Fantasy Maps

Consider the scale of the map — does everyone in the world know (roughly) all the places in the map or not?
Consider the shape of the landmasses and the proportion of landmasses to the water.
- A way to Prototype the shape of the coastline is using something malleable ¹
- Take real world maps and coastlines and then rotate them around. This has the advantage of having realistic coastlines.
Consider the plate tectonics
- Rule of thumb: The fault lines should not meet in corners (that is, no crosses)
- Since the planet is a sphere, the right and the left drawing of the fault lines (when projected onto 2D) should match up.
- Place the landmasses (generally) on the continental plates, and the water on the oceanic plates. Not all of the plate needs to be covered with land / water.
- Rule of thumb: There is one section between oceanic plates where they diverge, and one section between continental plates where they converge (of course plates can rotate).
  - This can be plotted out by considering how the plates move.
- Consider the plate boundaries (convergent, divergent and transform)
- Consider the placement of hotspots — these can occur anywhere on the plate
  - In the ocean, these will form volcanic island chain.
  - On land these will form calderas

Consider the Winds and Atmospheric Kinetics, specifically the different wind speeds and the regions of wind. These affect the local climate — and by extension the biomes that can grow.
Consider the placement of mountains
- Mountains form at the boundary of convergent plates
- The locations of mountain ranges affect travel. For example, a mountain range can cut a continent in two halves and people from two halves will find it hard to communicate.
Consider the placement of water
- Rivers flow generally from the mountains to sea. Consider how Gravity operates.
- Rivers generally do not split, they join. (splitting is rare, but it can happen in deltas, for example).

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