It’s Not a Small World Anymore

I’m not talking about Earth, I’m talking about the world that my fantasy trilogy, Blades of Leander, takes place on! I’ve written about and continue to do so (hard at work on the second trilogy now), but I figured I needed to stop and get all my background information established. And that means mapping out the world, or at least the region that my characters have explored / will explore in the near future.

I’m a veteran pen and paper gamer, going back more years than I care to admit. Many of those years I spent running the games with friends as a game master (or dungeon master / DM). I got tired of using stock modules and adventures, so I created my own. that included making my own worlds by sketching out maps on sheets of graph paper and taping them together at times. Who knew that experience would come in handy one day? The big difference this time around was that instead of using colored pencils, graph paper, and scotch tape I turned to my computer.

I found that there are  a lot of fantasy map enthusiasts out there. I can see why, developing my own world was a lot of fun. The program I purchased to do it, Campaign Cartographer 3, had an impressive learning curve though. Thankfully there are tutorials that I used to help me put together my map. So, without further delay, let me present the work-in-progress map of the world of Kroth!

The World of the Blades of Leander

Shazamir, in the south, needs work, as do many of the islands on the right of the map. I don’t intend to change anything, but rather to add more detail as it is uncovered by the characters in the books.  In future blog posts I’ll go into detail about the areas and explore them a little further. My intentions are to make this roughly 40% of the continent, or maybe a little less. One of the great things about designing a map is all the opportunities it opens up. I had no trouble coming up with ideas to move the story forward, but seeing it laid out before me allows for even more ideas! It’s going to be a lot of fun, I promise you that!

To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to read about him, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com .