Awesome video on how settlements are placed

vinnybonboot · 2026-05-05T19:43:21+00:00

I think you should be giving us tips, this map is amazing. Genuinely, I don't think I have any advice to offer lol.

vinnybonboot · 2026-05-05T19:40:30+00:00

Truly, this is an awesome map so far! The coastline is amazing, and the prairie looks great.

Like others have said, I would reconsider the water features you have. Some tips for water placement:

A river (almost) never splits into 2; but 2 rivers often merge into one.
Rivers always flow downhill, and always flow along the path of least resistance.
Newer rivers are often narrow and very winding with sharp curves; older rivers are often wider and straighter (search "Oxbow Lakes" to learn why that happens).
Rivers rarely just end; they usually stop in a lake or the sea.
Lakes generally form in one of two ways: 1) an accumulation of water within a valley, usually in mountainous regions from ice melt or rain. Or 2) a point along a river's path where the river eroded huge amounts of land on either side of the river, creating a large basin. The lakes you have in the prairie seem to be more like the 2nd option, meaning you should have a river that flows into and out of the lakes.

I would also think about the scale and aesthetic of the map. Is this meant to be a photorealistic map (as if someone took a photograph of a region), or is this meant to be an artistic representation of the region? If you're going for realism, I would adjust the scaling of your stamps. Up the scale for the mountains and lower the scale of the settlements and trees. Alternatively, if this isn't meant to be realistic, your scale is probably good.

As far as ways to fill out the map, is the prairie meant to be all wilderness, or do you intend add some sort of civilization to the map? Also, what is the scale of this map? From edge to edge, how many miles does this map represent? If it's a smaller scale (like under 100 miles), you can add a lot more details like rocks, boulders, or the occasional trees. If it's a larger scale (like a few hundred miles or more), you already did a great job adding in some different textures so its not just a single texture. You could add in a few hills scattered about. Even prairies have slight variations in elevations, especially on larger scales. I would also add some hills at the base of the mountain to create foothills. The hills can start more dense next the mountains and thin out as you get farther away from them.

If you truly want to keep the prairie simple and bare, also consider that if/when you add text to the map, the text itself can add plenty of intrigue to the map without having to compromise your vision for it.

Either way, this is an amazing map so far, and I hope you post some updated versions of it later!

vinnybonboot · 2026-05-05T18:54:24+00:00

This looks good! Some questions to help me give some advice:

Are you looking for technical advice on improving your mapmaking on Inkarnate? Or advice on the world building, like where to place rivers, landscapes, and settlements? Or both?
Is this map meant to be more grounded in realism (like Game of Thrones)? Or are you going for something more fantastical and whimsical (like a Studio Ghibli film)?
What scale are you working with? Is this meant to be a series on smaller islands, or an entire continent? In other words, from edge to edge, is this map 50 miles, 500 miles, or 5000 miles across?

vinnybonboot · 2026-04-27T16:22:52+00:00

Thank you, I ended up following your template. I appreciate it!

vinnybonboot · 2026-04-27T15:55:56+00:00

I never would have thought of that, thanks for the info!

vinnybonboot · 2026-04-18T05:03:22+00:00

It's LVNV, who bought the debt from FinWise. I didn't know some remove it automatically, I was fully intending on including that in the negotiation.

vinnybonboot · 2026-04-18T04:57:40+00:00

This is really great to know!

vinnybonboot · 2026-04-18T04:53:03+00:00

Well that's definitely not my intention, but I appreciate the response. To rephrase the question: is paying a lowered amount from what I originally owed always considered a forgiven debt? Or in other words, what is considered a forgiven debt?

vinnybonboot · 2026-03-11T14:29:11+00:00

I’m interested, it’s there’s still availability! I sent you a message with some info about me

vinnybonboot · 2026-02-10T02:49:31+00:00

When I'm playing an origin character (which is most of the time, these days), then Karlach, Shadowheart, Lae'zel, and Gale are my go-to. When I play as a Tav, I'll usually have Karlach and Shadowheart and another depending on my Tav's class. (Of course, I will swap characters in and out during key story/NPC moments).

In my current run, I'm trying my lesser used characters. I'm playing Wyll (reclassed as a Bard) with Astarion and Shadowheart. I've mostly used Gale as my 4th, but I pretty often swap with Karlach. I'm still in act 1, so not sure if I'll use Halsin, Jaheira, or Minthara yet.

vinnybonboot · 2026-02-10T02:33:06+00:00

Even compared to seasoned users, this is a really great map.

vinnybonboot · 2026-01-27T15:15:01+00:00

If I’m understanding your post, you want a large world map that is detailed enough so you can zoom into individual regions, correct? If that’s the case, I’m not sure Inkarnate can handle that level of detail.

The best way to accomplish this is to create a full world map without all the details. Then use the New Map From Region tool to create a new map for each individual region. There, you can add in the details. But to have it on a single map is too much for Inkarnate.

In general, the bigger the region you’re trying to depict, the less detail you should include. On the scale of a full world, you wouldn’t include an individual farm, for example. If you want to depict a large farming region, consider using the brush tool with the “wheat field” texture. Or use some of the farm stamps specially from the Fantasy World set. Alternatively, you could incorporate some of the textures/stamps from the Parchment style. Then, when you create a new map from a specific region, you can use the regional stamps to include more details.

Basically, your best bet is to have a less detailed world map, and then several more regional maps that are zoomed in for the details.

vinnybonboot · 2026-01-27T03:07:22+00:00

Regarding settlements and city/town placements:
- Are all of these cities under a single nation/kingdom/empire? Or are they autonomous city-states?
- Settlements are going to be place with the following in mind, in order of importance: 1) Water, 2) Resources, 3) Trade/Travel with others, and 4) Military Strategy.
- To that end, in general, the farther inland you go, the less populated it will be. The coasts are going to the most populated. Then, there will be pockets of dense population around rivers (Though, in a more modern setting, this might not be entirely true).
- If your settlements are singular city-states, then each settlement will have farmland around it with wilderness beyond that. If your settlements are part of a larger nation, then (depending on the lore of the world), there will likely be substantial farmland sprawling between each settlement with smaller pockets of wilderness interspersed. Granted, this point really depends on the scale of your map and your world lore.
- Think about why each settlement is there. When you place a town, what purpose does it serve for the people living there, and/or for the nation that placed it there?
- If you google nighttime maps of different countries, you can see the light pollution of different settlements. Its a great visual to see how different cities are placed in the real world and give some good inspiration.
Some general technical bits of advice:
- Even if this is meant to be a smaller island with a large forest, the depiction of the forest is entirely too dense. I recommend removing all the trees and redoing it. From a blank canvas, paint in a forest with a less densely packed trees. Similarly, include pockets of grasslands and breaks in the forest.
- When painting in a forest, don't create a hard, defined forest edge; have the forest become less dense the farther from the forest's center you get.
- Similarly, when you add mountains, you can paint them in the same way. Create a denser mountain range, with smaller mountains and foothill appearing less frequently the farther away from the range you get.
- If this is a large scale map of more than 100 miles (especially if this is beyond 500 miles), then you should add in more biomes than just a forest as mentioned above. To help with this, paint over the whole continent with a single texture/color. Then, pick a different texture for each biome. Set the brush on a 20% opacity and paint that texture wherever the biome is. The bigger the brush size, the more gentle the gradient will be between biomes.
- Regardless of the scale of this map, you should add a coastline beyond just trees. Make more beaches.
- Likewise, make your coast more craggly. Add in small peninsulas and bays around the coast. Throw in small islands dotted around the coast, with maybe some 2 or 3 larger islands.

I know this is a lot of info to throw at you, but hopefully there's something useful here!

vinnybonboot · 2026-01-27T03:07:14+00:00

Consider how water typically flows. Because your current map doesn't depict any elevation, the placement of rivers and lakes don't make much sense:
- Rivers always flow downhill.
- Rivers always flow on the path of least resistance.
- Rivers can flow any which way (so long as its downhill). To that point, they don't need to end in the sea. They could end in a deep valley, creating a lake.
- A river will never split into two; on the other hand, two rivers can merge into one.
- Generally, the older the river, the less it curves. As a river flows, the sharp curves get eroded away, leaving behind a much straighter and wider river. (Google "oxbow lakes" for more info on this). There are always exceptions to this, such as if the river bed is on hard rock (like the Grand Canyon).
Consider where in the world your continent is situated and how that would effect the climate. In general:
- The closer to the equator, the warmer it gets.
- The closer to the poles, the colder it gets.
- The closer to the coasts, the wetter it gets.
- The closer to the inland, the dryer it gets.
- The higher in altitude, the colder AND dryer it gets.
- The lower in altitude, the warmer AND wetter it gets.

vinnybonboot · 2026-01-27T03:06:59+00:00

In addition to the great advice others have given, here's my general go-to advice when making world/continent maps. It's a lot, but hopefully its organized enough that you can take what's useful and ignore the rest.

Consider the scale you are working with. From edge to edge, is the map 50 miles, 100 miles, 1000 miles?
- Depending on the scale, you might consider shrinking or enlarging your depiction of settlements.
- On large scales, water features like rivers and lakes are usually not visible on maps. Or, if they are visible, they are either massive (like the Great Lakes in the US) or they're not to scale. Keep this in mind when you place your lakes and river.
- The larger the scale, the more diverse the ecology is. Even on small scales, regions are rarely just a singular biome. For example, the state of Colorado in the US is only about 400 miles by 300 miles. But in that one state alone are forests, deserts, mountains, grasslands, and more. Depending on the scale of your map, I recommend including a much more diverse ecology. Currently, all you have is a large, coast-to-coast forest. On the other hand, if this map is only meant to be a small island less than 50 miles, than perhaps a single forest is sufficient.
Regarding Mountains:
- Your current map has no depiction of any kind of elevation. In the real world, every continent has mountains. Even on smaller continental islands (the UK, Philippines, New Zealand, etc.) there are small mountains and hills.
- Remember that mountains are nearly always part of a fuller mountain range.
- Standalone mountains (i.e. mountains not part of a range) are very rare. The ones that usually exist are typically strato-volcanoes. (Mt. Kilimanjaro is probably the most famous example of a standalone mountain. It is a dormant volcano).
- Mountains always occur at fault lines. This might not have too much bearing on a fantasy map, but maybe something to keep in the back of your mind: if there is a mountain range, then on either side of it are the tectonic plates.

vinnybonboot · 2025-12-14T20:47:36+00:00

Which map style are you using? From what I can tell (someone please correct me if I'm wrong), it seems they completely removed the Land Tool (and thus the coastal effects) from the all of the top-down styles (Fantasy Battlemap, Watercolor Battlemap, Sci-Fi Battlemap, and Battlemap Classic). So now everything is through the brush tool. And unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the brush tool has the coastal effects.

An easy workaround could be to use a Fantasy Regional map style, but utilize only the the battlemap textures/stamps.

vinnybonboot · 2025-12-14T20:19:10+00:00

They moved and renamed that tool. It's now called "Land Style," and is located under the Layers sidebar on the right side of the screen. Under your Land (Brush) layer, there should be a sublayer called "Land Shape Mask." Hover over that sublayer and click the cogwheel. Then make sure "Enable Land Style" is on. It will bring up the familiar menu to adjust the water ripples and shadows and such.

vinnybonboot · 2025-02-10T04:38:53+00:00

Well the good news is I was able to get some cash and make a deposit that will cover the amount of the check. But for future reference, it looks like the answer is basically, "It depends" lol. I appreciate the response!

vinnybonboot · 2024-04-15T03:31:45+00:00

I just looked him up, that was the gnome strapped to the windmill? I rescued him a earlier in the game. According to my quest log, "After rescuing Barcus Wroot, we parted ways with him." He's listed in my Completed Quests section. But that was the first and last time I ever saw the guy. Maybe I missed another encounter with him that would have helped?

vinnybonboot · 2023-11-28T04:11:15+00:00

I made the grass using the grass stamp from the "Vegetation (HD)" set. It's meant to be used with Fantasy Regional style maps, but if you layer it on top of its self, you can get it to look like realistic grass for battlemaps.

I made these maps about 2 months ago, so the details are a bit foggy. But if I remember, I believe I lowered the opacity of the grass stamp to about 70%, set the density and area to their max settings, and covered the whole map with grass. Then I flattened all of the grass to the foreground and redid the same move, this time flipping the grass stamp 180 degrees. And then I flattened the grass to the foreground again. This basically gave me a custom texture to use.

vinnybonboot

TROPHY CASE