Monday, August 11, 2008

Cartography Request

I seek the services of a cartographer who's willing to help me with a little project, namely the transformation of Great Lakes region of North America into part of a fantasy world. Basically, I have a longstanding desire to run a D&D campaign set in a fantastical analog to the Great Lakes (especially the area around Lake Ontario). My thought has long been, "Why try to improve on Nature?" I find the geography of the region really fascinating and conducive to the feel I want to convey for an upcoming campaign.

My problem is that I'm not very good at reproducing real world geography in map form. What I want is a volunteer of at least some small skill who can do this for me. I don't need an exact reproduction -- indeed, small changes here and there might be worthwhile -- but it needs to look roughly like the area so that I can take advantage of real world photographs of the terrain, etc.

Anyone up for this? I can offer only my thanks but they will be most heartfelt.

7 comments:

  1. Erm... Someone else might be better suited to the task, but if I find some spare time I can sure give it a try, clumsy and amateurish though it may prove.

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  2. I feel your pain.

    I'm trying to convert the Yangtze River into the Hur for a new game.

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  3. I hope there will be a mutant moose involved.

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  4. You should also check into the nice maps from the USGS, James, since they can provide you with large, regional maps at various scales, which you can then fantasify to you heart's content. See http://biology.usgs.gov/luhna/chap6.html for example or browse among http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=UCQ&q=%22great+lakes%22+ontario+topographic+map+site%3Ausgs.gov&btnG=Search

    Allan.

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  5. This is hard, because I don't know what aspect are "conductive to the feel" you want to convey. All I can offer is regional maps like a lake with some mountains, or a valley with some villages, or a coastline with and without hex background.

    If you could pick the spot you want on Google Maps we'd have a starting point. Don't forget the scale. What I picked covers a distance of thousands of kilometers. That's going to turn into a map that might interest a DM, or a campaign setting publisher, but I'm not sure that players enjoy it at the table.

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  6. Alex,

    All I meant about the "feel" is that the map remind me of the old school wilderness maps from the 70s, such as the Judges Guild Wilderlands maps or even the TSR Greyhawk ones.

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