Category: Medium Maps

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The Pyramids of Cuamiztli

Gods expect different things from their followers. Some simply want people to believe in them. Others want people to follow their teachings, honor them or pray. The Old Gods of Mexico weren’t into that kind of touchy-feely crap. They wanted human hearts. And they wanted a lot of them.

At the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs were said to have sacrificed around 4,000 people over the course of four days. Here’s how that goes: the priest cuts open the victim’s chest, rips out the heart, puts it in a stone bowl. Then, they chuck the body down the steps of the pyramid. And finally, someone chops off the head and puts it on the skull rack. Repeat 3999 times.

I’m not going to say I approve of that sort of thing, but the Aztecs were certainly dedicated to their gods. And you’d think that if they ever needed a little divine intervention– like, say, blowing a few Spanish ships off course– they might get it. Alas.

Next, I’ll be drawing the next few levels of The Stygian City. These will include caves inhabited by giant bats and a series of catacombs.

Well, I think this is the first map I’ve drawn that was inspired by something in the Americas. Or maybe I’m forgetting something. Feel free to correct me about that. Either way, let me know what you think!

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The Goblin Queen’s War Wagon

It’s a little awkward when the party travels a long distance and nothing happens along the way. I mean, if they’re going on a 300 mile journey, I don’t want to just tell them, “Okay, you’re there. Now what?” But I also don’t want to involve them in some complicated adventure that’s going to take 5 sessions, because that’s a little more of a detour than I’m looking for.

Traveling encounters are almost their own category of adventure. Not so long that you have to spend more than a session or two on it, but enough to avoid giving the players the impression that they just teleported. And a little something more than, “2d6 giant rats cross your path, roll for initiative.”

I like this map as a traveling encounter. A bunch of goblins in a Winnebago isn’t something you see everyday and it’d make for a fun fight. But it’s low commitment as well, so they can get back to reassembling the Sacred Crystals of the Ancient Ones or whatever they’re up to. Simple, but not boring.

Someone should write a whole book full of traveling encounters. That’d be really useful. I know some of the people reading this write and publish adventures, so feel free to steal that idea.

Anyway, I’m going to make an alternate version of this map for patrons, which shouldn’t take more than a day. It’ll be a “de-goblinized” version for DMs who want to use this map for humans or… well, anyone else that isn’t green. It’ll have elephants up front and be moderately less filthy. All right, I’ll be back with that soon. In the meantime, let me know what you think!

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The Forgotten Place

The Forgotten Place is an ancient ruin unearthed from the sands. It’s the perfect place for your party to do some archaeology, or– perhaps– some “archaeology.” In case you’re not aware of the difference between those two words, let me explain: the one with the quotes means grave-robbing.

I’d probably go with the second option in a D&D game. Brushing the dust off of pot shards to learn about the customs of ancient peoples may be morally and academically superior to scoring fat sacks of loot from a dead guy, but, well, moral superiority doesn’t buy you full plate and a castle.

I also want to mention that some of you may have more use for half of this map than you do for the whole thing. Maybe you like the desert ruins, but you want them to lead down into a different dungeon. Or maybe you like the underground part, but you want to put it under an old cathedral. Either way, go for it. Mix and match. There are no rules in RPGs*.

Anyway, the next map will be the Goblin Queen’s Carriage. This is going to be a giant carriage/war wagon that a tribe of goblins use as a mobile raiding camp. If you picture it looking like something out of Warhammer Fantasy, then we are very much on the same page. I think it’ll be a map that offers a lot of fun possibilities. After that, I’ll be getting started on the giant pit megadungeon that I’ve been talking about.

Well, that should do it for now. If anyone’s got any ideas on what might be pulling the giant goblin carriage, let me know. I feel like horses would be boring, but a giant seems like a bit much. My best idea right now is yaks, so if you can top that, I’ll consider it.

*There are multiple books full of rules in almost all RPGs.

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The Defiled Monastery

The premise of this map is simple: for many years. this monastery was occupied by the peace-loving followers of the god of wisdom and happiness. Then, some non-peace-loving followers of the god of smoking meth and shaking babies arrived. And, after the liberal application of a technique known as “violence,” the former occupants were driven out. Then, they smashed the statues, burned the books and started sacrificing nearby villagers.

There’s a fairly simple adventure to be run here, which starts with a monk approaching the party and saying, “Help.” I’m fairly sure I don’t need to elaborate on where it goes from there. It’s not a complicated adventure, but they don’t all have to be some ultra-sophisticated Game of Thrones type of thing. Sometimes The Witcher is more your speed. “Please kill dudes, I have money.” “Dudes are dead. Gib money.” Had a busy week? Drop a dozen cultists and a demon into this place and let ‘er rip.

So, let’s talk about the giant hole we discussed a few weeks ago. That megaproject is officially happening and I wanted to share some details. A lot of people had ideas on how to use the location and I want to make sure you can do what you want with it. Since it’s a giant pit, the most important thing is what’s at the bottom. People have proposed an imprisoned entity, a planar portal, an artifact, an aboleth lair, a pile of trash and debris, and more. My version of the bottom will be something different, but I’m going to draw alternate versions with at least those options as well. I think I’ll be able to get started on this in about a month.

Anyway, I think that’s it for now. If you’ve got any thoughts, by all means let me know!

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The Digging Machines

This map is an underground mining complex run by mechanical constructs. It has equipment for stamping and smelting ore, as well as a factory for making more constructs. I imagine this place being built by deep gnomes or duergar, since they are:

A) Good at engineering, and

B) Crazy enough to think building self-replicating machines is a good idea.

For patrons, I’ve got a version without the machines in case you just want a regular mine. And there’s the unfurnished version as well for anyone who just wants some caves.

There’s some good stuff coming up, so let’s talk about it. Do you like castles? I hope the answer is yes, because castles are happening. Bullet list mode, engage.

  • Next up is Scaligero Castle, a very unique Italian fortress with its own walled harbor.
  • After that, I’ll be drawing the Chateau de Breze, a French castle with a complex network of tunnels running underneath it. I visited this place a while back and took hundreds of photos of these tunnels so I could make a map of them one day. That day is soon.
  • A few months back, the Castel Sant’Angelo came in second to the Chateau de Breze in a vote for the next big historical map. But Shawn proposed the Castel Sant’Angelo to the Cartographic Congress last month and won, so I’ll be drawing that too. In case you’re unfamiliar with the place, it was originally built as the tomb of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, but was later turned into a fortress by the pope. It’s another very unique place.

So, that’s our future: a France sandwich with two slices of Italy. How’s that sound?

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Valley of the Five Mages

The Valley of the Five Mages is the last map for Tir Thelandira and, while it’s mostly independent from the rest of the lore, I think it’s a nice addition to the island. The basic story is that five mages have come here from far away to study a mysterious hole in the ground that radiates an intense magical energy.

I wrote some thoughts about what might be down there in the DM notes for the map, but the best option is to have the wizards tell the party they believe there’s a powerful, arcane entity living down there. Then, when the players go down to check it out, it turns out to be a 50-foot-tall prairie dog jacked up on potions of growth. They won’t see that coming, I’ll tell you that much.

Next, I’m going to make separate maps of these five towers. Not everyone needs a valley full of towers, but almost everyone does need towers from time to time, so I thought I’d chop this up into single servings. That shouldn’t take more than a day, so they’ll probably be up tomorrow.

After that, I’ve got to finish up a few things for TIr Thelandira, like updating the History and Lore overview and the island map with the new locations, then putting it all together in a Tir Thelandira Codex, similar to what I made for Brazenthrone and the Black Loch. Once Tir Thelandira is officially done, I’ll be starting on the megaproject I’ve been talking about. Here’s the description I posted before:

Imagine a ship, like a galleon or a ship of the line, but much bigger. Bigger than any sailing ship ever built. 400′ (130m) long and 140′ (45m) across the beam. Eight masts, thirty sails. But this isn’t just a ship, it’s a town with hundreds of residents. Across the ship’s 5-6 full decks, there are shops, craftsmen, a marketplace, a tavern, an inn, a temple, gardens, a library, a mill and a lot more. There are cabins for the middle class, luxury apartments for the rich and hammocks for the poor. This is a ship you could get lost in. It could be a community of traders, explorers, pirates or wanderers.

I’ve been looking forward to drawing this for a while now and I think it’s going to be the kind of map you could work into a lot of adventures or even plan an entire campaign around. In any case, I’ve never seen anything like the map I’m imagining and I think it needs to exist, so I’m going to roll up my sleeves and draw it.

Well, I think that’s it for now. I’m gonna finish wrapping up this megaproject so I can get started on the next one. If you’ve got any thoughts, by all means let me know!

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Ethermont House

Ethermont House is the guildhall of the Imperial Society of Extraordinary Adventurers, who have done pretty well for themselves over the years. As it turns out, breaking into the homes of evil wizards, killing them and selling all their stuff is a fairly profitable line of work.

When the job is done and you’ve finally cleaned all the little chunks of Saruman off your battleaxe, Ethermont is a great place to go and relax with some friends. Then, after a night in the beer hall and the billard room, you can go up to the guildmaster’s office, pick up another contract and head out to smoke Voldemort.

So, I started my patreon 5 years ago this month and it feels like I should do something special. So I’m going to hold a vote for all patrons on which historical map I should draw. The options will be:

  1. Château de Brézé – A French castle with an elaborate network of caves and tunnels dug around and underneath it.

  2. Stack Rock Fort – A British sea fort off the coast of Wales.

  3. Church of St. George, Lalibela – A very unique church carved into the bedrock in Ethiopia.

  4. Castel Sant’Angelo – Hadrian’s Tomb, which later became the pope’s castle.

These are places that have been on my to-do list for a while now and I think they will all make amazing maps. One of the monasteries of Meteora, Greece would have been on the list as well, but it just won last month’s Cartographic Congress vote, so I’m drawing it next. Between that, the giant ship and whatever wins the vote, there’ll be some cool stuff coming up.

I want to say thank you to everyone who’s supported my art over the last five years. Being able to wake up and draw maps for you every day is the best way I can imagine to make a living and I appreciate it more than you will ever know. Thank you all.

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The Hall of the Bearded Men

This is the ancient ruin found on Tir Thelandira. The wood elves who inhabit the island don’t know who built it or why, only that it was here before they were. The “Bearded Men,” as the elves call them, are a great mystery. They certainly weren’t elves and they don’t look like humans, either. A few claim to have seen a Bearded Man who arrived on a ship centuries ago, but few believe them. Perhaps, one day, another Bearded Man will arrive, if any still exist.

This map is the ancient, mysterious ruin that patrons voted for. I hope you like the way I went with it. I thought it’d be funny to put this big, obviously dwarven ruin on an island full of elves who don’t know what a dwarf is and think of them as an almost mythical race.

There’s one more map to draw before Tir Thelandira is finished and I’ll be sending out a message to patrons asking for proposals for what it should be as soon as I post this.

The next map will be the guildhall of the Imperial Society of Extraordinary Adventurers, including their library, vault and exhibit hall. If that doesn’t sound like something you’ll need, don’t worry. It’ll basically be a large, well-appointed mansion and that’s something everyone’s got a use for. “Adventuring” usually involves a lot of burglary, in my experience.

Anyway, I hope you like the map! I used to draw dwarven stuff a lot and it felt good to be back in that saddle again.

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Fiachna’s Knoll

Fiachna’s Knoll is an elven town in Tir Thelandira. With this done, there are only two more maps to draw before the island is finished. The next will be the one proposed by Magpie and voted for by patrons: the ruins of a monument built by a civilization so ancient that it preceded even the elves’ arrival on Tir Thelandira.

I’ve been thinking about what this place should be and I’ve decided to make it the absolute last thing you’d expect to find on an island full of wood elves. And what would that be? The most dwarven thing ever. These ruins are going to be more dwarven than a drunken axe-throwing contest. Of course, the elves of Tir Thelandira have never actually seen a dwarf, so they wouldn’t know what to make of it, which could lead to an interesting conversation if a party with a dwarf passes through.

After that, there’s still one more map to go. I’ll be sending out a message to all patrons asking for proposals for location #2 in the next few days. Here are a couple guidelines: first, the location can be anywhere on the northern island. And second, Tir Thelandira is very isolated, so the location can’t be a major city.

Anyway, this megaproject should be wrapping up soon and then I’ll get started on the next one, which will be that giant ship I mentioned earlier. Hopefully that sounds good to everyone!

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New Giltwater – A Gold Mining Colony

Here’s a version without the mines.

New Giltwater is a gold mining colony in Tir Thelandira. After the last colony was burned to the ground by the island’s native wood elves, the colonists have taken a few more precautions this time around, building a palisade and keeping a few companies of mercenaries close by.

There are only three more maps to draw before Tir Thelandira is finished. After that, I’ve got a few ideas on what to start on next and I’ll probably let patrons vote on which one you want to see first. Here’s what I’m thinking about:

  1. Dhasra. An incredibly wealthy city built across a river delta. The main location on the island would be the White City of Dhasra and I’d draw an overview of the city, then detailed maps of different locations within the city. There might be a couple other locations on the island as well.
  2. A very bleak island whose noble families all became vampires long ago. The peasants are little more than livestock for the nobles, who have established an upper caste of commoners to keep the rest in line. The nobles live in lavish palaces with fountains of blood, while the serfs live as prisoners in their own lands. A few groups of wanderers roam the forests, living free from the predation of the nobility. Deep in the shadows, there is talk of an uprising.
  3. A new version of Tortuga. I’ll redesign it and it’ll probably be a bit smaller, but the same basic idea. Since I’m drawing a world full of islands, it seems like an interesting way to travel between them. It lets the party stay on the move, while also having a community of people they know around them.

By the way, the runoff vote for the next location in Tir Thelandira is open, so if you’re a patron, go over there and participate in democracy. It’s really close right now, so your vote very well might change the outcome.

Anyway, I’d love to hear your thoughts on those three ideas. What you like, what you don’t or what might make them better. I really want to draw all three, but I’d like to hear your opinions first.