These tend to be places of high altitude (mountains), low altitude (canyons), and inhospitable geography (deserts, oceans, etc.). Natural borders are barriers that are hard (but not impossible) to cross. Just like rivers, lakes can flood with torrential rain and dry out during droughts. The water will usually find an escape route and form a new river to join the ocean. Lakes are areas of land with high terrain on all sides, and are generally fed by rivers or rainfall. In fact, think of rivers like tree branches, when the trunk is an ocean and the twigs are the starting points of your rivers. Rivers also like to get sociable they join together where possible and very rarely split. Rivers can go underground too whatever gets them down faster. land gets flat and open with high terrain on all sides, they might form lakes. If the river enters and area with high terrain on all sides, it might form a lake. They’ll tumble and meander around hills, rises, through canyons and crevasses. That’s because they follow the path of least resistance. Of course, rivers don’t flow in straight lines to the oceans. This is also why rivers start in high places (mountains and hills). So rivers tend to race away from mountains and end up in the ocean. The lowest point is often sea level, and the easiest route possible is always down. Rivers have one goal: get to the lowest point possible, by the easiest route possible. Volcanoes can be lonely only because they’ve put in the work over time erupted material settles around the volcano over time, allowing it to grow. Any mountains along the edge of a plate are going to draw a gentle curve across your map.ĭon’t forget that there’s land under water, so mountain ranges would continue past a coastline to create islands.įor this reason, mountains don’t tend be lonely (sorry, Tolkien). Even where they do have corners, they are a) enormous and b) irregular. Mountain ranges aren’t going to turn corners because tectonic plates aren’t rectangular. That means that mountains tend to exist in long lines (take a look at the mountain ranges on Earth). Mountains are formed by tectonic plates colliding with each other. towns or cities in the middle of nowhereĪnd here’s what you can do to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes on your map: Mountains.Here are some common fantasy map mistakes that can rip your reader out of the world: So, with that in mind, make sure you get your geography right. Once you ask for too much, the entire illusion is broken. They’ll believe in dragons, they’ll believe in magic, they’ll believe in a canyon where gravity is screwy and mountains float on by, but ONLY if you don’t ask them to believe in too much. And readers are pretty obliging in that sense. That’s because you’re asking the reader to believe in something they know isn’t real. Whether it’s dragons, magic, or unusual landscapes where the laws of nature don’t seem to apply.īut, for readers to believe in the fantastical elements of your world, you need to get the other fundamentals right. You’re writing fantasy, which means your world likely contains things that our would does not. (Looking for the practical stuff? Skip down to step three!) Step One: Think About Geography So I’ve put together some hints, tips, ideas and tools that will help the fantasy author, Dungeon Master, or anyone else to draw their own fantasy maps. (Truth be told, I’d expected more!) But, if you’re not a professional cartographer, drawing an entire world can be daunting. I think it’s a safe assumption but, if it isn’t, fantasy maps are here to stay anyway of the top 25 fantasy books, almost half have maps. We assume that fantasy readers love maps too, which is why we keep putting maps in our books. If you’ve read more than a handful of fantasy books, you can easily deduce that fantasy authors love maps. You’re ready to start drawing your fantasy maps.Step Three: Think About How Your Fantasy Map Will Appear in Your Book.
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