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Sarissa Square Market

Sarissa Square is an arcade market with a variety of shops, vendor stalls and a tavern. It’s a place where your players can have a drink, get pickpocketed, browse a few shops and steal, like, 1gp worth of rope or something despite the fact that they drag a giant wagon full of cash around wherever they go.

Some of you may be asking, “Is this a mall?” Well, it isn’t not a mall. But it’s less of a mall than another map I drew and that one was based on a real design that was almost constructed in Venice in the 1500s. Also, there’s a place called the Chester Rows in Cheshire, England, which is pretty much just a shopping mall that dates back to the middle ages. So, look, if Middle Ages Italy and England can have malls, Waterdeep can have a mall. Or, excuse me, an “arcade market.”

By the way, this was inspired by Pike Place Market in Seattle. The part of it the map is based on is fairly new, so I had to medieval the hell out of it, but I think I got the basic design of the place in there. Also, they do have a bar in there, so the tavern is accurate.

Next up, I’ll be drawing an orcish fortress that walls off a mountain pass. I’ve actually been meaning to draw a fortress in a mountain pass for years now and I can’t believe I actually haven’t drawn one yet. That madness is about to end. After that, I’ve got one or two more maps to draw and then we can get started on the next megaproject: a complete map of the Vatican. Because screw it, let’s draw a whole country. Are you in? I hope so, because this is happening.

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The Necropolis of Khamos

I won’t claim that this is a perfectly accurate depiction of Egyptian tombs, but I did do some research on the Valley of the Kings and other necropolises and I tried to capture the general spirit of the layout.

The middle tomb on the left is a good example. The stairs lead down from the entrance into a room with a deep pit. This is called a “well chamber” and most tombs in the Valley of the Kings had one. A little past that is a room with a ship in it. You might think no one would be buried with an entire ship. And you might be wrong about that. Keep in mind that these are the people that built the biggest thing in the world for a funeral.

The Egyptians took funerals seriously. These folks didn’t just order some flower arrangements and give speeches about all the nice things grandpa did back in the day. They built grandpa a temple, ornately painted the walls, filled the place with luxuries, then put him in four lavishly-decorated coffins, each a bit larger than the last. How many coffins are your relatives in? One? Pathetic.

Well, this is the second of two tomb maps in a row and it’s time to move on to other subject matter. Next, I’ll be drawing a large, indoor market on the side of a steep hill. It’ll be inspired by Seattle’s Pike Place Market, but in a middle ages kind of style. No Starbucks, no Sunglass Hut, no parking lot. I’ll try to make it a unique marketplace for a major city. A good place to do some shopping and get into a fight.

Well, that’s it for now. If you’re a patron and you’re thinking about using this map, check out the DM notes for a list of suggestions for traps to use here. And if you’ve got any questions or thoughts about the map, let me know!

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The Kernsridge Barrows

These barrow mounds are a great place for your party to fight some undead and score a few “graveyard souvenirs.” Some of these tombs are meant to be the graves of common people, while a few are for leaders or nobility, and others are the graves of warriors.

The warriors’ graves contain the weapons wielded by the deceased, which were interred alongside them. That might seem like a strange choice, given that metal weapons were valuable and they were usually only found in the tombs of important people. But that’s one place where real life and fantasy settings diverge. Like, a lot.

In most fantasy settings, metal weapons aren’t rare at all. Take the Forgotten Realms, for example. Everyone who wants a sword has a sword. Goblins have swords. Kobolds have swords. Swords aren’t valuable, they’re trash. When your players kill bandits, do they even bother to take the weapons? And if they do, are they like, “Ho-lee hell boys, we’re rich!” Nah. Just more swords. A few axes. Leave ’em.

This isn’t true of all settings. In Dark Sun, finding a metal sword is like finding a magical sword. When you’ve been beating monsters to death with a rock tied to a stick for months, finding an actual blade is a big deal. But in most settings, a non-magical weapon is practically litter. Anyway, that was my thinking here.

I hope you like tombs, because next up is more tombs! I’ll be drawing an underground tomb complex in the style of Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, with hidden passages, animated statues, traps and places for undead guardians. After that, we’ll be moving back to the realm of the living.

Well, I’m gonna start doing some research on the Valley of the Kings. If you’ve got any interesting ideas for the map, let me know!

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The Lost Library

Personally, I’m of the opinion that, in fantasy RPGs, a ruined, abandoned library is much better than a regular library. Hear me out. So, either one can be a place the players go to find information, but in a ruined library, much more interesting things can happen. There might be monsters. There might be traps. There might be some crazy old guy that’s been living in there for the past 20 years. Maybe one of the bookshelves is a mimic. There are lots of possibilities.

But what’s really going to happen at a regular library? The party might get told to keep it down? Most RPGs don’t really have “library mechanics,” where you roll to see if you can effectively navigate the complexities of the dewey decimal system. Plus, it feels kind of weird when the arcane lore the party needs in order to defeat the ancient lich god turns out to be publicly available information. “Oh, so lots of people know that you need a mithril hammer engraved with dwarven runes to destroy his phylactery.” Maybe it’s just me, but that feels a little awkward.

Next up, I’ll be drawing an orcish/barbarian burial ground. I’m imagining a number of small crypts and barrow mounds, plus maybe one larger one. I think it should be a pretty useful map, since nearly all D&D parties do a bit of grave robbing now and again. And, hey, barbarian tombs are worth looting too. They may have been poorly educated and unhygienic, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t buried with some good stuff. It’s worth a look, anyway.

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I’m back! Vayl’s Firth is Finished!

  

You can download all these maps here.

It’s been over a month since I posted for non-patrons, but, as promised, here’s the complete city map and the upper levels.

If you want to become a patron, there are individual maps of all the islands, plus unfurnished versions, annotated maps, DM notes, a Foundry module and various other stuff. There’s a lot. It took me three hours to upload all the patrons’ edition maps. Admittedly, I’m on a trash-tier internet connection at the moment, but still.

For anyone who can’t afford that, every part of the map is here for you to use and I hope you enjoy it.

With Vayl’s Firth finished, I’m going to get caught up on all the Cartographic Congress maps that have been chosen since I started drawing this. And then, at some point, I’ll get to work on the next megaproject: The Vatican.

Well, that’s about it. So, what do you think of Vayl’s Firth? I hope it lived up to your expectations. In any case, let me know what you think!

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Vayl’s Firth – The Trade Port, Fishing Port and Small Market

Here’s are the first three islands of Vayl’s Firth finished. I’ll have another three up in a few days. Since the map is already about half-colored, they should be coming at a pretty good pace. Most of these smaller sections of the map will be for patrons, but I WILL post the full-size map for everyone once it’s finished.

Next, I’ll be drawing the three islands below these: the poor district, the barracks and the temple. After that, I’ll probably just work my way around the map, finishing each section in turn.

I know I’ve gone over my estimated 2 months to finish this project, but it’s officially delivering maps now and it’ll keep doing so every few days until everything is done. Despite going into overtime, I hope you consider it time well spent.

Well, I’ve got some chairs and crates to color, so I’d better get back to work. If you’ve got any thoughts or questions about the map, by all means let me know!

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Vayl’s Firth – Background Colors Finished (Work-in-Progress)

Here’s a section of the city that should give you an idea of what the map looks like right now. Most of the background and terrain is done and what’s left to color is mainly details like furnishings and so forth. From here on, I’m going to start finishing up the map a few islands at a time and post them as I go.  I’ll probably start with the islands in the bottom-right and work my way around. Once it’s all done, I’ll post the complete city.

I should have the first few islands done within the week. Let me know what you think so far!

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Vayl’s Firth – The Full City (Work-in-Progress)

Here’s the entire ground level of Vayl’s Firth, assembled and ready to color. This took a bit longer than I expected because, as it turns out, drawing three billion trees, bushes and crops takes a while. In any case, it’s done and I’m ready to start coloring this thing.

Well, I’m gonna get to it. Hope you like how the city looks so far! If you have any questions or thoughts about it, let me know.

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Vayl’s Firth Update 10: The Mages’ Island and the Unlabeled Island in the Bottom-Left

This is officially the last of the city drawn! I can’t really say “It’s done,” because I still need to scan all of this, touch up the drawings, put them all together and color everything, but drawing the city– the biggest part of the job– is done.

Well, I’ve got a long day of scanning ahead, so I’m gonna get started on that. Once that’s done, I’ll put them all into a single image and post a picture for you. Hope you like it so far!