# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > General and Miscellaneous Mapping >  Hostile Terrain Map Set

## Gamerprinter

So the past few days, I've started working on a set of maps for wilderness terrain, that I'm calling the Hostile Terrain Map Set. Though it's intended for use in Starfinder - as finding various kinds of alien planet terrain, but these could be just as useful in a fantasy game, since no visible sci-fi is showing only terrain. My plan is to create 8 different scenes, at 72 x 72 inches to be used in virtual tabletop, though I will slice it into 24 x 24 inch pieces for other VT apps, with the 72 square for Roll20.

The first terrain is volcanic, the second is desert wasteland and the third terrain, so far, is glacier and crevasse...

Enjoy!

GP

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## Redrobes

Neat ! I like all three for different reasons. That looks like a man made ice bridge there over that crevasse. I think we did a challenge for stuff like this some years back.

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## Gamerprinter

Thanks, RedRobes!

I've tried and failed to reach something satisfactory and not overly time-consuming trying to create a 3D swamp terrain. I got the tools to do it, but the huge number of pologons to render for plants is horrendous. So am going to do it vector instead - but I know what I'm doing. The exercise of trying to do it in 3D multiple times has set into my head, how I want it to look like, so it was helpful, if a failure itself.

GP

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## DrWho42

excited for the volcanic terrain!  :Very Happy:

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## Gamerprinter

Thanks!

I finally got something for swamp in 3D, but I'm trying to decide if I need to tweak this somehow. I preferred muddier water, but it hid the bottom too much, making it look less like water. I painted some pond scum in Xara with a fractal transparency and drop shadow, I made them about 30% transparent to show the shadows they're hiding. I also thought of placing a layer of fog, but that might obscure too much. I tried using Vue Creator's ecosystem texture, but it was too many pologons taking forever to render. Instead, I opted to load individual 3D trees, and for whaever reason, it rendered a lot faster. Still taking about 4 hour+, but if I needed to tweak it, it's not out of bounds to do that and render again. Anyway, swamp Hostile Terrain - test one... enjoy!

GP

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## Gamerprinter

A surprising terrain. I opened the Swamp file, changed the texture of the ground from plants to wet, rough rocks which added a displacement which changed the geometry to add the rock structure, while I still had the water level in it. I duplicated the ground, and replaced the texture with marine plants and anemones, and got this... I'm calling it both Unseen Shoals and the Low Tide Island, meaning, at low tide, this is exposed, but at high tide, the highest point is 4 feet underwater making this truly Hostile Terrain. At high tide these shark infested waters make anything on these shoals easy prey, but even at low tide high seas crash against the rocks with brutality as well as anything on them... enjoy!

GP

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## Gamerprinter

Since I plan to promote this as Starfinder along with other game systems, I figured I'd need one or two alien enviroments as Hostile Terrains, and this is the first one: Alien Oasis - the purple and gray soil is alien, the rocks are alien, the plants are alien, even the "water" in the pool is something other than water; it's all alien... enjoy!

GP

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## Chashio

Nice alien plant designs!

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## Gamerprinter

Thanks, Chashio!

Here's another "alien-esque" terrain map, though it could be terran too. This is my version of a deep sea smoker - a hot spot emitting sulferous energy from volcanic tunnels beneath, escaping into the atmosphere above it. You could use this as bottom of the sea, but I'd consider this an alien planet with a heavy barometric pressure surface requiring a vaccuum suit to breath. Anyway, the deep sea smoker... enjoy!

GP

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## Gamerprinter

Who doesn't need a Crystal Cave? While not technically a Hostile Terrain, one could argue that the crystals contained emit light and radiation. Perhaps they are magical crystal for a Starfinder or fantasy game. Perhaps it's something like dilithium crystals or maybe crystalized dark matter usable for some impossible energy source or for singularity engines. Anyway, I thought this might be a good fit in the exotic maps of this set... enjoy!

GP

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## Ilanthar

Nice set, GP  :Smile: ! I particularly like the swamp one.

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