Yes, I realise it’s almost the end of August, and this is the July Cartographer’s Annual Challenge post. I guess I got waylaid on the road. Better late than never as they say…

July’s Annual Issue was a new black and white overland style from Pär Lindström, partly inspired by the original Tolkien maps. Given how much I loved those maps, I was really looking forward to this issue.

So what took me so long? Well I guess it was my choice of map – I’m much quicker at mapping using CC3 when I have already essentially designed the map, but in this case I decided to layout the eastern reaches of the Inner Sea, an area I’d never really focussed on in my Tolrendor campaigns. This therefore took a lot longer than expected, but I’m pretty pleased with the results – its an area inspired by many sources: the Greco-Persian conflicts of our own world, the Crusades, the Dragonborn empire which forms a key part of the D&D 4E backstory, the Seven Cities region of the Midgard Campaign Setting, and much much more. I hope you like it:

As usual, a lovely style with lots of interesting symbols and drawing tools. The Cartographer’s Annual just keeps getting better and better!

And now I’d better go catch-up with August 🙂