Adlatum and other continents - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Adlatum and other continents

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Mar 17, 2004 8:41:59 Just a quick question for anyone in the know regards the ongoing project detailing Krynn's continent of Adlatum : will Adlatum be a large continent similar to equivalent landmasses on Earth, Toril, Oerth etc, or will it be another small island-continent e.g Ansalon and Taladas? Its just that the 2 continents mapped out so far are very small, and either one would rattle around in, for example, Australia, with room to spare. The problem is that I want to nudge my PCs towards some epic maritime exploration, so its important for me to know whether the remaining lands, like Adlatum, are true continental landmasses, in the size range of say South America or Antarctica, or whether Krynn is in fact largely a ocean-planet with a scattering of big islands aka Anslalon / Taladas.

Or do I have things wrong and is Krynn in fact a much smaller world than Earth, Toril and the like, with appropriately-sized "continents"?
#2
cam_banks
Mar 17, 2004 8:53:13 I don't know that I would describe Ansalon as a "big island". It's a continent, we just have some trouble defining how big it is, exactly.

Adlatum's around the same size as Taladas, more or less. I don't think we ever really measured it. Big enough for all of the things that should happen in it, let's just say.

Cheers,
Cam
#3
iltharanos
Mar 17, 2004 10:14:25
Originally posted by Twilight Herald
Just a quick question for anyone in the know regards the ongoing project detailing Krynn's continent of Adlatum : will Adlatum be a large continent similar to equivalent landmasses on Earth, Toril, Oerth etc, or will it be another small island-continent e.g Ansalon and Taladas? Its just that the 2 continents mapped out so far are very small, and either one would rattle around in, for example, Australia, with room to spare. The problem is that I want to nudge my PCs towards some epic maritime exploration, so its important for me to know whether the remaining lands, like Adlatum, are true continental landmasses, in the size range of say South America or Antarctica, or whether Krynn is in fact largely a ocean-planet with a scattering of big islands aka Anslalon / Taladas.

Or do I have things wrong and is Krynn in fact a much smaller world than Earth, Toril and the like, with appropriately-sized "continents"?

That's the big debate, how big is Krynn?

The two most popular views are:

1. Krynn is roughly the size of the Earth's moon (~ 2,500 mile diameter), and continents such as Ansalon and Taladas are appropriately proportioned (~1,200 miles across). This continental measure is consistent with the most current maps.

2. Krynn is roughly the size of the Earth (~7,500 mile diameter), and continents such as Ansalon and Taladas are appropriately proportioned (~3,600 miles across). This continental measure is consistent with the map scale used in the old SAGA products.

I like your approach, which is somewhat of a mixture of the two.

3. Krynn is roughly the size of the Earth (~7,500 mile diameter), and continents such as Ansalon and Taladas (~1,200 miles across) are small island-continents roughly the same size as Greenland is on Earth.

This view does tend to present problems.

e.g. The southern tip of Ansalon is stated as being anywhere from 500 to 1000 miles from the south pole, so how to explain the tropical climate of the northern part of Ansalon, a mere 900 miles beyond the southern tip? The same problem presents itself with the similarly sized Taladas and its tropical southern regions.

The simplest solution is to deem that Krynn has an unusually large tropical climate zone. This way one could drop in "true" continental landmasses the size of North and South America with plenty of room to spare and plenty of space between the respective continents.
#4
kipper_snifferdoo_02
Mar 17, 2004 11:51:22
Originally posted by Twilight Herald
Just a quick question for anyone in the know regards the ongoing project detailing Krynn's continent of Adlatum : will Adlatum be a large continent similar to equivalent landmasses on Earth, Toril, Oerth etc, or will it be another small island-continent e.g Ansalon and Taladas? Its just that the 2 continents mapped out so far are very small, and either one would rattle around in, for example, Australia, with room to spare. The problem is that I want to nudge my PCs towards some epic maritime exploration, so its important for me to know whether the remaining lands, like Adlatum, are true continental landmasses, in the size range of say South America or Antarctica, or whether Krynn is in fact largely a ocean-planet with a scattering of big islands aka Anslalon / Taladas.

I won't get into the whole "Size of Ansalon" debate, but Adlatum is approximatley 1,200 miles but 1,200 miles, but it has a really funky sort of "X" shape to it because of all the seas. I don't think Trampas and Cam will mind if I post a preview of the map. :D

View the Adlatum map here.
#5
iltharanos
Mar 17, 2004 17:47:09 That's a nice map, where is its location in relation to Ansalon?

EDIT: Is there a website up that I can peruse for more info. about Adlatum?
#6
zombiegleemax
Mar 17, 2004 19:19:28 Wow. If I may say so the map looks very cool, and the geography well fleshed out. Can't wait till the project is finished.

Out of curiosity, I've always wondered why the original Dragonlance designers decided to make Ansalon as ( comparitively ) small as it is. I mean, Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk designers have always gone for big, sprawling continents ( comparable in size to those of Earth ) where a lot can happen more or less independently of what takes place everywhere else.
#7
kipper_snifferdoo_02
Mar 17, 2004 19:28:59
Originally posted by iltharanos
That's a nice map, where is its location in relation to Ansalon?

It's located Northwest of Ansalon.

EDIT: Is there a website up that I can peruse for more info. about Adlatum?

Nope, sorry not at this time. But we have been talking about gatheirng all the info we have together into some type of document and I'm sure it'll be available on the Nexus (dl3e.com) once we stick a fork in it. Other projects are keeping us too busy to make much progress on it at the moment.
#8
kipper_snifferdoo_02
Mar 17, 2004 19:32:50
Originally posted by Twilight Herald
Wow. If I may say so the map looks very cool, and the geography well fleshed out. Can't wait till the project is finished.

Out of curiosity, I've always wondered why the original Dragonlance designers decided to make Ansalon as ( comparitively ) small as it is. I mean, Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk designers have always gone for big, sprawling continents ( comparable in size to those of Earth ) where a lot can happen more or less independently of what takes place everywhere else.

I went to Tracy Hickman's World Building Seminar and he talked about that. He said they modeled the size of Ansalon after Middle Earth. It wasn’t until much later that he realized just how small a land mass that was but since everything had been plotted out that way for so long they just left it.
#9
brimstone
Mar 18, 2004 10:55:02
Originally posted by Kipper Snifferdoo
It's located Northwest of Ansalon.

Hmm...isn't Taladas Northwest of Ansalong (and Northeast of course...but because of Krynn's size...it's actually both, according to Otherlands). Or did you mean more North-northwest?

By the way...great map! What program did you use to make that. It doesn't look like CC2 to me. Also...what is that cool font you used?
#10
kipper_snifferdoo_02
Mar 18, 2004 11:17:23 Sure, North-Northwest would work.

I used Fractal Terrains that comes with CC2 to make the map actually. Now if I can just figure out how the heck to "really" use it properly.

The font used on the map is called Uncial. You can find it in a few fantasy font download places.
#11
cam_banks
Mar 18, 2004 11:38:57 Uncial (and variants of it) are commonly found on sites which feature Celtic (or uncial) fonts. The Forgotten Realms used to use a variant of it for their maps, too - it's very popular and suitable for fantasy games.

Cheers,
Cam
#12
brimstone
Mar 18, 2004 12:06:04 Hmm...looks like I need to delve into CC2 a little more deeply. That "Fractal Terrains" looks much prettier than CC2's normal terrain (I think).

Thanks for the info! (the font info as well)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Mar 17, 2004 8:41:59	Just a quick question for anyone in the know regards the ongoing project detailing Krynn's continent of Adlatum : will Adlatum be a large continent similar to equivalent landmasses on Earth, Toril, Oerth etc, or will it be another small island-continent e.g Ansalon and Taladas? Its just that the 2 continents mapped out so far are very small, and either one would rattle around in, for example, Australia, with room to spare. The problem is that I want to nudge my PCs towards some epic maritime exploration, so its important for me to know whether the remaining lands, like Adlatum, are true continental landmasses, in the size range of say South America or Antarctica, or whether Krynn is in fact largely a ocean-planet with a scattering of big islands aka Anslalon / Taladas. Or do I have things wrong and is Krynn in fact a much smaller world than Earth, Toril and the like, with appropriately-sized "continents"?
#2 cam_banks Mar 17, 2004 8:53:13	I don't know that I would describe Ansalon as a "big island". It's a continent, we just have some trouble defining how big it is, exactly. Adlatum's around the same size as Taladas, more or less. I don't think we ever really measured it. Big enough for all of the things that should happen in it, let's just say. Cheers, Cam
#3 iltharanos Mar 17, 2004 10:14:25	Originally posted by Twilight Herald Just a quick question for anyone in the know regards the ongoing project detailing Krynn's continent of Adlatum : will Adlatum be a large continent similar to equivalent landmasses on Earth, Toril, Oerth etc, or will it be another small island-continent e.g Ansalon and Taladas? Its just that the 2 continents mapped out so far are very small, and either one would rattle around in, for example, Australia, with room to spare. The problem is that I want to nudge my PCs towards some epic maritime exploration, so its important for me to know whether the remaining lands, like Adlatum, are true continental landmasses, in the size range of say South America or Antarctica, or whether Krynn is in fact largely a ocean-planet with a scattering of big islands aka Anslalon / Taladas. Or do I have things wrong and is Krynn in fact a much smaller world than Earth, Toril and the like, with appropriately-sized "continents"? That's the big debate, how big is Krynn? The two most popular views are: 1. Krynn is roughly the size of the Earth's moon (~ 2,500 mile diameter), and continents such as Ansalon and Taladas are appropriately proportioned (~1,200 miles across). This continental measure is consistent with the most current maps. 2. Krynn is roughly the size of the Earth (~7,500 mile diameter), and continents such as Ansalon and Taladas are appropriately proportioned (~3,600 miles across). This continental measure is consistent with the map scale used in the old SAGA products. I like your approach, which is somewhat of a mixture of the two. 3. Krynn is roughly the size of the Earth (~7,500 mile diameter), and continents such as Ansalon and Taladas (~1,200 miles across) are small island-continents roughly the same size as Greenland is on Earth. This view does tend to present problems. e.g. The southern tip of Ansalon is stated as being anywhere from 500 to 1000 miles from the south pole, so how to explain the tropical climate of the northern part of Ansalon, a mere 900 miles beyond the southern tip? The same problem presents itself with the similarly sized Taladas and its tropical southern regions. The simplest solution is to deem that Krynn has an unusually large tropical climate zone. This way one could drop in "true" continental landmasses the size of North and South America with plenty of room to spare and plenty of space between the respective continents.
#4 kipper_snifferdoo_02 Mar 17, 2004 11:51:22	Originally posted by Twilight Herald Just a quick question for anyone in the know regards the ongoing project detailing Krynn's continent of Adlatum : will Adlatum be a large continent similar to equivalent landmasses on Earth, Toril, Oerth etc, or will it be another small island-continent e.g Ansalon and Taladas? Its just that the 2 continents mapped out so far are very small, and either one would rattle around in, for example, Australia, with room to spare. The problem is that I want to nudge my PCs towards some epic maritime exploration, so its important for me to know whether the remaining lands, like Adlatum, are true continental landmasses, in the size range of say South America or Antarctica, or whether Krynn is in fact largely a ocean-planet with a scattering of big islands aka Anslalon / Taladas. I won't get into the whole "Size of Ansalon" debate, but Adlatum is approximatley 1,200 miles but 1,200 miles, but it has a really funky sort of "X" shape to it because of all the seas. I don't think Trampas and Cam will mind if I post a preview of the map. :D View the Adlatum map here.
#5 iltharanos Mar 17, 2004 17:47:09	That's a nice map, where is its location in relation to Ansalon? EDIT: Is there a website up that I can peruse for more info. about Adlatum?
#6 zombiegleemax Mar 17, 2004 19:19:28	Wow. If I may say so the map looks very cool, and the geography well fleshed out. Can't wait till the project is finished. Out of curiosity, I've always wondered why the original Dragonlance designers decided to make Ansalon as ( comparitively ) small as it is. I mean, Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk designers have always gone for big, sprawling continents ( comparable in size to those of Earth ) where a lot can happen more or less independently of what takes place everywhere else.
#7 kipper_snifferdoo_02 Mar 17, 2004 19:28:59	Originally posted by iltharanos That's a nice map, where is its location in relation to Ansalon? It's located Northwest of Ansalon. EDIT: Is there a website up that I can peruse for more info. about Adlatum? Nope, sorry not at this time. But we have been talking about gatheirng all the info we have together into some type of document and I'm sure it'll be available on the Nexus (dl3e.com) once we stick a fork in it. Other projects are keeping us too busy to make much progress on it at the moment.
#8 kipper_snifferdoo_02 Mar 17, 2004 19:32:50	Originally posted by Twilight Herald Wow. If I may say so the map looks very cool, and the geography well fleshed out. Can't wait till the project is finished. Out of curiosity, I've always wondered why the original Dragonlance designers decided to make Ansalon as ( comparitively ) small as it is. I mean, Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk designers have always gone for big, sprawling continents ( comparable in size to those of Earth ) where a lot can happen more or less independently of what takes place everywhere else. I went to Tracy Hickman's World Building Seminar and he talked about that. He said they modeled the size of Ansalon after Middle Earth. It wasn’t until much later that he realized just how small a land mass that was but since everything had been plotted out that way for so long they just left it.
#9 brimstone Mar 18, 2004 10:55:02	Originally posted by Kipper Snifferdoo It's located Northwest of Ansalon. Hmm...isn't Taladas Northwest of Ansalong (and Northeast of course...but because of Krynn's size...it's actually both, according to Otherlands). Or did you mean more North-northwest? By the way...great map! What program did you use to make that. It doesn't look like CC2 to me. Also...what is that cool font you used?
#10 kipper_snifferdoo_02 Mar 18, 2004 11:17:23	Sure, North-Northwest would work. I used Fractal Terrains that comes with CC2 to make the map actually. Now if I can just figure out how the heck to "really" use it properly. The font used on the map is called Uncial. You can find it in a few fantasy font download places.
#11 cam_banks Mar 18, 2004 11:38:57	Uncial (and variants of it) are commonly found on sites which feature Celtic (or uncial) fonts. The Forgotten Realms used to use a variant of it for their maps, too - it's very popular and suitable for fantasy games. Cheers, Cam
#12 brimstone Mar 18, 2004 12:06:04	Hmm...looks like I need to delve into CC2 a little more deeply. That "Fractal Terrains" looks much prettier than CC2's normal terrain (I think). Thanks for the info! (the font info as well)