milbysmaps

Tir Thelandira Vote - Location #1 Final Round Runoff

Here's the runoff for the final vote for location #1 in Tir Thelandira. Good luck to everyone whose proposal made it this far!

(Island) Shawn proposes the Tower of the Moon, a high citadel inhabited by a formidable elven sorceress at the edge of a high waterfall on the river.

(Island) Dan proposes an isle of crypts, similar to the one depicted in Böcklin's painting Isle of the Dead (2023-05-09 14:55:38 +0000 UTC View Post

The City of Laon (Work-in-Progress)

This map is taking a bit longer than I'd expected, but it's also looking a lot better than I'd hoped. I don't draw a ton of city maps and I think this is substantially better than any of my previous ones. I'm coloring it now and it should be done in a day or two.

By the way, if you're wondering why the city is laid out like this, it's because it's located on a very strangely-shaped hill. That'll be much more clear once the ground is colored.

Okay, back to work. Let me kno...

The 56th Cartographic Congress Runoff

I'm still working on the map of Laon, which is taking a bit longer than expected, but I honestly think it's the best city map I've ever drawn by a pretty large margin. Okay, I'm gonna get back to it. Here are your proposals:

Erik proposes a small, fortified dwarven port town with a drydock and a shipyard for the dwarves to take to the high seas.

Jon proposes the Eulimene, a great submersible designed for ex...

Glaver's Regiment

So, let me start by acknowledging that Glaver's Regiment is maybe a little small for a regiment. It's really more like Glaver's Company. I hadn't realized that until I counted the beds and realized that there's only space for about 127 soldiers here. Let's chalk it up to attrition.

This map was inspired by the marching camps of Roman legions, who would build a defensive stockade and dig a ditch around ...

Glaver's Regiment - Patrons' Edition

So, let me start by acknowledging that Glaver's Regiment is maybe a little small for a regiment. It's really more like Glaver's Company. I hadn't realized that until I counted the beds and realized that there's only space for about 127 soldiers here. Let's chalk it up to attrition.

This map was inspired by the marching camps of Roman legions, who would build a defensive stockade and dig a ditch around ...

The 56th Cartographic Congress Vote

We have twelve proposals this month, so I'm gonna stop typing and let you get to them:

Erik proposes a small, fortified dwarven port town with a drydock and a shipyard for the dwarves to take to the high seas.

Jon proposes the Eulimene, a great submersible designed for exploration of the deep sea and/or the Elemental Plane of Water.

Silas proposes Cardiff Castle in Wales

Morgan proposes the guildhall of the Imperial Society of Extraordinary Adventurers, including their...

Tir Thelandira Vote - Location #1 FINAL ROUND

This is the runoff between the top two winners from each of the previous 3 votes. The proposal you choose will become a location in Tir Thelandira. Unlike the previous ballots, this one may be followed by one or more runoff votes until a clear winner is decided.

Thank you to everyone who proposed ideas! There were a lot of great proposals that didn't make it this far and I hope you'll throw in ideas for ...

Glaver's Camp (Work-in-Progress)

Glaver's Camp is the location of one of the mercenary regiments in Tir Thelandira. Glaver's Regiment is tasked with guarding the Dhasran mining colony, while the other regiment, the Blackboots, is closer to the forest to protect the Dhasran loggers.

I haven't figured out everything about these two groups, but I can tell you a few things:

• Glaver's Regiment are highly professional, organized so...
  2023-04-28 14:39:12 +0000 UTC View Post

Tir Thelandira Vote - Location #1 (3 of 3)

The second vote is over and the Ettercap Monastery and the Isle of the Dead will join the Tower of the Moon and the Bog of the Fire Witch on the final ballot, along with the top two from this vote. As always, feel free to discuss, debate or promote your favorites below.

(Island) Jasper proposes that the island is the remains of a giant creature. This is not immediately discernible from outside, but a downward passage leads into the guts of the creature.

(Swamp) Silas proposes the ...

The Big Plan (Yes it's insane, but that's never stopped me before)

I sat down to lay out what the world outside Tir Thelandira looks like and this is what I came up with. All of this is preliminary and nothing is set in stone. Tir Thelandira is the little island on the right.

I don't know exactly how long it would take to write lore and draw...

The Ruins of Giltwater

Giltwater is the first Dhasran gold mining colony in Tir Thelandira, marked as "Burned Colony" on this map.

When I finished drawing this, I read back through the lore of Tir Thelandira and realized I'd made a mistake. In the lore, I said ...

The Ruins of Giltwater - Patrons' Edition

Giltwater is the first Dhasran gold mining colony in Tir Thelandira, marked as "Burned Colony" on this map.

When I finished drawing this, I read back through the lore of Tir Thelandira and realized I'd made a mistake. In the lore, I said ...

Tir Thelandira Vote - Location #1 (2 of 3)

The first vote has ended and the two top choices were the Tower of the Moon and the Bog of the Fire Witch. Those will go on to the final runoff for location #1 of Tir Thelandira. Anyway, here are your choices for the second vote. Feel free to discuss, debate or promote your options below.

(Island) Odd proposes a monastery of peaceful ettercaps who make elaborate garmen...

The Burned Colony (Work-in-Progress)

Just dropping this off to give you a look at what's coming up next. All right, I'm gonna get back to coloring this thing.

Ptarmigan Bluff: A Mining Village on a Cliffside

First of all, this is what a ptarmigan is. They live in the mountains. The "P" is silent, but is included in the spelling because the English language is designed to inhibit the spread of literacy at all costs.

I really like the idea of a village built against a cliff, but drawing one turned out to be a lot harder than I expected. Still, I do like a challenge and I think I'm happy with it. The hard part was ...

Ptarmigan Bluff - Patrons' Edition

First of all, this is what a ptarmigan is. They live in the mountains. The "P" is silent, but is included in the spelling because the English language is designed to inhibit the spread of literacy at all costs.

I really like the idea of a village built against a cliff, but drawing one turned out to be a lot harder than I expected. Still, I do like a challenge and I think I'm happy with it. The hard part was ...

Tir Thelandira Vote - Location #1 (1 of 3)

This is the first of 3 votes to decide what will be in location #1 on the map of Tir Thelandira. Proposals can be for either the small island in the river or the swamp to the east of Oakenhold and each proposal is marked to clarify this.

If you don't see your proposal, it will appear in one of the next two votes. I received 21 proposals in all and I'm going to hold vot...

Cliff Village (Work-in-Progress)

Drawing a village built on a cliff face is a little complicated, but I think this design should work. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what I'm going for here: one, two.

Also, it's not shown, but there's going to be a small mine. That seems like one of the reasons you might build a village on a cliff. The other ...

The 55th Cartographic Congress Runoff

I'm making a small change to how voting works. From now on, I'll be allowing people to vote for more than one choice. I used to do this in the past and Patreon removed the option a few years ago. But now it's back and I'm going to enable it once again. If you want an explanation of why I think multiple voting is a good idea and why you may or may not want to vote for more than one thing, I wrote about it ...

The Stonestead

The Stonestead is a broch. They're a real thing and there are a bunch of them in Scotland. I drew this particular broch for the island of Tir Thelandira, whose wood elf inhabitants have a distinctly Celtic-flavored culture.

The Stonestead is the elves' first foray into large-scale stone construction. Built to defend a gap between ...

The Stonestead - Patrons' Edition

The Stonestead is a broch. They're a real thing and there are a bunch of them in Scotland. I drew this particular broch for the island of Tir Thelandira, whose wood elf inhabitants have a distinctly Celtic-flavored culture.

The Stonestead is the elves' first foray into large-scale stone construction. Built to defend a gap between ...

The 55th Cartographic Congress Vote

We've got six proposals this month and they're all delightfully unusual in one way or another. As always, feel free to discuss, promote or ask questions. Without further ado, your choices are:

Andrew proposes a submarine in the style of the one from Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Silas proposes a noble’s townhouse in an urban landscape, with room for entertaining as well as a hidden space for the manufacture of illicit substances.

AN7 proposes a giant's keep, abandoned and the...

Tir Thelandira: The Plan So Far

Here's a map with all the locations I've got planned for Tir Thelandira. There are 12 in all, of which 3 are already drawn. For another 6, I have a pretty good idea of what will be there. And for the last 3, I'm going to let patrons decide. I'll take proposals for ideas for those locations and hold a vote to determine which ones get drawn.

Okay, let's talk about the first nine locations. If you haven't se...

Caergyd Point (Complete)

I just have one piece of advice for any DM whose party takes up residence in this castle: that cave is not a safe place to dock a ship. It's out of sight and it gives a group of thieves plenty of time to get it ready to sail without anyone seeing. So, if they don't station a guard down there to watch it, have somebody steal it. Maybe one of the PCs wakes up in the middle of the night and sees their ship pulling out of the cave.

It doesn't have to be more than a short encounter. You coul...

Caergyd Point (Complete) - Patrons' Edition

I just have one piece of advice for any DM whose party takes up residence in this castle: that cave is not a safe place to dock a ship. It's out of sight and it gives a group of thieves plenty of time to get it ready to sail without anyone seeing. So, if they don't station a guard down there to watch it, have somebody steal it. Maybe one of the PCs wakes up in the middle of the night and sees their ship pulling out of the cave.

It doesn't have to be more than a short encounter. You coul...

Caergyd Point

Caergyd Point was inspired, in part, by Conwy Castle in Wales. "Caergyd" is my attempt at a made-up Welsh castle name. All I really know about Welsh is that there are several castles with names that start with "Caer" and that a lot of Welsh words have a Y in them. This is the culmination of those two pieces of knowledge. Hopefully it's passable.

This map was largely designed to be an ideal castle for a pa...

Caergyd Point - Patrons' Edition

Caergyd Point was inspired, in part, by Conwy Castle in Wales. "Caergyd" is my attempt at a made-up Welsh castle name. All I really know about Welsh is that there are several castles with names that start with "Caer" and that a lot of Welsh words have a Y in them. This is the culmination of those two pieces of knowledge. Hopefully it's passable.

This map was largely designed to be an ideal castle for a pa...

Point Caergyd (Almost Done)

I'm almost finished coloring this and it should be done by tomorrow, but here's a look at it anyway. I meant to post this a few days ago, but I got a new computer recently and it doesn't have a slot for my camera's memory card, so I decided I'd buy one the next day. But that was St. Patrick's Day and, here on the Isle of Emeralds, the stores close for that. Then I realized that the mysterious hole in the side of my tablet was a card reader, so here's the picture.

Anyway, I'm gonna finis...

The 54th Cartographic Congress FINAL Runoff

The last vote was close, but we're down to two finalists. Tell me which one you want to see!

Morgan proposes an East Asian-inspired village of cantilevered houses built on a steep cliff face connected by suspended walkways and stairs.

Wagner proposes a city map inspired by the French city of Carcassonne.

The 54th Cartographic Congress Runoff

Here are your three contenders in the runoff. As always, feel free to discuss, promote or ask questions about your options!

Jon proposes the Eulimene, a great submersible designed for exploration of the deep sea and/or the Elemental Plane of Water.

Morgan proposes an East Asian-inspired village of cantilevered houses built on a steep cliff face connected by suspended walkways and stairs.

Wagner proposes a city map inspired by the French city of Carcassonne.