Suggestion: Fantasy World Map

Not that the current image is necessarily bad, but I do find it rather simple and boring compared to the amazing possibilities. The tiny size doesn't help either. Since this image is definitely Keep Until Better Image Suggested, I'm going to make some suggestions. There are countless franchises that have world maps, so feel free to add your own suggestions or better images.

• Middle Earth/Arda [1]◊[2]◊
• Hyrule [3]◊[4]◊
• World of Avatar [5]◊[6]◊
• Strangereal [7]◊
• A Song Of Ice And Fire [8]◊

edited 7th Jul '13 5:22:28 PM by Rethkir

I didn't like the current since day one; it looks too much like a logo and not enough like a map:

I don't really see anything wrong with the current, though of the suggestions I like the old Hyrule (1.4) one the most.

All the suggestions are great for Image Links, but I dunno that they'll work well at wiki size.

EDIT: Can someone clean up the artifacts in this?

edited 7th Jul '13 7:15:30 PM by Willbyr

"Can", yes. "Will" ... eh, dunno. It could use a map from other than videogames, IMHO.

edited 7th Jul '13 7:53:18 PM by Stratadrake

AH! That cannot be cleaned. Better off resizing the current. Even so, it's still meh.

edited 7th Jul '13 8:17:01 PM by Rethkir

Any of the suggestions look like maps. The current looks like green slime. I think 1, 3, and 4 say 'fantasy world' pretty well.

Other possibilities:

EarthSea [1]◊

The Phantom Tollbooth [2]◊

Several fantasy-maps combined [3]◊

edited 7th Jul '13 10:51:36 PM by Geoduck

3 is awesome. If only it had some pictures of the places and not just their names.

Some of them (Westeros, Middle Earth, EarthSea) are at least the proper shape..

8.3 looks fun. It has my vote, if only for the humor value.

Here be some scans of the cloth maps made for the Ultima games:

Ultima V Britannia◊

Ultima VI Britannia◊

Ultima VII Britannia◊

I'm not sure what this world is, it's from Ultima 2◊

So far, although all of the suggestions have some merit, 8.3 and 12.4 are my favorites.

Not sure about the Middle Earth ones, plus I recall that something like the first is on another page.

The second one of Hyrule is very nice.

Westeros is pretty, but that map is too detailed to work well — even cropped, there are so many tiny city names.

I'd be happy with an Earthsea map if it was better quality.

The Phantom Tollbooth is good, but again wouldn't resize clearly.

The Ultima ones are very good, excepting 12.4.

8.3 has the funnies and the clarities. It's my favorite. If necessary, a caption could link to the more official maps of the individual areas.

I have wiki-size appearance concerns about all Middle-Earth maps. Same for strangereal and Earthsea.

Hyrule 2 looks fine, Hyrule 1 has a problem I so hate about fictional or medieval maps - a lack of relative size perspective.

Avatar is not very interesting, and Avatar 2 looks like it's a chop of a Real Life map.

Ice And Fire has a link with a common "- " insertion, and the text is just unreadable.

The Phantom Tollbooth is a bit bland.

8.3 may be OK, but I personally do not like mish-mashing various universes together.

I like all the 3 first Ultimas.

I suppose we'll get a big Image Links page.

The Phantom Tollbooth for the win, perhaps, just because nobody remembers that one.

I know a lot of people prefer to use examples collected "in the wild", but I couldn't resist, and bashed this out..

I like that, 'xcept for the illogical ordering of climate zones.

edited 8th Jul '13 1:44:24 PM by SeptimusHeap

Did you just make that? If so, serious kudos.

Aren't some of those tropes video-game-levels-only, mixed in with other settings?

edited 8th Jul '13 3:26:30 PM by Noaqiyeum

Grim Up North, The Savage South, Ghibli Hills, The Lost Woods, Hailfire Peaks, and Land Down Under are all tropes referenced in the picture, with less direct references to Shifting Sand Land, Floating Continent, and Wutai. Of those, Shifting Sand Land, Hailfire Peaks, The Lost Woods, and Wutai are Video Game Settings.

The only one I'm not sure about is "Horse Archers".

@17 is colorful and neat. Though ... shouldn't the bottom right one be called Turtle Island? Oh, and you should put a drop shadow underneath the Floating Island.

edited 8th Jul '13 6:42:22 PM by Stratadrake

Working on a revised version. Horse Archer was the best trope I could find for "grasslands occupied by horse-oriented culture." As Septimus Heap said, I added that at the last moment in a bad place, so I'll move it so it's between Savage South and Thirsty Desert. (Prevailing winds blow from the west, the clouds hit the Hailfire Peaks, dump their load and drain to the south, making the swamps and jungles down there.) The further east you go, the drier it gets: Beyond the Thirsty Desert, things get really nasty with the Forbidden Zone. Beyond the second mountain range, either Far East or Wutai, with "China" and some "Japanese" islands offshore. Also, I'll add Arcadia to the west side, which shades into Ghibli Hills and then The Lost Woods. I may either change Land Downunder to Turtle Island, or have both, filling all four corners. Any other standard regions/climate points that I forgot?

edited 8th Jul '13 7:17:09 PM by Geoduck

17 is good. I'll reserve judgment on the revision.

edited 8th Jul '13 7:36:19 PM by Willbyr

I'd say Turtle Island, since the shape, and it's more fantastic. I'd skip Horse Archers altogether since it's not a place. Also, don't forget Death Mountain. It would be cool to have Hailfire Peaks border Lethal Lava Land and Slippy-Slidey Ice World (or Grim Up North). Could also use Mordor or Polluted Wasteland in the Forbidden Zone. The Wild West is another possibility on the west end of the map. You could also add cities such as Hub City, Shining City, Outlaw Town, Hidden Elf Village, etc.

The map could also use a N arrow and a title, like "Tropelonia"

edited 8th Jul '13 9:44:13 PM by Rethkir