Category: Cartographic Congress

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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!

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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!

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Dhelduhr – The Entrance

Here’s the entrance to yesterday’s map of the village of Dhelduhr. For patrons, there’s also an underdark version of the village. It isn’t wildly different from the original, but it’ll spare you from having to make excuses for the plants.

With that finished, I’m ready to get started on the last three levels of the Stygian City. These will include a prison, a temple with a jumping-off point and, at the bottom, Ghanya. If you’re not that into my Ghanya lore, I’ll be drawing four alternate bottom levels for patrons, so you can tell a different story here if you like.

Before that’s done, I’m also going to make a post about my idea for the next megaproject I have in mind. I know I said that a few weeks ago, but I made a note to remind myself and I’m actually going to do it this time.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Let me know what you think of Dhelduhr!

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The Village of Dhelduhr

Dhelduhr is a dwarven village carved into the cliffsides of a canyon. This is most of it, but I still need to draw the entrance. In the center-right of the map, there are some stairs up to the clifftop, where there’ll be a small building with some stables.

I also want to make an underdark version of the map for patrons. This place would fit pretty well in that setting, but I need to get rid of the plants and the colors are a little bright. I’ll have all that done in a day or two, then I’ll get to work on the last three levels of the Stygian City.

Okay, see you tomorrow!

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Mycenaean Citadel

This map was heavily inspired by the Citadel of Tiryns in ancient Mycenae. If you’re not familiar with Mycenae, it was an ancient civilization that occupied all the parts of Greece you’re likely to visit on vacation.

Tiryns is old enough that it was mentioned in the Iliad. It was built around 2500 BC and abandoned by 200 BC. This place actually appears in the Hercules mythology as well. It was the home of King Eurystheus, who ordered Hercules to go beat down the Nemean Lion, the hydra and so on. So if your party comes here and picks up a quest or two, they wouldn’t be the first.

Next, I’m going to draw a roof level for this map for patrons. That should only take a day or two and then I’ll get started on the next few levels of the Stygian City. Anyway, I hope you like it. Let me know what you think!

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Dragonriders’ Hall

I usually talk about the map in these posts, but this one is what it says on the tin. It’s a stable/livery/hatchery for dragons. Let’s talk about Council of Wyrms instead.

Council of Wyrms was a 2nd Edition D&D boxed set with rules for making dragon player characters. And it was absolutely terrible. Did I buy it? Yes I did. In my defense, I was 15 and a lot of stuff seems like a better idea than it is when you’re 15.

I tried it for one session before realizing what the problem was with letting the players be dragons. At level one, they can fly. And they have innate spellcasting abilities. And a lot of hit points. And they can blow away just about anything with their breath weapons. And, if being really big and scary is a problem for some reason, they can shapeshift into a human. Keep in mind, this isn’t one dragon. This is the whole party. So, imagine trying to write an encounter that’s challenging for four dragons. Here’s what that looks like:

“Roll for initiative. What are you going to do?”

“I’m gonna barf hot death on all the enemies.”

“Same.”

“Same.”

“Same.”

“The bad guys all take nine billion damage. You win.”

Did anyone else ever run a Council of Wyrms game? If so, let me know how it went for you. I struggle to imagine what a successful campaign would look like, but who knows? It’s probably happened at least once.

Next up, I’ll be getting back to the Stygian City. This thing is about halfway done and I feel like it should be finished by the end of the year, or at least close. There’s going to be an underground river in this area and a kuo-toa settlement in the ruins. I’m not sure what the lore around the kuo-toa will be, but if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. So far, all I can tell you is that they’ll be rivals with the myconids living further down.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Please do not buy Council of Wyrms. It is very, very bad.

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The Astronomer’s Tower

So this is a fairly classic wizard’s tower. I wasn’t trying to reinvent the wheel here, but I did want to make it more interesting than your average, military-issue wizard tube.

The top floor has a telescope and an armillary sphere, which is basically a 3-dimensional astrolabe. It calculates the position and movement of stars. Beyond that, I’m not sure there’s too much to explain.

I drew a ruined version of this map for patrons, which should be done by tomorrow. After that, I’ll get back to drawing more of the Stygian City. Anyway, I hope you like the map. Let me know what you think!

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The Black Ziggurat

This map was heavily inspired by the Great Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu in Iraq. If you’ve ever seen a picture of a ziggurat, that’s probably the ziggurat you saw. I designed this primarily as the headquarters of an evil organization, but it could be used as a temple, cult lair or just a dungeon in the desert.

I made a bunch of alternate versions of this place for patrons, one of which was unintentional. Here’s how that happened. I was trying to make a version where the ziggurat was floating through the astral plane and I figured I’d do it by changing the colors. I’d make the sand blue so it’d look like nebulous waves of… you know, astral stuff in the background. My thinking was, it wouldn’t look like sand anymore since sand isn’t blue. Then I got up, grabbed a cup of coffee and, when I sat back down, I realized I had just made a night version of the map.

Anyway, I also made a proper astral version and another version without most of the interior (which is more accurate to the Ziggurat of Ur). Then there are unfurnished versions with and without the statues. Hopefully this fulfills all your ziggurat-related needs, whatever they may be.

Next, I’ll be drawing a ruined mage’s tower. I’ve got some ideas about how to make this place interesting, but let’s see how they look on paper. It’s definitely not going to be just a big cylinder, though. The world has plenty of maps like that. Once that’s done, I’ll get back to drawing more of the Stygian City.

All right, that’s it for now. Hope you like the map!

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Drow Academy of War, aka “Black Metal West Point”

This is a place where drow men– the ones who weren’t smart enough for magic school– go to learn how to bludgeon each other to death with assorted metal objects. The lower level of the map is an obstacle course and I suspect that some people might not be into that, but I think it’s a very drow thing and I want to try to sell you on it.

Here’s how I imagine it. The students don’t run this course solo. They’re running it alongside other students and it’s a race to the end. And the person who comes last is punished. That’s important because one of the main points of the course is to foster ruthlessness in the students. The real danger here isn’t the obstacles in their way, it’s the other drow who are trying to impede them. “Be ruthless” and “Watch your back” are important lessons to learn in drow society and I can see them building something like this to teach those things. I’m not sure I’d like this idea for anyone else, but I think it works really well for the drow.

Next, I’m going back to Das Pit. I’ll be drawing the next few levels of the city, which are going to get a lot more interesting. The upper levels were dug early, when the residents lived around, rather than in, the pit. But now we’ll be getting into the city itself, which is much more elaborate. The next few floors will have a goblin settlement and a colony of giant spiders (which are the main thing the goblins eat). Anyway, I’m looking forward to drawing it and, as soon as I stop typing, I can, so