MAPS

I can rarely begin crafting a new world or setting without mapping it out and establishing a style and theme. For years I've probably been devoting too much time to map-making aesthetics. But, for better or worse, it's a skill I possess and I'm pleased to have it in my arsenal.


----------------This is the basic world map for my RPG project "Omnis: Erias Line"
The game world is fantasy but highly technologically advanced, so I designed the map to be minimal, as it might appear on a helicopter's pilot HUD.

 (here is the draft version, far more heavily annotated)








----------------This is the political map for a world I worked on passionately from the age of 15 to 18
The hero was from a tiny island and a tiny village called Wyn'Mern. He in no way fitted in with their simplistic and peaceful expectations of life, however - he suffered daily from a painful longing to leave. Unbeknownst to him or the other citizens of the island, three major world powers on the brink of expending their last resources were jostling for position and preparing to invade.

Oh, and the moon was a dumping ground for all of the unwanted drafts of the world's dominant species. Whilst humans pottered about their lives below, the discarded lifeforms orbiting around them plotting to bring the two celestial bodies together and invade also.

----------------This is the world map for the Dungeons and Dragons game I am currently orchestrating.
"The world has already fallen to the evil and is beyond saving. The Blight came, its hordes of oil and shadow minions sweeping away thousands of years of history and culture in only a few days. Those refugees that survived limped to the central-most region, called Serda. There, in a melting pot of races, species and cultures and with a leaderless resistance army crippled by fear and disorder, the last bastion of civilisation makes its final stand against the Blight."

 Although the game is set almost exclusively in and around Serda, I developed a full world so that my players could better familiarise themselves with their characters. The role playing and story elements are much more important to me than the technicalities of the game's mechanics.

     For my own use, I then created a map of Serda itself:

I spent time giving it a worn, used texture because I plan to give a simplified version of this map to my players as a handout.

Their quest began at Fortress Fenix (upper left) where an inexperienced commander bent on making a hero's name for himself orders all of the fortress's defending troops out to face the Blight head on on the battlefield, with calamitous results that will change the course of the defence of Serda.

----------------This is the world map for our yet untitled tabletop RPG: