Adding Elevation || Worldbuilding Guide Series Part 3

Welcome to the next video in my worldbuilding guide series for creating an Earth-like planet! This video is covering adding elevations to our maps.

DISCLAIMER: If you are looking to create a fantasy world in a few hours, this guide is not for you. If you are looking for good value between time spent and realism in your fantasy world, this is probably not for you either. This guide goes way more in depth than most other worldbuilding guides to a level that is objectively not necessary. However, “necessary” is not the point here. If you want to understand WHY your world is the way it is and let your world come alive as you slowly mold it, then this guide is for you.

To already contradict my disclaimer, the reason I go to this level of detail in creating my fantasy worlds is not just because I enjoy it. Things like geography and climate have a huge impact on civilization. Knowing about the world around your people is the first part in understanding them.



00:00 Introduction
01:41 Prep
02:06 Elevation Scale
04:19 Boundary Severity
08:21 Mapping Ice Sheets
10:25 Mapping Mountain Ranges Conv Cont
14:02 Conv Cont Ocea
18:41 Inactive Boundaries
20:13 Hot Spots
21:44 Mapping Other Regions rose
26:09 Wrap Up

Attributions for graphics/images are below:

Earth Surface NGDC - NOAA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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[wraithwrecker_]

This is peak content. ...I'll see myself out.

[writing.reading.knitting]

After watching this video I regret not having paid more attention to geography class 😭 thanks for such an in depth video!

[StoryGirl]

This is so useful. It did make me wonder about the non landmass glacial areas. I’m not sure what specifically I am wondering about, maybe where glaciers or ice sheets too thick for ships to pass through might show up or if there is any rhyme or reason to their placement.

[SM-csmy]

i learned about this series from artifexian, and i'm really enjoying it so far! i especially appreciate how accessible it is, since i was starting to worry i would never get maps in as much detail as i'd like without buying a bunch of equipment and software i don't really know how to use, but this so far is just paper and pencil! thank you so much for what you do! :)

[LuvLikeTruck]

Oh nice mic upgrade. Also loving the series. I think it's so interesting how much of human history was shaped by geography (so fantasy history would be too)

[alexwilliamns]

I really appreciate these videos! Even though I know it ultimately doesn’t matter… I’m just making stuff up anyway 😂 But I like getting things to be a little realistic-ish.

[stephenrider]

I'm really enjoying this series and finding it a fantastic!

[stephenrider]

Do you have a definition of the hights you associate with Mountain Tops, Highlands, Midlands, Lowlands and the costal planes? You mention most land on Earth is under 500 feet so I assume they're not linear.