The map in the link above has a few serious errors, in my opinion, with rivers flowing out of desert terrain or straight through a mountain range from one side to another, too much desert area, too few forests and several of those indicated located on what should be the rain shadow side of mountain ranges, but the overall layout is decent.
The only serious mistake I see in the map you posted is that it doesn't indicate the Ketite gap between the Yatils and the Crystal Mists.
Please keep us updated, here and on Facebook: Flanaess Geographical Society, with your progress on this map!
Alrighty ... well, let's see ...
Since we're talking about cartography, and whatnot ... here's an example of a project that I started a few years ago that got put on the back burner. This started out as an actual hand-drawn series of sketches that were on individual sheets of paper, and cobbled together to make a large 3ftx4ft compilation sketch ... and then, it was scanned and digitized and made into a Corel Painter image, with individual layers and whatnot for country labels and whatnot.
So, it's something that I would really love to work on more. It's intended to have an Old World/Age of Exploration feel to it kind of like Mortellan's South Seas map. One of these days when it's finished, it will be printed (at massive expense, I'm sure! Prices are insane!) and hung above my sofa on the wall.
At any rate, this is a small JPG of it. Remember, the actual image is in high resolution at 3ft. x 4ft. ... it's like 9600 pixels, or something ridiculous. But, if you're interested, and it helps ... well ... there you have it. Let me know if you're interested in seeing the actual image.
Oh ... also, the first sketch is kind of how I intend it to be laid out.
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Great idea; DarkHerald
It would be incredibly useful for the “beyond the flanaess”, project. The areas being developed are within the eastern continent. As the project uses the Oerth Journal, continental map, with significant alteration approved by duicarthian.
Unfortunately, my artistic skills are lacking but I have altered the continental map via paint to create several regional maps for the various gazeteers I am working on. It would be a tremendous help to be able to incorporate these “eastern regional maps” into a single cohesive continential map.
I will email you the various regional maps, if you are interested...
I've always thought it logical to blow up TSR's Living Greyhawk map of Oerth from the bottom left corner of:
***Large image of WotC's LGG map removed due to IP violation.*** Look to the lower left "Oerik" portion of the LGG map for the reference.
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It's a 1:2 dimention so it can be imported into Google Earth. Polaris seems to be missing...but then you could argue that the Dragon Magazine map is supposed to be inaccurate compared to this map if you consider the Dragon Magazine map a players map. I streached the Dragon Magazine map into a 1:2 ratio and imported it into Google Earth for comparison.
What do other people think about the representation of Oerth in the corner of the Living Greyhawk map?
No, sir... Don't like it.
That map is based on the "Heward map" of Oerth presented in Dragon Annual 1 with slight differences. The Heward map, IMO, really fails on multiple levels. It's not interesting, for one, in that it creates an awful super-continent out of Oerik and slaps some smaller continents elsewhere. Also, the shape and coastlines of the additional parts of Oerik and the other continents are conspicuously less defined than that of eastern Oerik, creating a glaring contrast. Additionally, it doesn't gel easily with the previous facts written about the geography of Oerth (it can be shoehorned, but why?).
That said, I think it's a brilliant presentation of what someone in the world of Greyhawk believes the Oerth to look like. Fortunately, that's how it's presented. To quote the relevant text that accompanied the map in the Dragon Annual:
"My Dear Mordenkainen,
I’m glad you found my doodles enlightening! I cobbled the map together from diverse sources—mostly the recollections of some the “old guard.” I can’t vouchsafe the place names; doubtless the locals have their own names for many of the areas. Enclosed are some more excerpts from my journals.
Heward"
The cobbled-togetherness of the map, that is purportedly based mostly on recollections doesn't suggest much for its veracity. Additionally, the place names and the brief descriptions of the places they name that are given thereafter (but not quoted here) are admittedly dubious from an "in game" perspective, and are less than lackluster from and "out of game" perspective.
The best way (in my opinion) to reconcile the canonicity of the map while mitigating (what I see as) its failures is to accept it as an "in game" map that is fatally flawed, but does not accurately represent the actual geography of the Oerth. Bits and pieces of it may be otherwise correct, in the wrong location, orientation and/or size and partially mapped areas (in game) may be haphazardly (and erroneously) connected to each other to create land masses that don't actually exist, etc.
I think that is actually a really good way to look at it. For instance, a huge swathe of the western continent was pegged as arid wasteland. Such a flaw in the map could be explained away as an account stating "the desert seemed to go on forever"- the account merely being one of somebody who meandered very much NOT in a beeline through that area for months and months, finally arriving at a more temperate region, in whatever direction. Due to a bad time of year, to just a fluke, daily sandstorms and cloudy nights(or just plain lack of navigational knowledge) could throw off one's directional sense, and make trip much longer than it should be.
So, maybe that huge swathe of arid wasteland in the western continent is not so huge after all, or not even remotely as pervasive as the map portrays. Lots of room for "tweaking" that map. _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
I also agree with your assessment, Azzy. I absolutely hate the rendition of the western half of the continent of Oerik on that 'official' map and have, so far, just refused to use it. I like your justification very much and will incorporate it into my own campaign. (It looks like a six-legged bearskin run - way too symmetrical, among other faults. )
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Lots of room for "tweaking" that map.
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