Trees are useful on a battlemap as they provide terrain, cover and a lot of artistic style. As the canopy stretches over the play area, how you depict your trees will affect both the form and the function of your maps. Continue reading “Four Ways To Draw Trees On A Map”
Category: Battlemap
How to Draw a Dungeon Map. Part 2: Colour
How do you take a dungeon map like this one from the previous tutorial and add colour? An isometric map is a little trickier than a top down map. Without a solid edge to use as a selection, we can’t use the tricks we use for top down dungeon maps. Instead I colour by hand. It’s not that hard – here’s the steps I use.
Continue reading “How to Draw a Dungeon Map. Part 2: Colour”
A Temple of an Ancient Evil
A couple of weeks ago I posted the world map for Lannithir, for the Illfrost adventure arc for Illusionary Press. The first adventure for the world of Illfrost is out now and I created the tactical battlemaps for it – and now I can show them off!
(more maps after the jump) Continue reading “A Temple of an Ancient Evil”
Weekly tips 3 – Dungeons! Using Layer Effects, Stroking Walls and Going Old School TSR Blue
This week it’s all about the dungeon, and I’ve been covering ways of creating dungeon maps without actually drawing anything. These tips should work whether you’re a natural doodler or you think pencils are the devil incarnate.
Continue reading “Weekly tips 3 – Dungeons! Using Layer Effects, Stroking Walls and Going Old School TSR Blue”
Weekly Tips 2 – How to design a gatehouse, using grids and building isometric maps
Castle Defence – a classic gatehouse
Castles are built for more than one reason – people live there, guards are stationed there and often they are political power centers for the region. But first and foremost they are built to keep people out. Continue reading “Weekly Tips 2 – How to design a gatehouse, using grids and building isometric maps”
Pirate Ship Map: Keel Haul the Mutineers!
Piracy is in the air this year. Open Design is now well underway with Journeys to the West – an anthology of adventurers set in the exotic unexplored western ocean – and Paizo is set fair on a course for the swashbuckling adventure path Skull and Shackles. But what good is a pirate (or, ahem, privateer) without a trusty ship?
Well, to resolve that particular problem, this month I’ve put together a pirate ship map that any peg legged terror of the ocean waves can be proud of. After some feedback on my previous ship map pack, this one comes in a number of formats. The pack contains 2 maps of the full ship, one with the ship underway with sails billowing and the other with the ship resting at the harbour quay. In addition, the pack contains fully detailed maps of all three interior deck levels, with captain’s table, storage and crew hammocks. Continue reading “Pirate Ship Map: Keel Haul the Mutineers!”
Death and blood in the city of ice
You might have noticed something of a theme over the last few weeks. The map packs I’ve been putting out have had a decidedly frigid air to them. These packs come from the critically acclaimed Breaking of Forstor Nagar adventure I worked on with Rite Publishing (it’s swept 5* reviews across the board – I’m actually still a little in shock).
This month we finished the lot and released the full set as a map pack bundle, with all 8 map packs for the sale price of $9.99. Continue reading “Death and blood in the city of ice”
The Amphitheatre
Through December I’m releasing the remaining map packs from the Breaking of Forstor Nagar.
Today it’s the turn of the Amphitheatre. This stands as a testament to better days in the city, when people would come to watch performances, or stroll amongst the statues. But now that the city lies besieged and ruined it acts as the scene for a desperate encounter where the PCs must make difficult choices that will determine the future of a number of hapless souls. Continue reading “The Amphitheatre”
The 5 Room Dungeon
Ben McFarland, Clinton Boomer and Matt Banach have some strange ideas.
Coliseum Morpheoun came from their twisted minds – a demiplane of dreams and nightmares where teams in search of glory duke it out in a dream warped arena for the pleasure of the Khan of Nightmares.
(click through for a larger version)
This is a mini adventure that spins off from that, or works as a stand-alone in its own right. The PCs are sent down the rabbit hole into the dark chaotic underbelly of the plane of dreams. The adventure takes place across five separate locations – each a little weirder than the last.
I was brought on board to map their creation, and this is the result. I’ve removed any labels to avoid spoilers. I wanted to give a bit of a feel of the disjointed and chaotic nature of the realm, whilst also giving a bit of a feel of a journal of some hapless academic explorer. I like the overall look and feel that resulted. If you want find out what the locations actually hold, then check out the full adventure (currently at a reduced price for launch): 5 Room Dungeon on RPGNow.
The Arboretum
Forstor Nagar is an icy city, carved out of a glacier in the frozen north. However not all things can be created from ice, and the city needs wood for building, and fruits and berries for nutrition. But how do you grow things in these sub-zero temperatures? Well, first of all you create greenhouses, and then you heat them with drugged remorhaz! What could possibly go wrong?
In this week’s map pack we find an arboretum in the heart of the frozen city. The remorhaz (or other burrowing creature of your choice) has escaped, and run riot through the quarter leaving destruction in its wake.
With each square representing 5 feet this is another large battle area, with both indoor and outdoor areas (notice the smokehouse to the west of the map). The trees provide places for PCs to hide and nervous adventurers can retreat to the icy roofs of the houses to the south to use ranged attacks. Continue reading “The Arboretum”