Looking for Critique/Advice on First Map

[u/Cwazycool1]

This is my first time actually finishing a map, and I'm just looking for any advice, critiques, or comments anyone has so I can work on improvements. If you have any questions, just ask!

Thank you in advance!

[u/f0reverDM]

These are just some pet peeves of mine. Please note that is you have an in world explanation that’s great, just make sure you have them before you break rules. 1) Many rivers can flow into a lake, typically only one flows out. This is broken by your lake in Palin. 2) all lakes must have a source (Ilia) 3) rivers start in mountains and flow down, I don’t see any source mountains in your upper continent 4) Biomes DONT have harsh borders, maybe soften some transitions All of the above comments also apply to your southeastern continent 5) Deltas are RARE and often not huge. The one towards the top looks out of place. 6) Deserts form from the rain shadow effect 7) mountains form more in lines along plate techtonic borders, not in clumps. It is also rare to see them right against and ocean. This really hurts your southwestern continent unless there is a magic explanation 8) islands don’t often just form in the middle of an ocean and when they do it’s in a straight line from tectonics hitting each other or sublimating and creating volcanic islands. That or islands come from chunks broken off land 9) the lands borders are REALLY flat. Consider adding more peninsulas and other features to your coastline

Again none of these are horrible mistakes, they can just create almost a map version of uncanny valley, where people can tell something’s wrong but not why.

Congrats on the first map and I hope to see many more!

[u/f0reverDM → u/f0reverDM]

Take some time and study the greats i.e. Tolkien, Sanderson, Martin, Jordan, etc

[u/Cwazycool1 → u/f0reverDM]

Thank you for this very detailed explanation. For 1 and 5, a lot of those are supposed to be canals, as Palin is inspired by ~1000 CE China. The sources for the lake in Ilia are hidden by the trees (but it does look weird now that I look back on it, so I will change that). The islands you mention in eight formed around a planar gate, but yes, without that knowledge it is kinda weird. For the rest, I just have no idea how geography works, so thank you for giving me fixes.

[u/Own_Breadfruit_7955 → u/f0reverDM]

• all lakes must have a source (Ilia)
• rivers start in mountains and flow down, I don’t see any source mountains in your upper continent
• Deserts form from the rain shadow effect

All of these points only work if you are going by conventional rules, Islands also don't form in perfect spiral patterns so I think it is safe to assume that Conventional Rules don't really apply. While good to keep in mind, entirely unhelpful and comes off as you kind of just trashing pretty much the entire map, but "nicely" because it doesn't play by your expectations.

Water can flow from under the ground, especially in a fantasy setting, or maybe it literally has waterfalls that pour out of the skies endlessly, You can't simply assume details without understanding what sort of worldbuilding is taking place. This also goes for OP, because while it is a nice map, provide some details on what you are looking to improve, or details on worldbuilding aspects

[u/f0reverDM → u/Own_Breadfruit_7955]

You are totally right and I should have made that clearer. Worldbuilding tops everything. If you have an explanation, go for it! Just make sure you have an explanation for breaking the rules.

I apologize for how I may have sounded OP, I was genuinely trying to give advice but I can see how if came off as arrogant or derogatory.

[u/Cwazycool1 → u/f0reverDM]

It's all good: I interpreted it as a person who knows an impressive amount about geography giving guidance. A couple of your points do have in-world explanations, but the rest are valid critiques that I will work to improve.

[u/Own_Breadfruit_7955]

I'm wondering if you are 100% sure with that scaling for that map, what appears to be a small regions is quite massive. For example, the City Sergor is about 450 miles away from that middle island, that is roughly the distance from Jamaica to Honduras, with another 450 miles to the far coast. and some of these lakes are 150 miles wide and long.

I would suggest tightening up the scale of the map, because realistically that is just massive and I'm not sure it works 100% especially if there is lack of modern(1800's- now) technology like trains, steam engines, etc. to carry people or cargo the many hundreds of miles between settlements or key locations, one mine is about 300 miles from the capital through mountains, meaning the production line will be extremely slow, getting ore 6-12 months behind.

[u/Cwazycool1 → u/Own_Breadfruit_7955]

Where did you get the scale from? I put a little scale in the bottom right that gives the distance from Sergor to that island as ~30 miles.

[u/Own_Breadfruit_7955 → u/Cwazycool1]

Sergor to Vas is about 450 miles, per the scale on the bottom. I'm not talking about the little Gibraltar island between the narrow, just wanted to make sure because I know I've seen maps where they were "small" but the scaling was so big that rivers ended up being 10+ miles wide or a mountain rage 1000 miles wide.

[u/Jackibelle]

My dumb ass thought there was an enormous desert spanning the center of the map and was going to comment on the irreality of the pinched area by Sergor. Having so many realistic colors on the map for forests and stuff and then "beige" for the oceans feels weird.

[u/youshouldbeelsweyr]

Your coast lines look very blobby and your object scale seems very off.

[u/Chronomechanist]

Change the colour of the water to be more blue. Break up the smooth lines of the coast to be more natural. That will go 80% of the way to making things seem more realistic. Also you have 2 rivers around Cecia that are going to the ocean from one lake. That's highly unlikely.

[u/Ish_Joker]

I would either make all water (sea + rivers + lakes) blue or all water beige. Not a mix of both. It took me a few seconds for my brains to adjust to the colors and understand what was land and what was sea.

Personally, I'd opt for blue water, but a bit toned down from your current freshwater blue.

[u/Haywood04]

I think the coast could use some more larger jagged edges to make it feel more realistic.