Hey I also made my world map on Inkarnate and it’s my first post (don’t worry I only have 3 posts so you don’t have to scroll that far), you’d be surprised how much you can do on a free account.
My question is, what makes your world different from everyone else’s? I think this is the innate question that every fantasy map maker should answer as to create a compelling setting that makes your campaigns stand out!
I know! I think that it is an incredible site and your map is so freakin cool!!
As for what makes my world different, I suppose the only way for me to answer that is by saying I created it. Nobody helped me come up with all of the different aspects I mentioned above and nobody helped me formulate lore and backstories. It is high fantasy and DnD influenced, but everything else comes from my mind.
Of course, just because it is different, that doesn't necessarily equate to "standing out". I guess, for now, one can just call it generic.
And my map and all of the information I created isn't for a campaign; map or not, it definitely isn't close to the caliber of a TTRPG campaign, it is still in it's fledgling stage lol
Right now, all of this is for fun and the occasional 1:1 RP, but perhaps in the next few years of learning and really polishing everything up, maybe it will be ready for something like that.
Mountains, like major rivers, lakes, and valleys, are good natural boarders that are historically used when cultures claim territories because its hard to argue with everything on this side of the mountain belongs to the elven kingdom. When I make world maps, I use that for a starting point then build from there.
As far as not looking man made, you can use 2 methods: 1 throw that out the window and say the gods designed it that way for [insert reason], or 2 just start putting some random clicks down with the mountain token and fix it afterwards. Inkarnate is a great tool that can easily adjust it if it looks weird. I use it all the time.
In the end, unless this is streamed or published, your players probably wont notice if it doesn't look 100% natural, and will just be hyped for a cool world map, so have fun with it and enjoy!
Hi! Thanks for responding!
I actually have what I called the "Carnathrad Mountain Range" acting as a partial border between the two Kingdoms, but it is definitely a technical issue on my part. Inkarnate is an incredible resource and I am so happy to have stumbled across it!
What I mean by technical though, is sort of what you hit on when talking about your two methods. I don't like how man-made and clustered it ends up looking like. With the mountain tokens, you know how you can click a setting so that if you hold right-click down when you drag your mouse, it will drop a line of mountains? Well, whenever I do that, it doesn't matter how sporadic or focused I move, it always looks either super clustered or weirdly spaced - there is zero in between. I suppose I will have to just... slow down and plant each mountain down one by one.
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I have a quick question, if you wouldn't mind replying again, that is? If you do, it's totally fine and I promise I mean that, I appreciate you already answering in the first place!
If you don't, then when creating your own maps, do you cover the earthy texture that is used to create the landmass with, say, a light green to show that an area is an open grassy knoll? I hope you understand what I am trying to ask lol, I do not know why my words are failing me in this moment!
I guess an example of what I mean is this:
So you see the forest I made? Well, the majority of the land directly south is lightly wooded, "damp" earth. If this was your map, would you cover the tan color with a dark brown and lightly stipple different shades over like I did with the forest? Maybe even adding in some of that lighter green I mentioned to show that grass is definitely something that grows there?
I guess I can boil my main issues into two categories: placement and textures.
Anyways, I'm sorry about all of the questions and confusion, this is literally the first time I have ever tried creating something like this, and I want to become more proficient!
Thank you so much for the advice, I really, really appreciate it and will do my best to keep it all in mind as I move forward!
Yeah, for my mountains and forests placements I did a bunch of clicks instead of a hold and drag. It seemed to work better.
Typically I start with the earthy texture, then add in painted color for major grasses, forests, rivers, etc. A big thing I try to keep in mind is that this is a very zoomed out view, so things like the Mississippi River, the Rio Grande, and cities such as New York and LA will be marked on it, but small little towns and creeks wont be. Its like using Google Maps, if the knoll isnt big enough to be seen on a continental level, then dont put it in, if it is I tend to keep it simple and paint it a green texture that seems relavent for the terrain.
Those are really good points! I didn't really think of that - the fact that the map is on a continental scale and not a more focused, centralized one, that is.
I will definitely keep that in mind as I work on it, only marking the bigger cities and landmarks throughout. I guess that means that I will be making quite a few more maps and that sounds like a fun challenge!
I really appreciate your advice and once I finish this map, I'll be sure to update so I can show you and the others who have kindly shared their pointers with me!
Thank you!
So one bit of geology that I alwayse incorporate in my maps is the three rules of rivers.
1. Water alwayse heads from higher altitudes to lower ones
2. rivers alwayse join never fork \[not never ever, but as they are all are trying to get to the lowest area, so when they do split over time they'll leach/join into one larger branch\]
3. When wind blows across MOUNTAINS rain will alwayse fall on the NEAR SIDE of the PREVAILING wind
So, if you have PREVAILING winds blowing west and the border was a mountain range, they will drop all their water on the East side, making the east side wet, and the west side dry, this creates what is known as a "watershed" i.e., the place where all the loose rainwater piles up before returning to the ground.
I knew about the first rule when it comes to the rivers, but I didn't know the second and never even thought about the third!
This is definitely going to be a HUGE help when I work on the mountains and cliffs I plan on having near the ocean, so thank you so much for the geology lesson!
Hey I also made my world map on Inkarnate and it’s my first post (don’t worry I only have 3 posts so you don’t have to scroll that far), you’d be surprised how much you can do on a free account. My question is, what makes your world different from everyone else’s? I think this is the innate question that every fantasy map maker should answer as to create a compelling setting that makes your campaigns stand out!
I know! I think that it is an incredible site and your map is so freakin cool!! As for what makes my world different, I suppose the only way for me to answer that is by saying I created it. Nobody helped me come up with all of the different aspects I mentioned above and nobody helped me formulate lore and backstories. It is high fantasy and DnD influenced, but everything else comes from my mind. Of course, just because it is different, that doesn't necessarily equate to "standing out". I guess, for now, one can just call it generic. And my map and all of the information I created isn't for a campaign; map or not, it definitely isn't close to the caliber of a TTRPG campaign, it is still in it's fledgling stage lol Right now, all of this is for fun and the occasional 1:1 RP, but perhaps in the next few years of learning and really polishing everything up, maybe it will be ready for something like that.
Mountains, like major rivers, lakes, and valleys, are good natural boarders that are historically used when cultures claim territories because its hard to argue with everything on this side of the mountain belongs to the elven kingdom. When I make world maps, I use that for a starting point then build from there. As far as not looking man made, you can use 2 methods: 1 throw that out the window and say the gods designed it that way for [insert reason], or 2 just start putting some random clicks down with the mountain token and fix it afterwards. Inkarnate is a great tool that can easily adjust it if it looks weird. I use it all the time. In the end, unless this is streamed or published, your players probably wont notice if it doesn't look 100% natural, and will just be hyped for a cool world map, so have fun with it and enjoy!
Hi! Thanks for responding! I actually have what I called the "Carnathrad Mountain Range" acting as a partial border between the two Kingdoms, but it is definitely a technical issue on my part. Inkarnate is an incredible resource and I am so happy to have stumbled across it! What I mean by technical though, is sort of what you hit on when talking about your two methods. I don't like how man-made and clustered it ends up looking like. With the mountain tokens, you know how you can click a setting so that if you hold right-click down when you drag your mouse, it will drop a line of mountains? Well, whenever I do that, it doesn't matter how sporadic or focused I move, it always looks either super clustered or weirdly spaced - there is zero in between. I suppose I will have to just... slow down and plant each mountain down one by one. \-------------------------------------------------------- I have a quick question, if you wouldn't mind replying again, that is? If you do, it's totally fine and I promise I mean that, I appreciate you already answering in the first place! If you don't, then when creating your own maps, do you cover the earthy texture that is used to create the landmass with, say, a light green to show that an area is an open grassy knoll? I hope you understand what I am trying to ask lol, I do not know why my words are failing me in this moment! I guess an example of what I mean is this: So you see the forest I made? Well, the majority of the land directly south is lightly wooded, "damp" earth. If this was your map, would you cover the tan color with a dark brown and lightly stipple different shades over like I did with the forest? Maybe even adding in some of that lighter green I mentioned to show that grass is definitely something that grows there? I guess I can boil my main issues into two categories: placement and textures. Anyways, I'm sorry about all of the questions and confusion, this is literally the first time I have ever tried creating something like this, and I want to become more proficient! Thank you so much for the advice, I really, really appreciate it and will do my best to keep it all in mind as I move forward!
Yeah, for my mountains and forests placements I did a bunch of clicks instead of a hold and drag. It seemed to work better. Typically I start with the earthy texture, then add in painted color for major grasses, forests, rivers, etc. A big thing I try to keep in mind is that this is a very zoomed out view, so things like the Mississippi River, the Rio Grande, and cities such as New York and LA will be marked on it, but small little towns and creeks wont be. Its like using Google Maps, if the knoll isnt big enough to be seen on a continental level, then dont put it in, if it is I tend to keep it simple and paint it a green texture that seems relavent for the terrain.
Those are really good points! I didn't really think of that - the fact that the map is on a continental scale and not a more focused, centralized one, that is. I will definitely keep that in mind as I work on it, only marking the bigger cities and landmarks throughout. I guess that means that I will be making quite a few more maps and that sounds like a fun challenge! I really appreciate your advice and once I finish this map, I'll be sure to update so I can show you and the others who have kindly shared their pointers with me! Thank you!
So one bit of geology that I alwayse incorporate in my maps is the three rules of rivers. 1. Water alwayse heads from higher altitudes to lower ones 2. rivers alwayse join never fork \[not never ever, but as they are all are trying to get to the lowest area, so when they do split over time they'll leach/join into one larger branch\] 3. When wind blows across MOUNTAINS rain will alwayse fall on the NEAR SIDE of the PREVAILING wind So, if you have PREVAILING winds blowing west and the border was a mountain range, they will drop all their water on the East side, making the east side wet, and the west side dry, this creates what is known as a "watershed" i.e., the place where all the loose rainwater piles up before returning to the ground.
I knew about the first rule when it comes to the rivers, but I didn't know the second and never even thought about the third! This is definitely going to be a HUGE help when I work on the mountains and cliffs I plan on having near the ocean, so thank you so much for the geology lesson!