A Map that Breaks All the Rules (Fantasy Mapmaking)

Remember my 10 rules for fantasy mapmaking? Let's break em!!
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Music by Alexander Nakarada

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[seyeruoynepotsuj]

"I'm going to draw a landmass that doesn't look like anything on Earth."
= Immediately draws Antarctica. =

[cattrucker]

>map that breaks all the rules
>ends up with one of the most epic-sounding worlds he's created yet
Guess that's living proof of what you say at the beginning of the vid.

[TheDryfus]

Maybe they didn't settle next to rivers and such, because there is major flooding every year.

[saram]

The island with the volcano having the most trees makes actually a lot of sense. Since volcano ashes actually provide nutrients for the plants. He might be asleep for some time now so with the good soil left from eruption a forest started to grow.
I was already going to mention floods being a reason to why the populations decided to be further from the water but someone already mentioned it..

[mexa_t]

That idea of a god stirring the world into existence is honestly kinda neat.

[jauxro]

I like what Tui T Sutherland did, she went "I'm writing a book about dragons and they live on dragon-shaped continents. The reason is 'I do what I want'."

[aybkamen]

The settlements are located in Ley Lines confluences. In this world trade goes by magic portals and the Ley Lines are key in that. (Edited: Lay Lines-> Ley Lines)

[minerjr]

While the water is efficent for trade and travel it runs salty. Undrinkable, settlements where built above natural springs of fresh groundwater.

[felscorf]

Breaking all the rules artistically truly creates an alien and fantastical map, and you're right it does get the viewer to ask questions and be engaged and intrigued by the artwork.
I like it.

[yanaleigh]

I'm trying to make the world I just started running a campaign in mostly realistic when it comes to terrain and such, but there are some magical exceptions. My favorite is that in an area known for its timber up in the mountains some certain trees that are incredibly valuable grow on the banks of an icy river. By icy I mean it has chunks of ice floating in it it's so cold. That stands out a little bit in the summer, but it is high altitude. However, that river curves its way down down down until it crosses through a good 50 miles of tropical jungle before it finally gets to the coast. But the water never warms up. When my players find it they're going to be walking through a tropical jungle and find a river filled with arctic fish and small icebergs.

[DreDredel]

Does he realizes he just drew the continent of Atlantis? Atlantis was described as...Alternating rings of land & water surrounding a large island in the center with a river running through the island & a mountain to the north with an open waterway to its south. This map he drew could be the post flood version of Atlantis.

[walpole]

Theory: this land is in fact above a giant hurricane, as in the scale of the red spot on Jupiter. The main faith developed in the world is that their prayer sustains the winds, and keeps them afloat. They have invented primitive ballooning and wind-harnessing technologies. The islands are slowly being torn apart by centrifugal force, and that's why the land is shaped as it it, and why the rivers split so often

[fakjbf]

For the city placement, maybe long ago each slice of the central continent was controlled by a different king. The kings all came together and agreed on the placement of their capitals so that each one exerted the maximum control over their realm without infringing on the other kingdoms. For example, if they placed a city by the river then not only would they influence the land behind them but also the land across the river that is owned by another king. By putting each capital in the middle it creates an unstable equilibrium held together by various treaties. Over the generations the kingdoms fell and the treaties were forgotten about, but the cities had grown large enough to be self sufficient and they continued into the present day.

[strawberry]

as a new DM who's just starting to create their own world, this is SUPER useful and gives a LOT of inspiration! my world is FULL of magic and is INCREDIBLY new (2000 years old at most), freshly hand crafted by the gods, so it wouldn't make too much sense if it took into account stuff like plate tectonics, yknow? anyways, TYSM!!

[ethancooper]

"can't break the rules if you don't know the rules" :D

[jasperheartwood]

"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please." -Mark Twain. This is an idea that I live by and is something I think all game masters should keep in mind. You don't have to follow the rules, but you should know them.

[Jinglestv-xzhu]

Following the Bronze Age collapse, it appears that most of the settlements we have discovered were far inland, possibly leading into the theory of seaborne invaders. Perhaps the people of this world are afraid of monsters, marauders ore even great storms that roam the coasts.

[BeaPlot]

Idea for how the world came into existence: When the gods formed by their mother; "The Great Void", their last sibling was stillborn. It's fetal corpse fell from the heavens, still connected to the umbilical cord. The unborn god became the central continent, and the umbilical cord became the islands spiraling around it. It is said that as you sail out through the islands, you find yourself closer to the heavens.

[DudeBeard]

I like to think the land shattered in that pattern because the god who created it had to intervene in some sort of conflict, and the one and only time he physically put a foot on the ground it shattered the land into a thousand pieces. Dang, ok I’m gonna go write a backstory now. Awesome map dude! 👍🏻

[ShadowHunter-nhrl]

To me that big ‘lake’ in the middle with all the rivers looks like a huge hole to me, with the river flowing into it from all sides.

Maybe the water flows away from the centre in underground rivers, which lead to the surface with geisers, which then flow back into the sea.