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City Megaproject Update 6: The Barracks, the Admiralty, the Inner Fort, the Farms and the Logging Camp

This is all small stuff, but there’s a lot of it. The fort is the one in the center of the map. It’s more of a fortification rather than a fortress, but it’s a small island and that’s about all you can fit on it. I imagine it being a bit like the Torre Scola.

The admiralty is the island marked “navy.” It’s got facilities to administer and resupply the city’s fleet.

The barracks is where the city’s men-at-arms live. They also serve as the town watch, so the jail is there as well. It also protects the main entrance to the harbor.

And finally, there are all the outlying buildings on the mainland. These are mostly farmhouses, a stable, a loggers’ camp and a sawmill. Couple of sheds in there, too. Nothing super exciting.

With that done, there’s not too much left. I’m going to start with the wealthy island next. That and the palace are the only big parts left to draw, so I’d say we’re in the homestretch at this point.

Well, I’d better get back to it. I’d love to know what you think so far and, if you’ve got any questions, let me know!

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City Megaproject Update 5: The Craftsmen District and the Shipyards

Here are two more of the larger islands. The only big parts left are the wealthy district and the palace. Everything else should be pretty quick. I’m going to draw the farms and a couple other smaller parts next, like the admiralty base (marked “Navy” above) and the barracks.

Also, there’s a little island to the left of the shipyards and I haven’t decided what I want to do with it yet. I’m thinking there might be flooded tunnels running underneath it, but I’m not sure. If you’ve got any ideas, let me know.

Anyway, I’m gonna get back to it. Let me know what you think so far!

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City Megaproject Update 4: The Poor District

Here’s one of the larger islands done. I’ve got the shipyard and the inner fort drawn as well and I’ll have those up soon once I get them inked. I’m also about halfway done with the middle class/craftsmen island, so I should have a bunch more islands getting finished over the next week.

All right, I’m gonna get back to work. Hope you like it so far!

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City Megaproject Update 2: The Small Market, Temple and Fishing Docks

Here are the drawings of the first three islands of the river delta city megaproject (which I really need to come up with a proper name for). These are three of the smaller islands, but they seemed like a good place to start. I’ll be drawing the trade harbor next.

Most of the islands will only have a single level, but a few will have multiple floors, like the palace, the forts, the wealthy district, the manor and a few others. This should help to make the map a bit easier to use. I’ll probably still draw a roof level for the whole map, though.

Anyway, I’m gonna get back to work. Let me know what you think so far! And if you’ve got any ideas on a name for this city, I’d love to hear them.

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City Battlemap Megaproject: Here’s where we are three days in (Work-in-Progress)

As you can see, I completely redesigned the layout from the original sketch. I had a few problems with it, but by far the biggest was the fact that it was crap. I like this one much better and I hope you do too.

The second picture is the sketch of the island layout with a basic description of what’s on what’s on each island. These are pretty broad strokes, but I’m going to start figuring out the details next. I’ll decide what the various buildings will be, make a few edits to accommodate some things, then start drawing all this at a 5′ (1.5m) grid scale. I’ll draw one island at a time rather than all at once and I’ll post each one when it’s finished. When all the linework is done, I’ll scan everything and start coloring.

The layout above isn’t carved in stone yet, so if you have any thoughts about the map or what might make it better, by all means let me know. Or if you’ve got any questions, feel free to ask!

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The Dragon’s Lair in Devil’s Chimney

This is the volcanic lair of a red dragon and its minions. Since this isn’t a particularly safe place to live for anything that isn’t immune to fire, those minions are probably something like:

  • Fire giants
  • Efreet
  • Salamanders
  • Firenewts

I could also see this being the home of any of the above without the dragon, since these races would all probably be big fans of volcanofront property.

As promised, I’ll be starting on the river delta city megaproject next. From my experience in drawing very large maps, I’ve learned that planning a project in detail saves time in the long run, so I’m going to start off by laying out the whole city in advance. I’ll plan out the islands, what’s on each, where the bridges, roads and buildings are, etc. Once I’ve got that sketched out, I’ll get started on drawing everything piece-by-piece, putting it all together and getting it colored.

I expect this to take around 2 months, but it could be a bit more or less. I’ll keep you updated with regular work-in-progress posts along the way so you can see how it’s coming and so I can get your feedback as I go. Well, it’s time to stop talking about it and start sketching this thing out. I’ll be back with some sketches once I’ve got a layout I like. Until then!

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Temple of the Elements

The Temple of the Elements is dedicated to the four elemental forces. Did you ever see a show called Captain Planet? And did you ever wonder where Captain Planet was when the kids hadn’t summoned him? I don’t know either, but I feel like it might’ve been someplace like this.

So, I just moved and I now live in a small village in the country. This is my first time living in a rural area and it’s a little different from what I’m used to. My house has three different methods of heating. The internet speed is… not good. And my yard contains 15 junk cars, a busted tractor and three shipping containers (not a joke). Also, there is one store in the village and it’s a post office that sells milk, eggs and butane canisters. This isn’t going to affect the maps in any way, but I wanted to ask if anyone else is living in a more country situation than me. Because this really feels like getting thrown straight into the deep end. And any country living pro tips would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway, next up is a dragon’s lair carved into a volcano with buildings for its efreet/fire giant minions. Thanks to the patrons that broke the tie on that vote, by the way. After that, I’ll get started on the river city megaproject.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m gonna see if I can figure out how to switch my stove from heating the house to cooking food. Wish me luck!

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Spelljammer: The Living Ship

Sometimes the druid or the ranger gets to pick the spelljammer and you end up with a Living Ship. The most notable feature of this vessel is a treant rooted into the deck. Since the ship and the treant are fused together, the treant can repair hull damage and keep the air envelope clean. And, in the event of enemy boarding, it can rip the heads off anything dumb enough to come near it. And, now that I think of it, the treant can clean out the privies, too. Humans do poop plant food, after all.

I know a lot of you play old-school Spelljammer and may be wondering what book this is from. It’s actually a new vessel from the 5th edition Spelljammer: Adventures in Space. It’s a bit different from other vessels and, for DMs whose last campaign started in a Dragonfly, this’ll give you the option of changing things up a bit in the next one.

For patrons, I made a seafaring version of the ship and I’m going to make another one without the treant as well. This ship is a little boring without the treant, but sometimes you need a boring starter ship for your party. They have to earn that ship of the line. Anyway, I’ll have that up in a day or two.

Okay, I’ll see you then. Let me know what you think of the map!

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The Ironclad Raider

The ironclad raider is probably a ship best suited for one of four things:

  • The big bad guy in a naval campaign, who you want the party to have to run away from (because if they roll well and sink him in session five, what then?)
  • Gnomes
  • Dwarves, if your dwarves are into boats
  • That one kingdom in your setting that’s way more technologically advanced than everyone else

When I drew this, I tried to capture a bit of that “brought to you by the designers of the cybertruck” look that early ironclads had, but a touch less derpy-looking. And let’s be honest: early ironclads were super derpy. The mid-to-late 1800s truly were the awkward teenage years of naval warfare.

I made a few alternate versions of this map for patrons, including ballista-armed and unarmed versions, as well as a version of the ship sailing on lava. This map came from a Cartographic Congress proposal and the original idea was for a ship that sailed on the elemental sea of fire. I think the water version will probably be more useful to most people, but hey, if patrons vote for a lava ship, I’m gonna deliver a lava ship.

Speaking of patrons voting on ships, I posted a vote to decide on the next spelljammer map and patrons chose the Living Ship. This is from the new 5e Spelljammer book and it basically looks like a sailing ship with a treant growing out of it. I’m drawing that next and I’ll make a seafaring version as well for DMs running monoplanetary campaigns.

Anyway, that’s it for the moment. If you’ve got any questions or thoughts about the ironclad, let me know!