Map Archives - Page 9 of 14

Bundles of maps

Fantasy map pack bundle with kobold Quarterly

A couple of years ago I teamed up with Steve Russell to turn a couple of the maps that I created for the Rituals of Choice adventure path into map packs. The plan was to see whether people were interested in the maps themselves as a product separate to the adventures. The packs initially just included a multi-page pdf that allowed people to print them out at home and assemble them on the table, but quickly expanded to include high res jpgs, an A4 bundle alongside the US letter format packs, gridded and gridless versions of the maps and finally maptool campaign files for those of us who prefer to use virtual tabletops.

So did it work? With over 2200 map packs sold at the time of posting this I think I can say yes! Continue reading “Bundles of maps”

Wings of Twilight and the World of Calliome

I was commissioned by Hans Cummings (who some may know from his work on Coliseum Morpheoun and Litorians, as well as his work on the ENnies) to create a map for a eBook he’s been creating called Wings of Twilight. Here’s the result, a map of the world of Calliome:

For centuries, Twilight Dungeon has attracted treasure seekers and glory hounds to its depths. No one has ever returned.

Now that’s an opening any fantasy fan can get behind! Check out more details on the novel over on Hans’ website (including a higher res version of the map), or go straight to the Kindle or Smashwords stores to pick up your copy.

Across the Rooftops – New Map Pack

This month adventurers can leap from roof to roof, chasing villainous scoundrels or sneaking into a defended compound in the new map pack – Over the Rooftops

Fantasy map pack for rooftop city chase scene The alleyways, broken roofs and barricade offer a range of tactical options to players, and a host of vantage points for enemy guards. With the ballista poised on the tower to the north the PCs must not remain exposed for long or risk being the target of the mighty siege weapon. Continue reading “Across the Rooftops – New Map Pack”

Maps for Grimm Tales by Pantheon Press

Not all the maps I get asked to do are full colour multi-page affairs. Pantheon Press contacted me back in the spring to ask for some black and white maps for their tarot card based game system – Fortune’s Fool. These maps were for their Grimm Tales adventure – I’m sure you’ll recognise a lot of the references:

There’s a special challenge to maps like these. Each map has been uploaded at 100dpi, so the size you see it on the screen is roughly the size it appears in print. That’s not a lot of space to get a lot of detail in, and when you can only use greyscale you lose more tools for differentiating different features.

The sites were fun to walk through, and I got to design the Manor house from scratch – which had some unique challenges due to the nature of the residents. It’s not often that I get to reference Jurassic Park in design discussions on maps – I’ll let you guess why.

A walkthrough of my mapmaking process

I was asked about the process that goes into making a map like the map of Rhune: Dawn of Twilight

This walkthrough uses Photoshop and a graphics tablet. It can almost all be done in Gimp with the same settings (I use PS because it handles large files better – and has more advanced brush dynamics). The tablet is more critical. The line art can be done by hand drawing and scanning and setting the layer to multiply. The colouring can be done with a PS brush with the opacity down low and then lust built up multiple times – but I’d recommend spending the $80 and picking up a cheap Wacom. It makes all the difference.

Okay, onto the workflow: Continue reading “A walkthrough of my mapmaking process”

Knights of France Map

I was asked to create a map of a (slightly) alternate France map for Interaction Point Games – for their product Kingdoms of Legend: Knights of France. It’s great fun to take a shot at real world locations. I previously did a map of the west coast of Scotland, but this time it was over the channel to Brittany and Orleans:

New Map Pack – The Ice Bridge

It’s the first of the month – and that means a new map pack! This month we’re starting off with the opening scene from the Breaking of Forstor Nagar. This is a chasm of icy water leading to the front gate of a city carved from a glacier. A great arching bridge spans the channel and a longship full of cold eyed killers and explosives hoves into view, heading for the frozen defences.

Here’s the map from the opening encounter as it appears in the adventure:

Ice Ships and Ice Bridges map for fantasy map pack

Of course the map pack does not assume you’re playing Breaking of Forstor Nagar. This could be the entrance to a Frost Giant stronghold, a white dragon lair or a viking clanhold. The pack is separated into pieces that allow you to use it in as many different ways as possible (lots more after the jump). Continue reading “New Map Pack – The Ice Bridge”

Zeitgeist Maps for Island at the Axis of the World

The Paizo blog today was all about the wonderful steampunk world of Zeitgeist from ENWorld and that reminded me that I need to post the rest of the Zeitgeist maps. I created these maps for the Island at the Axis of the World – the first module in the adventure path. You can download the adventure and the maps for free.

As well as the map of the City of Flint (above – or click here to see the map larger) I created an island map and a star fort for the adventure path: Continue reading “Zeitgeist Maps for Island at the Axis of the World”

Castles, Kobolds and 3D terrain

It’s been quiet around here for a few weeks – but that’s going to change. There will be updates on all sorts of fun developments through the week – so keep an eye out for new things. To start the week – two new products that spun off from the same idea. I pitched some map ideas for the back cover of Kobold Quarterly 18. Out of the collection the one that got picked up was a Keep guarding a Watchfire on the outskirts of the city of Friula in the world of Midgard. There’s a bit of Midgard lore in there, but the core of the adventure is that the adventurers have to storm the castle and light the watchfire. It’s a capture the flag adventure with lots of ways in to the keep.

Just before I go on to talk a little more about the map, let me just spare a few words for Kobold Quarterly 18. That cover is just astonishing. That stands up to the best Dragon covers I can think of. The Kobold is growing some very sharp claws indeed. The content stands up to the cover’s promise. It’s a fantastic balance of fluff and crunch, and continues to walk the line between the different games it supports (now Dragon Age, Pathfinder and 4E) with deft aplomb. Above all, every article can be easily repurposed for use with your own game. A great game idea is a great idea no matter what you play.

For this Kobold I created the Watchfire Keep map for my adventure “Who Watches the Watchfires” that lies within the pages. Continue reading “Castles, Kobolds and 3D terrain”

Getting dungeons back onto the tabletop

Virtual tabletops are wonderful things. My personal preference is maptool, but I’ve played with (and been really impressed by) Fantasy Grounds and TTopRPG.

This post is not about those.

Recently I was approached with a novel proposal – why not create dungeons that can be used on the tabletop? Now I’ve been creating map packs that can be used on the tabletop for some time (the Fantastic Maps store now has 23 map packs you can print and use at the table – or in virtual tabletops) but this was something more exciting. Brian Bartlow was suggesting we make 3D terrain. Continue reading “Getting dungeons back onto the tabletop”