I was looking at my maps, and I realized I have no idea how big an area they cover, or if the scale is realistic.

So...

What is a normal size for a map? How do you decide how big you want the land mass to be? And is there an easy way to draw things to scale?

I have no idea what the normal scale or size is. However, in order to keep my maps consistent with each other, I use a single measurement for a 'day's journey'. I don't know how long that is, so I never use any miles or anything... I suspect my world is awfully small.

Anyways, I hope some of that helps, although I suspect it might not.

Calista

What I usually do is find a real place that is roughly the same size as I want my map to be and then give my map a scale equivalent to that. You can make your map 50 miles = an inch or smaller or larger depending on how much is on the map.

Thanks, Milly and Joe! I really like the idea of using a 'day's journey' to measure distance.

I think that a 'day's journey' could be around 10 miles on foot, and more if on horse. I'm not very good with making maps, I have only fiddled around with my 'paint' program (which is, by the way, very tedious). Fortunately, one of our epical members (I believe it was Dalet) made me a map.

I also like the idea of one inch equaling 50 miles. This, however, would depend on the actual size of the world. Plus, this method would take quite a bit of calculating and exact measurement.

I would keep in mind that you need more water than land, in order to sustain life. Unless you have some way to bring water to your people without water mass, I would keep your land masses properly proportioned to your water masses.

If one were to walk constantly at a steady, brisk rate they would be able to travel roughly 25 miles or so. This would also depend on the length of the day, how late they travel into the night, the terrain, any dangers they may run into, their water supply, and many other factors. In a typical fantasy quest, all the dangers and stuff would reduce the trip to 10-15 miles. Horseback is about twice as efficient, I believe.

@Airianna: Our world is, I believe, 60-70 percent water. 'Course, we could always make it a little bit lower and make droughts a problem, or make it a little bit higher and make floods a problem

eru

Well if you want to be mean to your characters...

Bahahaha! But that's the most fun part!

And on average a person can travel about 25-30 miles on foot in one day. But yeah, averaging it at about 15-20 miles a day is a little more practical/realistic. And having just returned from the Smoky Mountains, I can quite confidently say that mountainous/hilly terrain would cut down that daily distance down quite a bit as well.

Thank you, Seer! I wasn't sure what the average day's journey was...

Great question, Princess!

Just to rehash what everyone's said already, travelling on foot is probably pretty relative. You might have a person who isn't in great shape, and they'll do ten miles or so. Then you have that wandering warrior who could easily hit thirty miles in a day. On the other hand, I guess a day's journey could pretty much be what you'd want it to be. There's one of the beauties of writing.

I'd say to scale, the Bard's theory (fifty miles to an inch for example) would probably work best. It would also make things a little simpler (especially for us perfectionist non mathmatical types XP)

So, I didn't really bring anything new to the conversation, but that's my three cents. Looking forward to hearing more!