Category: Huge Maps

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Finbarr’s Marsh – The Crypts – IT’S FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Black and white version

This has been one hell of a long project, but it’s finally done!  And as much as I loved making it, I am really looking forward to drawing something else.

So, here’s the final tally:  Finbarr’s Marsh has 135 buildings with 703 rooms across 10 different floors (7 above ground and 3 below).  It took almost a month to draw (I’d say around 200 hours) on 14 sheets of A3/Tabloid paper (equivalent to 28 normal-sized sheets of paper).  Here’s a photo of the whole thing on paper, by the way.

Also, I’ve put up a goal on my Patreon.  Here it is:

When I reach 50 patrons, I will start work on another megaproject. This will be a map of an underground dwarven city. It will include a surface settlement, a gateway into the mountain, fortified tunnels, a huge central ward (itself almost the size of Finbarr’s Marsh) and four Quarters– the Common Quarter, the Noble Quarter, the Anvil Quarter and the Old Quarter. These will each be around half the size of Finbarr’s. In addition, there will be maps of the mines, the mushroom farms, the High King’s palace, the prison, the Grand Temple, residential areas, the treasure vaults, the gnomes’ district, an underdark trading outpost, adjacent ruins, and more. It will be usable as either an inhabited city or as a huge abandoned ruin big enough to run entire campaigns in. I want to make something absolutely legendary in size and scope. This is the best idea I have in me. I made Finbarr’s Marsh in part to prove to myself that I can do it. Let’s make it happen.

If and when this goal is reached, I will alternate between drawing maps for this project and other maps.  I cannot tell you that it will be the biggest map you have ever seen, but it will be the biggest map I have ever seen.

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Finbarr’s Marsh – The Sewers

 

This is the second to last map of Finbarr’s Marsh.  The crypts will be up in a few days.

So let’s talk about the sewers.  First, I need to mention elevation.  The underground level is above this, which means it’s fully above the water level.  Why?  The island has steep sides and the ground level is about 15 feet above the water.  With that out of the way, let’s talk about the locations.

The kuo-toan temple on the left predates the city and was in ruins by the time the first settlers showed up.  The passages into it were eventually blocked off with stone because, well, no one wants an open passage leading right under their castle.

The Drainers are human.  They’re poor and live in the sewers, subsisting on mushrooms and selling their excess fertilizer to farmers in the area.  They smell.  But everything down here smells, so it’s fine.  The authorities know about them and have told them they can stay.  But no more digging.

The Theives’ Guild’s bread and butter, unusually, isn’t theiving, but dealing in smuggled goods.  They have an arrangement with some fishermen to bring goods in from cargo ships, a few crates at a time, evading the customs tariffs and any laws concerning contraband.  They buy the goods from the fishermen, then sell them around the city at a tidy profit.  They’re secretly working with one of the wealthy trading houses as well (the De Barras).  They do also steal stuff.  Sometimes.

The sea trolls (scrags) aren’t a huge priority for the city guard, although they can be troublesome.  And the entrance to their lair is small and completely underwater, which would make dealing with them an enormous pain.

The Witch of the Pipes is whoever you want her to be.

Here’s a version without annotations and a black and white line art version.

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Finbarr’s Marsh – Underground

 

There’s not a ton going on in this level of the city, but, I mean, how much is going on in your basement?  We’ve got a few points of interest: the Royal Treasury, a dungeon, a strange magical gateway in the Tower of Thaumaturgy and a secret room.

Next up is the level below this:  the sewers.  After that, the crypts.  We’re on the homestretch!

Here’s the black and white version.

There’s an annotated Patrons’ Edition of this map.

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Finbarr’s Marsh – Overview Map

 

This is basically the 7th floor map of Finbarr’s Marsh, showing everything from the highest point (the walkway over the sea gate) on down.  The next map is the basements, then the sewers, and, finally, the crypts.

I’ve got plans for the sewers.  Initially, I was just going to do a mostly utilitarian system of drainage tunnels, but then I just decided to go wild with it and put some crazy stuff down there.  I’ll be releasing a limited annotated version for free like I did with the ground level map.

Anyway, keep checking in, I should have this done in around a week.

The black and white version.

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Finbarr’s Marsh – Fourth Level

 

Here’s the fourth level!  I’ll be putting up the fifth, sixth and seventh levels tomorrow, which will be in a smaller image without the rest of the city attached, since only three buildings have a fifth level and only the sea gate towers go higher than that.  The day after, I’ll be putting up an overview map with a view from the very top, showing all the roofs, the tops of the walls and the bridge connecting the sea gate towers.

There’s an annotated Patrons’ Edition of this map up at the Patreon.

Also, here’s a black and white line art version.

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Finbarr’s Marsh Third Level

 

This is the third level of Finbarr’s Marsh.  Not too many buildings have a fourth level, so I’ll be doing them a little differently.  Also, I changed up the second level map, so if you’ve already downloaded that, you may want to take another look.  I think it looks a lot better.

This map has an annotated Patrons‘ Edition available.

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The Fortress City of Finbarr’s Marsh – Ground Level

As long as that took to draw, I can’t believe it didn’t take longer.  And Finbarr’s Marsh isn’t even half finished.  Still to go, we have: upper levels, which most buildings will have, as well as basements, sewers, three crypts, the walls, towers and gatehouses.

I don’t like plugging my Patreon, but I figure this is a good time to say that, if you like what I’m doing and you want to help keep a pen in my hand for as many hours a week as possible, please consider supporting me.

There is a Patrons’ Edition version of this map with over 150 buildings and rooms marked.

Also, here’s a version of the map without annotations.

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The Elven Citadel of Oakenhold

 

This one took some time.  Whew.  The annotated version is below.  Since the image is big enough as it is, I decided to write the DM notes here:

  • Let’s get this one out of the way first:  You’re not burning it down.  Well, not without a lot of effort, anyway.  The tree is 40 feet in diameter at the base of the trunk (that’s 125 feet in circumference).  That’s a hard log to burn.  And getting there to start the fire means getting shot at by a whole lot of archers.  Levels 2, 3, 6 and 7 are all lined with arrow slits.  And from 100-200 feet up, they have the range advantage for sure.  You have a mage who knows fireball?  Check the range.  He’s a pincushion long before he gets that close.  Brought a catapult?  Ballistas?  Level 5 has three ballistas with bows almost 20 feet across.  They are there specifically to disable war machines.  Is burning Oakenhold impossible?  No.  But the elves who built it did take that into consideration when designing its defenses.
  • Oakenhold is not designed to be a seat of power, from which a king rules.  Rather, it is meant to serve as a military stronghold for defending the land around it.  This is why there is relatively little in the way of luxury or space devoted to the nobility.
  • If you want to make it a seat of power, I would recommend changing the archery range at 24 (see annotated version below) into a throne room/audience chamber and devoting most or all of the 8th level to the nobles.  Change out the rooms for a bath, a dining room, a sitting room, a study or two, maybe a vault.  You get the idea.
  • So, what do you do with a ten-level elven tree fortress?  I’ve got a few suggestions:
    • Attack it
    • Defend it
    • Infiltrate it
    • Steal something from it
    • Sabotage it
    • Kill someone in it
    • Escape from it
    • Help the elves take it back from the people who took it from them (possibly involving one of the above).

Also, I started a Patreon today, if you’re interested in giving me some support so I can spend more time making stuff like this.  If not, its no problem at all.  Just wanted to mention it.

Finally, here’s the annotated version:

 

Edit: And here’s a version that’s easier to print: Page 1, Page 2