Yo I gotta tell ya this is like hands down the most well crafted, inspiring and precise world building video series that’s out anywhere. Thank you so much for making this, time to revise my maps! :P

This video may be 1 year old, but its still better than a piece of gold.

The thing with copper is that it is one of the earliest metals discovered, along with tin (and I would argue tin is probably equally as important as silver or gold, and definitely more important than iron). And if all your copper mines are in mountains how did "metal working" ever get discovered? Lowland South Wales, Southern Ireland, Cyprus, Attica (Greece), (and Cornwall for Tin) are all non-Mountain areas that were the source of the ancient copper trade. Now I admit this is pedantry, so feel free to ignore, but a large proportion of early mining was not in mountains (silver was also found in Cornwall for example).

PLEASE make another one of these series! If you could make an entire series of you building up a full world, continent by continent that would be awesome! Keep up the great videos sir! :)

That seems like a good balance of simplicity and detail for resource placement.

It’s kind of satisfying to see someone that doesn’t just see resources as inorganic and minerals. Not slot of ppl see animal products as resources not realizing how important they are even today. Edit: I’ve never really worried about hamlets in my worlds bc they’re so small it’s more like a work camp or just somewhere that’s more like a farm that supports 3-4 families.

It's like you're teaching me a whole class. Not only are you completely dedicated to your own world and are able to give precise examples, but you also bring up other examples and theories about other worlds that you can create.

Outstanding! A very nice deep dive. You address a lot of things that most people skip or don't consider. It's maybe overkill for some, but I do like to have a deep understanding of the world. It really does feed a lot of game ideas in.

Another wonderful video. I really love the way you used the natural resources to determine the strengths of the various regions, it really adds another level of depth and realism to it. Thank you!

I loved this world building technique, really cool video, nice!

This was fantastic, Anto. It's definitely given me some better insight on a way to start the worldbuilding process. I'm someone who's never GMed before, bu I do love a good level of detail in whatever world I'm experiencing. Might be a lofty goal, but I'm going to try and make a detailed first world. Love your stuff! Keep up the amazing work!

The mountainous region between the western planes and the southern conglomerate of independent lords, and between the dense mountain range around the meteor lake and the mountain range bordering the inland sea, would also be either a mountain kingdom or collection of mountain lords, unconquered due to the mountains that they control and call home (kinda what makes/made Afghanistan so unconquerable).

Fantastic series mate, exactly what i was lookin' for..👍 Had been thinking about a height map, to get an idea of elevations a couple of days ago, and you've killed it with these vids.. Thanks muchly..

Thank you for this I am looking in to creating a map as part of worldbuilding for my fantasy trilogy I am writing, it has given me a lot of food for thought. Very well put together with lots of helpful ideas based on real life systems.

Love this series! I have learned so much about using Wonderdraft and I find it the best mapmaking software available. I was hoping this video would have something about making farmland as I am struggling to make my farmland and crops look appealing. Hope this pops up in a future vid. Keep up the amazing work!

Just got Wonderdraft and Dungeondraft and is in the process of building my campaign world. Your videos have been absolutely the best to explain what to think about when it comes to making a world. I do have two questions that you might be able to clear up. 1. When it comes to the tectonic plates. How do you determine which direction they travel? Do you make a pangea style map first, and then create the tectonic plates, where they drift apart and such, and then millions of years later you 'revisit' the tectonic plates and use that to create your mountains, lakes, oceans and gorges? I recall you saying you made the map elsehwere and incorporated it into Wonderdraft. I used a D8 to direct the plates and did a reroll if two neighbouring plates were moving in the same direction. 2. When you place your resources. How do you know how much of each to place? In most fantasy settings, Iron is the standard for weapons and armor, so it is in greater abundance, while gemstone or gold is far less available. Did you use any type of formula to come up with the amount for each, or did you just 'wing' it as it looked good? Looking forward to the next video in this series.

So i made a map of one region like yours and they spent the entire campaign on it and once it was completed I ended off stating that ash storms start coming down over the years and earth quakes became more prevalent. Then we had a campaign for 4 other continents and I end the same way every time little will they know all of there characters will come together for a massive battle with the gods following multiple character sets I cant wait for them to finish the 5th one

Seriously helpful. Thank you very much.

Tin is also probably an important metal to include, for bronze making, though it could be imported as they did in ancient Egypt.

Awesome guide! Keep up the good work!

Thanks for this!

thank you for this video, exactly what I needed!

Thanks for making this Sir! This is very helpful.

Using Google Translate for fantasy naming, that's genius, never thought of using that. Thanks for the tip

That meteor strike would make a great place for heavy metals. Such as iron platinum nickel etc. Of course that's going with a ferros asteroid and not a soft body. Like wise the impact area could also include riedite diamonds and other high pressure materials.

You have been a huge help and you are becoming a legend! :)

The rule of 10s. Ten individual camp sites surround one larger camp. Ten camps surround each village. Ten minor villages surround each larger village. Ten villages surround each town. Ten smaller towns surround each larger town. Ten towns and 100 villages surround each walled city. The population of each of these follows the same rule of 10. Locate your major cities at strategic/trade hubs. Now tweak it all based upon available resources and accessibility removing population from resource poor/inaccessible areas. Connect everything by transportation routes.

3:50 for currency I was thinking making gold common and the only thing used for currency and coins. Or making my own material for currency and doing 4 tiers. For metals I will use some of ours and make my own.

This looks really cool and I like how you were able to show the different overlays of your map with the regions and resources, but could you recommend an alternative to Serif? Ideally something that's free or a cheaper one off?

The dragonkings came across the sea and conquered the other continent. That reminds me of something…

That southerly province could have the naval advantage over it's rival to the north, but the richer mineral deposits could lead to a better army for them. I could see that lumber resource being in dispute for both regions wanting to go out whaling. A lot of the forests of North America were stripped for building ships for the English and the other colonial powers. Depending on the tech level it could be a very valuable resource. Could possibly be strikes into the mountain regions from the north. The plains (and horses) to the south would favor calvary. Could easy see small scale border skirmishes every few years, piracy, peasant revolts. Could make for a very rich but unstable region.

We need to establish a level of development of the world before placing settlements; i.e. are we in the equivalent of the beginnings of 'humanity', like Mesopotamia, or are we in Egyptian times, are we in classical times, medieval times, etc. To know how many settlements tp place, how far apart, etc.

My DnD world of Akavor is massive, and each section of the world is separated by massive oceans. Currently, my players are in Central Akavor, and know nothing of the rest of the world. In C. Akavor, years have been measured since the Cataclysm, an event that broke apart a continent and sunk many planes beneath the waves. The remnants of this land are now a haven for pirates as the countless islands make it almost impossible to navigate. The oldest empire in C. Akavor is the Qadoran Empire, formed a few short years after the Cataclysm (the year is 198 AC), but has gone through eight rulers since. The longest was Kaiser Drezkval IV, who is regarded as one of the most influential Kaisers of the Empire’s history. The rival of Qadora is the Kcheti Empire, known for its strict laws and unforgiving government. If you want to know more, I can tell you. I’ve come up with a skeleton lore for East Akavor, currently building West Akavor. N. and S. Akavor are glaciers but they have some hidden depths too.

I gotta agree with the top comment here. Iv watched sooo many videos and this has helped a ton! One question I have is how do you deal with scale? Does it come into account at all or do you just fit the scale to fit your map?

You should make a video guide when it comes to color scheme.

These are wonderful tutorials! One question, I notice that you have a hex overlay. Is there a particular hex size you recommend when making a map at world/continent scale in Wonderdraft? Thanks!

For the algorithm rhythm

Hello there, in which program did you make the map and also what program do you use for choosing the regions and painting the resources in the video? Can't see well the top left corner

Really nice! Your guides really help me making maps! Thank you! I have a question and I hope you can help me. When I have done multiple detailed maps, is it possible to put them back on the big world map to in the end have a good looking world map?

I need more ...

What tips where you give to a world that more Industrial

Hi, I was wondering if there are specific instructions somewhere for making custom assets for use with custom color options in wonderdraft. I've tried and tried, but I must not be doing some setting right in Photoshop. I'm trying to convert photoshop brushes I made so they can be used in wonderdraft. All I get is black and white icons. Any help would be wonderful! A video on how to do this would be great. Thank you.

What program/software are you using for map creation?

I hope that the borders have a reason for their existance

How do you spell the photo processing program you used?

10:43 Mountains work better as Natural Borders than Rivers

Can you list the rarity of these resources ?

I don't really think rivers are good enough for natural borders. If you look at a map of the real world, almost at any time period, rivers were not really border-worthy natural barriers. If anything, river valleys and rivers were rather important central points for civilizations to prosper and expand along them (Egypt, China, Mesopotamia, and so on). Mountain ranges, deserts, larger bodies of water, such as inland seas, and large lakes were more of a barrier to set borders of states and empires than simple rivers.

I like these videos,but your reliance on "natural borders" is the biggest criticism I have. very few borders IRL are along "natural" lines exactly, some are, most are political.

I know I’m a bit late but, so I’ve been confused on this for a while! So the thing is I’m gonna use Skyrim’s map for an ex okay. So Skyrim is a largish continent like this but it actually has ya know all the different caves and different ruins and mines and camps and everything you can possibly visit in the map.. but this seems larger than that but on my map it’s the same. I can’t exactly place down all that stuff because it just doesn’t like work out? And I was wondering if I would have to map out all the like different regions on the map. So another things, how in the world do wars work? If two regions are fighting for something or are in war how would that play out how does it work?