Fictional Cartography Practice and Improvement

I was watching a couple videos on worldbuilding... and it led to me watching a couple videos of fictional map creation (for RPG/Story creation). The one thing that irritated me though was how (as they focused on one smaller langmass rather then the entire world) they didn't really factor in geographic features when creating biomes... So, i decided to have a go at creating 'worlds' in which i could use the limited knowledge i have on the subject (basically what i've learnt from youtube videos on the subject) to create at least semi-accurate terrains. 

The top map is my first attempt, and while at the time i was happy with the result i realise now that it looks quite amateurish and hard to read in places. I used a cloud map with a white hard mix layer over the top to create the landmasses: occasionally copy-pasting the result to build up altitudes.
On the second attempt i improved my method of creating the landmasses by using the 'Emboss' filter on each land layer, which gave more of an impression of altitude. I also inverted the cloud layer to indicate ocean depth. Finally, I warped the image to create an oval map.
The third attempt had furthur improvement on the methods used to create the landmasses. Instead of just overlaying flat layers for 'altitude', I used the Oil Paint filter alongside the Emboss filter to hint towards the land terrain. This hugely improved the final result, allowing it to be the quickest created but also the most in depth (If somewhat stylised).

This series of drawings was more for fun, and to explore Photoshop, then any practical reason. I doubt i'll take these images further, or use them in any way, but i'm glad i had a go.