This is a map of the continent that my current campaign is set. This is the actual whole continent for my purposes but the Characters don’t know how vast it is as all ‘good’ races were forced down to the South a millennia ago.

There was a Great Demon rallying the Forces of Darkness, pushing the races of Light further and further south until the great battle at Tear’s Field where the forces of Light vanquished the Great Demon finally. The forces of Darkness lost cohesion and were dispatched with ease. The Forces of Light were too demoralised at this time to press onwards to the North and take back their lands.

Time went by and all became complacent until now; The forces of Darkness have become bolder and after all this time have stepped up their general skirmishes pushing further and further South.

(Original? No! I’m only creative with images – not stories)

I’ve created a map showing the boundaries for the main races in the type of map a studious character would have access to (which is basically anyone who’s bothers to go to the halls of knowledge to pick one up at the gift store).

As you can see, the main kingdoms are limited to the south of the continent leaving many ruined cities of times gone by further north. Plenty of adventure hooks and thoroughly evil denizens. There’s a lot more surprises in store as well!

As always, click for the larger versions.

Both of these were created entirely in Photoshop and the mountains used a combination of custom brushes and layer styles.