10 Rules for Believable Fantasy Maps

Rules for World Building. How to draw fantasy maps that are realistic - it's science!
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[@WASD20]

Video Notes: 1) "Is it 11 rules or 10!? You inconsistent, lying sack of troll dung!" Well, there are 11 rules, but after filming I decided that the 11th rule (break the rules) was not really much of a rule, so I changed the title. Is it really 11? I'll let you homebrew that answer. 2) Yes, the earth is indeed on a 23.5 degree tilt. You may have sensed my uncertainty when I said 45. I had no idea and just kept letting words come out of my mouth. :) It's a bad habit. 3) There are exceptions to nearly all of these rules, but the lonely mountain one is the one I'm finding the most of thanks to you all pointing out some fairly lonely peaks. BUT there are still always other mountains relatively nearby (on Earth). ALL of these rules are 'rules of thumb', and not hard and fast must-haves. 4) I'd like to RE-emphasize - It's okay to break the rules of the way things tend to naturally occur on Earth. Don't stress it, and have fun drawing maps.

[@DexteroExplosion]

As far as number 2 goes, isn't that just the most DM thing to do, taking a stab at it and looking it up later? ;) Great video.

[@WASD20]

@@DexteroExplosion This viewer gets it. ^^

[@Arkangel630]

Lets be honest you changed it to be more algorithm friendly

[@WASD20]

Haha. Is that thing? If so, I'll use it.

[@Nussram]

If you want to see a wierd river you have to look at loch ness in scotland ... it is coast to coast and there are lakes with two rivers its wierd ....

[@Numi50]

I guess the same goes for mapmaking as any form of art: Never break the rules out of ignorance, know them well so you can break them deliberately and with purpose.

[@totallycarbon2106]

Ah-ha! But having codified this as a rule, I can now break this rule deliberately and with purpose to break other rules out of ignorance! :P

[@PearlOfIncandescence]

@@totallycarbon2106 No need to do it on purpose, it will happen naturally since you can never know everything and you won't know that you don't know ;)

[@tahmkenchusta5852]

@@PearlOfIncandescence but what if i know?

[@reeck771]

@@tahmkenchusta5852 but you won’t

[@tahmkenchusta5852]

@@reeck771 but what if i do

[@lewisgiles2619]

Large cities require large amounts of food. They would most likely be surrounded by several farming communities. The bigger the city, the more farmland.

[@KayossSZ]

Was thinking for my world consisting of five "great nations" that there'd be a large open plain smack dab in the middle that serves as the breadbasket of the world. It would be generally agreed upon as the neutral ground with no nation claiming ownership.

[@lettherebedragons8885]

Or just go Rome and conquer Egypt.

[@lewisgiles2619]

@@lettherebedragons8885 Ah yes! That is a great point too.

[@97Lithane]

​@@KayossSZ Seems unrealistic to have 5 countries agreeing to anything, let alone sharing land. And if it's in the middle, everyone would have to march their troops through to fight anyone else, unless they are all pacifists...

[@windy8544]

@@KayossSZ Pretty much impossible, as the nation that conquers the plains ends up ruling the entire continent. That agreement would last 20 years at best.

[@doodlefawn4742]

"It's only when you know the rules, can you break them." Some solid advice from my art teacher about how taboo it was to use black oil paint, but applies generally.

[@darkmyro]

I had a writing teacher that said the same thing. People like to see grammar and language as a solid never-changing thing, but the language and grammar change over time. Though as you said it applies generally. everything in moderation.

[@elijahwalls7007]

That’s also how jazz music works.

[@Kamakiri86]

@@elijahwalls7007 And cooking.

[@scintillam_dei]

@@darkmyro English is a bastardization of previous forms. But rap crap jargon is the worst, objectively, and if you disagree, you might just be a CENSORED CENSORED-ing CENSORED CENSORED... shiiii....

[@Outland9000]

I loved 'breaking the rules' to annoy and frustrate my art teachers. 😄

[@Jack-kx5rf]

My explanation for my "lonely mountain". An Elven King wanted to paint a mountain by itself but wanted something real to draw. So he ordered his slave dwarves to mine all the other mountains in the area terraforming the land.

[@Whitsoxrule1]

I love this. When I read the first 2 sentences I thought you were going to say he made the slave Dwarves build a mountain in the middle of nowhere, I like yours too

[@GBS4893]

This is a neat idea.

[@asunflower7993]

May I use this

[@schwarzerritter5724]

It could be a long dead volcano. There is actually one where I live. It even has a castle ruin on top.

[@_DarkEmperor]

Can You imagine how much money it would cost? So, this Elven King ruined completely economy of his kingdom and starved his subjects to death to paint a picture... I call him the stupidest Dark Lord (TM) in history of fantasy.

[@metronicmagician1816]

Ok so I have a funny story involving a single mountain. A friend of mine was really annoyed (almost angry) that there was this random mountain in the middle of a dessert in one of my campaigns, and would constantly complain about how it’s impossible to the point where the group would make fun of his annoyance. The campaign ends with the mountain which was a sleeping earth elemental getting up and fighting a giant not-Cthulhu monster that the party was trying to stop. The look on the guy’s face when this happened was and still is priceless, and this event created the in joke amount my group “don’t worry it’s just an elemental” whenever someone gets annoyed over something really small.

[@Nugcon]

lmao

[@olivercastillo4843]

where is that in D&D or like a videogame or something?

[@JayStryerTheDeadWizard]

@@olivercastillo4843 in d&d

[@bobthet-rex2718]

Was that planned at the beginning or did you change it just to annoy him?

[@metronicmagician1816]

@BobTheT-rex it was planned as flavor text that people believed it to be an elemental which along with other beliefs helped fuel a cult that believed a large amount of the nature in this realm was created by the death of prime elementals (their goal was to awaken one for power). I will say they were never meant to wake the mountain up rather there was a water prime elemental that was originally going to aid them, but I specifically changed it to the mountain so I could annoy him a little.

[@LividImp]

This bearded space alien is pretty smart. He has much to teach our species. We should listen to him.

[@michaelmartin9022]

Dollar shave club: We want to sponsor your videos. Guy: I like having a beard, but I do need the money...

[@lokkidenuuk]

You can make a religion out of this

[@zeromancer-x]

He's also a hardy creature, capable of surviving Planet Michigan's icy climate.

[@LividImp]

@@zeromancer-x That would explain the sleek dome. Easier to squeegee off the snow.

[@scintillam_dei]

Aliens are fantasy but atheists have too much faith in them to admit that.

[@majike0355]

I know this probably falls under the "climate is complicated' umbrella, but I always think of ocean currents when making maps. Cold water = cold coats (and vise versa), bottleneck areas (such as the Carribean or the Straight of Magellan are going to have quick/rough currents, warm water = bigger storms, etc... I have a fantasy map where one side of a mountain range is super lush and green, but nobody wants to live there because of the big storms and harsh winds coming from the seas-side.

[@dragonlord8415]

True, but keep in mind humanity has often set up near Volcanoes to get the fertile ground their ash provides. Humanity seems to keep farming ability over saftey usually.

[@CelestialAnamoly]

Neat! Something to consider!

[@orngjce223]

Perhaps people would eventually colonize it but use things like tiny dips as natural terraces, and their fields would be broken up into tiny hexagons surrounded by planted trees as windbreaks, and build their homes drilled into the side of the mountain so they can't blow away...

[@misterrea861]

As a former geography teacher, I can't thank you enough for this video!

[@G-Blockster]

I took a geography class my sophomore year to satisfy a college credit requirement. That was also the first time I decided to run an epic fantasy campaign. I applied all the lessons into world creation, not only to make a more realistic experience, but also to motivate me to better retain the information. I finished with a 98% at semester's end. And my players appreciated the internal consistency and realism.

[@syn_2529]

@@G-Blockster ok who asked tho

[@parkerdalrymple4398]

@@G-Blockster That’s awesome.

[@allergictocarpet]

@@syn_2529 who asked you

[@carlosvillanueva8530]

How many planets in our solar system does these rules apply to? We all know that Saturn would float on water. So why would Earth be the only realistic planet to make a setting based on? That is like saying, "The Earth is the most natural setting because Elves live here.

[@uasj2]

Being an Australian, my pet hate for fantasy maps, or even just descriptions of places in fantasy fiction, is that 9 times out of 10 north is cold and south is hot - ie: the continent/island/place is in the northern hemisphere of its fantasy world! I suppose it comes naturally to you people on the “top” half of the planet to imagine it just has to get colder the further north you go and that icy wind - well it has just gotta be coming from the north. I was born and bred with the cold winds blowing south from Antarctica where the birds fly north for the winter and so that’s the way a draw my maps.

[@dreamingblue3939]

I made my first fantasy map with the cold region in the South- the Northern countries were along the equator and known as the warm countries in my world :)

[@xantishayde-walker4593]

I present to you, Exhibit A: Avatar: The Last Airbender. Southern Water Tribe. ;)

[@johnmanthorpe4640]

@Warren Higgins Tasmanian here, can confirm Australia's a myth. As if there's be a place north of me that's actually warmer then it is here.

[@DarDarBinks1986]

Just once, I'd like to see a fantasy map set in the southern hemisphere of the planet. Earth does not stop at the Equator.

[@spendilten]

fantastic and true same in new zealand

[@makinishikino7410]

When you realise geology is gonna help you when mapmaking...

[@stein1919]

I would have paid more attention in that class if it was taught from the perspective of making fantasy maps

[@vepristhorn8278]

I would recommend picking up a book on geomorphology it will help a lot

[@vernicethompson4825]

Find a really good geology textbook to read and for future reference.

[@BookWyrmOnAString]

I love ur pfp

[@makinishikino7410]

@@BookWyrmOnAString It's Maki Nishikino from Love Live! I used to have a Yandere-Chan profile picture but I changed it because I got interested in Love Live and also people would say "I thought you were YandereDev" and it gets a bit annoying when you receive a lot of those replies.

[@ForlanceAbice]

Timestamps... 1. Rivers Don't Split 2:00 2. Lakes Have One River Draining 3:20 3. No Coast to Coast Rivers 4:03 4. No Lonely Mountains 5:55 5. Consider the Rain Shadow Effect 8:06 6. Plate Tectonics Affect Continent Shapes 9:47 7. Plate Tectonics Affect Mountain Formation 12:09 8. Settlements Near Water 13:45 9. Ports in Sheltered Areas 14:40 10. Use Climate Common Sense 16:00 11. Break the Rules! 17:15

[@toddkes5890]

Rivers not splitting - good way to show that someone has been building a canal at that location, or someone is planning on sieging a castle and is attempting to drain the moat

[@Salt_Master_Queue]

With the last rule, he pulled a Leonard Snark on us.

[@Ironfist85hu1]

@@toddkes5890 Actually, there is a splitting river on Earth. :) It's in Venezuela, called Brazo Casiquiare, and the Orinoco splits to two, the lesser part runs to Rio Negro, what eventually flows to Amazonas. And it is full natural.

[@Archeides]

@@Ironfist85hu1 He said in the video there are rare exceptions.

[@Ironfist85hu1]

@@Archeides I know. I just told this, because I think it's interesting.

[@RicoLen1]

I remember when I went to make my world, I ended up talking with a geophysicist friend I went to high school and college with and we created together a kind of binary planetary system (technically there were 3 worlds, but 2 of them were habitable and the surface of the other was constantly getting torn to shreds by the gravity of the other larger and much more stable 2). It was very eye opening to me during the conversations my friend and I had that small changes in how a world would differ from Earth would have widespread and dramatic changes to life on that world. That was when I learned that if humans were to ever colonize Mars, the first naturally born Martians would end up being a foot or two taller than Earthlings and with so little bone density they'd never be able to return to Earth without some kind of suit to keep their bones from breaking under the gravity. And those changes would only be due to Mars smaller amount of gravity. If you change the tilt of the axis the planet rotates on and you get rid of or drastically increase the intensity of summer and winter and the springs and autumns become intensely turbulent. Also I stopped taking Game of Thrones seriously with talk of a Winter that lasted years and a summer that lasted months. Life couldn't evolve on a planet without a stable axis. And finally magic became the most fun thing to work with using theoretical science using chemistry and micro organisms. You don't even need mystical entities, just put your gaming world on an alien world, drop its culture back to the middle ages and start inventing mystical explanations for scientific phenomenon and everything works out amazingly well. All of that spawned just from me wanting to make a realistic map for my game world.

[@davidmedina8136]

Maybe you can sort of justify GOT winters because of the fact that Westeros is in the northernmost part of its planet, and that world is huge and still mostly unexplored. I know it’s still too extreme, but I think there’s also some magic at play.

[@freakymoejoe2]

@@davidmedina8136 I always just assumed it was magic

[@tanegram]

Did you write your ideas somewhere? These sound excellent and I am actually interested in the whole "binary star" world building!

[@RicoLen1]

@@tanegram Yeah. I'm about 190k words into a book I was writing, and have a lot of notes.

[@tanegram]

RicoLen1 mind sharing them?

[@jimschuler8830]

Another rule: Landmasses do not develop with the boundaries of an A6 piece of paper in mind.

[@NickGreyden]

I was curious so I looked this up. It never occured to me before that different western countries would have different sizes of paper. I just assumed everyone used 8.5x11 paper :-(

[@OriginalPiMan]

Why would you use A6? That's tiny. I'd have thought A5 or A4 for rough maps, and A3 or bigger for maps that you want people to take as accurate.

[@OriginalPiMan]

@@NickGreyden The A and B paper sizes are really handy. If you fold it in half you have the next size down and if you put two side by side you have the next size up. A4 is the most similar to letter size and is the most common size used for most purposes.

[@KuraIthys]

as with most things, America has to be the odd one out. XD Well, in this case I think there's more exceptions, but the various lettered paper sizes are the more common types, I think. There's the A series, and the B series, and even the C series. The A series is the standard paper sizes, while the C series largely exists for envelopes. (a C series envelope is made to easily fit the size of A series paper it matches. So a C4 envelope fits A4 paper.) The B series is more niche, and is sort of the intermediate sizes between two A series sizes. However, B0 is exactly 1 metre wide, and each size down from that is half the size, as with the A series, so I guess this is useful in specialised situations and fits well with the metric system... The rationale of this system is that the paper has a very specific ratio such that if you cut it in half, the ratio is maintained. (unlike US paper sizes, which much like the US and imperial units fit together in seemingly haphazard and random ways.) A0 is the largest size, and each size down from that is half as big, but maintains the exact same ratio. Thus you can print something on an A4 sheet of paper, or scale it up and print it at double size on A3 paper and the proportions will remain identical. Similarly, you can cut an A0 sheet into two A1 sheets, which can then be cut into two A2 sheets, which become two A3 sheets, which become two A4 sheets, and so on. (it follows that 16 A4 pages fit perfectly with no waste into a single A0 sheet.) It's a very well thought out system, but it literally only works because the page has a very specific aspect ratio. If the page had any other ratio, the whole thing wouldn't work and you wouldn't be able to combine smaller sheets into larger ones, or cut larger ones into multiple smaller ones in such an exact way. The ratio of all A series paper is 1 to the square root of 2. (A0 also has an area of exactly 1 square metre). This specific ratio is why you can cut sheets in half along it's long axis and the halves will retain the same ratio. This also means you can make any smaller size in the series from any larger size. it has a lot going for it, much like the metric system. But it's not quite as widespread as the metric system is...

[@OriginalPiMan]

For more info, check out Matt Parker's video on BBC Earth Lab's channel called "Paper Sizes Explained".

[@candiedginger8729]

Oceanography can help you "break the rules". An ocean current that carries warmer water to colder areas you can create places like the Atlantic coast of Ireland where palm trees grow yet isn't a tropical region. I believe this is considered a micro climate ... like the north side of a house in Michigan that holds snow and ice well into spring while the south side of the same house has flowers blooming.

[@crazyloverofcats]

I live in Michigan and can attest to this. Our weather can also change within an afternoon and sometimes multiple times.

[@leetwood1119]

I know I'm a bit late to this party, but great video! One note: a solitary-ish mountain could also be the result of an asteroid impact - such craters often end up with a central spire. Though there is also likely to be one or more rings of hills or mountains around it.

[@filiaaut]

Solitary hills also exist in the form of spoil tips. When the mine is operating, it looks like the gigantic pile of garbage it is, but they can be revegetated. They still have a distinct look to them, and the big ones are just a couple hundred meters tall (around 6 hundred feet) but since you typically find them in really flat areas, they do stand out. They of course do not occur naturally, but they are realistic, at least in a society that relies or relied on mining ressources (ore, coal, potash...) at some point.

[@Vinemaple]

Also, you can make it something other than an actual mountain... like, for example, Devil's Tower, which is a gigantic basalt lava plug between the Black Hills and the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Or Uluru, which is a massive rock outcrop whose geology I'm ignorant of, in the middle of the central Australian scrubland. Both are visible for miles in every direction, and have great spiritual significance, even to some White settlers.

[@abyrupus]

Great video. These rules are true most of the times. Some interesting exceptions include - (i) Rivers can have distributaries (proper ones, not deltas), but even these are generally close to the end-point near the sea. (ii) Lakes can have Zero rivers draining them - due to acquefiers (underground rivers). These underground networks often connect water-bodies that appear to be separate on surface level. (iii) Certain lakes form in the crater of volcanoes. These lakes are entirely filled up with rain-water, and completely isolated from other water-masses.

[@maearcher4721]

Other interesting exceptions are times when rivers split naturally. For example, in South Morroco, small seasonal rivers going to river Draa often split. Why? How is that possible? Because of lack of vegetation cover in Anti-Atlas mountains and rainfall coming all at once in a short time(usually only during winter)-hence rainfall comes away in floods and takes lots of soil with it, which just in delta starts to deposit somewhere and hence rivers split and usually reconect later on.

[@siliciaveerah9327]

Also bifurcation lakes exist (lakes with two outlets) Isa lake is an example draining into both the pacific ocean and the atlantic, and Finland has many bifurcation lakes. The thing about those lakes is that the flows are not equal and actually quite a few lose a flow because of human interference.

[@iceman3317]

There are also man made lakes.

[@CrusaderSports250]

Love the idea of a lake draining into another via an underground passage, giving a lake with no tributary, the two lakes could even be different sides of a mountain range, one on the lush rainy side the other on the arid desert side, plenty of ground for some epic stories out of that. ☺️.

[@Vinemaple]

All three were acknowledged, albeit briefly, in the video.

[@moritamikamikara3879]

"Port cities are always built in places that are ice free all year around" *Laughs in St. Petersburg*

[@WASD20]

Nope. Didn't say always. :) Definitely said "generally".

[@jaihummel5057]

I was confused because I don't live far from St. Petersburg FL and I was like haha, what? We get zero ice bro.

[@moritamikamikara3879]

@@jaihummel5057 Maybe not right now, but I'm a student of History. In the siege of Leningrad (You get why the names changed) large parts of the bay froze and people crossed the ice to get supplies into the city. I also seem to remember something about the Russian Baltic fleet being unable to leave port at some point, I think it was in the Crimean war, due to ice.

[@Biverix]

​@@moritamikamikara3879 I don't remember the Russian Baltic fleet ever besieging Florida

[@moritamikamikara3879]

@@Biverix ? What's that got to do with this?

[@odinforce29]

For me the biggest rule is, Start with the mauntains and the topography. Everything else is derivative of that. Rivers will run from the mountains to the coast, if there are any plateaus they may have waterfalls. Also kingdoms will form themselves based on the rivers, mauntains and valleys around them. It makes everything much more consistent and easier to make, and therefore more believeable.

[@WASD20]

This is my method too. I recommend it.

[@tomasxfranco]

*mountains

[@french_bread4961]

So like, say you want to create a massive river system that basically connects the continent, after considering the size of said continent, you would have massive mountain ranges on the opposite sides of the continent were all of the rivers leading to the MAIN river originate, and gradually have the land getting lower and lower until it reaches the MAIN river area, right? I like the idea of this because: say the main civilizations on the continent all have at least some of the tributary rivers within their borders, they are relatively opposite of each other except for one that is actually situated on the MAIN river, and this massive river system gives comparitively easy access to a sea which is THE major source of trade between far flung, coastally situated, civilizations. Because of this whole situation, their would be: a) a civilization situated literally in between everyone, which could become a major points of conflict for them. b) multiple empires vying for control of the river system to make movement in general (for troops, trade, administration, etc.) much easier. c) all leading to a very rich history made up of people and how they had adjusted to the situation.

[@odinforce29]

@@french_bread4961 Exactly, and also the areas around rivers, specially the junction of two or more, are the most fertile lands of the area. Geographic positioning and resources are the main source of conflict in our world, all the subsequent modern wars are bad blood from those early territorial conflicts (not counting religion of course). The cultures, religions and languages also reflect the characteristics of the region the people are in, like the mongolians who where a horse riding nomadic people, mostly because they lived in a wide, low grass plains with rivers far apart, which structured their whole society.

[@sleepysera]

Or you can do it the other way around, and say "I need a secluded town here, and a river there, now let me shape the rest of the land in a way so that it makes sense for these things to be where they are and have the culture they have". As long as you understand how it works, it doesn't matter if you start from the top or from the bottom, you can make it logical :)

[@AegixDrakan]

Players: "Rejoice NPC peasants! For I have destroyed the vile Artifact of Eternal Rain that has cursed your land with perpetual cloud and fog and rain for the past millennium!" Villagers: "You WHAT?!?! You *assholes!* " Players: "I-bu-wha-PARDON?!" Villagers: "Our entire agriculture system is based on this predictable near endless wetness! Without it, all of our cities and settlements will starve and go into perpetual drought! YOU HAVE DOOMED US ALL!!" Players: " **sweatdrop** ...Let's leave before they light the torches and sharpen the pitchforks..."

[@TomFranklinX]

Perpetual cloud and fog would make agriculture all but impossible.

[@carlosvillanueva8530]

@@TomFranklinX You've bever watched Jurassic Park or you would know, "Life, uh, finds a way." The rules this guy spouts in this video only apply to one planet in our actual solar system, and that planet doesn't have magic. Magic is a force that stands in defiance of science, when magic enters the world science hangs its head and walks out the door. Mountain seeds were around in First Addition D&D, so would that world have lonely mountains, yes it would. Right on top of where that Orc hoard used to be. In a world filled with magical beings, if you think the world is going to be based on Earth's rules, "Then what we have here is a failure to imaginate." (Said like the Warden in Cool Hand Luke)

[@hughotterson6590]

@@TomFranklinX It could perhaps be possible with a much different style of food? Like an emphasis on mushrooms and lichen, mosses, stuff like that?

[@TomFranklinX]

​@@hughotterson6590 Mushrooms depend on dead plant matter, which in turn depends on sunlight. Lichen and moss can survive with little light, but they are not very nutritious plants. The production of nutrients after all, requires energy from the sun, low sun = low nutrients.

[@CrusaderSports250]

@@TomFranklinX the sun burst through the clouds, the people knew they were in for several days of great discomfort, it would be difficult to keep their skin moist, those that had to work outside would need regular wetting to avoid skin cracking which is most painful,, several years ago the dry spell lasted three weeks!, the ground began to dry and even the bugle weed started to shrivel, there was much rejoicing when the cloud returned and a light shower damped the mud and gave a low ground mist, that year the hot dry air caused widespread crop failure as the overall moisture content plummeted, many learns would die that winter as we had nothing to feed them, and we also had a very thin time, the elders instigated a programme of rationing that saved us all but for the very weak, few families escaped losing someone, we still mourn them today. Extract from the chronicles of chare. They obviously have an ecosystem that works, based on low light levels and high moisture, they would find our way of living unbelievable. 😎🌧️.

[@acvaticlifE]

Advice: If you are going to take the development of languages into consideration, make sure the settlements and landmarks in the region have names that sound like they are spoken in the language speciifc to that region. Use combinations of characters that are common in the names of the multiple settlements in that specific region.

[@alinevetter4499]

ok I'm answering three years after but nevermind. Actually, names of places, if not changed on purpose for some reason, are the kind of names that will last very long in time. For exemple, if a specific language was spoken in a region, and that for some reason the language spoken there changes (either frome evolution or from a stronger language taking the place for some historical or societal reasons) the names of places will most likely still keep a lot from the previous language. Of course the pronouciation will evolve so that people are able to pronounce it, but still, it's ok if we still feel that the origins of the name could be from some other language

[@taylornickens6842]

1) 2:06 Rivers don't split, they join 2) 3:20 Lakes usually only have one drain, if that 3) 4:05 Rivers don't go coast to coast, that's a sea, yo SPONSOR - 5:10 , World Anvil, the best way to keep entire world's organized! 4) 5:55 Mountains aren't lonely 5) 8:08 Rain shadow on your mountains (Wind and storms tend to disperse when they hit mountains, one side usually drier) 6) 9:50 Plate Tectonics affect continental shape 7) 12:09 Plate tectonics REALLY affect mountains though 8) 13:45 Water means settlements! 9) 14:40 Ports are often sheltered from rough waters and harsh winds, as opposed to open 10) 16:00 Keep climate science in mind 11) *BONUS 17:15 By all means, break the rules Great Video, Nate.

[@All-shall-say-Jesus-is-Lord]

EXACTLY

[@ukaszflorkowski2435]

Not all heroes wear capes

[@XinGraves13]

People like you should get paid to just do this all day.

[@Joemantler]

I see you subtracted 5:10 points for the mid-video add. That' a bit harsh.

[@RocketHarry865]

so a river that goes coast to coast should be called a strait or a canal

[@jacobkeefe1534]

When planning castles and keeps, seek out easily defendable areas. Castle's aren't built in forests and not as much in open fields, but typically on a higher elevation than the area around it or with natural barriers forcing, ideally, one way inside the walls.

[@WASD20]

Great tip!

[@Catubrannos]

Castles were built to control the resources of an area too so you expect to see them near trade routes. Isolated castles are the result of old regions dying out through plague, failing economy etc so the only thing left is the castle while the villages associated with it have rotted away and forest and scrub has reclaimed the farmland.

[@MogofWar]

@@CatubrannosThat can often be the case. Or the balance of power has shifted away from an area, causing it to still be populated and relatively prosperous but still subject to delapidation as redundant features become unused and abandoned. Case in point, Angkor Wat. The Khmer moved their capital elsewhere, and various administrative structures were abandoned but the people kept farming and the region remained populous and prosperous. But they weren't farming for as many people, so the farms got smaller and forests overgrew the abandoned structures. Some of the abandoned castles in Europe were built in times where the region wasn't heavily settled and provided security to the few inhabitants of valleys that were otherwise wilderness. The castle becomes irrelevant after the valley becomes populous enough that its towns start to provide their own security and until eventually thw interior of the valley becomes heavily wooded as human activity sticks to the roads and the farms near the towns, and even the local lord spends more time at the manor house in or near the town than in the old, eventually abandoned castle. But perhaps in such a situation a lords still maintains his keep hidden in the forest, not actually abandoned but well maintained, for even though it's strategic significance is obsolete, the very real use of housing troops can still be served say if an invading army takes the valley and the lord's retainers, along side elements if the town militia, then wage a guerilla war against the foreign occupiers and their own countrymen who side with the invaders not out of disloyalty but out of fear for the safety of their families... Perhaps they succeed in driving out the invaders, or perhaps the insurgency lasts for centuries and even committing genocide upon the population that spawned it fails to end it because it had already taken on a life of its own by that point. Plot hooks abound.

[@nukclear2741]

When in doubt, build a hill and place a castle on it.

[@runajain5773]

​@@MogofWarlike great northern war when capture that Sweden empire peter make st Petersburg city that become part russian empire

[@JustNierninwa]

Fun idea on making lonely mountains: old impact craters. If you look it up, impact craters tend to have this "rebound" in the centre that is essentially a peak so you could say a very big meteorite hit the ground there, left a big hunk of debris in the middle and cleared the surroundings and your flat prairie with a lonely mountain is surrounded with a giant circle of mountains (which then plateaus in a much colder climate, presumably).

[@gloop7458]

8:37 Here’s the more meticulous science I guess. You got it mainly right but part of it is spotty. Basically what happens in these clouds are already carrying a lot of moisture, they’re getting blown in the direction that the wind is blowing them, but suddenly there’s an obstacle, and this obstacle is a mountain. If they want to keep being pushed along by the wind (they don’t have any other choice) they have to loose pressure so that they can rise in the atmosphere. They do this by releasing some of their moisture. So then they rise over the mountain and continue on their marry way.

[@schwarzerritter5724]

You make it sound like clouds consciously make the decision to rain.

[@bendoverson3197]

Fun fact: the lonely mountain IS a volcano. an extinct one. In fact there is some speculation whether or not the Arkenstone is actually the silmaril that Maedhros cast into a fiery pit.

[@qwertyTRiG]

Some speculation, yes, but I don't think that theory is broadly accepted. The Arkenstone is desirable, but not to the extent of a Silmaril.

[@CroatiaSurvival]

It’s not a silmaril. The arkenstone was shaped by the dwarves but silmarils are indestructible so it’s not one for sure.

[@TimeturnerJ]

@Dieter Gaudlitz Idk, our legends are greatly exaggerated because to us, those things happened countless generations ago. But a lot of the Elves that were around in the First Age (and before) are still alive in the Fourth Age, and they are the ones who wrote the history we know. Besides, it makes sense - back then, the dark armies were led by an actual fallen God. In the Third Age, it was merely his corrupted servant Sauron. And he never managed to revive the "glory" of his master's reign.

[@ijimedia]

gesundheit

[@heathercampbell6059]

I personally support this idea. The Silmarils were supposed to be indestructable, one was tossed into a Volcano, magic can definitely make it show up somewhere else. People have said that this Silmaril couldn't be the Arkenstone because the dwarves shaped it, but I would have to say that you kind of have to get rid of moe or less any rock iencasing any stone, and that is technically considered shaping it. So, yeah. Support this theory.

[@profwaldone]

rule number 12, don't sweat the details. the earth has way stranger areas then what you can come up with. a bay where thunderstorms happen every night, year round.: check a cave leaking sulfuric acid: check an entire country since forest that feeds on underground rivers.: check round rocks placed in the middle of nowhere: check hills made from dirt pushed by glaciers: check an island where rivers of crabs flow to the beaches: check

[@GarwenK]

And a flat ground were rocks move on there own

[@adamcetinkent]

Also a natural nuclear reactor, I believe in Gabon.

[@maukka1545]

Also giant holes in rocky cliffs created by stones spinning in water

[@SchrollShepard]

"the earth has way stranger areas then what you can come up with." Clearly you're not familiar with One Piece. But yeah, I get your point :)

[@Gr3nadgr3gory]

You underestimate my imagination

[@sapphirestream2091]

aaah why did i find this video AFTER making my map lol

[@DexFire1115]

ah same... oh wait my maps aren’t geographic, they are cosmic maps

[@Vexarax]

I came here looking for tips about how to make a fantasy map look realistically old, so this was totally different than what I was looking for, but I got heaps of great tips for things I hadn't even thought about. Thank you!! ^_^

[@shepherdbrooks7609]

Just realized your comment is a year old, but to anyone who might be wondering the same thing after reading this ^ comment, I typed this up: 1. First, paint with coffee for that yellowed, aged paper look (tutorials online) let dry. 2. Singe the edges around the paper carefully with a lighter. BE VERY CAREFUL. Maybe burn a couple holes in it. 3. Fold it up as if someone was trying to fit it into a pocket or backpack. Paper looks nice and old with enough random folds and wrinkles. If you like, you could also roll it up scroll-style, attach a rubber band and let it sit for a while to hold the shape. 4. Water marks. After you've written and drawn whatever you wanted on the map, sit a wet glass on an edge or even in the middle, or make a small puddle on a bar or coffee table and let less than half of the map or a couple corners/edges get wet. Think about a motley crew unrolling a map at a bar when someone spills their drink on the bar right next to it by accident, or someone comes up and sets their drink down right on it in disrespect, leaving that classic water mark ring. Hope maybe this helps someone! :)

[@Vexarax]

@@shepherdbrooks7609 - those are great tips!! :D After making the above comment I made a detailed map of Skyrim for my brothers birthday :D I had to do all the art first as a lot of erasing was necessary. I drew it in pencil, then went over that in ballpoint pen (took about a month all up to do that part as there were so many details) then the scary part haha - I made a black tea and used a tea bag which I squished all over the map at different pressures. Then I burned the edges all around with a lighter. Then I used a mix of soy sauce and red paint and put it on my fingers and held the map in different places to make bloody fingerprints on it like someone was trying to read it after fighting, and then put some fake blood splatter on it too :D it ended up looking sooooo cool and realistic. I have pictures that I eventually will put in a Medium article or on Pinterest or something to show people. Now I am making an illustrated map of Middle Earth using the same techniques (I've already been working on the pencil part for over 300 hours, haven't started the pen yet!!!) and I'm going to make a KZbin video about it on my channel eventually after it's done, explaining about locations on the map and events that happened there :D Eventually I want to make some dwarf maps which will be very 'used' and messy. I'll definitely explore some of the things you suggested! Thank you ^_^

[@Vinemaple]

Remember that your map will have a specific purpose... before you distress it, make sure that doing so won't make it less useful.

[@Vexarax]

@@Vinemaple I have finished it!! I made an illustrated map of Middle Earth which took me almost a year ^_^ I am making a video solely about the map now, but if you are interested in seeing it it's used in the background of my dwarf women beards video :) I do different types of distressing for different maps. For my Middle Earth map, I used tea bags and burning. But in a Skyrim map I made for my brother, I made fake blood and splattered it all over with bloody fingerprints as well, and used a lot of tea bags and burning, to make it look like someone had been using it while fighting :D The distressing part is so important to make the maps look unique. In the future I want to do a map that was owned by alcoholic goblins hehe - it will be very messy!!

[@skasandy448]

Prefer tea bags to age maps, the effect is not so uniform as the coffee method. Watermarks are an early form of trademark, and have existed for millenia; perhaps runes as watermarks, in case the wrong see the map?

[@senseweaver01]

I recently made a map where the abandoned body of a dead God has caused the southern area of the map to be perpetually hot and covered in endless sand. And I thought... I'd tell people

[@WASD20]

And we appreciate it. :) I love these kinds of myth-like features.

[@senseweaver01]

Yeah, I find it helps distinguish the locations I add in. I don't do enough planning beforehand haha

[@lukedarkheart5845]

I had an area where an elemental volcano that spat out fire, water, thunder, or purple smoke had such a powerful eruption that the landform broke off of the main continent. The continent is currently called the Forgotten Island.

[@senseweaver01]

That sounds cool! Did the volcano itself have a name?

[@lukedarkheart5845]

@@senseweaver01 It's just known as the Mysterious Volcano, not really an official name.

[@johnforgrave7125]

A couple further tips for rivers, from a cartophile... You're right about rivers joining rather than splitting, but it's also important to remember that where two rivers meet, the "arrow" that is formed should point downstream, not upstream. Also, when rivers start in the mountains where the elevation changes rapidly they are more straight, but in flat plains and marshes you see rivers that meander much more since the current is slower. For close up maps of rivers it's worth considering that the fastest part of a river's current at a given point is the outer bank. This means that the outside of the curve wouldn't have very much loose sand/silt since it's constantly being eroded, but sediment builds up on the inside of the bend where the river is slower. This phenomena is actually what creates those meandering rivers and eventually oxbow lakes as well.

[@rateeightx]

Oxbow Lakes? Don't You Mean Billabongs?

[@SleepySarahElizabethNarcolepsy]

Cartophile. I think I have a new favorite word.

[@PuzzleQodec]

In flat areas that are deserts or otherwise dry, rivers tend to braid rather than meander. Just an extra tip.

[@Dudemon-1]

In rare instances, that arrow can point upstream (e.g., some tributaries to the Hudson River), as things like glaciers have reversed flow that was established in the geologic past.

[@Loreman72]

There places in Africa and N America where meanders cut right through mountain ranges, or deep into plains; but these started out as rivers on flat land, but then the land was jacked up by tectonics and you get incised meanders: google images of the Grand Canyon or Blyde River Canyon. The scenery can be spectacular!

[@Loki-md9ny]

I've been meaning to make a world for some time now. Out of nowhere KZbin recommends me this. It's quite possibly the best video I've found on world and map making. I'm the kind of person that prefers realistic maps so this is just a massive win for me. And your sponsor! It's just the greatest website I've found and I'm so glad it was mentioned. I'll be sure to use it and this list you've made. Thank you!!!

[@Vinemaple]

isnt it creepy the way google can read your mind

[@sammiller98]

The statement that "most mountain ranges on earth tend to form north to south" is not entirely true. Mountain ranges on the north and south American continents run from north to south but almost all other mountain ranges in the world run east/west.

[@yaff1851]

I wouldn’t say “ break the rules” but “make your own rules”: Yuu can call on or off every rule of physics, biology and even pre-establishes phantasy, but once a rule is set, all of your phantasy universe suffers the consequences. If you have dragons, the possibility of a dragon attack will be taken into account in castle design.

[@hiroakihanyu]

that's some underrated, yet imo very important rule of logic remember: realism and logic are not the same!

[@samayahone3497]

*fantasy

[@tommeakin1732]

Yeah to me it's about logical consistency. I guess that's my boundary. If you've properly thought through the consequences of your "rules", I'll be impressed. But if you're presenting it like it makes sense and it really doesn't...you've probably lost me somewhat. Don't get me wrong, you could have situations that are purely chaotic (like some chaos realm or dimension where nothing makes sense), and as long as it's presented as defying reason, that could still be fine imo, as long as that chaotic irrationality isn't lazily used by the author as a convenient tool to justify anything

[@jessicalee333]

Another rule: More towns. More settlements. More farmland. Look at medieval maps, everywhere there's a river, there's a village, everywhere there's a river and a road, there's a town. Everywhere the river is navigable by boat, there's a city. The old counties in medieval England for example had at least a hundred towns per county. Fantasy maps are so DESOLATE by comparison. Every time I play or watch an RPG where the players have to walk for a week through wild country to get to the next town, I lose the sense of realism. Sure, there are routes through wild country you could take, but that's not where The Road goes. The Road goes from city to city mostly following a river if possible because that's where the towns are and travelers need places to stop, such as towns (even tiny little towns). Sometimes there are towns out in the middle of nowhere, but if they're there, there's a reason - and there's a water source. A town called "Broken Wagon Springs" where the settlers' wagon broke down but luckily where was a natural spring so they just stayed and built a town there... doesn't really need an explanation. "Decanter of Endless Waterville" doesn't need an explanation either - there can be magic involved, of course. Although... why do those people want to live so far away from everybody else? Are they a cult? Is there an unusual natural resource found there? Are they some kind of philosophical or religious separatists? Or a rare or unwelcome race of people who just want to be left alone? Is it even on the map? How do they feel about travelers showing up? If people go to and from the town regularly enough (like, if that's the only place where lead or sulfur or some other useful resource can be found in the country)... where do they stop and camp along the way? Because that's exactly where some other village will crop up over time, if travel and trade to that location is important enough (even deserts have always had caravanserais). If it takes three days to get there from the next nearest place, that's a few campsites (travelers are probably going to keep finding the same decent camping spot), and at any one of those someone could have decided to build a roadside inn with a fortified yard for caravans to shelter in (i.e. a caravanserai) to make a little money from all those travelers - and then if the land is okay other people would start plopping in buildings too - a forge to service caravan wagons, a mine scraping to provide metal to the forge, some gardens and a crop land to provide food to those workers, shops to make assorted goods maybe to sell to passing caravans or to the locals, housing for these extra people... then you've got a town. Thus, OMG THERE ARE TOWNS EVERYWHERE YOU GUYZ! There are also tons of merchants on the roads. Like... caravans that are miles long, with hundreds of animals and dozens of drivers and tenders and guards. They may be seasonal, their arrival may be a big event in any town along the way. But it's got to be a thing. Medieval villagers didn't travel much except for pilgrimages or maybe to visit nearby towns during festival time, but there were merchants traveling the roads all the time - if someone was on the road, they were probably bringing their goods one way or the goods they traded for back the other way. Don't have players wander a road that is on the map between two major cities (i.e. a significant known route), and see like one dude with a cart with two sacks and a basket in the back, and one small campsite, and nothing else for days. It would be like traveling down an interstate highway and not seeing any tractor trailer trucks or gas stations or McDonald'ses. If there's a reason your world is desolate and depopulated, fine. But there has to be a reason. An area much more prone to war and monster raids and stuff might have more congestion of the population into cities, but short of a lot of priests casting create food & water every day, those populations still need to be supplied by farm communities, there have to be fortified waypoints for travelers in between cities, etc. Even in the Cesspool Of Constant Barbaric Warfare that was Medieval Europe (and Dark Ages Europe, and Roman Era Europe, and Renaissance Era Europe, and Enlightenment Era Europe, and pretty much any time or place in Europe aside from the brief Pax Romana, the brief Peace of Westphalia, and the extremely uncharacteristic peace since WW2) there were still towns everywhere. More towns. They don't have to all be on the map, the map can be for notable cities and towns.

[@WASD20]

True, but I’m a big proponent of not marking every little thing on a map. I note larger settlements, and assume there will be other ones tucked away here and there.

[@dirus3142]

I just assume that the tiny villages, and homesteads exist but are to small to put on the map. It's like the bathroom in Star Trek, just because you don't see it, does not mean it's not there.

[@TimmyCutts22]

I have been thinking about this a little, and I kind of have to disagree somewhat. One of the big things you seem to be overlooking is that, historically, European kingdoms tended to be fairly small, so of course they were going to be fairly dense with settlements. The trouble with that logic, though, is that a lot of fantasy maps tend to be of kingdoms the size of small continents, often bigger than Europe itself. And it's not like there aren't examples of this in the real world. Take a look at Russia on Google Maps. If you zoom in between the marked settlements, you'll see that there are actually enormous swaths of land that are uninabited. The same is true of China, where the further west you go, the more spread out everything is. Brazil, where you have the entire Amazon taking up the bulk of the north-west. I'm from Australia, where the entire centre is a mix of desert and scrubland, and most of the major population centres are along the coast. The further inland you go, the more spread out settlements get. And, yeah it's more dense closer to the coast, but if you're travelling on foot you can still go for a few to several days without encountering a settlement, since a not insignificant portion of the habitable areas is bushland. As far as the need for farmland, most of it would have been within a day's travel of a town or city. It makes it easier transport goods and it's important to be close to a defensive centre in case of war or bandits. For somewhere like Britain where you can walk from east to west in a couple of days, and south to north in a couple of weeks, that wasn't a problem. For larger kingdoms, though, you'd probably find you'd have villages and hamlets cropping up within a day of a town, and the towns would probably rarely be more than a week from a city, which would also have villages and hamlets within a day of it. As a result, you'd end up with clusters of settlements separated by up to a week's travel, with mostly empty wildland in between. For road traffic, though, it would be pretty empty most days. Yes, you would have the occasional merchant, but it would be rare. Travelling merchants followed very specific routes that they rarely strayed from unless it was more profitable to do so, and their routes would have been a few months to a year long cycle. Merchant caravans were not that common, either, since those were mainly for extremely long distance travel, like the Spice Road. If the kingdom had a coastline, you'd see even fewer caravans in favour of ship travel, which was much faster. To sum up: No, you don't have to have settlements everywhere and it is okay to have a certain amount of desolation. The larger the landmass, the more spread out settlements will be, so think carefully about your geography when designing such things. Farmland will typically be close to bigger settlements for practicality of safety, transport and governance, so you'll generally end up with clusters of settlements with a bigger one in the centre. Travelling merchants are probably not as common as you think, since they have very specific routes that they follow, and merchant caravans are probably rarer still. I think that's it... I can't think of anything else.

[@jessicalee333]

I agree generally, first that you don't have to have smaller settlements on the map (as I said), but they should be there in the GAME (which they often are not) - it should be kept in mind when building and especially playing in a world. And yeah, some areas are desolate, but again there's a REASON for it. If the landmass is very very large, it doesn't mean everyone will spread out evenly, it means there will be clusters of settlements and towns and cities within easy reach of each other where resources are available and where there are coastlines and navigable rivers, and where resources are not available there won't be much of anything. If anyone is super isolated, weeks away from other settlements, they have a REASON (whether some religious or magical reason, or the fact that there are resources there that are worth living in the middle of nowhere to get access to - like some of those remote places in Russia or China - otherwise no one will live there at all). The more remote a place is, and the more valuable its resources, the larger the merchant caravans are going to be to travel through dangerous wild country to collect enough goods to make it worth the travel. That's very much like the Silk Road, which connected places exactly as desolate and remote as we're talking about, where caravans could be so long they could literally take a week or more to pass through an area from end to end. If your fantasy continent is huge, you'll have remote areas (which is actually nice because where else are orcs supposed to live - en entire civilization of monster races is pretty unbelievable in a place where every square mile is inhabited by humans). If those remote areas have anything worth trading for you'll have giant merchant caravans (again, probably seasonal events moreso than regular road traffic - regular road traffic will be amongst the aforementioned "clusters"). Exactly as I said originally, it's not that it can't be desolate, it's that if it is, there's a reason (lots of fantasy worlds are desolate for the reason "the DM didn't want to plan out more towns" or "the DM wanted to have an overland camping adventure for a few sessions" - and that's not really a good reason when trying to build a believable world). When building a world, consider the reasons for the way things are - not just for rivers and mountains, but for settlements. That's basically my point. I don't think we're really disagreeing. :)

[@JM-rp5lo]

This is a good thing to keep in mind BUT in fantasy worlds there are many creatures that exist that don't irl that cause problems for many folk. The towns usually need to have a good defense otherwise they will just be overran by goblins daily.

[@sjonnieplayfull5859]

"Rivers only split near the mouth, and even then it is rare." The Netherlands: Allow us to introduce ourselves...

[@zerogbot23]

A good way to explain a lonely mountain is that it's leftover from when the continents were still joined, the rest of the range has crumbled or sunk beneath the sea and it is all that remains. Most lonely mountains in real life are volcano's such as MT. Fuji, Mt. Rainier and Killamonjaro. Volcano's would also make awesome homes for dwarves, their forges are forever burning thanks to their firery home.

[@AP-57]

I know it's been 2 years since you made this but I have to correct you: Mount Rainier is within the Cascade Range.

[@zerogbot23]

@@AP-57 I had poor info thanks for the correction

[@MelkromisteinWeeb]

Russias entire foreign affairs policies over the years can be somewhat trivialized down to the fight for warm water ports

[@duraluminiumalloy9248]

I STRONGLY recommend Tim Marshal's book 'Prisoners of Geography'. He basically explains the present state of global affairs using only 10 maps.

[@wombat4191]

Stop, no, you can't take that. We were gonna built a railroad through here to try to get some warm water.

[@dino464]

@@wombat4191 And Japan said: Can you maybe chill?

[@punic4045]

@@dino464 how about *you* chill.

[@digitalconsciousness]

Same happened with Kuwait. It's right at the top of the Arabian Peninsula, where everyone wants a port. That's who Suddam Hussein invaded. It's also why some of the EARLIEST remnants of human civilization were all around the Mediterranean Sea. It's a huge amount of water that goes far into the land and has access to the ocean.

[@pRahvi0]

One more rule I like to use for breaking the other rules: Maps are usually made by humans (or at least mortals), so they may have errors. E.g. no mountain is lonely but the people mapping the area may not be aware of (or care about) the lesser mountains around the most notable one. Of course, if you're a GM or an author you might want as perfect map as possible for yourself, but the players / readers / audience and especially the characters may well be given a clearly imperfect map (it might be good to sign the map in the name of some fictional character for hint... or just explicitly state that the map was drawn in-character so the flaws are intentional and totally not due to your lack of skill).

[@SelvesteSand]

I have this idea for if I'm ever going to host a campaign that I will make several maps that contradict each other. I will have a secret accurate map to use for myself, but the players will have to seek out maps in-game. Go to the big city to find a proper cartographer? Pay handsomely for a somewhat accurate map (but be sure you're getting a map over the right region -- don't just ask to buy "a map"). Ask around in a village tavern? Pay someone who claims they once saw a map to draw a copy from memory (which will obviously be flawed). Just look at historical maps of the Earth from a few hundred years ago: Even the ones that are mostly correct will still have certain features grossly distorted, and those were calculated using post-medieval technology. I'm hoping I can get them to buy a map each so they don't look at each other's maps and thus don't notice the differences... "I don't understand, it should be right here, on the east side of the river in this valley." "Wait, no, the map says it's on the west side." "You're reading it wrong." "Maybe we should go back along the river to find the bridge?" "No, no, the bridge is ahead of us." "Let's just use that boat over there." "But what about the waterfall" "What waterfall?" Yeah, my players will probably kill me... :D

[@pRahvi0]

@@SelvesteSand They most certainly will. :D "Hi, can you sell us a map. We need to find a way to the dragon's lair but nobody''s willing to guide us." "Sure thing. Just pay me X" "What? That's a ridiculous prize!" "Take it or leave it. There are no other copies of this map in the entire region nor is there anyone able to draw one." "Fine. Here's your gold." "Thank you for the business. Here's the map." "What the... this is a WORLD map! This whole kingdom is just a word with... and where did that merchant go already?!"

[@krispalermo8133]

@@pRahvi0 The " Map Maker " is a shape shifting dragon that sells maps that leads adventures into ambushes to rob them. The whole village is onto the joke..!

[@turdy_water7646]

One time I did this for a map, because there was a specific thing that I wanted to do. The party got an ancient map from a master of map making who knew exactly what the land would look like when a certain prophecy (plot of the campaign) would occur. They had to go around an absolutely massive mountain range, only for them to make it around, and find out a group of giants had been hired to destroy part of the range a few hours before they started the journey, making a clear path to where they were going, and they didn't see the path, because the giants were blocking their view unintentionally. So the map wasn't accurate because the map maker didn't think it would erode or anyone would need to break it. The only reason someone broke it was because a lazy king needed a shorter path to get to other cites.

[@RicoLen1]

What an age we live in when a guy going on for 20 minutes on the best way to draw a make believe map gets over a million views and that in turn is capable of making the guy hundreds if not thousands of dollars. If I could go back in time to the 80s when I was a little kid and tell myself life gets better... well that'd be spoilers...

[@charliedomino2847]

My pet peeve is from anime - The city wall that perfectly encapsulates the city, with not one building (or even farmland!) outside of it. That just doesn't happen over and over - it would take concerted government action to keep that land clear. Besides, even with magic, resource limits (incl. manpower to defend the wall) limit the size of the enclosed area.

[@The-Devils-Advocate]

AOT?

[@LandersWorkshop]

Pretty sure Spain and Italy have small cities and towns with perfectly enclosed walls. There aren't many but they are there if you search them out.

[@UnironicMonarchist]

Uh obviously the walls are alive and grow with the city to always perfectly enclose them

[@vendsoin]

Rule: roads follow landscape, cities follow roads, unless they are source of some goods. Rule: Islands do not want to be alone too. Rule: Bigger continents give bigger dry areas and temperature contrasts Rule: Artificailly designed areas should look artificial Rule: natural narrow points draw in fortifications and these draw near some settlements Rule: If you want to break rules, you must know the rules to understand, what happens and why it happens (no plate tectonics, world with only one side towards the sun etc.) Rule: methods of contact and communication define borders Rule: conditions define the city sizes

[@charliekahn4205]

For rule 1: unless the roads are unplanned or historic. In that case, cities are built in strategic locations, near rivers, deposits, etc., and roads connect cities, farms, and less-settled deposits.

[@vernicethompson4825]

Excellent rules!

[@vendsoin]

@@charliekahn4205 In that case they followed the older roads which were usually rivers. or other water routes. There are exceptions, of course, like Tenochtitlan and some Mayan cities, where roads followed habitation, but rules are not laws, my friend.

[@NotABot-px7ky]

Thank you!

[@DarkAshenfall]

Borders are actually formed based on geography (such as rivers or mountains), resource rich areas, buffer zones, ethnic/religious divides (aka, India/Pakistan), and quite often simply due to arbitrary decisions based on nothing but 'because it could be done'. I've never heard of borders formed due to contact and communication. Plus, contact/communication is incredibly vague to boot. Could mean a lot or a whole lot of nothing.

[@peeblekitty5780]

tfw your main fantasy world is with floating sky islands and hardly any of this applies to you :'>

[@LuckySketches]

There's always the chance to think about where the land might have been prior to floating, how it got there, if they ever move, how water sources are supposed to work, etc. Maybe there's sky-plate tectonics formed by predictable winds and jetstreams. Perhaps the islands even "float" on such a phenomenon, affecting their shape and position.

[@charliekahn4205]

@@LuckySketches Or the world flooded and the islands are man-made?

[@benoitlabrecque4513]

Shadow of the collosus

[@dylanbuttigieg5870]

@Peeble Kitty I have one like that too for the books I'm planning to write, mine float on dense mist and some islands have large lakes

[@MM-yj7yt]

Then prepare for my rules for sky islands (at last my world building got useful for once): - explain (at least to yourself) why the sky island is floating. If it's magic, there will be civilistations which try hard to master it. If it's a mineral, civilisations will try hard to mine it. If it's sentient spirits, civilisations will worship them. If it's some life forms, civilisations will try hard to breed it. - think how sky civilisations deal with aerial transportation. Magic? Technology? Their own wings? Teleportation? - think how creatures with no flying skill deal with transportation and the permanent risk of falling. - Consider effects of sky island erosion. For example sandstorms made from sky islands collisions - The lower the more craters made by random objects falling from sky islands. Also settlements must have bunkers and other ways to protect denizens. - Sky islands will be affected by wind currents and probably they'll form clusters in certain areas. - Sky islands are likely to be asteroid-like frozen deserts, because of no stable water source, low temperatures, and extremely low pressure. - sky island civilisations would be mostly nomadic due to lack of stable/safe land to build a large city. Also there will be probalbly huge number of ruins, abandoned structures, and shipwrecks (which is cool).

[@carrot708]

A tip for 2: If people really want an unbroken boat passage between two seas, either make a canal between the coasts that hits a natural lake/river (Suez canal style), or canal between two rivers that go to either coast (Forth and Clyde canal style).

[@nokocchi1983]

"no coast to coast rivers" *animal crossing new horizons would like to talk*

[@AF-tv6uf]

As would Hy Brasil.

[@gyrosphinx]

Another thing to consider: up until the i invention of the car, mountains were pretty dangerous to cross in winter. In very mountainous areas close to the Coast, most transportation is going to go by the sea route (as was the case here in Norway right up until the second world war), and the larger settlements will almost always be located at good natural ports. In Norway, there also used to exist a tradition for placing rocks or sticks at places where people had died in the wilderness, for good luck and to not suffer the same fate. You still find piles or mounds of sticks and stones many places in the norwegian landscape.

[@GnarledStaff]

I wonder if that would still be true if oceans were full of sea monsters... probably, but I bet that would affect travel to some degree. I need to meditate on this idea.

[@gyrosphinx]

@@GnarledStaff I'm from Norway, the seas up here ARE full of monsters 😉

[@SleepySarahElizabethNarcolepsy]

As someone from the midwestern United States where there are no oceans and all of our lakes are man made, I am grateful for this infomration. Thank you for sharing, Norwegians!

[@chelbastiaan]

As someone from the Netherlands, I have no experience with mountains. But I do know that the Alps were often compared to hell. Even in the Renaissance, people literally viewed the Alps as near impossible to cross and in texts they were often used to symbolize hell. So yeah, people don't like mountains. They'd rather voyage by sea and risk sickness and dehydration over dying of starvation or hypothermia.

[@KuraIthys]

I currently live at the edges of a mountain range, and there are plenty of routes that are treacherous even in summer with a car. In winter, even major routes in the mountainous areas can be extremely dangerous and require special care such as abnormally low speeds and carrying a set of snow chains. There's also routes that are outright closed in winter because they're simply too dangerous. I also drove through a road where the roadside reflectors are more than double the height and bright orange, just to ensure they remain visible if it snows, and some of the steepest, most winding ascents and descents I've seen in a long time can be found in 2 out of the 4 possible directions you can go from here, and this isn't even a proper mountain town, just kind of in the foothills. OK, sure it's no comparison to the past, but I would say even in a car mountains can be quite treacherous. This isn't even a particularly tall or extensive mountain range, but there are plenty of hazards. Danger is relative, but driving through this area is not the safest of places. Of course, neither is the desert, but yeah...

[@Javitomanzano]

You forgot about the most important rule: "Have fun creating your world".

[@dilksjoel]

You should work on your world when sad too. That’s if you want to add that dark element to it.

[@firstnamelastname6016]

Simon Snootles might explain why my worlds end up all depressing 🤣 People climb up the mountain as one last attempt to see something beautiful enough to live and instead see an open ledge.

[@mackdaddie222]

winner.

[@kristijanmadhukar516]

lies, enjoyment has nothing to do with realism.

[@aureusknighstar2195]

*FACT!*

[@nomdeplume9590]

Rivers do split outside of deltas, occasionally, but not generally in large enough ones to be on a world map. It's called river bifurcation, and it generally happens when a river hits a watershed and hasn't yet eroded it. The rivers generally reconvene. It also only lasts until the watershed is eroded. You can still do river splitting in small-scale maps if they reconvene and there's a well-placed watershed, though.

[@ericgardekil5487]

Apparently I live in place where a river splits in just that unrealistic way (Gothenburg sweden, a part of Göta river splits of and becomes Nordre river) so I never realized it was that rare haha

[@Dudemon-1]

Good points in the video, and they're right in general, but a few technicalities: -A lake without an outfall generally isn't drained entirely by evaporation, but often from infiltration to groundwater. -A "lonely mountain" is generally igneous (e.g., Devil's Tower--which is igneous but might not be volcanic) but can also be erosional. The geologic term is a "Monadnock", named after the "lonely" Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire. Also, see "Inselberg". Additional suggestions: - It's tough for settlements to form too far upstream from waterfall areas, if they rely on trade with coastal regions and overseas. - Steep gradients from mountain to lake or ocean are generally for younger (geologically) mountains and rivers (and closer to the mountains), and they are straight. Older rivers or more downstream tend to meander and will have more agriculturally helpful flooding.

[@user-jr7ww2gf1h]

Easy climate trick: Equator is wet 30° is dry 60° is cold

[@WASD20]

I like it.

[@Brooke-rw8rc]

Equator has wet season and dry season. Things above 30° have 4 seasons. Plot out ocean currents. Plot out jetstreams. Northwest coast of NA is a HUGE temperate rainforest because of a massive rainshadow of multiple mountain chains (Coastals, Cascades, Crazies, and finally the Rockies). The coast is crazy fertile because of warm ocean currents. UK, especially Ireland is VERY warm for its high latitude because of sea and air currents. Consider that Norway and Siberia are due East of Britain. Iceland is a lush place because of active volcanic activity, despite being so far North.

[@sadnessofwildgoats]

*W E T*

[@ArlosPA]

Yesterday I created my first map and I definitely didn't think about the rain shadow. :D I did think about rivers starting in the mountains though. Also I have my own thing to add: Rivers can often end up as natural borders for countries. I wanted to have a huge lake in the middle of my continent so I thought "Oh well a huge meteorite landed there and the rest of the meteorite became an island in the middle of the lake which is believed to be the home of the gods". Also on that lake the weather conditions are quite turbulent (magical reason I still need to work out) so the belief that the gods are staying there is supported by this.

[@runajain5773]

It true some some came mountain perfect example could himalayas mountain make a lot river like five river in punjab yamuna and ganga river and bhramputara river

[@nevaehmullins7957]

why did I read "10 rules for believable fantasy maids" hahaha lol

[@Will_Forge]

On "no ocean to ocean rivers", do bear in mind that canals can and are made from ocean to ocean, even to simply give access to the ocean from a certain area, or to bring in water.

[@WASD20]

Fair point. My focus was on natural occurrences.

[@Will_Forge]

I thought so. By the way, I loved your video. It's comprehensive and exactly the right amount of detail IMO. Other guides tend to either have too little info, or overwhelm the viewer or reader with too much so that the signal to noise ratio is way off. Your video has a perfect signal, so to speak, with no noise. It's great.

[@rateeightx]

Coast-To-Coast Rivers. See I Always Thought That Was Called A Straight.

[@ducovanderwoude6971]

However, if you look at Google maps and follow Whakatane River in New Zealand upstream, it looks like it joins/becomes the Waiau River, which flows to the sea at the other side.

[@ajgunter8932]

@@ducovanderwoude6971 check a map that shows mtn ranges and topography, usually when u see a river like that it's because they both start at opposite sides of the same mtn. top.

[@vilwarin5635]

Once I wrote a story in where it was very important that the main character travelled south, and that it was colder, and even snowy, when she arrived there, even though the action was set in spring-summer. After trying to explain everything with mountain climate, I decided that indeed, that continent was situated in the south hemisphere. Problem solved XD

[@jacksonquinn1472]

Nooooo! As you reach the equator it should be hotter! You would have to go further south then you were north!

[@lol2Dlol]

@@jacksonquinn1472 What? Are you assuming that the character started in the northern hemisphere and moved south all the way across the equator? Why wouldn't the top of their continent just be near the equator and the bottom nearer the pole.

[@CelestialAnamoly]

The Dragon Age (video games) world never mentions where the equator is cuz their world isn't fully explored. But it's obviously in a southern hemisphere like your world because the far south is a snowy wasteland.

[@kathyl6677]

Similarly, I picture myself in the village I was writing about. Night time, staring at a fixed star... but the sun comes up to my left. After some playing with it, turning the map this way and that, indeed, my lands are in what we would consider the southern hemisphere. :)

[@Ralinos]

Technically North & South are not specifically related to the sun's position or rotation, but magnetic field. & the first people to make compasses got it backwards b/c they didn't know about electricity. So in reality Australia is the top (just don't tell them, else they might get a big head).

[@aidenburgess217]

It's rare to see people on youtube actually refrence stuff, thankyou my guy, you're a legend

[@canko15]

Thank you for this dude! Many fantasy maps are pretty inconsistent, having rivers popping out of nowhere and mountains just wherever, and even tho it doesn't affect to the overall story it DOES feel quite off and even kinda cheap

[@dirus3142]

I found that the youtube channel Artifexian is a great resource for world building. This guy makes videos explaining things like plate tectonics, orbital habitable zone, weather systems, and habitable earth like moons. He even explains the math involved. The channel also talks about creating languages. It's a complementary resource to WASD20.

[@WisdomThumbs]

Excellent recommendation, thanks.

[@pawe6968]

I was just thinking of the same, he's great

[@magiv4205]

Artifexian is a must watch for any worldbuilder, especially those who want to make things scientifically believable. He is fantastic!

[@levesteM]

I love the guy. First found him through his video on how to design a flag.

[@minimooster7258]

Artefexian is a wonderful source of info about all sorts of things!

[@vargmien4226]

Honestly, having found your channel recently I cannot begin to tell you how much they help in my current campaign. Thank you so much for the advice and insight that you provide.

[@sparrowruth]

For a really scientific world-scale moving in approach, check out artifexian!

[@ladylee8273]

Almost my whole Earth science subject was summed up in an almost 20 min video. Not just the video, but the comments are filled with earth science stuff as well. Overall, I learned more from this vid than my earth science teachers at school.

[@Vinemaple]

we have less to prove to anyone

[@Edrigangr]

Very informative video.Expanding on Rule 11, just because a map is "unrealistic", doesn't mean it's "bad" or "unplayable".Maps have been notoriously inaccurate as much as they have been accurate. If the first map draft is 100% accurate, we wouldn't need entire explorer and mapmaking guilds in a fantasy world. Use this as an opportunity to draw the players attention. They are approaching a big river that the map shows and getting ready to cross it only to find it bone dry. Suddenly they are in a situation they didn't anticipate and might want to investigate. Perhaps the fey upstream are wiped out from an outside threat or a nereid is responsible. Maybe the neightbor waring kingdom marched an army through the mountains and damed the river as they are laying siege to a city, to cut off their water supply. Or the farmland they were expecting to find is suddently flooded or the marshes are no longer marshes but a savannah type of terrain. Depending which side of the fence you are, maps might tend to exaggerate the difficulty of natural borders to prevent other civilizations from expanding or encroaching into their territories. That mountain range that looked tough as nails? Yea, actually it's not that hard to traverse. Or it might end up harder than it looks. Players can use these type of "mistakes" and interract with the world. Open new trade routes, connect settlements or create new ones. If used creatively and with care it will help with the immersion that things are happening around them while they are off doing something else entirelly.

[@cosmiktheangry5056]

I love how this video is essentially just a short breakdown of my geography class and I am loving it.

[@littlehelper4596]

Just a note: In relation to mountains, learning the difference between young and old valleys can be eye opening. (It affects the shape [v shaped valleys vs. u shaped valleys] and is based on whether an ice age has happened since the mountains on either side formed). Geology is fun!

[@Jpteryx]

There are several types of lonely mountains, such as inselbergs (mountains made of hard rock that got left over when the soft rock around them eroded), tuyas (volcanoes that erupted under glaciers), and volcanic plugs (left-behind cores of volcanoes that have otherwise gotten eroded).

[@glenbe4026]

New Zealand has a very famous "lonely mountain", Mount Taranaki. It is a dormant volcano that dominates a peninsula. But the youtuber did make an assertion that volcanos also did not appear in single form. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Taranaki

[@louisvictor3473]

@@glenbe4026 _Usually_ don't. Not the same claim. But you're still wrong anyway, because you failed your homework. It may be slightly further away from its siblings, but plenty of them in the region. static.sciencelearn.org.nz/image_maps/images/000/000/042/original/VOL_ITV_NZ-VolcanOMAPOFNZ_UPDATE_BG-Plate_1.jpg?1522282502&1532499511945

[@benjiunofficial]

@@louisvictor3473 It's about 100 miles from Taranaki to the nearest other volcano, Ruapehu.

[@louisvictor3473]

@@benjiunofficial And?

[@benjiunofficial]

@@louisvictor3473 that's fairly non-close. I mean just look at it, it's an isolated volcanic cone.

[@WallyDM]

This information has been officially archived within my creative depths to be recalled and applied at a future date. Well done. These are fantastic tips for world builders! :)

[@ahmedakmal9244]

So did I, this has to be watched again and again every time it's needed, Amazing info!

[@afterburnerdyanite4555]

These videos are perfect for what I'm doing. Glad that there are people that make videos like these!

[@Thurnmourer]

Eh, rivers can split, it's just that their splits happen for such a short period and are very localised to if it forms an island that formerly made the river wiggly.

[@iceman3317]

Humans could also change the path to get water to other places, though may not be very big. I mean hell, there are so many man made lakes. And if there is magic involved, wouldn't be very hard.

[@arctic_haze]

Yes, there are islands on the rivers. Some languages have even separare word for this type of island.

[@poiuyt975]

"Mountain ranges go from North to South on Earth". Translation for non-Americans: "Mountain ranges go from North to South in Americas". Alps, Carpathians, Atlas Mountains, Caucasus, Himalaya - just to name the big ones. But other than that a great video ;)

[@casper1581]

Exactly, I was hoping someone else noticed. It's also weird to claim this and then not give an explanation for it.

[@XXXkazeXXX]

Mateusz Cetnar THANK YOU! the whole time he was taking about it i was ”but... but... the alps!”

[@poiuyt975]

@@XXXkazeXXX 😀

[@forkeke]

It's actually a reason for a lot of plant families having gone extinct in Europe during the ice ages, but not in the Americas. Plants which couldn't adapt to colder climate quickly, could at least migrate South in North America. The Alps and Pyrenees stopped this in Europe.

[@poiuyt975]

@@forkeke That's an interesting information, thank you.

[@alec2themax]

Being a geology major makes this a super fun part of being a DM, though at times it can be challenging to try to go beyond the real world rules. The best part though, there are tons of moments in the real world that are difficult to explain

[@ajgunter8932]

Geology major here too! What school did u go to? I went to Humboldt in Norcal

[@alec2themax]

@@ajgunter8932 ill be honest I had to Google "Norcal" lol. Winona MN for me. Though technically I was an "Earth Science Teaching" major, but I had like 80% of a geosci degree

[@ajgunter8932]

@@alec2themax lol its obscure and isolated but Humboldt County is the most beautiful place I've ever lived. There are giant coastal redwoods on the Humboldt state university campus too.

[@mandisaw]

Geology/geochem here :) And yeah, it's hard to figure for human/fantasy-caused effects on an otherwise natural environment. I usually like to start with 100% natural, and then figure out where a small amount of magic "boost" would yield a lot of benefit to trade or resource-gathering. Basically treat magic like an economic resource. Or you know, the gods/titans did it :)

[@vepristhorn8278]

Or you could look to places like Venus where the crust flips over since there are no moving tectonic plates

[@haraldv2383]

nice video ! let me just mention two extraordinary features here on Earth: 1. the Orinoco river in Venezuela splits into the Orinoco proper and the Rio Casiquiare which is via the Rio Negro ultimately a tributary of the Amazonas and 2. the Okavango in southern Africa doesnt flow to the sea but rather ends in an inland-delta where it more or less evaporates in a semi-desert due to raining and dry season. Keep up your good work !

[@algi1]

Re: plate tectonics Earth is quite unique in having plate tectonics. So, I think it's not that far fetched to have a world without plate tectonics. For example Venus has a soft crust that bubbles up and Mars has a static, thick crust without any plates. So, I think it's not that big of a stretch to come up with some kind of different mechanism, even if it's natural and not magical.

[@b0xf0x13]

That's fair, but keep in mind that neither of those examples can sustain life. I'm not suggesting that plates are the sole reason for that, just a consideration.

[@reubenmanzo2054]

@@b0xf0x13 The conditions to allow for tectonic plates just happen to be the same conditions to sustain life. Warm enough so that the core doesn't freeze (as with Mars), but at the same time, not so hot, the plates would melt (as with Venus).

[@tomkerruish2982]

Plate tectonics prevent the (pettiness) accumulation of carbon dioxide as carbonates in the ocean and the planet subsequently freezing; it is eventually reintroduced via volcanic eruptions (the carbon cycle). Edit: no idea at this point what 'pettiness' was intended to be before it was auto 'corrected'.

[@patrickmcgraw9168]

There are some interesting debates in planetary science about a) how common plate tectonics is among planets in general and b) whether or not plate tectonics is necessary to create the conditions for life.

[@Loreman72]

Being a Geosciences major, these were all pretty obvious to me! But this is a really good summary. But being from the southern hemisphere, I always think of hot being north, cold and wet south!

[@OsirisLord]

And that's why in Dragon Age the setting is situated in the southern hemisphere with the coast facing towards the east. The temperate climate of Ferelden is to the south of the more tropical climates to the north.

[@fhuber7507]

What we need and is NEVER discussed is rules for weather and climate. Essentially we run D&D in the land of "It never rains unless its for an encounter, and its used to screw with the players"

[@WASD20]

Well, I have SOME of that here, but it's scant. I don't find it particularly practical in running games, but I can absolutely see where you're coming from.

[@alandcapelari]

I once researched climate to implement reasonably in my campaigns, with weather defined beforehand, but climate and weather are pure chaos. I recommend using Chainmail weather chat, is random and simple. I ended up with a system, but it is quite complex to keep track.

[@johnforgrave7125]

If I'm going to add a large dessert I typically put a large mountain range windward of it since there's a real phenomena called a rain shadow where mountains push air upwards making it cool and condense, and then it rains on that side of the mountain range, but the other side rarely sees any rain at all. One side of the Himalayas is the Gobe Desert and the other side is India and Bangladesh, where their country is mostly underwater for a large part of the year. South America is another good example. One side of the Andes is the Atacama Dessert, and the other is the Amazon Rainforest.

[@aspektx]

I believe the 1st edition AD&D DM's guide had quite a few tables for random weather generation. More to your point it would be great for a system to generate weather based on the previous days' weather, perhaps based on weather systems that change over time. So that's four layers? Geography Weather systems Previous weather Today's weather. With weather and maps and everything else the one rule is: internal consistency.

[@alandcapelari]

@@aspektx What I came up was a system in which you roll some dice, get the average temperature variant, from that you get the % of rain, then you roll a d100, if the number rolled falls within the % of rain, rain falls reducing the chance by the number you rolled. Then there was the wind variant, which was based on d8s. The question is, there is too much to track, and the system in the chainmail 3rd edition does a great job using only a d6 and a chart. The chaos that is the natural climate system is not worth the effort to try to emulate it. Just research how forecast is made. Aside from that a weather system really adds to the game feel, and I am still looking for something plausible, I just want to finish skinning my campaign world to bring that topic back on my desk, hence I was watching this video. WASD20 gave me the last hints I needed. Finally, I know there is somewhere on the internet a spreadsheet which simulates weather for a whole year based on our climate. I made a copy, but just did not want to use. This comment got too long. Sorry.

[@tarul4044]

I found this very helpful. Sometimes videos and guides teaching how to make maps can be too complicated and confusing! This was super super clear and helpful for a beginner (like me)! Thanks! :)

[@jshxlot]

Thankyou so much for making this video! I'm trying to make my own manga with fantasy setting and this helps a lot. You made it a lot easier for me.

[@happyotter9]

As an artist, creating fantasy graphic novel, I found this really useful. Although not noob in geography by any means, I'm sure it just saved me a lot of hours. Thank you

[@koreanbbq2376]

Growing up in western washington I learned about the rain shadow effect and when I drew my first map I realized my mountain ranges were close enough to the coast to have an area that would almost constantly be under rain clouds lol

[@Hendrik-rq7rf]

Thank you so much for this collection of rules. It really helped to fix some problems in my own map and gave me some new inspiration too.

[@Lanceor]

Makes me happy to think that i innately knew most of the stuff you said except for the splitting river that i didnt know, thanks for boosting my confidence and adding a bit more to my world building!

[@volatilesky]

FINE KZbin I'LL WATCH IT Also to say: The thumbnail with the duration overlay makes it looks like it says "10 Rules For More Realistic Fantasy Mans" Which is also good

[@Flaky1990]

On 8. I recommend watching some videos of medieval settlements/citiybuilding. Basically most settlements were not bigger than 8 miles in each direction since this is the average distance a normal person can be expected to walk in a given day to buy produce from a central market etc., these rules also apply to other areas of living in a community. Depending on supply and demand some shops might exist more often (maybe once per settlement/area in a town) while others only exist in bigger towns. It's really interesting but sadly I forgot the name of the video.

[@eldonmacwood]

I know I am 3 years late, but thank you for these videos as I am designing my world maps for a fantasy series, and I want to nail it. I am learning loads from you!

[@99kylies15]

This is such a cool video! Love how you preface it by saying 'if you just wanna draw cool maps, go for it.' :3

[@goodlookingcorpse]

The biggest inaccuracy I see in fantasy maps is their accuracy: that is, they're like modern maps, not like medieval ones.

[@Washeek]

How do you make a map more medieval? More innacurate?

[@johnroach9026]

@@Washeek Hand draw the map with inaccuracies on the coastline and in places with little civilization but getting more accurate in populated areas and near large rivers

[@dekippiesip]

@@johnroach9026 you could also make 2 maps. The meta fully accurate map, and the less accurate one made by some locals in your world. That way you make a consistent world, but still leave some mystery. You could even hide the 'real' map from the readers, slowly revealing more, while you ofc have already made it.

[@robertnett9793]

@@Washeek Medieval maps were terrible innaccurate. You had the rough relative positions of cities to each other, more indications of prominent landmarks instead of accurate measurments, distances and such... And they were more regarded as pieces of art - like decorating it with the literal dragons, sea serpents and unicorns (which to be fair could be an apt description of a region in a fantasy world...)

[@scintillam_dei]

You're the kind of person to say ancients couldn't have built the pyramids without imagining aliens.

[@ameliablakey9758]

*mentions mountains forming north-south* Me: Looks out window. Me: Goes across house and looks out different window. Me: Yes. Edit *talks about rain shadows.* Me: Looks out window. Me: Yes.

[@evilinc333]

As a person who lives in the mountains I can comfirm

[@satanssecretary3228]

As a person who also lives in the mountains, I can also confirm

[@pamplemoo]

As a person who doesn't live in the mountains, idk

[@xxOnigiri99]

As a person, what

[@cedifice9499]

Wait you're all people? I must be in the wrong place.

[@michaels.3709]

Fantastic video with lots of great ideas! I'm in the process of building a setting for a 5e campaign and, while I was already accounting for things like rain shadow and climate, my considerations were a bit scattershot, so this was a huge help in bringing them together. Also got some great explanations for some of the natural features I wanted but couldn't justify!

[@sigrid2242]

Thanks so much for taking the time and doing the research to make this video. It's incredibly helpful!

[@haenen100]

A couple of things on these rules, whether additional or just mentioning a nitpicky detail on phrasing or interpretation: -Rule 1: Rivers do split, however the older river will run dry as a result or (in event of heavy rainfall etc.) the new river(s) will soon enough run dry again after the excess water leaves. One good example of this is how a meandering river can eventually meander with such broad corners that the river will eventually cut it off and leave a small probably quickly drying pond or small lake. These clay-rich ponds will litter around the river, making the region even more fertile. Rivers splitting in the meant here sense probably also happens, the eroded out river path of the old river may continue being a smaller river for rain water but will seize to be the large and continuous river it once was. (Rule 2 is similar, there can be other rivers but they've dried up. Note that dried up river splits are possible but not necessary.) -Rule 5: To simplify this effect for your players, you could say 'The clouds collide with the mountains.' Not really how it works, but understandable enough without a drawing to visualise it. Remember that mountains aren't a long wall but peaks with lower points in between. While they can still hold back rain quite well, there are going to be points in between the mountains where the rain can go through and perhaps even be tunnelled to be wetter. So there can be small patches of mountain-hugging green pastures on the dry side of the range. Unless the range is more than a single mountain thick, in which event it can be easier for the clouds to get stuck behind the mountains after all. The valleys would still be very fertile within these mountains, though massive sudden flooding is a huge risk there because that same fertile valley is also the lowest point for annual rain peak water to gather before it runs away. Perhaps even a lake will form for a few days. -Rule 6: This is going only on our Earth, mostly. Tectonics are technically maybe not necessary for a planet, but as this means no mountains and granite etc for the most part you probably want to have tectonics after all. A lot of the rules here are based on our relatively new tectonics; you've got the old plates made of basalt and the new ones of granite. The latter being a bit lighter and therefore the ones on top. Our land mass, whereas the basalt plates are the sea plates, generally speaking. This is not a necessity, either can be the other kind of land/sea mass in another planet, and eventually most of our planet surface will be granite including most of the sea plates. This, as well as the mountain ranges being from north to south, is all just semi-coincidental for our Earth, it's not a law of physics. In your planet, you can have west to east or crisscross mountain ranges. -Rule 7: India's collision, being a land mass colliding with a land mass, is not the sole nor main reason for the himalayas being tall and huge. Rather, this mountain range is just relatively very young compared to the others and had thus very little time to erode away. The highlands in England used to be higher mountains than Mt. Everest if I recall correctly, but they no longer grow and have corroded and eroded away a lot over the millenia. -Rule 8: Water for settlements is, as one of the most important factors for any larger settlement to come into being, very important for small villages to grow into larger cities. No city started by 10000 people popping into existence with houses and all, they all started with some smaller settlement that had to grow into a new one. Lakes and sea-side areas lend themselves well for a village to grow into a larger settlement, as fishing wasn't affected by the same factors as bad harvests (thus decreasing famine and this keeping the population in check), the water body kept the area more fertile and less likely to run out as inland pastures could, people could more easily expand to trade once the settlement grew etc. The in rule 1 mentioned deltas lend themselves very well for such a region; deltas are very fertile and relatively good for early settlements as river floodings and sea storms are fairly though not optimally reduced here. Also the delta tends to be a natural barrier against enemies for settlements still small enough to fit on a single 'island'. So it's not just the reasons mentioned here, remember that any city's lands should also be able to be self-sufficient for a village or town worth of people or that it must've had reasons to exist as it was still young and growing. -Rule 9: Just to clarify; building a settlement not directly next to the sea helps immensely against sea waves and storms. That said, smaller ports will still be built at sea for a couple of reasons including simple fishing, or in the event that the more inland bay runs too shallow for ships during a dryer season. -Rule 12: Keep in mind your other races. We haven't had elves in our world history, but in a world with fae the humans would not deforest as much without massive aggressive resistance. In a world with dwarves and cave-dwelling races, humans would be less likely to have but the minimal requirement mining towns; most mines would be in dwarven control and orcs and goblin presence would require more protection for the towns. Look at any other race you add to a certain region, and how this would affect your city placement. My interpretation: There would still be the kind of villages we know from history in meadows, but near forests we wouldn't deforest the area to have a wide ring of farmlands around our village in all directions. Either we wouldn't farm near a forest, or the forest border doesn't recede by deforestation. Humans could coexist with the fae, but for this our lumberjacks would probably cut down trees that are dead or dying already instead of the most nearby ones. Wood would be more expensive as a result and we'd use more stone, but most fantasy settings unintentionally do this already anyway. The people here probably worship a nature god as well, and are more healthy due to a fae herbalist or other forest ambassador that lives amongst them. These villages wouldn't grow into towns; they'd need more than nature can provide without disturbing the balance and so before a village can grow into a town retaliation would knock them back to village size. Instead there would be towns further away from the forest border as a network centre for many of these forest villages. For the mountains, there would probably be trading towns built near the dwarven settlements to trade their ore for our food, clay and salt. These would be more luxurious and have inns (Unlike other towns and villages, which contrary to the believe don't have a dedicated innkeeper for any settlement with 10 houses or more. Inns were almost exclusively for cities, unless travellers were very common for the settlement.), because of the coin passing through here as merchants come to buy ore and sell higher-quantity foodstuff to the dwarves. In the event that humans do get their hands on a mine or two by absence of dwarves claiming the mountain, they'd need proper walls and guards against all the monsters lurking in the caves. A walled city in a mountainous region would be extremely well-defended easily by picking a good spot, and they have a product to sell and live off. Mountain cities like these would be a good fantasy city-state as we would like them to be: With their defendable position and possible economic independency, perhaps even with a just as defendable valley for their agriculture, they can easily declare independence to get the full profit from their ore without taxes and faraway politics, and with the option to melt the ore down to ingots at the city as well (more jobs and more profit).

[@CatAdvantage]

That’s great

[@vepristhorn8278]

Said small lakes are known as oxbow lakes But you do need to remember the timescales that your working on, as a geologist I have this problem regularly Rule7: While they are young you are also dealing with a continental to continental plate collision, this changes things

[@divinkitty9452]

Another thing with rivers that people can play with: if your river is serpentine in shape it won't be that way forever. Due to erosion the water will eventually make a far straighter, more direct rout to its destination. The areas of water that are then "broken off" will become small lakes (or bigger lakes if there is a lot of rainfall as there is nowhere for that excess water to go). Generally the connection between these smaller lakes and the river they originated from will dry up, making them very reclusive. So, you can play with this by having your setting have a few small lake beds closeish to a river or if time travel becomes a thing in your setting you can play with that as well. One thing is I can't remember how long it takes for this to happen, but I believe it takes a few hundred years.

[@davianelrian6994]

The Mississippi River. Major River mouths will move around. The Mississippi mouth has moved from modern Florida to as far west as southern Texas, if my memory serves me correctly.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

Tell that to the Tisza...

[@tontonj97]

i love geography and fantasy worlds, can't believe these two can be linked in the most exciting way!!!!

[@killergm6962]

Good video! As a RL city planner (as well as old school neckbeard DM in my free time), I admit that I squeed a little bit when you mentioned that settlements tend to occur near water. That's such a key component to "realistic" worldbuilding that may not occur to people (it's also History of Human Settlements 101 stuff). Lately I may have become obsessed with the idea of tidal-locked planets and the idea of a narrow ribbon of a habitable zone between the hot side and the cold side. The reason I mention this is because when making a fantasy "world" (and Nate touches on this early in the video), it helps to start with the mundane and then ask, "if x changes, what does that mean in this world"? If the planet doesn't have a day-night cycle, what happens and how does that affect the world? If there's no flowing surface water (like the Yucatan peninsula), then what would govern where settlements are instead? If there's no tectonic activity at all, what does *that* mean? For that matter, if there was some great war between massive titans ten thousand years ago, how might that affect the world (footprint-shaped lakes? A "lonely mountain" that is the silted-over remains of a fallen titan? The Boiling Isles)? Point being, if there's a significant deviation from the mundane, a good explanation for it is not just a good idea, it's a good lore-building tool!

[@omlo9093]

Dwarves have aquifers.

[@GregSole]

Oh you know it. :)

[@Joemantler]

All that shadow effect goes somewhere.

[@Sylfa]

Though its recommended for new players to not settle in a region with them. (Assuming it's a comment about dwarf fortress, if not please ignore.)

[@freddoolanburke2190]

Man I need to play Dwarf Fortress again

[@firefly7076]

Reason for a lonely mountain: hotspot under a still plate

[@davidthor4405]

I just found this randomly and it's been really helpful. Thanks!

[@HelotOnWheels]

Great advice, particularly on protecting harbors, a matter I’ve often overlooked. While water is indispensable for settlements, as you say, in places where water is plentiful other factors will come into play. 1. Settlements will form at chokepoints: bases of mountain passes, fords across rivers, the high ground between swamplands, the gap between two forests, and so on. 2. Settlements will form near rapids and waterfalls on large rivers, where boat traffic needs to stop and either sell cargoes or at least portage their boats around the obstacle. 3. Similarly, settlements will form where a shallow river joins a deep river, because that’s where small shippers on little shallow-draft boats will sell their cargoes onto bigger, more efficient deep-draft vessels. 4) Settlements form near rare resources. In deserts that may be water, but in rainy places it may be timber, salt licks for cattle, lime deposits for bricks, rock quarries, or metal ore veins. In fantasy worlds, sources of spell components or mana may support settlements. Imagine a witch and her followers settling near a grove of ebony trees perfect to cut magic wands from, or where the soil moisture and minerals are ideal for growing mandrake.

[@rolandbuysse9374]

I think rule 11 is really important if you're building a story, a fantasy world can be so much more captivating when it's different from ours in ways that make sense. So maybe the rule should be: When you break the rules, do so consciously; have a reason for why things are different that at the very least superficially makes sense.

[@MCDexX]

Some of my additional rules: i) Volcanic hotspots can and do move. It can be fun to trace a path across your map, working out how a volcanic hotspot would transform the terrain as it moves under the continental plate, through a faultline, under the sea, under an island, etc. This happened at least once in southeeastern Australia and it's fun to trace the path it followed and find lava flows, ash fields, old calderas and craters, etc. ii) People gotta eat. When placing cities, especially really big cities, remember that people need food. Work out where the farmlands are, the orchards, the fisheries and pastures, and so on. What's really fun is that this then ties into the next rule... iii) Give trade routes, ports, and shipping lanes a reason to exist. Work out who has what, where these things are in demand, and then follow the simplest paths from source to destination. Where might the spices grow, and the silks? Where are the rich folks who would have the means to buy them? What's great about this is that it can then feed into your culture building - this place is mountainous and near the sea, so few fields and pastures but lots of fish, so that's going to shape their diet, for example. Then that leads into... iv) Once you know where stuff is being produced, how it's being transported, and where it's being delivered to, then you can work out where the bandits and pirates like to ply their trade. They need a steady supply of targets, be close enough to civilisation to enjoy their loot, but far enough away that the authorities won't just stamp them out, somewhere to hide their base, and a supply of water and non-stolen food (game, fish, etc.) This stuff isn't just work to pad out your world - when you really dig into it, it provides a wealth of worldbuilding opportunities and story hooks. Put in that initial work, and you'll be repaid with interest by all the cool ideas you get back for stories, adventures, and fantasy culture and worldbuilding.

[@dontforgettosmile611]

thanks for the great tips! love your videos! You have a very calm and humble way of telling what you know!

[@reeck771]

Just found your channel... Immediately fell in love with the content, needed exactly this kind of info