Bright's Thread of Orphaned Geography, v2

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Brightfires

Dances with a Death Mage
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Elsewhere in the distant reaches of the Internet, I used to have a project...
A thread stuffed with random maps pulled from my collection of old sketchbooks and game notes.

Just doodles of imaginary places that I'd made for fun or as thought experiments (and that I knew good and well I would never get around to using a fraction of in my own games-), I thought it might be entertaining to put them all up for adoption. I'm not a geographer or a professional illustrator, so they're far from perfect... and often far from "realistic" as landscapes go... but when you're in need of a last-minute location? Quick and free may beat strict geological accuracy. That's my excuse, anyway.

So... yes.
Maps.

Orphaned maps.

Give them good homes.
Or even bad ones.
It's all good. :coffee:

I'll start with reposts of the maps from the original thread and then move on to the ones that never made it there...
 
EasterEggIsland.jpg


SeahorseIsland.jpg


AncientTowers.jpg


TropicalIsland.jpg


HeartOfMyHeart.jpg


CanyonLake.jpg


OrchardIsland.jpg


IslandOfTheRoses.jpg


ScorpionCoast.jpg


BlackHills.jpg
 
Nice. :thumbsup: Just glancing through, I see some I’m gonna grab, thanks.
 
As promised...
The first set of previously unposted maps.

I've got a whole stack of these, so the plan is to toss them up here about a half-dozen or so at a time.

============================================================

Highlands.jpg




TreasureBay.jpg




Tama.jpg




Shadelands.jpg




Grasslands.jpg





Whale.jpg




Narrows.jpg
 
Ooookay... Not sure I understand that, but if you want me to sblock them or remove the thread I can.

I've had people grump about the resolution or raise an eyebrow at the geological improbability a few times, but I have to say this is the first time anyone thought they were pornographic. :errr:
 
Oh, nononono, your maps are great!

It's an old joke about the Rorschach or inkblot test, which uses random patches of colour. The psychiatrist tries to draw out what the patient is thinking by asking him what he sees in the patches.

The joke is this: the patient complains that the psychiatrist keeps showing him dirty pictures. Guess what the patient is really thinking about?

Sincere apologies , but I am not laughing at you, I'm laughing at what I see in the shapes. Keep the maps coming, please!
 
Oh, nononono, your maps are great!

It's an old joke about the Rorschach or inkblot test, which uses random patches of colour. The psychiatrist tries to draw out what the patient is thinking by asking him what he sees in the patches.

The joke is this: the patient complains that the psychiatrist keeps showing him dirty pictures. Guess what the patient is really thinking about?

Sincere apologies , but I am not laughing at you, I'm laughing at what I see in the shapes. Keep the maps coming, please!
What he said. Totally not you. Just a joke about seeing things that are not there.
 
Ah. Gotcha.
I've never actually seen the Rorschach images, but get the general idea behind them. And... yeah. Internet. Porn. All that. :shade:
 
Ah. Gotcha.
I've never actually seen the Rorschach images, but get the general idea behind them. And... yeah. Internet. Porn. All that. :shade:
Oh good! Didn't want to scare you off with our peculiarities.
 
'Sort of feel like my thread is getting hijacked here... But that was bound to happen when somebody mentioned porn.
 
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'Not distracting exactly...
I'm just a little boggled that somehow my map thread morphed into porn jokes and videos of furries getting kicked in the junk. There's thread drift and then there's... well, that. XD
 
Anyway, this is the last batch I have prepped to post.
(There are many, many more in my sketchbooks, but they'll have to wait for me to find them and the run them through the scan-and-resize routine.)

Kyldere.jpg



Khudish.jpg



KingdomOfStones.jpg



JudgesIsland.jpg



HuntingGrounds.jpg



CliffLake.jpg



MiddleKingdom.jpg
 
Again, apologies for the silliness. Looking forward to the next batch.

Care to go through your thought processes making them? The animal-shaped maps are quite Rene Magritte in their own way, do you have a backstory or plan, or is it purely for enjoyment?
 
No worries... It's the internet. Porn jokes happen.

Most of my maps are just doodles, honestly. Sometimes I'll have an idea when I start... The "snake map" was done one afternoon when I'd been watching Lilith (a friend's pet ball python-). The flowers were started in a waiting room that had a Christmas poinsettia sitting on the table. There's one that was based on a box of doughnuts. That kind of thing... But most of them are more random. They're just shapes or features that I thought would look interesting at the time.

I know it's probably a disappointing answer, but there really isn't much in the way of deep thought or backstory to most of them. They're just my version of the doodles people make on post-its and in the margins of TPS reports.

ETA: I did mention some potential stories and the inspirations for a few of the older maps in the original RPGN thread where I posted them. Eventually I stopped doing that, because it felt like anything I said had too much potential to run afoul of their rules or unintentionally cause offense. But this was the original thread, with that commentary, if you're curious.
 
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Nothing needs to a reason beyond "I enjoyed making it".

Looking at your stuff, I just thought of a Poe story called "The Domain of Arnheim", about a man's quest to shape nature in his house and garden. Magritte's painting of the same name is of a mountain trying to reshape itself into an eagle.

Makes me think of all those old fantasy stories where the island is the back of a turtle, or where fairies live on leaves or in giant flowers.

Thank you!
 
No worries... It's the internet. Porn jokes happen.

Most of my maps are just doodles, honestly. Sometimes I'll have an idea when I start... The "snake map" was done one afternoon when I'd been watching Lilith (a friend's pet ball python-). The flowers were started in a waiting room that had a Christmas poinsettia sitting on the table. There's one that was based on a box of doughnuts. That kind of thing... But most of them are more random. They're just shapes or features that I thought would look interesting at the time.

I know it's probably a disappointing answer, but there really isn't much in the way of deep thought or backstory to most of them. They're just my version of the doodles people make on post-its and in the margins of TPS reports.

ETA: I did mention some potential stories and the inspirations for a few of the older maps in the original RPGN thread where I posted them. Eventually I stopped doing that, because it felt like anything I said had too much potential to run afoul of their rules or unintentionally cause offense. But this was the original thread, with that commentary, if you're curious.
Good news everybody! We have almost no rules and even less desire to get touchy about them so feel free to unleash your inner voice.
 
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