Completed Ytarria Hex map with terrain added

[darebear]

You read my mind Tbone. All of that is on my to-do list.

I use many sources for topographical inspiration, and you are correct, all of these features are missing from Ytarria. As far as climate, my take is you can use any excuse to have fantastic changes in climate at a local level. The Banestorm, ancient alien machines, curses....all of these can be an excuse to have a region behave differently than the latitude may otherwise suggest.

Volcanoes - the Djinn Lands and the Fence of God are prime candidates. I was thinking of having a pair of them (a couple of hexes apart), both linked to the Elemental Plane of Fire (or some other dimension), one being an entrance and the other an exit point, with a corresponding arc of Essential Fire flowing in the sky from one to the other.

West coast rain forests - agreed. I envision the west coast to be a gradual plateau, increasing in height as you move eastwards, with the lowlands being like what you describe, possibly with some sharp plateau inclines at certain points.

Canyons - agreed. I planned on doing something like this for awhile. The area between southern Caithness, Megalos and al-Wazif is uninspiring (a vast emptiness) and a prime candidate for something bizzare like a land tear or other fantastic dangerous place which is avoided by all three realms.

Lands o' lakes. I have perused many a map of Norway and Finland thinking this same thing. I envision The Nomad Lands and Northern Megalos. It is a lot of drawing but I think it is manageable. I need to reference more maps to judge the scale of lakes and such to get a better idea on what is big vs too big.

Valleys - I need to flesh those out in the Bronze and Fence of God. Likely just by spreading the ranges out a bit. The old D&D map of Mystara, specifically Norwold is my reference for that.

Fjords - agreed. Redrawing the coast is not something I want to do at this time though. Mapping fjords would be a nightmare.

Glaciers - I have a map layer for that. It is currently empty. The plan was to put those in both the Nomad Lands the Bronze Mountains, along with plateaus in the central regions.

Named Locations - this is another to do list. I have a huge list of names with short write ups for all types of terrain (mountains, forests, swamps). Getting pen to paper is hard sometimes. Once you zoom in on the map and start working on it you realize how huge it is.

Areas which I need ideas for are legion. However a few stand out:

The plains just south of the Great Forest, between the Great Desert and the mountains. There is one area of ruins and thats it. This area needs a history and something more interesting than more plains. My first thought was a plateau, possibly by extending the mountain range right to the desert and putting said plateau in the middle of that.

The area north of the al-Wazif hills, and the region between the Smoke and Makarem rivers. Right now it is a vast empty zone, with many areas of low mana. I have considered filling it with a large lake, mountains...something, anything. One of my main drivers is to create a continent where there are no "boring" locations, meaning there is a reason for adventurers to go there. Its not realistic, but that is not the point in fantasy games to begin with. It could be left as is of course...but having vast emptiness smack dead in the middle of the map bothers me though.

West Megalos - between the Blackwoods and Lake Acheron. More emptiness. I have considered adding a small mountain chain here (caused by glaciers from a previous ice age), along with a few lost valleys, effectively blocking the easy expansion of the woods and adding interest to this backwater area.

Eastern Orclands around Castle Defiant. I have considered populating this with small human enclaves, beholden to no other Leige, with a rebuilt/undestroyed Defiant, struggling to hold back the Orc tribes.

Anyway, suggestions are welcome. I have no qualms about stealing ideas from folks or other supplements.