World Geography

[frogspawner]

Originally Posted by Rurik

I do have to say I'm not a huge fan of basing the map on fantasy europe - is there a good reason to do so?

On the one hand we are designing a world very different than earth in the way myth replaces natural science and developing a distinct feel. To use earth geography kind of goes counter to the idea of making something distinctly different than bog standard middle ages earth resembling fantasy.

I think most people aren't keen on the idea, but ever-hopeful, I'll try again!
Using some Earth geography - and, I'm assuming, some ancient cultures too - gives an advantage of instant familiarity. But making it clearly not Earth shows Authors/GMs they can play around with it, and not worry about slavish historical accuracy. There should be enough details like The Green and Asherayne (yes, and maybe even Sky Mountain) on it to show that it's not Earth. I'll also say, if you're worried about slipping into the 'bog-standard middle ages', then firmly planting the ancient cultures there helps avoid that. (Oh, and I like the link it gives to RQ3!)
My rationale is that the Sphere passed Earth, some of the gods saw it and said 'What if?' - and re-created a pseudo-earth as one of their playthings...

... we don't need a spherical world with reality based geography and weather patterns for the fantasy project do we?

Certainly not! But CC3/FT may be good for creating nice-looking pictures - with swirling clouds, and so forth. (AutoRealm may be free, but hard/impossible work to produce good-looking stuff, unless I'm missing the tricks).

Whatever we do for a world, there is a style pack from the Cartographers Annual that emulates the style of the Islandia map we can use.

Great!

[Atgxtg]

Well it possible to get a good map with something like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop.

Or even to alter a screen cap to add more to it. I haven't used CC3, but CC2 was somewhat limited. Taking a screen cap will let us modify things a bit more. Maybe cut and past some coastline here and there to alter it and make it unique.

[Atgxtg]

Originally Posted by frogspawner

Frankly, I think the Sky Mountain is daft. But if that's what people want...

Currently it is 250 miles across the base, but still looks piddly. I'll try doubling it (that'd make it 500 miles high, too - is that enough?) - later. It's not really central either, since I put it where the Himalayas should be, in a vain attempt at realism. But there's two approaches to fixing that: 1) Move it to the Caspian Sea; 2) expand the map China-wards, so it's current location becomes central. Given that deserts are wanted around it, I'd
favour 2.
Opinions?

. I know we have moved away from the Sci-Fi concept, but just how big is 'Sky Mountain supposed to be?" At 250 miles high, it is within the orbit of Earth's International Space Station. Do we want it that high? What is supposed to be up there?

[Rurik]

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

Well it possible to get a good map with something like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop.

Or even to alter a screen cap to add more to it. I haven't used CC3, but CC2 was somewhat limited. Taking a screen cap will let us modify things a bit more. Maybe cut and past some coastline here and there to alter it and make it unique.

CC3 Produces much better looking maps than CC2. The advantage to using CC3 in conjuntion with something like Fractal Terrain is that you end up with a master map from which smaller details can be created from without giving having to worry about the scale or features matching up from map to map (Glorantha's scale problems between different maps are numerous).

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

. I know we have moved away from the Sci-Fi concept, but just how big is 'Sky Mountain supposed to be?" At 250 miles high, it is within the orbit of Earth's International Space Station. Do we want it that high? What is supposed to be up there?

The Sun lives at the top in his palace and comes out to illuminate and warm the world every morning.

[Atgxtg]

Originally Posted by Rurik

CC3 Produces much better looking maps than CC2. The advantage to using CC3 in conjuntion with something like Fractal Terrain is that you end up with a master map from which smaller details can be created from without giving having to worry about the scale or features matching up from map to map (Glorantha's scale problems between different maps are numerous).

I was aware of the scaling. It was my favorite CC2 feature. I just didn't know about the quality of CC3. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Rurik

The Sun lives at the top in his palace and comes out to illuminate and warm the world every morning.

Ah. In that case, maybe we should make it 93 million miles high!

But then I guess we'd have to call it space mountain, and that might require an arrangement with Disney.

[Rurik]

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

I was aware of the scaling. It was my favorite CC2 feature. I just didn't know about the quality of CC3. Thanks.

CC3 uses extensive bitmab symbols and textures that are much more appealing than the old CC2 vector symbols (which are still supported). Of course the bitmaps don't scale anywhere near as well as the vector symbols, so a "Master" map should probably be all vector based, and from that master map you can make all your 'pretty' maps using the new symbols and effects.

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

Ah. In that case, maybe we should make it 93 million miles high!

But then I guess we'd have to call it space mountain, and that might require an arrangement with Disney.

Well, the sun is much smaller than ours, so should be closer. If it were 93,000,000 miles away it would seem roughly the same temperature across the whole world, not a firey/boiling waste immediately below it and growing gradually cooler the farther away you move.

[frogspawner]

Originally Posted by Rurik

Well, the sun is much smaller than ours, so should be closer. If it were 93,000,000 miles away it would seem roughly the same temperature across the whole world, not a firey/boiling waste immediately below it and growing gradually cooler the farther away you move.

A thought about the Sun/Sky Mountain: how about if, instead of sitting there on top of the mountain all day, the Sun God emerges from the 200-mile plus mountain at dawn, sits in his throne, and rises straight up for a few thousand miles until noon, then comes back down again by dusk? That should scorch the nearby lands nicely, keep the mountain short, and preserve 'sunrise/sunset'-type terminonlogy (which I bet people would slip into). The mountain could be a hollow tube - essentially a heat shield.

PS: how tall is the highest mountain in the solar system?

[Atgxtg]

Originally Posted by frogspawner

PS: how tall is the highest mountain in the solar system?

You incredibly brilliant forgspawner, you. That would be Mons Olympus, 24-27km high and 550km across. And, quite swipe-able for Sun Mountain.



In fact, if we were to take some non-Earth landscapes, and just add water...

[soltakss]

Originally Posted by frogspawner

A thought about the Sun/Sky Mountain: how about if, instead of sitting there on top of the mountain all day, the Sun God emerges from the 200-mile plus mountain at dawn, sits in his throne, and rises straight up for a few thousand miles until noon, then comes back down again by dusk? That should scorch the nearby lands nicely, keep the mountain short, and preserve 'sunrise/sunset'-type terminonlogy (which I bet people would slip into). The mountain could be a hollow tube - essentially a heat shield.

PS: how tall is the highest mountain in the solar system?

According to the almighty Wikipedia, Olympus Mons is 27 kilometres high.

But, the Sky Mountain reaches up to the Sky. It doesn't really matter how high it actually is, because nobody can climb to the Sky (except Heroes or Gods). What's important is that it is visible from virtually anywhere in the known world.

I'm not that keen on the Sun sitting above Sky Mountain, to tell the truth. I'd rather it rises from the Underworld, travels to Sky Mountain, visits his family for an hour or so while stationary, then sets into the Underworld. It's more earthlike. has established mythological roots and feels better, it also allows for Dusk, Dawn and Night.

[frogspawner]

Originally Posted by Atgxtg

You incredibly brilliant forgspawner, you.

You're too kind.

In fact, if we were to take some non-Earth landscapes, and just add water...

Any suggestions, that might satisfy the non-earthers? (And, have any been rendered into CCx/FT already?)

Originally Posted by soltakss

What's important is that it is visible from virtually anywhere in the known world.

Even a notional 27km should be plenty if the 'earth' is flat, or slightly bowl-shaped...

I'm not that keen on the Sun sitting above Sky Mountain, to tell the truth. I'd rather it rises from the Underworld, travels to Sky Mountain, visits his family for an hour or so while stationary, then sets into the Underworld. It's more earthlike. has established mythological roots and feels better, it also allows for Dusk, Dawn and Night.

Sorry, do you mean you're ok with the sun rising above the mountain steadily during the day (after coming up through it from Below), or not? If not, and he's there all day, what gives dawn and dusk?