Re: Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added
 

Thanks for the inspiration.

I will have to give the mountains some thought. At 24 miles per hex there is really only so much that I can show. That one hex could easily have multiple types of terrain, along with many rivers, lakes and minor rivers. Since a single hex is about 500 square miles I struggle with the level of detail to actually show. I do refer to various online hex map sources for inspiration, particularly the D&D Mystara line. For fantasy gaming Ytarria is a huge continent, far bigger than someone actually needs in most cases IMO. Mapping it even at this high level has been daunting (and I tend to overthink things at the best of times).

My take on Zarak is the mountain chains should flow horizontally rather than vertically (the opposite of the Fence of God chain). I could get away with one large central mountainous area running horizontally, but perhaps in the center of Zarak, north of Caithness there could be a large Intermontane plateau. This could be the home of whatever a DM/GM desires, a hard to reach area like the Plateau of Leng. It would give a reason to travel to central Zarak (which has no Dwarf cities) and would make it more interesting than just another mountainous area.

Speaking of cartography, the map uses contour lines to delineate terrain ruggedness (light brown for hills, dark brown for mountains and other hard going areas). I wanted to avoid placing icons in every hex to note the specific nature of the hex. The black icons indicate the high mountains which are generally impassable areas. I still need to add mountain passes to those areas, or I could just move those icons entirely. They likely cause more confusion than anything else.

Perhaps the map would be better served with only one topography color for ruggedness (light brown for the mountainous foothills), with mountain icons to indicate the actual mountain chain? It would make editing and changing map much easier since I would not be dealing with two contour layer colors, at the cost of aesthetics.

I added an older version of Ytarria today on my blog (the last picture), with more "bulky" mountain contour lines for Zarak and the Fence of God. Let me know what you think: was this a better version? My gut tells me the older version was/is better. The contour lines have a higher opacity level as well (i.e they are darker than the current version).

Re: Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added
 

I have so many ideas to share, but no time right this minute. I'm super excited you are back and to the extent that encouragement helps, consider yourself encouraged!

Re: Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added
 

Thanks Apoc. I have started to add location names to forests, towers, hamlets and other locations. There is a lot. I do have some write-ups for these areas. One day I will summarize those in a blog post. Sometimes a just a simple name can inspire the imagination.

Re: Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added
 

A recent Monsters and Manuals blog post touched on that, offering some nicely colorful real-world names (with more in comments). Those are great in game worlds - the kinds of names that make PCs ask locals "Why is this place called that?" A question that the locals love to answer with a story (or several confusingly different stories...)

Another thing that I tried to work into my own world-creation in the past is names for historical regions – not current political entities, not clearly-defined physical features, but regions by some other arbitrary definitions (even if loose and inconsistent definitions). In our world: Kashmir. The Levant. Dixie. The Basque Region. A zillion others. Names that can hold more meaning for people than whatever barony or country name rulers have drawn on their maps.

These are great as no-man's regions contested by rival nations (something maybe lacking in Banestorm?), sources of independence movements, long-lost ancestral homelands that cross national boundaries, extents of past empires, or just legendary names that evoke past glories or horrors or what have you...

But, I know that dropping these onto the Banestorm map would mean deep delves into Yttaria history and cultures and societies, far beyond the calling of a cartography project. So no expectations there!

Re: Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added
 

I will have to check that out Tbone.

Honestly, I have more than a few complaints about Ytarria. The first one being the population level vs the campaign area. The civilized human dominated continental area is roughly 3 million square miles (basically the same area as the continental USA..I didnt count the Great Forests, major mountain chains, ect). Total human population is 36 million, making it 12 per square mile overall. Megalos is 12 per square mile, Caithness is 7. This is quite honestly, absurd. You could comfortably fit all of the human cultures of Ytarria in the area of al-Haz, al-Wazif and Cardiel, with room to spare. In the book however, the author describes many of the areas as well-settled and peaceful...eastern Megalos does not have and wild animals more dangerous than rabbits! Another absurdity. If a proper map had been done for the setting to begin with then perhaps someone could have done a reality check on the whole setting. As it stands, there is simply no way to reconcile the size of the map with material described in the book. Most humans for thousands of years never travelled more than 10 miles from their home. Each hex is 24 miles, so most people never leave their hex. Something to think about when you look at the map.

If I were to re-write it, I would take the square miles of the various areas and multiple them from between 40-60. Ytarria would have roughly 120-150 million civilized inhabitants, spread out over the various regions. This is not unreasonable with 1000 years of growth, magic to aid society and population additions from further Banestorm activity. There would still be lots of areas for wilderness exploration.

As an example:
Megalos
Land Area: 1.2 million square miles (roughly, with 480,000 square miles of that being arable land, 40%)
Population: 60 million people
Urban Population: 4.8 million (8%)
Rural Population 55.2 million
Hexes under Cultivation: 862 (rural population x 2 = acres farmed. 640 acres per square mile, 500 square miles per hex, roughly 40% of each hex is arable, equaling to 200 square miles of farmland available per 24 mile hex on average. This equates to 430000 square miles of farmland being utilized)

At this level of population I would consider Megalos well settled, with well developed farms, pastures and settlements. Well over half of Megalos would still be considered wild, or unusable for human use (forests, swamps, rivers, bogs, rocky areas, hills, ect). In this scenario Megalos would be far more likely to expand, since they are already nearing the full use of their arable land (I am being generous at 40%, it is likely far less since the Blackwoods and the far Western areas are not conducive to farming). Indeed, several areas of Megalos could suffer periodic famines, even with fishing and livestock to supplement themselves. They would likely be big importers of grain from Cardiel. There would likely be unrest in the outer regions of the Empire, which would be complicated by the indifference of the Emperor to the whole situation. With this simple modification the whole situation of Megalos is changed. It becomes a desperate Empire that finds itself overpopulated and unable to feed its growing citizens. Conquest of foreign lands becomes imperative. This is hindered by the Legion's poor leadership, lackluster combat ability and the increasing need to put down potential rebellions at home.

It is conceivable that time flows differently in Yrth's universe, or simply extend the timeline a couple of hundred years to accommodate for the increased population growth. I have my own ideas on how reality works on Yrth, especially when it comes to "cause and effect", "chemical reactions", "gravity", ect. On my Yrth scientific progress is not hindered by Wizards or Secret Societies; it is hindered by the fact that due to the Banestorm all manner of physical laws are now conditional, temporary and or special-cased. There is little point in scientific research in such a situation. For example, Wizards do not need to keep the knowledge of firearms secret since the chemical reaction itself is either unstable or inert in the first place. Perhaps there are pockets of Ytarria where high technology will function, but those special case situations (similar to mana levels).



I did print out the current map at work today, on our color laser printer and tiled it on nine 11x17 sheets. Looks very good actually, even at a low output JGP resolution from Inkscape. I posted a picture of that on my blog for those who are interested. If you convert the map image to a PDF you can print out selected regions easily enough in any PDF program. Very usable at a gaming table.

Anyway, today I am doing some editing. All of the villages on the map are named now. I will be adding wizard towers, keeps and other adventure points of interest this weekend. Hopefully next week I will have an update to post.

I highly suggest picking up Worlds Without Number by Kevin Crawford. It is FREE and has a wealth of information on how to build a world, down to adventure sites. It is packed with useful tables for generating anything a DM might need. This information is game system neutral and very useful for any DM/GM. The rules for his system are also very good.

Re: Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added
 

My bad; I forgot to link to the Monsters and Manuals post I referenced. It's now fixed up above.

Re: Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added
 

I have updated my blog post and the maps therein. It is still an endless WIP project.

More villages added.
All of the settlements, towers and castles are named (I think anyway).
Many landmarks still need naming though. Hopefully this week.

Re: Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added
 

Thanks! This is much appreciated.

Re: Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added
 

My pleasure. Working on the topography names at the moment. I will post a separate blog entry with the names of each and the special features of that terrain (flora types, fauna, special features, ect).

Re: Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added
 

How about the non-human population? Does that make any difference?