Alverfjord

So, I mainly see Alverfjord as three things potentially:

  1. A village where a land-dwelling race lives alongside an aquatic race (such as sea elves, tritons, merfolk, etc). This was the original idea.
  2. A village whose residents are covertly controlled by someone living below. This could be an aboleth, a group of illithids or a coven of sea hags.
  3. A village whose residents are secretly up to some shady stuff, which they do in the tunnels below. Maybe this is a cult or some kind of criminal activity, like smuggling, fencing pirate loot or running ye olde meth lab.

For patrons, I’ll be making a low-tide version of this map, which should be up tomorrow. Most of the underground level is dry in that version and I suspect it’ll be better for people who want to use this for option #3 above.

Also, thanks to everyone for the feedback about the Vatican megaproject! The response was overwhelmingly positive, so I will be drawing that later this year. First, however, I’ll be drawing the river delta city project, which I should be able to start on in the next few months. I want to get a few maps drawn first, but I don’t think they’ll take too long. One of those is a spelljammer and I’ll be holding a vote among patrons to find out what kind of vessel you’d like to see. I haven’t drawn one in a while and it’s probably time.

Anyway, I think that’s it for now. I’ll be back with the low tide version for patrons tomorrow. Let me know what you think of the map!

Fjordlandia (Work-in-Progress)

Here’s the art for the upper level of the tidal village I’m working on. There’s a lower level as well with a network of underwater caves and tunnels running under the village. The main idea is that this is a place where humans or elves live alongside an aquatic race that dwells in the caverns below. Of course, the tunnels could also be occupied by something more malevolent that torments or controls the villagers in some way. Or maybe there’s cult stuff going on down there. There are a few ways to play it.

Anyway, I’m gonna get to work on coloring this thing today. Let me know what you think so far!

So, how about if I just draw the Vatican? Like, all of it.

I want to get your thoughts on Vatican City as a potential megaproject for later this year. It’s the only country I can draw in its entirety, for several reasons. First, because it’s fairly small. And second, because most of the buildings are famous and the floor plans are publicly available. This includes (click for photo):

There are some smaller buildings I don’t have floor plans for and would have to make up. There are also a few modern buildings that won’t be included, like the train station and the Paul VI Audience Hall, which is probably the ugliest thing in the Vatican.

I’d draw this one building at a time, rather than all at once. So each building would have its own map, as well as being added to the overall map. Once all the buildings are done, I’d draw in the gardens to finish it off.

If I draw this, I would alternate between drawing Vatican maps and other maps, so it wouldn’t be the only thing I was working on. Also, I am still drawing the previously-announced megaproject first. And, just to clarify, this would be a 5′ (1.5m) grid scale battlemap of the entire Vatican, inside and outside, including upper and lower levels. I’d estimate this project would take somewhere around a year to a year and a half to finish.

So, is this something you’d be interested in? I’ll be making the decision on whether or not to draw this based on the response to this post, so leave a comment or shoot me a message to let me know how you feel. If you’ve got any questions or other thoughts, let me hear those as well. Your feedback will decide the future of this project.

Last Tower of the Mage Lords

I’m back with a pretty fancy wizard tube for you. This isn’t your standard 4-level tower for a wizard who hasn’t talked to anyone but his cat in the last 2 years. This is for a wizard with friends. Maybe even a few wizards, plus an assortment of apprentices, servants and guards.

Of course, there’s also another other option. It’s not for everybody, but– look, do you have airships in your setting? Because this can be an airship if you want it to be. There’s nobody stopping you. There’s already magic making this thing levitate, so it’s not much of a stretch to suggest that there might be magic that lets you fly it around as well. I just wanted to mention that in case anybody has a use for that idea.

I should mention that the name of this place is somewhat misleading. If you’re a patron, this is actually the first tower of the mage lords, since I’ll be making you two alternate versions of the map: one on land and one in the sea. That shouldn’t take more than a day or two. After that, I’ll get started on the last alternate level of the Stygian City: the underwater aboleth lair.

All right, I’ll be back soon. Let me know what you think!

The Stygian City: History and Lore Overview – Updated

Here’s the updated overview of the Stygian City lore. I added a summary of every level so you can get an idea of what’s on each floor. If you want more details on the lore, the inhabitants of the dungeon and suggestions on running a campaign here, there are DM notes available to patrons.

They’re 18 pages long and I feel like I wrote a book. The DM notes aren’t a campaign, but they’re the framework of one and, if you’re thinking about running a game in the Stygian City, they’ll probably be pretty useful.

Anyway, that’s it for now. I’ll be back with a big, floating wizard tower sometime around the end of the month. Until then!

Thornhall

Thornhall is the palace of a lord of the wilds. A fey king, a high druid, a wood elf prince, or maybe even a hag could live here. The walls and roof are made of tangled roots and vines, twisting around each other in a giant mass of vegetation. It’s a lovely place to live for anyone who doesn’t mind a leaky roof and a slight mold problem.

Next, I’ll be getting to work on the alternate bottom levels of the Stygian City. These maps will be for patrons and will include:

  • A sealed vault meant to hold an entity or artifact
  • A passage to the underdark
  • Nothing but trash and debris
  • An underwater aboleth lair

With the exception of the aboleth lair, these shouldn’t be too complicated. I’ll draw the first three next, then the aboleth lair later. That one might actually be two separate levels, so it’ll take a bit more time. Once that’s out of the way, I’ll be looking to get started on the next megaproject.

Well, that’s it for now. Let me know what you think of the map!

Thornhall (Work-in-Progress)

I’m working on coloring this right now. This was one of those maps where I started off having no idea how I was going to draw the place. But oddly enough, maps like that tend to turn out really well. Anyway, what do you think so far?

The Stygian City: Bottom of the Pit

So, here we are at the bottom. Remember that circle-and-star symbol I’ve been drawing on the floors throughout this dungeon? Yeah. This is what that’s about.

So, the Stygian City is finished, but it’s not. For patrons, I’ll be drawing a few alternate bottom levels, which will include an underwater aboleth lair, a vault for some kind of artifact or entity, and a gateway to the underdark (or Hell or wherever). I’m also going to draw one where the bottom is just full of trash and debris, because I think that’d be pretty funny. What did you expect to find down there? A giant monster?

In my last post, I talked about an idea for the next megaproject. Just to let you know, the response was overwhelmingly positive, so that will be happening. I want to finish up the alternate levels of the Stygian City first, so it’ll probably be a couple months before I get started, but I’ll get to it before long.

I’m also going to make a Stygian City Codex for patrons, a brief overview of each level for non-patrons and there are a few more things I want to add to the DM notes.

But before all that, I’ll be drawing the next Cartographic Congress map, the Palace of Thorns. This is the palace of a dark fae lord, which is covered in vines and thorny overgrowth. I don’t know how I’m going to draw this place just yet, but I’ll figure it out.

Anyway, I hope you like the way I finished out the Stygian City! Let me know what you think.