Beautiful, isn't? A very, very pretty illustration of what the world looks like, although not quite usable as a political map. What I really like that Mad Mask has done is add more water, opening up the seas, adding little bays, drawing rivers. The rivers in particular inspire to think of civilization boundaries. Nice job Masky. Very nice.
Geeky ramblings, blatant pedantry, and other things nobody wants to read about.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
World Building #9.5: More Cartographical Madness
Hey guys. Just a quick update. My good friend Mad Mask decided to do me a favor and whip up their own version of my map:
Beautiful, isn't? A very, very pretty illustration of what the world looks like, although not quite usable as a political map. What I really like that Mad Mask has done is add more water, opening up the seas, adding little bays, drawing rivers. The rivers in particular inspire to think of civilization boundaries. Nice job Masky. Very nice.
Beautiful, isn't? A very, very pretty illustration of what the world looks like, although not quite usable as a political map. What I really like that Mad Mask has done is add more water, opening up the seas, adding little bays, drawing rivers. The rivers in particular inspire to think of civilization boundaries. Nice job Masky. Very nice.
Monday, July 12, 2010
World Building #9: It's Just a Model
Let's take a break from design cultures and races and buckle down with one of the most memorable parts of any setting: geography! I, of course, am no cartographer nor do I play one in a situational comedy. So, I turned to the help of one of my good friends, JulyFlame. You might notice her under my followers on the right. Yes, I have followers. I was surprised as anyone else.
Anyway, July, who is incredibly cool, told me that she was going to help me make a map using a method with tectonic plates and subcontinents. I was thoroughly confused. She commanded me to just draw a bunch of basic shapes. These basic shapes would be mini-tectonic plates and subcontinents.
Of course, this isn't my first try. My first try at making tectonic plates, I simply put a bunch of jagged lines everywhere after looking at a map of tectonic plates. July, politely, corrected me and from there I made what you see above. I may have made them a bit too big and fill to much of the area. Earth, after all, is 71% sea water. Oh well.
July then asked me to mash the subcontinents together to form whole continents. Mash them together at random, fit them together, connect some, leave some unconnected. Whatever floated my boat. Where the plates overlapped would be where mountains form.
In the end, I made two large continents. I also tried to fit the plates around fairly tightly, something I may change in the future.
After I showed this to July, she worked some cartographical magic and came up with this:
Have I mentioned how cool she was? I didn't even asked and she pulled this up. Intrigued by what I could do by putting a bunch of shapes together, I thanked July and went to bed. Little did I know what a lovely surprise would await me when I signed back on to the IRC channel where we chat...
THIS!
It's a simple map, but one that shows so much promise.
Already, I'm plotting where the campaign world is on the map. It will probably be centered around the vertical sea on the western continent or the other sea on the eastern continent. The Selkies seem to have become the center of the setting, all roads lead to Rome and whatnot, so it makes sense to have a Meditteranean analogue.
While July's work is lovely, I do have modifications I want to make to it before I adopt the map for my setting.
One of my personal pet peeves about a lot of fantasy maps is the lack of water. They're often big round blobs of land. This doesn't work for a setting where a race based around water is one of the anchors. So, I'm thinking of widening the seas, adding some more inland bodies of water, and perhaps even shrinking the continents a bit.
I'd also like to add some more mountains and perhaps a volcanic area for the smallfolk.
All in all, a good map. A very good map. An awesome map, in fact. Thank you so much, July!
Anyway, July, who is incredibly cool, told me that she was going to help me make a map using a method with tectonic plates and subcontinents. I was thoroughly confused. She commanded me to just draw a bunch of basic shapes. These basic shapes would be mini-tectonic plates and subcontinents.
Of course, this isn't my first try. My first try at making tectonic plates, I simply put a bunch of jagged lines everywhere after looking at a map of tectonic plates. July, politely, corrected me and from there I made what you see above. I may have made them a bit too big and fill to much of the area. Earth, after all, is 71% sea water. Oh well.July then asked me to mash the subcontinents together to form whole continents. Mash them together at random, fit them together, connect some, leave some unconnected. Whatever floated my boat. Where the plates overlapped would be where mountains form.
In the end, I made two large continents. I also tried to fit the plates around fairly tightly, something I may change in the future.After I showed this to July, she worked some cartographical magic and came up with this:
Have I mentioned how cool she was? I didn't even asked and she pulled this up. Intrigued by what I could do by putting a bunch of shapes together, I thanked July and went to bed. Little did I know what a lovely surprise would await me when I signed back on to the IRC channel where we chat...
THIS!
It's a simple map, but one that shows so much promise.Already, I'm plotting where the campaign world is on the map. It will probably be centered around the vertical sea on the western continent or the other sea on the eastern continent. The Selkies seem to have become the center of the setting, all roads lead to Rome and whatnot, so it makes sense to have a Meditteranean analogue.
While July's work is lovely, I do have modifications I want to make to it before I adopt the map for my setting.
One of my personal pet peeves about a lot of fantasy maps is the lack of water. They're often big round blobs of land. This doesn't work for a setting where a race based around water is one of the anchors. So, I'm thinking of widening the seas, adding some more inland bodies of water, and perhaps even shrinking the continents a bit.
I'd also like to add some more mountains and perhaps a volcanic area for the smallfolk.
All in all, a good map. A very good map. An awesome map, in fact. Thank you so much, July!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
World Building #8: OH THE HUMANITY!
Humans are the base race of most settings and mine is no different. Of course, in most settings humans are a young, brash race. In mine, they are ancient, the base race. One might say that all races in my setting are human, since the elemental races are descended from them.
The largest issue with humans in my setting is how they would interact with the elemental magic. If they couldn't use elemental magic at all, then they would be significantly weaker than the rest of the races. If they could use any elemental magic, they would be significantly more powerful than the rest of the races. I could have them be an elemental jack of all trades able to use all the elements, but at weaker levels, but mechanically that's difficult to balance.
And so, I chose a different option. I chose to have them channel a different source of magic entirely. Since I'm using the Chinese elements for the magic system, I again looked to Eastern mysticism for inspiration and found qi, also known as chi. Qi is the vague flow of life energy through every living being. Because humans are in complete elemental balance, and because of how incredibly ancient their race is, they are able to utilize this innate life force.
The way I see it, the ultimate difference between a wielder of qi and a wielder of magic is that magic acts more on the outside world and is flashy. Qi acts more on the self and perhaps those you can personally touch and is subtle. An Earth wizard, for instance, might summon a suit of armor made of the hardest stone for protection. A Qi practitioner, on the other hand, would be hit by an attack and simply endure. At its base, Qi improves the self. Very powerful Qi users are able to do things that are rather Wuxia.
As a few have noticed, I lack a tradional European Medieval kingdom in my setting. Humans will fill that role in the setting, providing a base for players who want to play the normal fantasy archetypes. In fact, let's say that humans believe that Qi as a whole is an intelligent being that is both the world and controls it. This gives them a Crystal Dragon Jesus religion. Fantasy paladins are thus simply Qi magicians in armor, their faith granting them the concentration and discipline to use Qi. Likewise, powerful Qi practitioners are Saints, named for their closeness to the great Qi Spirit and their abilities are nothing short of miracles.
And yes, I realize its been a long long time since my last worldbuilding post. Perhaps I'd be more motivated to post if people actually commented. *hint hint*
The largest issue with humans in my setting is how they would interact with the elemental magic. If they couldn't use elemental magic at all, then they would be significantly weaker than the rest of the races. If they could use any elemental magic, they would be significantly more powerful than the rest of the races. I could have them be an elemental jack of all trades able to use all the elements, but at weaker levels, but mechanically that's difficult to balance.
And so, I chose a different option. I chose to have them channel a different source of magic entirely. Since I'm using the Chinese elements for the magic system, I again looked to Eastern mysticism for inspiration and found qi, also known as chi. Qi is the vague flow of life energy through every living being. Because humans are in complete elemental balance, and because of how incredibly ancient their race is, they are able to utilize this innate life force.
The way I see it, the ultimate difference between a wielder of qi and a wielder of magic is that magic acts more on the outside world and is flashy. Qi acts more on the self and perhaps those you can personally touch and is subtle. An Earth wizard, for instance, might summon a suit of armor made of the hardest stone for protection. A Qi practitioner, on the other hand, would be hit by an attack and simply endure. At its base, Qi improves the self. Very powerful Qi users are able to do things that are rather Wuxia.
As a few have noticed, I lack a tradional European Medieval kingdom in my setting. Humans will fill that role in the setting, providing a base for players who want to play the normal fantasy archetypes. In fact, let's say that humans believe that Qi as a whole is an intelligent being that is both the world and controls it. This gives them a Crystal Dragon Jesus religion. Fantasy paladins are thus simply Qi magicians in armor, their faith granting them the concentration and discipline to use Qi. Likewise, powerful Qi practitioners are Saints, named for their closeness to the great Qi Spirit and their abilities are nothing short of miracles.
And yes, I realize its been a long long time since my last worldbuilding post. Perhaps I'd be more motivated to post if people actually commented. *hint hint*
Monday, July 5, 2010
Ugly Artwork: Beacon of Light!
Yeah, yeah, I know. It's been almost two weeks since my last post. Shaddup about it, willya?
Anyway, I recently made this:
He's a superhero that I play in a Mutant & Masterminds game, Hikaru Hoshi, the Beacon. He recently received a new costume and I decided to try and sketch it out. I decided to be Booster Gold inspired. Very Booster Gold inspired. In fact, he's essentially a palette swap of Booster Gold.
Worldbuilding post will be up soon-ish.
Anyway, I recently made this:
He's a superhero that I play in a Mutant & Masterminds game, Hikaru Hoshi, the Beacon. He recently received a new costume and I decided to try and sketch it out. I decided to be Booster Gold inspired. Very Booster Gold inspired. In fact, he's essentially a palette swap of Booster Gold.
Worldbuilding post will be up soon-ish.
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