Note Taking for Map Making

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Whether you’re planning on drawing a map for yourself or working with a cartographer, here’s some things to keep in mind when keeping notes on the world you’re building

Where does your adventure start?

The best place to start is at the beginning.  When you’re building a fantasy world, much of it changes as your story progresses, especially if it’s a map you’re building from your RPG campaign.  Needing to make things mid-game can change the lay of the land, add a town, move a river, so on and so forth.  Even a world map should start from your story/campaign’s starting point and work its way outward.

Always note where something is in relation to your starting point.

If your story begins in the little town of Startville and your story leads you westward, note all places, events, and landmarks your characters come across while heading westward.  If they then head north, make note all those things are Northwest of Startville and north of whatever landmarks you described as west of Startville.  Whenever outlining a story simply adding the directional initials (N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, SW) will help you establish distance and relation in your world.  Though Startville might actually be in the southernmost tip of whatever distant continent, it will still be the focal point of your adventure and thus a reference for your readers/players.

To keep things simple, draw a box for your starting area followed by lines heading in whatever direction your characters go to the next point of interest.  Note how long it took them to get there (this will become your “scale & distance” measurement (i.e. 1 inch of line equals 50 miles or whatever distance you need).  Keep descriptions for each area on a separate piece of paper to reference later.  As they progress to the next area, draw a line to the next point of interest using the measurement you determined with the first line (i.e. if this new point of interest is 100 miles from the last point, the line would be 2 inches long judging by the previous example).

Make note of events that change the landscape.  A perfect example of this is the Spellplague in Forgotten Realms:

“The Spellplague affected the landscape, making the ground rumble and heave up and down like the surface of the sea. Curtains of blue flame swept the landscape, reshaping the land by cutting crevasses or lifting and sculpting the plain into hills and ridges.” ~ Forgotten Realms Wiki

This left a permanent mark on the land that makes maps from 3e look different than all that follow the Spellplague.  It’s important to note these things, especially if it happens during gameplay and was unexpected.  Go back to the original notes of that area and mark the changes in landscape.

Note any important landmarks, natural or man-made, in relation to a town/city.  If the town has an unusually large cemetery, a cartographer might mark it on a map or leave an open space where it might be.  If you talk of caves near a town you imply a change in the topography that would allow for caves such as mountains.  If you describe a body of water of any sort, make special note of it.

Note any structures in the area that require specific topography to operate.  A lumber mill generally needs a water source to operate and a forest to harvest  A mining company needs a quarry.

Note any heavily trafficked paths.  They often change the landscape by baring a path or needing bridges.

During encounters, keep notes of the battlefield.  If you suddenly need a body of water, a cavern, or a cliff due to needs during an encounter, make sure you add that to the notes for that area.

Lastly and most importantly…

Don’t be afraid to doodle!  As a cartographer, I get a lot of strange looking doodles of boxes with “Startville” written in them, a squiggly line, a few inverted Vs, and triangles clustered together.  Believe it or not, this is how us cartographers first map out our designs!  So drawing something, no matter how horrible you think it looks, is a LOT better than nothing at all.  You don’t have to draw everything the more you draw, the better your map will eventually be.  And take notes of anything around the area that you didn’t draw.