Map of Western Bronn from the world of Arthea

This is a segment of a larger world map, focusing on the continent of Bronn, from the fantasy world of Dragon Garage. I built it out for two reasons:

1) I really wanted to do a sequel to Dragon Garage, and maps can add verisimilitude to a fantasy novel setting.

2) I needed to build out a fantasy world for a Dungeons & Dragons role playing group set in the same world. 

Combining the two tasks seemed like a reasonable idea.. at first. 

The scope of the book is comparatively narrow, far more narrow than what is needed for a role playing game. I think that's true of most books. You need an entire series to really populate an open game world.

The section above is where the adventurers are currently, but it does extend beyond, forming 3 full continents: Bronn, Cassea and Gudana. 

It's based on the inaccurate, distorted maps from early in the Age of Exploration. You can see the basic outline of Europe, with Spain in the south west and Italy towards the south east. I changed it further, adding island chains to shield shipping along the Western Ocean edge, and more islands in The Midsea (analogous to the Mediterranean). Cultures echo medieval Europe.

The book is set in the western tip of Kingdom of Avalon, near Forksbury. 

Originally, I wanted to create the entire game world of Arthea from scratch, extrapolating from popular mythology, but quickly realized how monumental a task this was. As a result, over time, more Dungeons & Dragons elements popped up. 

I also wanted to use a less well known game system, but... D&D is ubiquitous, everyone knows it, and it would be the easiest to get up and running a campaign with (even if I hadn't played in decades). 

I even added the city of Neverwinter (it appears in the D&D movie) on the West coast of Aosta: it's a city that figures in popular pre-made adventures, so I have something to fall back on if my ubermegadungeon falls flat on its face.

D&D has TONS of monsters, multiple compendiums of them, which is awesome. Coming up with an endless stream of creature encounters (not to mention spells) for players... yikes.
I can create a limited series of creatures and mythology for future books, a bit at a time, but it wouldn't be enough for a gaming group. Not for years and years...

As time has passed, my plans for Dragon Garage sequels has evolved, and now I'm not sure about the world anymore. Ah well.

That's the problem with writing fiction: new (and sometimes better) ideas are always occurring!
Along the north rim of the Midsea, Bronn is tropical to temperate. The North is temperate to arctic in the far north, especially past the Icethorns, where the giants and dragons rule. The Island of Erynthal, north of Anvou, is the bastion of the High Elves, and many of the surrounding forested islands are still ruled by fey.

To the south of Avalon is the Twilight Empire, the rump of the once great Eltharian Empire.

Gudana is dominated in the West by The Great Jungle, and the East by The Great Desert, separated down the middle by a great mountain range known as the Southspines.

The jungle is said to be dominated by lizard folk known as the Makara, and evil snake-people. Their naval raiders, known as ’sea snakes' prowl the northern shores of the Midsea, abducting villagers to sell into slavery. Humans are worked near to death and then eaten during the spring mating festivals of the snake-people.

Setesh dominates The Great Desert, and their sorcerer-pharaohs are known for dark magic and necromancy. They have green-grey skin, or blue-grey, while the commoners have mostly grey skin. In the east in the fabled Kingdom of Petenasem, home of the Sphinx-prophets. Many fabulous and magical kingdoms are to be found along the Sun Coast of Gudana, the passage to the Far East, of which little is known.