Castles, Kobolds and 3D terrain

Kobold Quarterly 18

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

Folding fantasy dungeon tilesVirtual 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”

Pirates off the Starboard Bow!

Pirate ship fantasy map packThe latest installment in the Fantastic Maps series takes us to the high seas with pirate ships! I’ve always enjoyed sailing and the tales of dashing captains and dastardly pirates, and when running my home game I decided it was time to get them onto a heaving deck. As Ben McFarland once said to me ‘nothing good ever comes from getting on a ship’. That turned out to be true, and the ship in question ended up on the floor of the bring deep (in this shipwreck map).

Now you too can have your players adventure on the high seas. This map pack has two ships. The first is a modest 35′ two masted pinnace (25′ without the bowsprit) suitable for green adventurers starting out island hopping in an archipelago, or for sneaking up on a larger vessel silent-like: Continue reading “Pirates off the Starboard Bow!”

The Bandit’s Lair

The Bandits' Lair fantasy dungeon map for Kobold Quarterly

Any self respecting bandit needs a lair. This month’s Fantastic Maps release, in partnership with Kobold Quarterly, presents a cavern lair that any Bandit prince would be proud of. The cave system was carved from the rock by the waterfall that still run through the middle, cascading between the two levels. Continue reading “The Bandit’s Lair”

Map Tiles! Piles of Treasure! Dragon Skeletons!

Dragon skeleton by Jonathan Roberts for Profantasy fantasy dungeon tile styleThe guys at Profantasy liked the March CC3 style so much that they asked me to do a tile set for a fantasy dungeon style. The pack contains all the standards you’d expect – tables, chairs, doors, stairs – as well as some that are a little more unusual – mushrooms, a corpse, and a Dragon skeleton (yes, I’m really pleased with that one). Some of you who follow my twitter feed may have seen a few sneak peaks from the Dragon Skeleton and now I can publicly admit where it comes from.

The dungeon style will make up the June 2011 Annual style and the guys at Profantasy have put up a great little preview for you to check out. They have a couple of higher resolution samples in the annual style gallery. I’m really looking forward to being able to show off all the elements in this pack, it’s looking great.

What lurks in the shipwrecks of the briny deep?

Ship's Graveyard Underwater Fantasy Battlemap Map PackToday sees the release of The Ship’s Graveyard map pack released in partnership with Kobold Quarterly. The pack details a huge underwater map (25 square feet when printed out full size) with walls of kelp, schools of fish and shipwrecked hulks. The perfect lair for a kraken or aboleth and their dark designs upon the world. When I used this map the players found themselves in the deep after their ship was destroyed by a kraken. At 6000px square (25 square feet when printed out at 1 square = 1 inch) there’s more than enough room for an epic battle against the horrors of the abyss.

Here’s a low res preview of the map in the pack: Continue reading “What lurks in the shipwrecks of the briny deep?”

New Map Pack – Necromancer’s Lair

Cover for fantasy map pack of the Necromancer's lair dungeon battlemapIt’s the first of the month, and that means a new Fantastic Maps map pack, in partnership with Kobold Quarterly! This month we go dark and dungeon-y with a Necromancer’s Lair. The map shows a large underground room with spiked pits, rubble, raised platforms, gargoyle statues and magic circles. Continue reading “New Map Pack – Necromancer’s Lair”

City tile ideas

After showing off the city map tiles for Wayfinder #4 (previous post) it got me thinking. The square format is repetitive and blocky. Also, the directional lighting means the tiles can’t be rotated for variety without it looking like there are 4 different suns. So, whilst they are pretty, they have their drawbacks when trying to create a large map. I also feel that creating a whole city at this level of detail is a bit of a fools errand. That’s a lot of tiles to build a district, let alone a full city.

So I’ve been playing around, and because this is a personal project rather than a commission, I can make my mulling public. So here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

free city tile for fantasy city maps - sketch and ideas

Here’s some of the logic behind the design: Continue reading “City tile ideas”

Wayfinder #4 Map Tiles

Wayfinder 4 free fantasy magazine for Paizo's pathfinder settingWayfinder #4 is out – the latest iteration of the excellent free Paizo fanzine. You can grab your free copy here – and I recommend that you do, it’s 92 pages of great free content.

Now that it’s out I can show off some of the art I did for the magazine – the map tiles that appear on p85. Here they are in all their glory – free to use (for non-commercial purposes) for anyone who would like them. Let me know what you think, and whether an expanded set would be useful.

Click the thumbs below to see the large versions of the image and download them, or just right-click save as to download each one. Enjoy!