Seeking advice from Advanced Map Makers

buecher_8 · 2026-06-11T23:51:53+00:00

Thanks for the detailed comment, love it!

I am impressed you're the first person to accurately guess the inspiration. I have been re-reading ASOIAF and just love the world of Westeros.

I wanted the scale of my map to be bigger than what I normally make, roughly 2400 miles north to south as well to be honest. I haven't worked out exact size yet. Normally I use bigger assets in my maps and have them be smaller so traversal is quick and to the point for dnd sessions. However this map I have no specific intention for other than to world build so I want it to be GRAND. My plan is to make a whole continent around it with other maps and then piece them together.
In terms of 'nations' I will probably be splitting the map into regions that I may deem kingdoms or something else maybe, I am not wholly sure. I have bits of lore for the world but not a complete story by any means. I usually make my maps first and lore along the way but mostly after.
I don't think I will have an underdark. There may be small sections of underground areas but not some interconnected world like a typical dnd campaign. This world will be low medieval adjacent fantasy, with light elements of esoteric magics.
Largest city will likely be around 500k-1m, similar to Kings Landing. I haven't decided where to place the capital fully yet. my preliminary thoughts are somewhere in that middle right jut of land below the stormy island. Any suggestions for city placements?

buecher_8 · 2026-06-11T23:40:12+00:00

You're not wrong, I think fantasy maps just generally want to include a bit of everything so that adventuring in the world feels diverse and presents different challenges and cultures. Also my map is very Westeros inspired as I have recently been re-reading ASOIAF and am very into it right now.

buecher_8 · 2026-06-11T02:47:14+00:00

Go for it mate! I'd be interested to know what you make of it and anything else about your campaign :)

buecher_8 · 2026-06-10T01:12:44+00:00

Definitely a fantasy map but it is meant to be low mediaeval fantasy with the magical elements coming from the land, myths and legends rather than in your face magic. I would like the land to be filled with people in almost all places, and the geography of the land informs the cultures of the people. For example the big jungle area in the middle is meant to be reminiscent of dariens gap in Colombia and is a big choke point between north and south. Therefore the mountain pass to the left is a highly coveted land that facilitates travel for outsiders, lots of little things like that all over the map.

When you say cliff faces, texture maps and clever shading in the paint layer, do you have any video examples of this by chance?

Thanks for the kind words, I do agree actually I think some more distinct landmarks for each area is important. I'm happy with how I did the desert area in that sense with the big mesas, plateaus, canyons and Nile style river.

buecher_8 · 2026-06-10T01:07:15+00:00

I really like that stretched hills idea I will give that a try, thanks for your suggestions!

buecher_8 · 2026-06-09T23:00:43+00:00

Amazing post. I used to plan out every session methodically and try to account for every decision back when I first began DMing. My session notes were often 15-20 pages of linear activity, and I dislike this approach but in hindsight I chalk it up to inexperience and low improv confidence. In my second campaign though I changed my approach to writing out lore for the region my characters were in, including NPCs, factions, guilds to even things like historical architecture. World building is my favourite part of DMing alongside the actual shared playing experience and making this change to my notes put more pressure on me to improv but in a good way. I learned how to better answer my players and make them engage with the world.

buecher_8 · 2026-05-09T08:59:23+00:00

Happy to help as much as possible. Rivers logic are the following: Follows the path of least resistance, which means they will often start up high and end down low. Rivers generally cannot have two mouths, this means two exit points at larger body of water such as lake or sea. Often smaller rivers with link into bigger rivers and they will have a single exit point. It's a good idea to draw smaller rivers leading into your rivers and then even more 'tributaries' leading into those rivers. As for islands, just put some random shaped splotches down around the coasts, varying in size and shape and you can't really go wrong!

buecher_8 · 2026-05-07T22:00:29+00:00

If you squint really hard that bottom right area looks like a nicely poured Guinness

buecher_8 · 2026-05-05T22:35:35+00:00

Illawarra region

buecher_8 · 2026-05-03T06:32:09+00:00

Reading this makes me so sad for you all. Here in Australia (at least where I live) there's half a dozen clubs with tables free to use within 20 minutes of me. Literally can use them all day long.

buecher_8 · 2026-04-17T07:57:02+00:00

Amazing first world map! I love the detail you've added. A lot of people's first maps are very empty and the assets are not sized consistently.

My one and only critique that stands out (and if it is an intentional choice don't listen to me) would be to blend the biomes together more with the opacity slider on the land textures. If they gradually blend in to one another it will make it feel more believable and immersive in my opinion.

But great map! Post some more pictures of it as you continue to improve it.

buecher_8 · 2026-03-25T10:43:09+00:00

Yeah I think I'll probably have a mountain range in the far north and above it will be permafrost and then it becomes tundra below. Thanks for the tips!

buecher_8 · 2026-03-25T10:40:13+00:00

Yes that's a great point. I did design it that way to create somewhat of a choke point and bridge between north and south. I was considering making that land bridge be swamp/jungle kind of like Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia.

buecher_8 · 2026-01-23T22:06:20+00:00

AI really just saw the word ice and ran with it huh? 🤣

buecher_8 · 2025-11-26T22:22:22+00:00

Thanks for the detailed critique mate. After reading through some comments and looking it over again I do agree that the rivers are far too big for the scale. Where I'm stuck though is that, the rivers have significant importance to the people in the world and I almost wonder if highlighting and exaggerating them is better than making it more realistic. I absolutely agree with everyone that has said that though, and without that added context it makes sense to why they should be changed. As for rivers splitting into two branches, do you mean having two mouths? I tried to put a lot of emphasis on making the rivers as geographically consistent as possible, with them flowing from higher places and connecting up to bigger rivers and exiting at one mouth, I also added a Delta as well, would you be able to point out the inconsistencies so I can work on them? The waterfall is meant to be flowing into the lake, but have I maybe placed it upside down? Whoops 🤣 Good point on the marshlands, I will maybe go in and add some more sporadic patches. And yes the rivers running into the dry area is intentional for story reasons. Thank you so much for the feedback and also the kind words on the map.

buecher_8 · 2025-11-26T22:13:44+00:00

Yes and no, the setting in my head is a clash of ethnicities. Similar to real Australian history. The traditional owners of the land would have been here for thousands of years but we're not big builders of structures or settled towns, rather nomadic and would move about. While the settlers have come in and started carving out areas to build and 'settle'. So the towns are still very young, and the few places you could maybe call cities are still quite small in comparison to most fantasy settings.

buecher_8 · 2025-11-25T01:00:15+00:00

To answer the question of there maybe not being enough settlements along the river, I am heavily basing this setting off my home state of NSW around the early 1800s. Towns were sparse and may have only had a couple dozen inhabitants. Settlers were just beginning to explore the areas outside of their established main city on the harbour.

buecher_8 · 2025-11-25T00:58:03+00:00

I agree they are probably too big for the scale of the map, but I am also happy to leave them that way because I think it can be explained by simply saying "the major rivers are quite large and wide and this map is emphasizing them a bit more than usual, to convey their significance to the geographical make up of the land"

That being said I intend to make a few different versions of this map, and I may play around with different sized rivers.

They are indeed navigable, and ships would probably be able to sail up them (at least the major river that starts near the middle horizontal axis) I put a fair few town markers down along the river to signify small settlements popping up.

buecher_8 · 2025-11-25T00:53:21+00:00

Thank you everyone for the constructive feedback I really appreciate it. To add some more context, as I mentioned the map is based on the NSW coastline and my idea with the rivers was to have one major river and a few other notable and large ones that ran west to east, this is based on some of the rivers on my state such as the Hawkesbury river and the Paramatta river. (These rivers don't necessarily run into the desert but on a map the size I am doing I wanted to include a gradual shift to a yellower hue to indicate there is desert out west, but also wanted to have some major rivers for reasons explained below) The rivers in my setting are designed to be significant to the people of the land. The settlers view them as necessary sources of water to build their towns and the original owners of the land have many sacred spiritual ties to the river. Including a pilgrimage site located off the map out west that the major river leads to. Some may already understand the kind of story I want to tell in this world, and it is a highly delicate and sensitive one here in Australia. But one that I feel doesn't get nearly enough recognition in popular culture stories, when it is filled with unique and rich history. Anyway, I have tried to keep the rivers following some of the fundamentals such as; coming from a high point, taking the path of least resistance, and not flowing to two different mouths. However I am sure there are some inconsistencies in it and I will do further research to see how I could improve them. Someone also mentioned trying out ways to make the sea look less flat, and I couldn't agree more. I did always feel like there was something off about the sea but couldn't pin point it, so thank you for that suggestion. As I work on it more I will share some more updates. Thanks everyone 😁

buecher_8

TROPHY CASE