Mountains, plains, ridges and valleys appear, and they usually match what you see out there. Smaller features can fall between the contour lines. Elevations are given for major contour lines. When there are no landmarks, the contour of the land is usually easy to read and follow. To be useful, maps should be small enough to use, but show good detail.
Large scale means the size of everything on the map is larger - closer to actual size.
There are more scale examples in the USGS section. Projection makes flat maps useful and gives them accuracy, but there are always compromises. Maps of the world appear in different projections to serve different purposes. Shape, scale, and distance should be reasonably uniform.