So it seems it slipped my mind to post these maps up. They were created for Wayfinder #3 (a long time ago) and are free for people to download for their own use. I tend to stick to battlemap scale maps for my fantasy map packs as I feel those are the most useful. If you’d like to see maps like this as map packs – let me know in the comments.
First up – an archipelago:
Second – we have a small city (well, really a large town):
These are free for personal use. Feel free to download and share around under the CC-BY-NC-SA license. Who know, a series of islands and a fortified town on the water might be just what you need for the pirates in your Skull and Shackles game!
There’s a new IDW comic line out – the Legend of Drizzt. As with many previous comics IDW decided to do a special Module Edition of the first comic in the series, with an adventure for 4e D&D (written by Logan Bonner) included so that you can run sessions involving that most famous of the drow for your own players. I was very happy to be asked to do the maps for it. The module edition is a not-for-sale special edition, but might well appear in the compiled series, or in a special legacy edition as with earlier comics.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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”
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.
The 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 Lost City has been found! Logan Bonner and Open Design have released their archaeological delve into the secrets beneath the sands this week and I had the pleasure of mapping the crazy locations that Logan and the patrons came up with. I’ve never before been given an art brief that involved drawing a deity – I’m just saying.
The Lost City takes place under the sands that hide the crashed remains of a flying city. As the PCs investigate they uncover the history of the city and must find out why the city fell from the skies.
A flying city is a wondrous location anyway, but the patrons and Logan pulled out the stops when coming up with fun sandbox locations for adventurers to explore. I don’t want to give away too many spoilers (but there are some – so if you’re a player you should look away now), but here’s a selection of some of the maps I created for the book: Continue reading “Enter the Lost City and unearth its secrets”
Wayfinder #5 is out in time for PaizoCon. It’s great to see this fan created magazine going from strength to strength. 5 is a good number – it shows that it has legs and it’s digging in for the long haul. The magazine keeps getting better and better, with this one containing 79 pages of adventures, monsters, variant rules and great art. The production quality is excellent and there are adverts by Paizo, Open Design, NeonCon and Rite Publishing (amongst many more). With that kind of backing, the magazine should have no difficulty continuing to grow. It’s a great place for people to try out their art or writing chops so there’s lots of new names in the contributor list as well as some familiar faces. You should definitely download your free copy to see who’ll be writing for Kobold Quarterly in a few months time!
I have some work in this Wayfinder as well. I created two more map tiles of city locations – to expand the set I created for the last Wayfinder. This time it’s a temple and a cathedral. Feel free to download these and use them for any non-commercial purpose.
