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Richard

@kiwiworldbuilder

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New Zealand Cartographer &
Photographer. OG D&D Nerd, Worldbuilder of Knownworld, homebrewed for 3 decades.
Check out my photography @faredgestudios

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How to Map 15 (.2) after our walk (or my wife ran) I offered up a challenge. This is what I got from the inspiration. After finishing I may turn this into an icy land as I have a lot of empty map space in the north of my map.

#worldbuilding #fantasycartography #dnd #cartography #fantasyart by @kiwiworldbuilder

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a day ago

Today whilst my wife ran around the outside of Hagley Park… I took my camera into the middle and took these photos.

I know this tree stump, it always reminds me of Mountain Roramia, Venezuela.

I’m going to draw a how to map (I think we are up to 15 or something) let me see your quick sketches of rugged cliffs and tropical jungle.
👍🏻

#hagleypark #winterwalk #fantasycartography #ttrpg #enchantedforest taken in Hagley Park by @kiwiworldbuilder

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5 days ago

One more piece of Knownworld revealed.

This corner of the map brings together several places I’ve shared over the past year. The drifting Sky Islands of Taw’marid, the ever-changing Eternal Labyrinth, and the Sarin Brumbles, a Pocket of Balance reality hidden amongst the mountains.

These isolated ideas were part of Maptober last year, and found their way onto the larger world.

There’s still plenty of blank space left to explore… We are Pushing on Thru!!

#worldbuilding #fantasymap #cartography #mapmaking #ttrpg taken in Christchurch, New Zealand by @kiwiworldbuilder

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7 days ago

Sometimes the best ideas don’t arrive all at once. They sit quietly in your imagination for decades, waiting for the right conversation to connect all the pieces together.

#worldbuilding #fantasyworldbuilding #knownworld #ttrpg #fantasywriting taken in Christchurch, New Zealand by @kiwiworldbuilder

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11 days ago

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14 days ago

This week’s update takes us deeper into the Nomad States of Nazdeer. Before the Cataclysm, these lands were wild, lush and largely unsettled, lying on the western frontier of the Nazdimerian civilisation. Today, the countryside feels strangely muted, as though the world’s colours have faded. Rather than letting the land define them, the Nazdeeri embraced colour, filling their towns with vibrant dyes, painted buildings, lively markets and energetic music, a culture born after the Cataclysm that proves even the dullest landscapes can inspire beauty. Once pioneers driven by engineering, survival and expansion, they transformed tragedy into one of the most colourful and resilient cultures in the Knownworld.

#Worldbuilding #FantasyMaps #Mapmaking #Lore #dnd taken in Christchurch, New Zealand by @kiwiworldbuilder

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16 days ago

Knownworld, My Forever Map has grown once again.

Every so often I pause, zoom out, and give you guys a look at just how much this world has changed. A few months have passed since the last update. Some new towns and cities have emerge, forgotten ruins, the odd coastline refined, and dozens of little surprise decisions slowly weave together into the worldbuilding melting pot. Knownworld has been growing in my imagination for decades, don’t panic, there’s still plenty left to create.

Thanks for following the journey.

#Worldbuilding #FantasyMap #Cartography #TTRPG #Knownworld taken in Christchurch, New Zealand by @kiwiworldbuilder

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20 days ago

Rorrkogan

Deep within the Forest Dreary lies Rorrkogan, more or less hidden from all but those welcomed by these Mountain Folk.

These ancient Earth Fae have carved their homes from living stone for countless generations, shaping towering halls around veins of glowing crystal and rivers of molten earth. Their tall, willowy forms are unmistakable, but it is their fiery gem beards that travellers remember. Living crystals that glow like embers, each one recording a lifetime of memories.

These Mountain Folk (which i have no name for yet) believe the stone remembers everything and know how to listen.

#rpg #FantasyWorldbuilding #Worldbuilding #FantasyMaps #fantasycartography by @kiwiworldbuilder

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22 days ago

This week I’ve been drawing Isorna, one of the oldest cities in the Nomad States of Nazdeer.

Founded around fifty years after the Exodus, Isorna grew around the finest natural harbour on the western coast. The early Nazdeeri knew they couldn’t simply build a town and surround it with walls later. Shadow creatures, mutants and corruption still wandered the land, and danger could even arrive from the sea.

So they did something different.

They built the city into the wall itself.

Homes, markets, workshops and broad promenades were all designed inside an enormous fortified structure, while the upper levels became barracks and watch posts overlooking both the harbour and the wilderness beyond.

Centuries later, the mining towns of Dunuba and Renbury brought new prosperity. Ore drifted downstream to Isorna along the Slowways, while merchants, supplies and travellers headed inland along the Straightway.

More than anything, Isorna is a reminder that the early Nazdeeri still remembered the engineering knowledge of their lost civilisation. They no longer had the technology to build as their ancestors once had, but they still knew how to think like engineers.

#Knownworld #Worldbuilding #FantasyMaps #FantasyCartography #Mapmaking taken in Christchurch, New Zealand by @kiwiworldbuilder

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24 days ago

It seems I am fast riding myself of the “Burnout Monster” or at least it has been good for my Forever Map. Another continent “finished” (Is it ever really finished). With the monster creeping behind me, I have added no additional Lore, in fact I have used the place names from my 2020 version of the map.

Anyway … Job Done!! (Ish)

#fantasymaps #cartography #worldbuilding #mapmaking #rpg taken in Christchurch, New Zealand by @kiwiworldbuilder

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a month ago

I came across a map of New Zealand by the French cartographer Atelier Larosa @atelier.larosa and what caught my eye were the tiny offshore islands they included are ones I’d normally just leave out.

That sparked the idea for How to Map 13. Using those often overlooked tiny offshore islands as the foundations for an entirely new fantasy archipelago.

Sometimes inspiration is hiding in the smallest details.

#FantasyMaps #Cartography #WorldBuilding #MapMaking #howtomap taken in Christchurch, New Zealand by @kiwiworldbuilder

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a month ago

Six years of work … I know that the video says 3, but i worked out it was during Covid lockdowns that the really big ideas came. The foundation of my magic system. Currently working on rewriting the Genesis story that goes with it, and the completed spreadsheet … I am not a big fan of spreadsheets, so that was a core and a half.

So what you are seeing are the High Runes (outer ring), the working enchantment runes (middle ring of runes) and the written simple runes (inside runes). This is the 12 runes for each of the Spheres of Influence, and the essence magic that comes from these spheres.

#magicsystem #worldbuilding #ttprg #runes #procreate by @kiwiworldbuilder

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a month ago