Category: Annotated – For Patrons

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The Discovery at the Thorn Hills Iron Mine

This is last month’s Cartographic Congress winner, based on the idea proposed by Senator Wulfric. It’s also the first map I’ve made with people in it. Dead people, sure, but still. By the way, if you don’t want dead bodies in your iron mine, there’s a corpse-free version here.

This map has a built-in story, but is left open-ended. Some miners were hitting a rock with a thing, the rock broke and they found a cavern with… well, that part is up to you.

Next up is Brazenthrone. Where are we going next? North to the Noble Quarter? South to the Anvil Quarter, Common Quarter or Grand Temple? No. We’re going down. First, the Underdark Waystation, then the Pits of Justice, then the Underdark Trading Outpost.

The first vote of the Great Vote will be in the next few days and will be open to all patrons. If you’d like a voice in what the next few months of maps will be, consider becoming a patron.

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The Border Bridge

My idea here was that this bridge is the border crossing between two (probably not super-friendly) countries, but it could also be used as a toll bridge or a fortress entrance. Of course, tell whatever story with it you like, but, personally, I think you should arrange a scenario where your players get to throw people over the side. Your barbarian will love you for it.

Also, the tower on the right really looks like something from Super Mario Bros. All I can think of when I look at the side view is, “Your princess is in another castle,” haha.

There’s an annotated version and DM notes and all the usual stuff on the patreon.

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The High King’s Palace – Complete

Well, there it is. A little later than I’d hoped, but with my computer degenerating into a mass of dysfunctional electronics that necessitated several full hard drive wipes, I suppose that’s to be expected. You know what’s funny? I wiped my SSD several times over and you know what’s still there? Two things: Europa Universalis 4 and Stellaris. Apparently Paradox Interactive makes some highly resilient software.

Anyway, I need to get caught up, so I’m going to do the bridge map that I promised next, then the Cartographic Congress map, which will be a mine and mining camp. After that, more Brazenthrone. I’m not sure what part yet.

Also, sometime in the next week, I’ll be posting a second edition of Brazenthrone History and Lore.

There’s an annotated version and DM notes for this map on the patreon.

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The High King’s Palace – Second Level – Featuring the Actual Brazen Throne

If you look at the top-center of this map, you’ll notice a large chair. That is the city’s titular Brazen Throne. It’s a large, tarnished hunk of brass that has been the Brasshand clan’s royal seat for several thousand years. In case you’re unaware, a lesser-used meaning of the word ‘brazen’ is “made of brass.” It didn’t get its name for being cheeky.

I’ll release the rest of the palace next, including the High King’s treasure vault, which is a gigantic, Scrooge McDuck-style landfill of money. I’ve been looking forward to drawing it and I hope you’ll dig it.

Anyway, here’s the version without the labels. There’s an annotated version and other stuff available to patrons, if you’re interested.

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Brazenthrone – The High King’s Palace – Ground Level

This is the first of four floors of the High King’s palace. This took a while longer than usual because I laid out all four levels before finishing this one. But with that out of the way, the next three should come pretty quickly. Look for the second floor in around three or four days.

Well, like (I suspect) a lot of you, I recently got off the emotional rollercoaster that was the last episode of Game of Thrones, and… I really need to lie down. Jesus.

No labels here. There’s an annotated version blah blah blah patreon.

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Whitebarrow Manor

Here’s a version without the secret doors.

This is the map chosen by last month’s Cartographic Congress, based on the proposal by Senator Ross. It’s designed to be a haunted house with a number of secret chambers, although I can imagine a few other uses for it. The largest of the secret rooms in the cellar were left unfurnished to make the map more flexible, allowing different DMs to imagine different dark secrets inside.

Next up is Brazenthrone‘s High King’s Palace, then a guarded bridge. There’s an annotated version of this map and DM notes available to patrons, if you’re interested.

Well, I’m off to go see an actual castle today: the Rock of Cashel. It may not be the largest castle, but it’s definitely a contender for Most Badass Name. It’s mostly unroofed, so let’s hope the weather doesn’t get too Irish. We’ll see.

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Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle

Here’s an alternate version with the tiles angled to follow the walls in the keep.

I was going to explain all the things that aren’t accurate about this map, but it’d take forever and it doesn’t matter anyway, so let me just give you the short version:

  • Only the bottom and upper two floors of the keep were finished and the unfinished floors currently contain a gift shop and a cafeteria. Since I thought that might spoil the mood a bit, I took some liberties and drew in what was intended to be there: servants’ quarters, guest rooms and a “Moorish hall.”
  • The cellar is in the right place, but I couldn’t find a floor plan, so I made some stuff up. I was tempted to draw a dungeon, but there is no way there’s a dungeon in there.
  • Nothing about this map conveys the ludicrous degree of splendor in the finished parts of this castle. It really is jaw-dropping. Have a look.

Anyway, I hope you like it. There’s an annotated version of this map with 83 rooms numbered and labeled, as well as all the usual stuff, available to patrons.

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Neuschwanstein Castle – First and Second Levels

This is the first map I’ve ever made of a real place. It was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who was known as “the Mad King.” He was born in the 1800s and was really into Middle Ages architecture, so he had this built as a sort of idealized fantasy castle. I’ll be honest, I can relate to this guy. Except I’m not the king of Bavaria and I can’t afford to build these things for real.

My understanding is that most of the rooms of this place are empty and I wasn’t able to find information on what a lot of them were actually meant to be, but since most people won’t be using this map as Actual Neuschwanstein Castle, I figured I’d come up things to fill them with.

Also, the cellar is completely made-up. There is a door there, which is visible in photos and the place does have a cellar, but I wasn’t able to find any information or floor plans to indicate what it looks like, so I just made it up. Everything else is drawn from various floor plans I found.

I’ll draw the rest of it next, but I thought I’d drop this off for now.

An annotated version of this map is available to patrons.

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The Great Hall of Brazenthrone – The Promontories

Here’s the final floor of the Great Hall, the Promontories. This is the area where the city’s wealthy commoner families live.

Here’s the non-annotated version. There’s also DM notes and a Patrons’ Edition of this map with all the rooms marked and labeled available on the patreon.

Last time, I said I’d be doing a map of something historical, based on the floor plans. If you guessed Neuschwanstein Castle, you are damn right it is.

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Millers’ Bluff

This is the map selected by the Cartographic Congress last month: a large millers’ homestead with three watermills, a granary, workers’ cottages and a nearby inn. Feel free to attack it with the greenskins of your choice. Or whatever other purpose strikes you. What would I do with this map? I’m not sure, but I can tell you there would be a fight on that little island with the firepit, no question about that.

I have a slightly different version of the map here. The brightness is toned down just a bit. I couldn’t decide which one I liked better, so I just made both. If you play Ravenloft or you’re just super goth, that might be the one you want. It’s honestly not that different.

You know, it’s funny. When I started making maps, I told myself, “Waterfalls are cool and all, but I’m not going to overdo it. I’ll use waterfalls sparingly. I’m not gonna go crazy with it.” Now, here I am, six months and 48 maps later, drawing my first waterfalls. Well, that’s not entirely true, but they’re the first waterfalls bigger than half a centimeter.

Next up is The Promontories, the final floor of the Great Hall of Brazenthrone. Then, I’m going to draw something historical, based on some floor plans I found. I’m not going to tell you what, but I think it’s the coolest building in the world. Feel free to guess in the comments. I’ll tell you if you’re right.

An annotated version of this map and DM notes are available to supporters on the patreon.