WIP - Map of Eredane. 1st version

[Dain]

Hi guys
I've always found useful to give the players a map of where they are, and, despite the fact that the map provided in the book is really nice, it doesn't look like a hand made one.
So, I decided to make one that could look like something the characters can have in their hands.
the idea behind that is also to create a story where Jzaedrin, a celestial, (MN2E page 313) has proposed to map the known world for Aradil, a way for him to contribute to the war effort but without really fighting. Knowledge is power as we say, and providing a map of the land can be precious for military strategies.
Anyway, the project is still under work but here is a sample of what I get so far. Hope you already like it, at least the idea.

The ultimate goal of this version is to share the .psd file with the community so it will be easy to modify and add some more on the proper layers, zoom in, cut, add a new frame and get as many maps of regions as you may want.
There will however be 2 more versions, using a different style. I would like to work on a new version of Pelluria and the other continents (Sassima&Sarcosa, Palonia&Fassimir" MN2E: page 230) and maybe even make a map of Aryth as a globe map.
Depending of which version we'll like, I'll decide which one to use to make the other continents. It can be useful for the ToS3...

First version, pretty much hand draw style map:

Version in 1600X1373:
http://www.ombredunord.com/materiel/maps/eredane.jpg
again, this map is still under work. There will be towns, roads, districts and more.

The map I'm working on has a resolution of 4755X3400, big enough to do whatever you would like to do with it, I suppose.
Just tell me what you think

[Doomed Hero]

Very, very pretty. I love it's old-world feel. If you add cities and other landmarks I'd like it if you made that a separate map so we could still have one that's "clean".

I'd recommended submitting this to the moderators for inclusion into the Downloads section.

[arnon]

Dain,

This is marvellous. As always.

[Dirigible]

Damn, Dain, that's gorgeous!

I love the little spots of woodland and hills that break up the terrain of the plains and Erethor.

[Kane]

Dain,

Very nice.  I like the folds and the scale of the mountains.  It makes the southern Kaladruns look much lower/smaller.

Kane

[Pheros]

Indeed, that's a really beautiful map.  I can't wait to see the final product. 

I like the idea of mutable layers...

Joe

[castellan]

That's VERY nice. I'm definitely interested in the high resolution version once you're ready to release it!

[Dain]

Small update. Just add the border, redrawn the shores, centered the map and changed some settings in the layers.
I may go back into the mountains thing. It looks like not dense enough, don't you think?
I'm gonna go now with the cities, roads etc. and see how it goes

1920 resol: http://www.ombredunord.com/materiel/maps/eredane-1-1920.jpg
1600 resol: http://www.ombredunord.com/materiel/maps/eredane-1-1600.jpg



It's a bit early to talk about that but the .psd file had already reached 350Mo and it will not get better with all that has still to be added. The file file is likely to be about 450 Mo. Make sure you have enough RAM (4-6Go would be good). But I believe that we could merge some layers to decrease the weight. We'll see anyway.   

[sshagent]

wow, now that is what i call a map.  you are indeed talented.  Looking forward to the final product

[Dain]

Hi guys,
The map is going well.
Coastlines have been redone and now match the close-ups for MN2E B&W maps, with many rivers added, and I'm on the process of redoing Arethor and add all the details form Fury of Shadow.
I also spent hours adding all the cities' name from all the maps available and got some issues with some. I can't read some names on the maps availables for download in the Ats section.
Can anyone help me and give me names?

I'm looking for names in MN2E, the B&W maps at the end of the book:
- Asmadar map. The name far right in Desert of Tears
- Asmadar map. Name of the small island on the east
- Asmadar map. City in the south of Asmadarin plains
- Asmadar map. Place north east of Landfall

I'll also add the nexus from the map Kevperine did a while ago, in a separate layer

I'll post a new version as soon as possible

thanks to anyone that may help

[Lgaard]

- Asmadar map. The name far right in Desert of Tears

Starshore?

- Asmadar map. Name of the small island on the east

Isle of Mourn?

- Asmadar map. City in the south of Asmadarin plains

No idea... well... Frailgk??

- Asmadar map. Place north east of Landfall

Delegate of the Sea?

[Dain]

Well, it seems all good.
I've only got the french version of MN2E and the translation fit well. That's all OK now
Thanks for your help

[Doomed Hero]

Are you planning on adding the Mirrors with their radius as well? Kev's already done the legwork on that one for you too.

[Dain]

I do plan to add this as well
Kev did a very good job and I think it could be interesting to see the mirrors range over all the new details, towns etc. This will also be an extended version of Eredane, adding the scar which is missing from the original version.
That is going to be quite unique and hopefully with a good render.

What could be interesting, once the map is finished, is to add all the towns and details we all created for our adventures (maybe in a specific layer, different colour), fleshing out a bit more the map.
During the process, I noted on a separate document all the references of the details/ towns. I'ts going to be very similar to the gazeteer smeagol made and could be added to it, if not alreay there. There are more than 100 cities, coming from various sourcebooks and it is sometime quite tricky to found details about them.

[Doomed Hero]

A long time ago Kevperrine started a Picturing Erdane gazetteer project that had a good start but never quite got off the ground.

As part of it Smeagol wrote up an alphabetized list of every single notable location in the game, complete with page references. You can find it by clicking here and scrolling down a ways.

Might help you cross referance what you've already done and find stuff you'd overlooked.

The thread still has a lot of great pictures for anyone who hasn't seen them.

[Dain]

Thank you for pointing me out this link. It actually reveals more than I thought  and even take into account the places descrribed in adventures and fan add-ons. That's great. I'll add them too

[Doomed Hero]

No problem. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[Dain]

me either

[arnon]

Once i get the computer connected in the my new place, I'll open up the maps that i got with the Fury of Shadow PDFs. The names might be clearer there.

[Dain]

Well, do you mean you've got the pdfs maps of Fury Of shadow?
I was on the way to scan them to get the details and include them in the psd.
Could you send them to me?

Pm me if you can

 

[Dain]

Hi,
Here's the next update. So why did it take so long?
Let's summarize:
- I've redone the coastlines, in order to match the B&W heavily detailed maps in MN2E
- Redone the sea waves
- Redone the mountains using a really time consuming technique. That allow them to overlap and make the pack more dense.
- Redone the forest, broke down as much as possible the tree packs. I'll do more "clearing" when I do some close-up work, like the "tanglethorn deeps" and cie.
- Redone the hills, closer to the forest now.
- Added over 100 names of towns/ cities. Was quite a work. There'll be more according to the last Gazeteer smeagol proposed. I also found about 20 more entries to be added in that list, btw. Some of them only have a name on a map, with no description. That'll be an opportunity to write a small (or even a big) story, as it is already done for some of them.
- Added the northern part of Eredane, with the scar. Actually I did extend the north a bit further but the area is not really important for now, so I did hide it under the frame/ border.

There are still many things to do but I keep going
again, any comments are welcome, either good or not

About the pics (Jpg with basic quality compression. Final version version will be much better):
I'm not really happy with the dots that represent the cities/ town. I'll do something more sketchy which looks actually better but is probably less readable. So don't bother much about them. It's not the ultimate version.


Eredane: Resol 1920X1672
http://www.ombredunord.com/materiel/maps/screenshot2.jpg



 

[Dain]

Last screenshot of the day.
More to come next week
Definitely ot happy with the part of the forest around "Three oaks". I'll redo that.


http://www.ombredunord.com/materiel/maps/screenshot4.jpg

[Pheros]

This is all highly impressive Dain.  A damn fine job.

A good cookie for you!

Joe

[arnon]

This is beautiful

[Darth Alkar]

Wonderful work Dain!
Really, it's impressive.

Honestly, there's one thing I don't like: the coastline/sea wave-like borders... they look too double-borders to me.
Apart from personal taste, I think they can be a little confusing in archipelagos and islands, like in the Alloduan area.

Maybe lowering their opacity? Maybe reducing the stroke width?