I decided that the ancient crypt in the Black Loch would be lost dwarven catacombs with a royal tomb deep inside. In order to make the royal tomb look as splendid and impressive as possible, I learned how to draw celtic knotwork and basically covered the thing in it. I did screw it up in a few places, but less than I’d expected. Nothing that can’t be fixed.
Anyway, just thought I’d give you a look. Back to work!
Elderseed Sanctuary is a small treehouse settlement in a giant baobab. I designed it with a druid community in mind, but it could easily be a village of wild elves as well. Or aarakocra. Or avariel. Or weresquirrels.
Here’s a question to think about: is it a treant? If so, that makes this place mobile, which allows for some interesting possibilities. For example, your party could make camp in the woods and wake up next to this thing. That could be a handy approach if your party isn’t great at following a trail of breadcrumbs to the next adventure. Just park the next adventure on top of all their stuff and see if they can work out what to do.
Next up, I’ll be drawing another map from the Black Loch. This time, it’ll be the ancient crypt on Cairnhollow Isle. I’m not sure exactly what I’m doing with it, but I think it’ll be a fairly decrepit series of winding tunnels and catacombs, leading to a huge, elaborate burial chamber at the end. I’ve got a bunch of maps of the Paris Catacombs, so hopefully I can give the map a fairly authentic feel.
Well, that’s it for now. Let me know what you think about the map!
Here’s the big tree village I’ve been working on. As you can see, I decided to put it in a giant baobab.
One of the reasons I went with a baobab is that I wanted to put a couple of big, hollow spaces in the trunk, which baobabs are known to have. For example, here’s a baobab tree in Namibia with a toilet inside. And here’s one in South Africa with a bar inside it.
Anyway, the drawings are done and I’ll start coloring it tomorrow. Let me know what you think so far!
Here’s the non-annotated version of the map.
Spyr-Anaisz is a small drow village in the Black Loch. The residents here aren’t big city drow, they’re rural drow. Drow hillbillies, if you will.
I don’t picture them chewing tobacco or wearing cowboy hats, but I imagine there’s a different sort of culture here. A bit less backstabbing and cutting throats to get ahead. Not much infighting among the nobility, since there’s only one noble house. And I think the city drow would probably look down on them, as inferior drow from an inferior place.
With an economy based around fishing and mushroom farming, Spyr-Anaisz isn’t a particularly wealthy community, but they are a fairly safe one. Built in and around a cluster of giant stalactites, the village hangs 80′ (25m) above the ground, making the list of dangerous creatures the people of Spyr-Anaisz have to worry about quite a bit shorter than it would be if they lived down below with everyone else. It isn’t the most convenient living arrangement, but sometimes convenience has to come second to security. Especially in the Underdark.
Next up, I’ll be drawing last month’s Cartographic Congress winner. This will be a multi-level village built in and around the branches and trunk of a giant tree, with bridges running between the buildings. I haven’t drawn a map like this in ages and I’m really glad to get another chance.
It’s not the first map of a tree village anyone’s ever made, but I think it’ll be a pretty unique take on the idea. I’ve got a lot of ideas about it swimming around in my head right now and I really want to start sketching things out and see how they look on paper. I think I’m gonna get started on that now.
Well, I hope you like Spyr-Anaisz. Let me know what you think!
So, I wasn’t originally planning to make this drow settlement the second-largest map in the Black Loch, but… well, that appears to have happened. I think it’ll be worth the effort.
Anyway, everything is drawn and inked and I’m about to start coloring it today. I hope you like it so far!
The whaleship is a spelljammer for people who want to go to space, but don’t want to leave anything behind. ANYTHING. Not the billiard table, the pool, the tavern, or anyone they know. It’s all coming. Hell, bring the whole village. It’s fine, there’s room for everybody, sheep included.
The whaleship is designed as a passenger liner and cargo ship, but some DMs may want to use it as a player vessel, so I included a few versions of the ship retrofitted with weapons. Here’s the lightly-armed version and here’s the heavily-armed version (aka “the Whalehammer 40K”). Also, here’s a token of the ship.
Next, I’ll be going back to the Black Loch and drawing the drow settlement. After that, I’ll be drawing last month’s Cartographic Congress winner, “a multi-level village built in and around the branches and trunk of a giant tree, with the buildings of the village connected by bridges.” After that, I’ll probably be working on the Black Loch for the rest of the month.
All right, I’m gonna get some sleep. Let me know what you think of the whaleship!
You voted for the biggest spelljammer and this is all the art for it. This thing has five decks with 17 private cabins, 12 bathrooms, a 2-floor lounge, a billiards room, a poker room, a pool and a harpsichord.
The whaleship is a passenger liner, but I suspect some DMs will have other things in mind for it, so I’ll be making three versions of the map: unarmed, lightly armed, and Whalehammer 40K.
I’m about to start coloring all this now, so I’ll be back with the map in a few more days. Hope you like it so far!
A lot of inns have fanciful names, like “The Dancing Fox.” But you walk in, look around… no dancing fox. Not even a non-dancing fox. Deep down, you knew there wouldn’t be a fox, but you had a little hope and it was still a bit disappointing.
The Silver Dragon Inn doesn’t have that problem. This place delivers on the promise of its name, with an actual silver dragon lairing just underneath it. The original idea behind the map was that the innkeeper is secretly the dragon in human form, but there are a lot of different things you could do with it.
I’d recommend doing whatever you think your players won’t expect. Here are a few ideas:
Next up is the spelljammer I promised a few months ago. I held a vote on which one to draw and the Whaleship was the winner. Designed as a passenger liner, it’s got plenty of space for crew and cargo and I think it’ll make a good reward for high-level parties that have paid their dues.
By the way, if you hadn’t heard, Spelljammer is coming back. Wizards of the Coast announced it on April Fool’s Day and everyone thought it was a joke, but apparently they were serious. After making several settings that everyone has already forgotten about, it looks like WotC is finally ready to throw in the towel and give the people what they want. Maybe if we’re lucky, Planescape will be next.
Anyway, that’s it for now. Let me know what you think!
As I mentioned previously, I’m heading to France today. I’m going to visit Mont-St-Michel, the Chateau de Chenonceau and the Chateau de Breze. I’ll be gone for a little over a week, which is a little weird for me, since I very much like what I do and hardly take a day off. Anyway, before I leave, there are a few things I wanted to mention.
First, the picture above is the Silver Dragon Inn, an inn with a dragon’s lair underneath. I did get everything drawn (including the lair), but I didn’t manage to color it before the trip. I’ll finish it up as soon as I get back.
Second, I promised a while back that I’d draw another spelljammer map in three months or so. When I get back from France, it’ll have been three months, so that’ll be the next map. I said it’d be a larger, late-game spelljammer and I’m going to let patrons decide which one. I’ll be posting the vote on my patreon as soon as I’m done posting this.
Third, one of the places I’m going, the Chateau de Breze, is something I’ve wanted to draw a map of for a long time. The best way I can explain this place is that it’s a castle with a sprawling set of tunnels and chambers below. It’s like it has a D&D map from 1986 underneath it. Seriously, have a look.
I haven’t been able to draw the place because I’ve never been able to find a decent floor plan. But I’m going to bring a sketchbook with me and make one. I won’t be drawing it for a while, but I wanted to mention it anyway. I haven’t forgotten about that Indian temple, either. It’ll still be the next historical map, but I might wait until the Black Loch is done.
Finally, if there’s anything you need while I’m gone, feel free to send me a message. I’ll get online a few times while I’m away and answer any messages.
Before I go, I should say that I’ve wanted to see Mont-St-Michel for a long time and I want to thank all my patrons for giving me the ability to finally go. This is kind of a big deal for me and I want you all to know that I truly do appreciate it.
You may recognize this map from the last map. It might seem redundant to make a separate map out of it, but your players are probably going to steal it from that map, so this might come in handy. Or maybe you just need a small airship for a party that hasn’t earned a big one yet.
I made a few different versions of this. The one above is the refitted version. The seats are replaced with hammocks and there’s a dinner table in the forward berth. This is for DMs whose parties end up using the Duskfall long-term.
After that, there’s the original version, a version with a Black Loch background, and the refitted version with a Black Loch background.
I did something unusual here and I’m curious what everyone thinks. I added a map of the airship on land to the bottom. It seemed like it might be useful, since a party with an airship will, occasionally, land it. And maybe they land in hostile territory and end up in a fight. Or maybe they leave the ship to go on an adventure and come back to find a bunch of brigands trying to steal it. I felt like there were a lot of situations where it’d be a convenient thing to have, so I thought I’d give it a shot and see what you think.
Next up, I’ll be drawing the map chosen by last month’s Cartographic Congress, the Silver Dragon Inn. This is an inn built over a set of cascading waterfalls, with a dragon’s lair concealed behind the falls. The innkeeper is actually the dragon in human form and the inn has a secret passage to the lair. This allows the innkeeper to turn from Clark Kent into Superman without letting anyone know they’re the same guy. “You get any trouble with bandits around here?” Nope. We sure don’t.
As I mentioned before, on the 4th, I’m taking a trip to Mont-Saint-Michel, the Chateau de Chenonceau and the Chateau de Breze and I’ll be gone for a little over a week. I don’t think I’ll be able to get the Silver Dragon Inn finished by then, but I’ll see how far I can get. I’ll make a post when I’m leaving.
Well, that’s it for now. If you’ve got any thoughts on how I did the airship, let me know!
