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The Great Hall of Brazenthrone – Fourth Level

I’ve been sitting here for a few minutes thinking about what to say here. Finally, I decided that I don’t really need to have anything to say about it. It’s the fourth floor. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot there. And you know what? The next floor is going to be even more boring. Nothing but roofs. But the floor after that will be pretty cool, so let’s take our medicine and wait for it to get good again.

The fifth floor will be up in two days. After that, the map chosen by the Cartographic Congress: a watermill homestead by the river. I don’t know exactly how long that’ll take, since I have some fairly grand plans for it and I do historically tend to go overboard on the Cartographic Congress maps.

Anyway, here’s the non-annotated version. And, as usual, there’s also a Patrons’ Edition of this map with all the rooms of the numbered buildings marked and labeled available on Das Patreon. There will be DM notes, too, once the Great Hall is finished.

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The Ranger Outpost

Here’s an alternative to the typical ranger’s cabin. The rangers living here can look out over the forest like Medieval Hippie Batman and protect the land from orcs, monsters and illegal dumping.

Next up are the fourth and fifth levels of Brazenthrone. It’ll be quicker to do them both at the same time, since only three buildings have a fourth level and the fifth is just roofs. There will be a sixth level as well– the Promontories– but that’ll be more complicated, so I won’t include it this week.

There are DM notes and an annotated version of this map available to supporters on the patreon.

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The Great Hall of Brazenthrone – Third Level

Higher and higher we go! There are three more levels left, but before that, I’ll be drawing a ranger outpost for you. Anyway, I’ve been drawing all day, I’m really tired, my wife has a bottle of rum and I could use a drink. So, until next time!

Here’s the non-annotated version. There’s also a Patrons’ Edition of this map with all the rooms of the numbered buildings marked and labeled available on Ye Olde Patreon.

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The Great Hall of Brazenthrone – Second Level

Here’s the second level of Brazenthrone at last. Sorry, this took me longer than I’d have liked. The illness I mentioned in the last post declined to go away, which is not conducive to productive mapmaking. In any case, I think it’s over and I should have the next map up in around 4-5 days.

Next up is the third level of the Great Hall, then I’ll be doing a ranger outpost, which I think I’ve got an interesting idea for. Alright, back to work!


Here’s the non-annotated version. There’s also a Patrons’ Edition of this map with all the rooms of the numbered buildings marked and labeled available on the patreon.

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DiFlorio Keep – Intact

I’d meant to get this up yesterday, but I’ve been sick for the last few days. You so very do not want to know the details. Let’s just say if I spend any more time with the toilet, my wife is going to get jealous of it. Anyway, it’s done now and here it is, all tidied up.

When I started Brazenthrone, I promised that I’d alternate between Brazenthrone and non-Brazenthrone maps, since I’d imagine people have different levels of enthusiasm for the Great Dwarven Ultramap. I wanted to get the two DiFlorio Keep maps out back-to-back, but now that they’re done, I’m going to draw two Brazenthrone maps, which will be the second and third floor of the Great Hall.

If the pace seems slow, keep in mind that the other chambers will not be as large or have as many floors. But the Great Hall is the centerpiece of the map and I think it needs to be pretty epic. I did say that it would be about the size of Finbarr’s Marsh by itself and I wasn’t exaggerating.

An annotated version of this map is available to patrons.

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DiFlorio Keep – Destroyed

One small castle with a unique entrance and a little Italian flavoring. Then I wrecked it. I hope you like it.

This is the map chosen by last months Cartographic Congress vote, as proposed by Senator Hal. The good senator wanted a small keep that his players could retake from some hobgoblins, then restore and use for themselves.

I thought about it for a while and decided to draw both the destroyed and restored versions, since I think there’s a lot of things a pair of maps like that could be used for and since I haven’t seen anything like that out there. There are a few interesting uses: fix the castle, destroy the castle, or travel through time to see the castle in two different states. So the intact version of this keep will be the next map. After that will be two floors of Brazenthrone’s Great Hall.

An annotated version of this map is available on the patreon.

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The Great Hall of Brazenthrone – Ground Level

Well, here it is, finally. I promise you won’t have to wait this long for any other part of Brazenthrone. This is easily the biggest piece of the city.

Here’s the non-annotated version. There’s a Patrons’ Edition of this map with all the rooms of the numbered buildings marked and labeled (it is monstrous), as well as a VTT version, and all the other usual stuff available on the patreon. There will be DM notes as well, once the upper floors are finished.

Also, here’s the first edition of Brazenthrone’s History and Lore. I’ll update it as I write more throughout the process of making the map:

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The Great Hall – Final Update

Here they are with the walls and floors finished. My hand is killing me and I don’t care. Time to fire up the scanner, stitch these together, color them and annotate them. I’m going to guess that’ll be three days’ work. It might be less. I’m going to stop typing and get started.

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The Great Hall – Fourth Update


Everything is inked except for the tiles and the wall fill.

If you’re wondering how I draw wall fill, it’s pretty simple: First, draw little lines over and over until your hand hurts. Next, keep drawing lines until your hand feels like it’s going to fall off. Then, keep drawing lines until your hand actually falls off. After that, go to the hospital and get your hand reattached. Repeat.

It’s my least favorite part of drawing maps, but I really, really like the way it looks. The things I do for cartography.

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The Great Hall – Third Update

Okay! Here’s a photo of the finished pencils for the Great Hall. Drawing furnishings for most of the rooms really makes this take a lot more time, but I think it’s worth it. I had a photo of the other half (which is also finished), but it’s really blurry and, between spending ten minutes getting another one and skipping it so I can start laying down ink, I think I’ll just leave it at this and get back to work. I’ll post another update in a couple days.