How to make an awesome fantasy RPG map, tutorial
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- Well I love tabletop pen and paper Role-playing games and world building and over the years I've learnt a lot of cool techniques to make an awesome map. Here I share them with you.
The full resolution image can be found here: shad-brooks.dev...
A blank version of this map that can be used as a free resource for Role-players can be found here: shad-brooks.dev...
"Hello, I'm Shad, and this is a map." Ah, but what about Dragons?!
Rivers only split when they flow into deltas, but those are a shore-line feature. Some larger scales also mean that you won't see most deltas.
Yes, but those splits happen in the flow of the river. The point is to understand how rivers split, and where, and why, and how. Making a map and drawing rivers with right-angle splits would be jarring. You just have to be true to life, that's what I was saying.
In fact, they sometime do, rarely (so it's no excuse to make your map full of it as i sometime see) but it does happen. Bifurcations and inland deltas are both a thing :
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_bifurcation
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casiquiare_canal
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_Niger_Delta
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okavango_Delta
and so god shad created the earth in 40 minutes
And he saw it was good.
1:43 watching Shad laughing with his friends is so cute, it just makes me happy.
Would be awesome with a video where you slow down and explain photoshop features you're using while making a map to people who are complete noobs at this.
Would be awesome if my version of Photoshop had literally any of the tools he's using and/or he didn't use a $700-1000 program (which is now a $50/month subscription software), so I could actually afford an up-to-date copy.
@@KefkeWren I know I'm 2 years late but you can do the same thing on most photo editing softwares, for example GIMP. The process is same.
@@ryker_azareth and GIMP is free :)
@@KefkeWren It's Photoshop, Adobe's greedy business tactics dont deserve the pricetag. Just pirate it
Looks suspiciously like the wheel of time world.... :p
PhillipMargrave Yeah, in a close parallel dimension.
All fantansy settings start to look the same after awhile. This reminds me of Middle Earth, Wheel of Time, Tamriel, Sword of the Coast, and some others. Not a bad thing, means it really hits home that it is a fantasy map, the mountains and wastelands really give it away in that regard.
That's what I thought too, it just got that lake in the middle and the desert and wasteland are swapped. And the Mountains of Mist are missing. But yeah, that's not a lot of differences for two (presumably) unrelated maps.
Kinda looks like the Iberian peninsula
Syrsly I thought it was the Liberl Kingdom from Legend of Heroes
How to make a fantasy map, for a fantasy world that has satellite imaging technology.
its fantasy, so yeah, there are fantastic satellites taking pics
PhilBagels that’s how fast travel works in oblivion
@@Sacrengard fantastic!
Ya?
Fantasy does not mean medieval.
People tend to build castles where there is a curved river to fortify them from invaders. In Durham they did this and dug out a canal to connect the river and formed a moat.
The tool I used to make a worldmap was Hexographer 2.0 (also known as worldographer). It has settings to tweak world generation settings for flora ratios, water ratios, land clumping, etc. From there you can autogenerate rivers too. It took a lot of fiddling to get the settings I wanted and a continent shape I like. After that, I finetuned the map for general shape then repainted the various biomes by hand in the program for where I wanted things.
Years later I wanted to change it even further so it could be used as a logo, so I spent hours upon hours going through Paint so that it was a solid color per terrain tile instead of specific graphics. It made for a much cleaner map design that could still be inferred for which sections where what kind of biome.
Gotta give total credit for how accurately realistic the map is. Anyone that have knowledge in geography and in history/urbanisation will be able to see those details. Like the rivers starting from mountain ranges, or the desert, or the fact most villages are along rivers or other bodies of water.
Download Dwarf Fortress and start a new game. Then back out of the game and go to legends for story elements, you got a detailed map, with towns and cities populated with named characters. I had a GM that used DF's world gen and story gen to make DnD campaigns.
You can also export detailed maps of rain, land, evil, etc. and merge them into one
Wait what YOU AND JAZZA ARE BROTHERS HOLY FRIGGIN SHIT THE UNIVERSE IS IMPLODING BEFORE ME
holy shit
drawwithjazza??
another youtuber
I saw "The Broken Islands" and the big whirlpool thing, and I was like, "IS THAT AZEROTH I SMELL?!"
same here. Mix of Azeroth before the sundering with the big Lake in the middle, and the one after with the Maelstrom and the broken isles ;D
Thanks geo university courses, I saw that map and immediately saw the geological history. That mountain range tells me the forested part was a subcontinent that moved to hit the desert. The mountain then created a rain shadow that lowered the precipitation past the mountain range.
Very good shorthand.
I mean you really have to invest yourself to enjoy this dudes channel and I most certainly have. I love all of his stuff because the depth he goes to and the supportive knowledge he has.
"How to make an awesome fantasy RPG map"
Step 1: Look at a map of Cyrodill.
Step 2: Copy that shit.
Step 3: Add some other elements from Tamriel.
Step 4: Profit.
The Crimson Fucker ZackeTheBrute Why copying Cyrodiil? Because of the giant lake in the middle? I don't see any other huge references to Cyrodiil.
Ageed looks like Valenwood with bits of Cyrodill in the middle.. xD
The Crimson Fucker his map looks more like "the wheel of time" book series
It's not even his map, and it's a photoshop tutorial not a map design tutorial. The layout of the map is irrelevant. It could be a giant cock and balls, and it would still serve the same purpose.
To be fair, most good works of art are existing stuff ruminated to the point where you'd only see the orginal when you were told about it. That's how Albrecht Dürer and J.R.R. Tolkien did it, to name a few.
Seriousely, pick up a copy of the Poëtic Edda, there's a chapter in there dedicated entirely to summing up the names of the dwarves. Now find ONE dwarven name in Tolkien's work that is not found in that list. You know what, on second thought, don't, because you can't.
This amount of Photoshop knowledge truly amazes me.
Can you make a slower perhaps more descriptive video please? I have never used clouds, or custom brushes so I have no idea what I am doing when I am simulating your actions. I understand this is not a Photoshop tutorial but it would be very helpful. Thank you!
I didn't use them either before a year or two ago. I think it helps to watch several different fantasy map tutorials and google all the terms and settings used to understand what they do. And be sure to play around with them on a low stakes canvas. That's what really helped me. It'll take a while, but it'll really help your familiarity with the settings.
hey, I'm a fantasy author too! I've used a lot of your videos to help keep my stories relistic!!
I RP with me world's too, XD
This is nothing short of incredible. I'm halfway through the video and so far it seems almost art grad student quality.
i cant follow this there are clearly steps involved in this that aren't explained when i tried to follow this all that happened was that the map image was pasted on top of everything and the cloud layer was visible behind it but it was a mess of black splotches i dont know how to have the stuff he puts over the map happen
This is by far my favorite map tutorial! This will be so useful for my D&D campaign!! Thanks you!
just some photoshop advies.
Tips:
1. use layer masks it is far less destructive workflow: you can add on to a layer by clicking the mask button at the bottem of the layers tab it's the third from the left icon. it's a black and white layer black is mask white is 100% transparent, plus if you have something selected with you marquee tool if makes the mask for you. layer maps can also be masked like this.
2. Link layers safes time masking multiple layers: press alt and left mouse between 2 layers and you'll see the mouse cursor icon that is a right angled arrow with a box. this will make the top layer a child of the bottom layer, you can do this with more then one layer but the bottom of the chain will always be the parent layer on wich the child will mask. so if you have say a square or what ever as a parent and the child layers will be masked tot the parent. so it will be cut off where the square ends without deleting part of the child layer incase you wish to change anything on the child layer. layer maps can also be used as parent layers
3. use the levels and brightness/contrasts layers: gives you more control over the black and white areas and light and dark parts of the images. you can use this with the layer linking to only effect one chain of layers. you can find them if you click the middel icon at the bottom of the layers tab.
optional:
4. for a nice finished look: if you want you can at a color lookup and a last level layers on top. first select all the layers press Ctrl-Alt-Shift-E (PC) or Command-Option-Shift-E (Mac). this will merge all the layers into a new layer on top without losing all the layers. Second add a level or/and brightness/contrasts layer play with the settings thill you are happy if not needed skip this step then as final you can go to the top of you photoshop windows go to Image->Adjustments->Color Lookup... here in the 3DLUT files you can basically chose out of pre-set color filters is make the whole images/map color fit toghter. make sure preview is on (bottom right of the color Lookup window).
Workflow:
-Keep your shit clean and organized: make layer maps and name stuff, Photoshop is a layered system like paper top layer is on top bottom layer is on the bottom and if you have to find with the right layer for you tree in a 30 layered file it can get annoying sometimes.
-try to be as least destructive as you can: don't delete but mask. incase you want to make changes it is so much easier.
ooh and double click on a layer to open the layer effects of the layer you can do stroke, bevel, etc there, but know if you do this with linked layers some effects will overwrite the child/parent chain. link fill color in effect will fill the whole chain with that single color etc.
I can't wait to try this. I have a couple of different fantasy map designs that I have been wanting to make.
This is a really good guide. But nowadays (for people wondering) there's actually programs specifically built for people wanting to create their own fantasy world, no reason to play with clouds on different layers and what not which is typically the most complicated part for noobs. One of those programs being World Anvil.
I do the same thing but I enjoy pencil and a large piece of drafting paper to put more personal touches.
Cool man, reminds me of India, the mountains though remind me of the Urals.
This would be actually really good for heightmaps! Thanks Shad.
I find one of the most important parts of maps is the hardest; tectonics and weather. Figuring out what realistic mountain ranges, elevations, etc is hard. Figuring out how that would affect weather patterns is even harder but super important, because climate shapes the environment which would shape what kind of cultures could believably live there.
Hmmmm, there's no scale on the map. A map without scale is not very useful.
I feel like that is the mordor mountains
The broken isles is next to a swirling vortex. You know what that reminds me of, World of Warcraft.
For anybody unaware in the centre of the world is the swirling maelstrom with a place to the north east of it called the broken isles.
Thanks for this video Shad it really helped me in worldbuilding and map making, even though it took a while to figure out some parts.
Holy Fetch, you and Jazza are BROTHERS!? I thought it was just a case of, "Hey we're both popular Australian youtubers, so let's become friends!"
I was also lately into amking rpg, ff style, that really helped
+wastedangelematis I'm glad to have helped ^_^
Thanks so much for doing this vid it really helped me to make a map for my world I never would've thought of half of these tricks on my own.
Rivers do sometimes split, take a look at a map of the Rhein.
Even though I have no idea how to use photoshop so most of this made at best, little sense to me, this was still really perfect for me because I was hoping to build a game world here and found some cool ideas here :3
It's especially strange I came across this cuz I never even once looked up anything on map making so what a pleasant coincidence.
WHAT???!!! JAZZA IS A GAMER! A TABLE TOP RPG GAMER! HE JUST GOT COOLER!
From the very beginning you're missing critical steps that most beginners would miss, such as when you rendered Clouds, you have two main colors grey and white. Most people doing this would have the default Black and White, which would lead to more darker areas.
Hey Shad, I love this video to bits, and just downloaded the free trial of the creative cloud version of photoshop to give it a try. the issue that i am having is sadly coming right from the start, and that is the fact that when i add my hard mix layer, i get loads of black, but then after i lighten the clouds layer, when i go over it with the paintbrush on multiply i get disjointed islands, not a cohesive continent, no matter what my opacity is set at on the brush. any tips?
There is a program called Inkarnate, that you can easyly make a fantasy map, it's for free, and is not necessary to upload it.
The details are very beautifull, and the mecanics is very simple. The only problem is resolution, and the draw area e is not enouth to larger maps, and it can representate a anoyng limitation sometimes.
However, the program is very good, helped me a lot. I recomend it, and there is a lot of tutorial videos on TH-cam about this program.
You can find Inkarnate on this link:
inkarnate.com/
I'm terrible with photoshop, so this program was a easy way for me.
NOTE ON THE HARD MIX AND EMBOSS TRICKS: these tricks require RGBA channels to work. This means that you need to be in RGB mode, and for instance can't use the Lab colorspace. I personally use the Lab colorspace because it makes color blending look much more natural. To get these tricks to work, you can just do these parts of the project in RGB and then copy and paste the relevant layers into a Lab project where you do all the colors.
Hi Shad. Wondering what version of PS you are (still) using. They changed the lighting effects pretty drastically from CS6 on (directional lighting is gone, there is only spot, pin and infinite lighting). For the landscape texture you can still use infinite lighting, but you have to use a separate bevel & emboss for the coast lines.
I did enjoy your video though. Your methods are a little unorthodox sometimes, but that also means you come up with interesting techniques that I would have never thought of myself (I teach PS to future ad designers).
EDIT - And a tip: after I was done with my mountain ranges, I rasterized the layer and then used a layer mask on it to make the edges of the ranges blend in a little more with the underlying map. But I guess that is mostly an artistic choice.
Great tutorial
looks awesome! if id done it there is only one thing id really have done differently. I would have a little bit of desert spill over the mountains near Oswor to represent some kinda desertification, as i think that would look really neat. but all in all a seriously good map.
+The Golux You're right, that would look better, thanks for pointing it out. I'm honored you like.
im glad you like the idea! nerd that i am i was thinking about how that could influence the lore of the land, and stuff.
As a person who has used photoshop for about a decade, I can recognize that drawing and creating graphics on photoshop for fun is kinda like this. But this is not really a tutorial, this is "Watch me screw around in photoshop".
The map is kinda ok, but all this can be achieved easier, faster and with a lot less steps.
[Trigger warning]
I would stick with the original map, it is pretty cool as it is.
yeah that's true. The word "tutorial" has lost its meaning, people just using this word like "look, I don't know anything, just randomly pressing the buttons and I'm kind of teaching you how to do it". This video sucks.
Man i miss tabletop time, it was awesome.
Loved the vid Shad I may use this tutorial! Can't wait to see Rob's Campaign!
+Insert Sense of Humor Here It's going to be fun!
+I am Shad can i have a hightmap from this map?
you dont happen to know how to acheive this same effect in gimp do you?
I am not very experienced in using either photoshop nor gimp (using gimp because i cannot afford PS) but nevertheless i managed to render the clouds, although they look slightly different. But i cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the "bleed through"-effect when burning the clouds to the gray layer, nothing seems to work and it has to do with the "hard mix" part, now obviously it's not called that in gimp but there should be some similar equivalent but this is where your tutorial is very lacking, you dont explain much what the different elements actually do, if i knew what effect the hard mix has i can find a gimp equivalent that has the same function but a different name.
Mr BigCookie yeah i'd like to know that too
i just figured it out, or at least sort of. In the layers menu of gimp, right above the layers themselves it says normal somewhere
You can get Photoshop CS2 for free from Adobe. :)
Before anyone says anything about CS6 blah blah, I do not condone renting software and I still use CS2 after all these years. I bought CS3. What a waste. Annoying, buggy piece of shit. Same with CS4. The unchangeable annoyances are unforgivable.
So yeah, CS2 it is for the win!
Or you can click here. :)
th-cam.com/video/HLmOpEETjEo/w-d-xo.html
1.: Figure stuff out BEFORE you do the tutorial.
2.: Do an EXACT description of what you are doing
This tutorial is convoluted and confusing, and it takes several times of watching it and putting it under the microscope until you can figure it out.
It does take a few times and some rewatching but ive been looking for something like this for a while so im just happy its here
Great tutorial...and can't wait for the return of TTT!
+Philbrush Thanks and me either!
Shad, you have some fun techniques here. They give away the fact that you were taught by graphic designers and not game developers, but it matters not in the end. There are many ways to achieve the same results in Photoshop. That's what makes it such a great program.
"I fiddle with layer effects..." Amen! I always teach try everything with everything because you never know what you are going to create. :)
You should try making yourself some custom brushes though.
For those of you who think Shad is going too fast, put away your damn Wacom and grab a real mouse. ;)
Awesome technique, I just wished it was a LOT slower and divided into smaller videos, each one explaining the techinique used. Like, one explaining how to do the land masses, the next one explaining how to do mountains, than coloring, etc.
this was kinda helpful but at the same time i was lost after making a lay hard mix, so i just dicked around and made a map that i think looks kinda good. i do know some things now such as my copy of photoshop will crash my comp if i make a canvas over 3000 pixels witch kinda sucks
That's a pretty cool map. I wish I could make such a map, however I can't get Photoshop so I'll just have to stick with paint
Use GIMP its free software
so, I use GIMP instead of Photoshop, and I've noticed there isin't a mask option called "hard mix", is there another way, or do I have to look up for another tutorial to make it with gimp instead of photoshop?
The latest version of GIMP has a hard mix layer option, found in the Mode drop down menu. I've attempted this in GIMP, trying to decipher the instructions and the video and have been unsuccessful.
Thanks have been trying to find a way to make my own map for roll 20 for my realm
you need to consider geology and climate when making the map. start with a single supercontinent and break it up, maybe some meteors or volcanoes have affected the land in certain places, maybe some places go underwater or come up. it's not just about making it look good
Great tutorial! Thanks!
It's a giant green clownfish you drew there mate
That is several million times better than the maps I make for my adventures in D&D 1st Edition
this might be a good guide, but I don't think it is a good tutorial. it's a pre-recorded video that plays way to fast to follow (at least at my ''current'' skill level), which he talks over as its playing and tries to explain what he did. but the end results look great so I might come back later en pick up a few tricks.
I would quite interested if he ever dose a more step by step video/Series from scratch
that was pretty cool
ha ha ha i love it very clever.
i went and tried some these things in photoshop right off the bat and theyre great.
Hey Shad, I really liked this video and thought it was quite informative, I was just wondering, where you got your brushes from? there are some interestingly cool ones there i'd like to experiment with ;)
Can you make this again, but with new tech and knowledge? Also, one for just drawing? I’m trying to make a globe-sized map, and on a poster board.
Would be cool if you revisited this video idea and made an improved version
good lord, how do I shoot web? This is a great video because even when writing a story, at one point, when you have multiple locations, EVENTUALLY you're gonna have to make some kind of map--if not directions and place locations become kind of vague...
But this is pretty...fast...for a tutorial.
Fantastic map! Now i'll make some for myself ;)
This narration is total chaos. Speeding through the actions, and often times describing what you did on step 7, as you are performing step 12, for example. Skipping descriptions of half the actions. There seems to be some good learning here, but it's such a hodge-podge.
Fun stuff! Do you spend any time on the Cartographer's Guild website? I haven't been active there for a few years, but it was fun while I did it.
This helps making a map look nice, sure, but I was hoping for tips on drawing a map in the first place. It's always the part I have the most trouble with. What geographic features should go where? How does this feature affect that feature? Does it even make sense for rivers to go where I have them going? THESE are important to me as a DM and prospective writer; I can always outsource prettification.
Also, places towns would, and more importantly, would not be. In addition, at the city/town/village level, I'm terrible at making maps of them.
Addendum: you answer the river thing partially at about the 23rd minute. It does help a little.
Thanks for this! gonna be so useful for my map :)
Oh sht I did not know this trick before! Now... I want to redo my own map.
*Looks at the Thumbnail*
Oooohhhh, Spain and/or not-quite-spain!
I mean, just look at it. I'd not be surprised to see a -Muslim- Orkish invasion.
Photoshop 16 won't let me achieve the proper effects of burning the cloud render to get the land masses or shorelines.
Yeah, me too.
Same here.
If you turn the opacity down on the cloud layer you will get a similar effect.
awesome!
Could you do a video on the possibility of Crown of the Gods castles being historically relevant and technically sound
It looks like Spain with a lake in the middle complete with the Pyrenees
Can you make a video of how did you make the brushes? I'm toying around with presets, settings and all but can't get the same feel of randomness
Revisited this video after years when I got my hand on photoshop. Not sure if it is the version difference that make it weirder but it'll be cool if you can revisit this with an earlier version of ps and explain the steps in much more details cuz I am already stuck on the cloud filter cuz for some damn reason mine have way to much black and the brush multiply doesn't give the same effects as yours, been tweaking a bunch of stuff but get nothing, instead making it looks worse, oof.
What are the brushes did you use or least how did you set them up in PS? I'd love to learn how to make maps sorta like these, it seems like alot of fun~
Looks like Noel Fielding's Cockney Hitchhiker
geographically the opening map is simular to one i made, though insted of a desert there's a glacier and the cities are different
Bro you gotta name your layers lol
LOL I never do that unless I'm working on a studio computer. My personal library consists of tens of thousands of textures, some with hundreds of layers.... all still default labeled.
I can't use Lighting Effects, it is grayed out, i tried setting image to 8-bit, to 32-bit, and it still is not working, Color is on RGB... I Created the Alpha 1 Channel, i pasted the Cloud Landmass, i made new layer, colored it gray, and tried to go Filter/Edit/Lighting Effect but Lighting Effect is Grayed out... Pls Help!!!
Help, i get stuck when i reach 14 min. what do i need to do next? I do not understand the tutorial fully.
Why does this map remind me of Oblivion's map so much?
17:26 this heghtmap can be easily transformed into a TES game map through tesannwyn tool.
what are your settings, in my photoshop din't work
wheel of time much?
hell you even have tier in the same spot just with a different name, the island layout is simmilar (the broken isles would be 1 large one) Ytora is the blight and the wastelands = the aiel waste/the three fold land
Rivers do split into 2 near the ocean. These are called Deltas. Look at the Nile, Euphrates, Mississippi. Remember that Shad is an enthusiastic amateur and never take him as an expert in anything.
Split into more than 2 usually near the ocean because of the loose and low lying land is what I meant--- and Shad has no Deltas.
They don't split. It's a bit more complicated, there are a lot of videos on that.
@@wanderingwizard1361 Also, a lot of rivers don't have deltas.
Do a vid about your books
Hey there Shad,
about half a week ago i came across your Rogue Star series, and absolutely loved it!
I've never played a pen and paper rpg before, but immediately wanted to give it a try.
So ofcourse i asked my friends, and they were down with it.
Thing is, none of us have ever played a P&P RPG before, and in the session we'll be playing next weekend, it will be both my very first time playing, aswell as my first time narrating.
After asking the 2 friends im playing with expressed they'd like to do a zombie apocalypse setting, and i decided we'd use the Cogent system as its easy to learn and works well.
Do you have any tips or advise for someone who is narrating their first ever game, and playing their first ever p&prpg at the same time?
Thanks for taking the time to read this,
Loving rogue star and looking forward to watching you guys' new series when im finished with rogue star,
Joel Mulder
+Joel Hey Joel, it's awesome that you're giving it a go, well done mate. I've made a couple of videos on how to narrate so I hope they help:
th-cam.com/video/F3TsziEAnX0/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/H6p2oPZaPRo/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/mLHxX3mzyC4/w-d-xo.html
Just relax, have fun with it and you guys will have a great time.
Shadiversity s
Hey there Shad, This is a great map, I'm so damn jealous that I am Unable to make something half as good as this. Keep up the good work man.
So I have independently subscribed to both your channel and Jazza's channels at different times for different reasons. Weird
Not every coast is rugged, some are pretty smooth, look at Africa, Australia, the Americas, South asia
You should design games maps, Elder Scrolls 6♥️👍
i remember that map from when i was younger.....deltora i think it is
No big cities without sources of fresh water you say? Got to be located next to rivers? I reject your logic! In my own setting, there's an empire built around the fact that their cities are the literal _source_ of fresh water and all the rivers in their lands, as well as even the rainfall itself. And if their vassals refuse to pay the due tribute, they'll cut off the water and stop the rains.
(The truth of the matter is that the empires flagrant abuse of water magic on a massive scale, is the express reason the surrounding lands dried up and became an arid desert in the first place. But don't tell the dependent vassals that.)
Though yeah, spare special cases where god-damned wizards are screwing with things, I guess that's good advice. '-'
I see you watched One Piece.
One Piece? Only a tiny bit. Not enough to know about what you're referring to there though. Just a coincidence. They have a similar thing in it then? ^_^;
( Damn pirates must have stole my idea... )
Yeah, the Alabasta arc is pretty simmilar to what you described. Only the monarchy is not actually to blame for the lack of rain, it was a setup to seem like that. You should watch it, it's pretty neat.
Interesting, in my setting the wizards have limited power and pay a enourmous price for their use of mana.