Posts

Posted on

The Great Garden

I think this is the first map I’ve drawn where everything is outdoors. No buildings, no caverns. Weird. That’s not the only unusual thing about it. I tried a few new things with this. I lightened the grid, I made the grass look more… grassy, and I used much brighter colors than I normally do.

I’m really happy with it and I think it’s one of my favorite maps I’ve drawn. Unless people object, I think I’m going to start doing maps this way from now on, with the exception of Brazenthrone, since I want to keep everything looking consistent with the rest. Anyway, let me know what you think!

By the way, I’m giving the patron content for this map to everyone (you can get it here). I put a lot of detail into it and I want everyone to be able to see it, which is easier in the higher-res versions.

There are no DM notes and no annotated version for this map because I don’t really have much to say about it. Usually, there’s some sort of story in my head about a place when I draw it, but I don’t really have one here. Everything is there because I thought it looked interesting. Who’s the mossy lady with one hand? I don’t know. What’s the round stone surrounded by water? No idea. What’s with the face in the ground? Not sure, just felt right. This could be an elven garden, a druidic enclave or someplace in the feywild. I leave that to you to figure out.

Anyway, I hope you like it! Next up is Brazenthrone’s Oreworks (26 on this map). Let me know what you think about the Great Garden, I’m honestly really curious to hear!

Posted on

All the tokens I’ve made for my game and a few more.

Download all the tokens or just the new ones.

These are all the tokens I’ve made since my game went online in April. The second image is the new ones. I don’t know how useful a lot of them are going to be for a lot of people, but if you really, REALLY needed a token of a horse-drawn sleigh, well, you’re welcome.

My game is going to some pretty strange places. I’m running the Illithiad trilogy and I’m currently on the second part, Masters of Eternal Night. Basically, the players need to go to a crater, dig up an old spelljammer and get it running again so they can blow up a mind flayer death star. They’re going to meet some Gith, kill a giant alien spider and get chased around by some mind flayers in a sleigh. Hopefully no one gets their brain eaten by Tentacle Santa, but we’ll see.

The Great Garden is all drawn and inked and I should have it colored and done in a couple days. Until then!

Posted on

Brazenthrone – Burke’s Hall

An explanation of who Burke was and why there’s a chamber of Brazenthrone named after him is in the DM notes, which I’m giving away to everyone. As with most of the other residential chambers, all the buildings in Burke’s Hall are houses, so there’s no annotated version.

Next up is the Great Garden, which I described in the last post. I’m still not completely sure what it’s going to be like, but I’ve got some ideas and I should be able to turn them into something cool. After that, we’re doing Brazenthrone’s oreworks (at 26 on the city overview).

The oreworks is the area outside the iron mines, where ore is stamped, smelted and made into steel. This is a map that’s going to take a little research, since I want to get things right and, like most people, I’m not especially well-versed in the details of the medieval steelmaking process.

Also, I’m making some more tokens for my game and I’ll post those once they’re done. I’m not going to lie, they’re some pretty weird stuff. The most normal thing might be an ice troll. The weirdest? A horse-drawn sleigh. Yeah, like Santa. Except the surprises in the back of this one are going to be mind flayers. My game is going to some strange places, haha.

Posted on

Eldfjall – A Perfectly Safe Place to Live

The annotated version is here.

Eldfjall is an arctic island in the northern seas, a bountiful hunting ground for whaling and seal-hunting. But it’s so far north that crops can’t grow and even a fire won’t keep away the bitter, year-round cold. Still, one brave group of settlers found a way to make it habitable: they built their homes in the caldera of the island’s volcano, using the heat it gives off to stay warm and grow small gardens to supplement their diet of fish, seals and whale. This town wasn’t built around a volcano by chance, but by necessity. It’s not a threat to the town, it’s the heart of the town. It’s what gives it life and, without it, the town couldn’t exist.

Eldfjall is the Icelandic word for “volcano.” I don’t know much about the Icelandic language, but that word is so Skyrim it makes my brain tingle. Also, Eldfjall is a pretty Icelandic place. Cold, volcanoes, whaling? That’s everything Iceland is famous for minus Sigur Ros.

Next up is Brazenthrone‘s Burke’s Hall, at 23 on the overview map. Then it’s the Great Garden: a huge, elaborate garden with ponds and a great sacred tree.

DM notes for this map are available to patrons.

Posted on

Brazenthrone – The Opaline Grotto

Grotto. While drawing this map, it occurred to me that “grotto” might be… not the ugliest word in the English language, but the ugliest word for a thing that’s usually beautiful. Say it: grotto. Grotto. Ugh.

Yeah, so anyway, the Opaline *ahem* Grotto is a natural cavern with unmined opal deposits in the walls. There’s also a small cave system behind one of the houses leading to the Bitterwash River in case your party happens to need a shortcut.

Since I’d originally drawn this as a rectangular chamber on the Brazenthrone overview map, I updated it with the new shape. The print and VTT versions of it are here (they’re free). I know I updated this the other week and I apologize to anyone who just printed it and is staring at the screen like, “This f#@%* guy…” But this is probably the last time I update it. Unless it’s not.

Next up is last month’s Cartographic Congress winner: a city built around a volcano. After that, we’re going back to Brazenthrone for Burke’s Hall (23 on the overview). And then I’ll be knocking out a map from the Great Vote. I’m thinking the Great Garden sounds good, but I reserve the right to change my mind to Greenskin Rock. Screw it, I’ll put up a vote on the patreon. Decisions are hard.

There are DM notes for this map available to patrons.

Posted on

Skywatch: A Castle in the Clouds

Skywatch is a little unusual as castles go, for a few reasons. The obvious one is that it’s on a rock in the sky. Historically speaking, the most common place to build a castle is on the ground. I’m told that’s where over 50% of castles are.

The less-obvious quirk is the castle’s defenses. Most castles rely on the idea that the lower parts are easier to get to than the higher parts. So there’s a curtain wall. And there’s a big, strong gate at the bottom. That doesn’t work here, since, presumably, anyone attacking Skywatch can fly. Any door is, more or less, as easy to get to as any other. And a wall? The only thing that does is block the view.

Another special necessity for Skywatch is the observation platform and arrow embrasures at the bottom, which prevent the sky beneath the castle from becoming a blind spot.

So how do you defend a castle in three dimensions? I suppose that depends on the wider setting. Are there airships? Dragons? Griffon riders? Aarakocra? In any case, I’d imagine that the main thing is to handle them at a distance, since the usual plan of setting up a height advantage for the defenders isn’t going to work out very well.

Thanks to Roose, who proposed this map to the Cartographic Congress! Next up is Brazenthrone‘s Opaline Grotto, one of the more interesting residential areas of the city.

There’s an annotated version of this map and DM notes available to patrons.

Posted on

JRR TOKEN

Here are the tokens.

I’m running a 2e module called “A Darkness Gathering,” which… hang on a second–

*SPOILER ALERT*

Right, let’s just get that out of the way. So, it’s the first of a three-part series of modules where the party discovers a mind flayer plot to darken all the suns in the universe. It’s actually quite a bit more complicated than that, but that’s the gist of it.

So, in the first part, the players discover the plot. In the second, they have to find and repair an illithid spelljammer. And in the third, they travel to the mind flayers’ homeworld, find an artifact, kick in the door of the sun-destroying machine and blow it up. Then they walk away from the explosion in slow motion. Wearing sunglasses.

It’s a great story and I’ve wanted to run it for a long time. And now I am. Feels good man.

Posted on

Brazenthrone – The Old Quarter – Third Level

With this done, the shattered wreck that is Brazenthrone‘s Old Quarter is now finished. Next up is last month’s Cartographic Congress winner: a small castle on a floating island in the sky. Following that, we’re going back to Brazenthrone to do the Opaline Grotto (24 on this map). Then it’ll be the most recent Cartographic Congress winner, a city built on an active volcano. So, you know, Hawaii. Not really. Kind of, though.

I’ve got another bunch of tokens I made for my game as well and I’ll have those up in the next few days. There’s some town guards, pirates, mind flayers and a hill giant that one-shotted an NPC in my game the other week. The dude valiantly charges forward and says, “You take the goblins, I’ll handle the big guy!” And then that giant did to his head what Tiger Woods does to golf balls. Good effort, though, buddy. Good, solid try.

There are DM notes and hi-res print and VTT versions of this map available to patrons.

Posted on

Brazenthrone – The Old Quarter – Second Level

My computer finally died for good. I actually took it into a repair shop, which was a first for me. I’m usually the kind of geek who fixes his own computer. If it’s a software problem, I can probably work it out. If it’s a hardware problem on a desktop… maybe. But this was a hardware problem on a laptop, which put it ALL the way out of my league.

Turns out there was a short on the motherboard and, since my computer was an unusual make, it couldn’t be replaced. But I happened to have the money for another computer, so everything’s fine. The new one’s a desktop, though, which is taking me some time to get used to after around 12 years of laptops. Like, this keyboard is enormous and it makes so much noise when I type. And I have to keep this thing in the same place all the time? Sigh, fine.

On the other hand, I now have a monitor the size of a bus windshield, which is nice. I’d been meaning to get one for D&D anyway. I’m not installing it in a table or anything, but I think we’re going to be using digital maps from now on.

So anyway, the map. There’s one more level of the Old Quarter to go and I’ve got it drawn already, so I should have it done in a day or two. Talk to you then!

Posted on

Brazenthrone – The Old Quarter – Ground Level

Here’s the annotated version.

These are the ruins of Brazenthrone‘s Old Quarter. Known in its time as the “Temple Quarter,” it was once the heart of the city, much as the Great Hall is today. The Quarter’s downfall was brought about by a force more powerful than any other: geology. A tremendous earthquake, brought on by the shifting of magma deep underground, shattered one of the chamber’s support columns and brought down huge sections of the chamber’s ceiling.

After being declared irreparably unsafe by the Ministry of Engineering, the entire area, as well as the Old Palace to the north, were reluctantly abandoned and sealed off.

Today, the Old Quarter lies ruined, infested and partially flooded due to a leaking ventilation shaft. Going in there for any reason is a terrible idea, but your players will charge in headfirst because this is the kind of place where there’s cash and prizes to be found. And besides, making prudent decisions is the DM’s job.

I’m thinking this will be three levels in total. The to-do list for Brazenthrone is getting shorter and shorter! I can’t wait to get it all into the one image and see how it looks!

There are VTT and print versions of this map, as well as an expanded annotated version, available to patrons.