Sorry, just that saying converging mountain ranges sounds funny.
7. Add forests. Forests will grow where there is water. Cluster forests around "wet" areas that have rivers or around lakes. Forests love to hug mountain ranges, thriving off seasonal runoff than doesn't necessarily form into rivers, but rather creeks and streams that you won't bother mapping.[/QOUTE]
Forests and precipitation are not dependent on rivers or lakes. Precipitation that feeds the forest can leave surface water that forms lakes and rivers. Forests hugging mountain ranges, this is dependent on which side of the mountain they are on. One side is usually moist/wet and the other is usually dry. The one side will be thick with forests while the opposite will be hot and dry.
Examples: U.S. west coast has forests, but just east of these areas are deserts - this is fueled by the westerlies bringing in precipitation off the Pacific making the forests along the west coast. Where South America is effected by the westerlies, same thing - west coast around Chile has forests and the east side is desert. In the north, Brazil is fed by the southeast trade winds but when it hits the Andes, the western side is desert.
There are other factors at play, but forests hugging mountains is usually only dominant on one side of the mountains - the other side is usually stuck in the rain shadow of the mountains.
I have yet to draw the map for my mostly aquatic campaign. Do you have any pointers there?
I do not have much experience (well, none) with aquatic campaigns. If put into the situation though, I would brush up by looking at some underwater maps of good ol' earth to begin with. At a glance, I'd imagine your mountain ranges would be longer and possibly taller. They would likely play a greater role in the game since sea life likes to accumulate around features such as these. For the same reason, trenches will play a big part in the world.
Also rather than forests, you would have large reefs that skirt the shallow water at the edges of islands and oceanic ledges. These reefs could sit on top of large caves systems hiding fantastic creatures, or depending on how fantastic you want your reef to be, could have caves and tunnels within itself. Then there is the tried and true "Reef Castle". A structure such as this would be a hub for sea life, and each one would likely be very important to a sea-going civilization.
3. Make mountain ranges. Mountains extend in long chains, not clustered clumps. The range will be more dense where two ranges converge, and they will be taller. Peninsulas may have mountains along their spines. When a mountain range ends at a coastline, there is likely to be a few islands that extend off the continent.
In fact in South America, there are many range convergentions of the three main ranges who form the Andes such as Loja (Ecuador) and Pasto (Colombia) but they are not more taller than the others mountains, in fact some form mesetas.
Two plates colliding and pushing each other upwards will create taller, denser mountains; as opposed to when one plate goes on top of another (or pushes the other one underneath it). Also, a coastline with cliffs can be a sign of passing plates, which could create islands in some instances.
While you're correct in most of your comments, and though this may go too deep for simple mapping purposes, I have to argue with you here.
Mountains form, basically, for two reasons: vulcanism or tectonic plate collision. (Vulcanism can result from tectonic activity, but that's not what I'm talking about in terms of collision).
Vulcanism can produce relatively isolated mountains -- contrary to the claim that mountains should always form chains -- such as Kilimanjaro in Africa. It can also produce clusters and short chains, and often produces islands. Volcanic mountains tend to show up in arcs, rings, and chains on a global scale -- but on the smaller scale of human exploration, they often appear as lone mountains.
By contrast, plate collision creates huge, relatively straight ranges mountains, and produces mountains much taller than those built by volcanic eruption alone (though there are usually volcanoes involved in plate collision no matter what).
However, I'm aware of no case where two plates "collide and push each other up" -- one of them is always subduced (pushed under the other, to be thrust down into the mantle and melt under the heat) if they hit head-on. The Himalayas, for example, were thrust up when the Indian plate hit the Asian plate and slid under it; the same impact upthrust the entire Tibetan plateau. (To be entirely fair, the Himalayas are uniquely high because the Indian plate already HAD land on it, rather than just seafloor, and the impact of two landmasses piled up into a range much larger than normal subduction could have produced.)
Similarly, the Andes in South America are the result of the Nazca plate (under the ocean) slipped under the South American plate.
The Rocky Mountains are a result of the Pacific plate grinding into the North American plate; they were pushed up when bits of Pacific plate were forced underneath in some minor subduction. The boundary has settled down to mostly a "transform boundary", with the two sliding by without pushing anything underneath. It's an impressive range of mountains, but not as tall as the Andes or Himalayas.
As Brknlf said, mountains often have a wet side and a dry side. When mapping, figure out what the prevailing winds are going to be. (Hint: on a global scale, they should form circles around the open ocean). Wind coming off the ocean will be moist and rainy, especially where that wind hits a mountain range. The moist air is thrust up into the cold upper altitudes and becomes unable to support the moisture and rains heavily on the sea-side of the mountains, then the dry air flows down the far side to produce a desert (also known as a 'rain shadow').
Now, air itself has very low specific heat -- that is, it has little "thermal inertia"; it takes very little energy to heat or cool dry air. By contrast, water has a very high specific heat, so moist air tends to retain its temperature. This is what deserts suffer from. The dry air flowing down a mountain quickly heats up in sunlight and dumps its heat after dark, leading to the extreme highs and lows of desert life.
Depending on other factors, a rain shadow can produce a relatively small deserty area or a huge dry zone (such as the Gobi desert). Likewise, on the rain side, you can get a nice jungly/foresty area or a complete swamp, depending on how the drainage is (which depends on the distance to the sea and the relative elevations). Most swamps are river deltas, though.
If you want to create a world with weather patterns that don't make the players who know something of meteorology go "huh?" without studying meteorology yourself, I recommend it.
While you're correct in most of your comments, and though this may go too deep for simple mapping purposes, I have to argue with you here.
Thanks for taking up the argument, not that I'm going to return the favor and argue with you. It's this sort of knowledge that makes a great thread even better. My knowledge of geography is elementary at best and its always good to hear from someone more knowledgeable.
Something else of interest to consider when mapping.
Likewise, on the rain side, you can get a nice jungly/foresty area or a complete swamp, depending on how the drainage is (which depends on the distance to the sea and the relative elevations). Most swamps are river deltas, though.
While it was funny for Monty Python to joke about the guy building 4 castles in a swamp after the preceding ones sink (and burn down), it can be noted that some of the greatest civilizations arose out of swamps (not so literally, but dealing with swamps lead to some amazing developments). The Roman's gave us plumbing thanks to Rome being built on a swamp. The swamps around the Seven Hills of Rome were conquered by the Cloaca Maxima - a large sewer to drain the swamp.
The Aztecs conquered the concept of drainage themselves. They had something similar to the aqueducts as well as built an artificial island (an extension of an existing islet) for their capital. In comparison between Romans and Aztecs, the only big difference is the size of domesticated animals. There is speculation that old world civilizations got a strong jump on advancement via cows and other large domesticated animals that the new world is lacking. Though it can also be noted that the Inca's beat the old world on the food storage front by having cold storage long before anyone else. This is getting off base from mapping, though the terrain and its effects on civilization building might be helpful to some DMs.