milbysmaps

The Generalife Palace: Ground Floor (Work-in-Progress)

This is the first floor of the Generalife colored. There's still a second floor left to draw, but that shouldn't take more than 3-4 days to get done. I'll release the whole thing once that's finished.

Okay, I'm gonna get on that. Let me know what you think so far!

The Generalife Palace in the Alhambra (Work-in-Progress)

So, the Alhambra is a fortress in Andalusia, Spain with a number of palaces inside its walls. The largest of those palaces is the Generalife, which is what I've been drawing a map of. I've been to this place and it is absolutely epic.

There's a staircase called the water stair, which has 2022-10-11 08:10:20 +0000 UTC View Post

The 49th Cartographic Congress Runoff Vote

We've got hot dwarves, wet dwarves and two historical forts. Pick your poison:

Dezzicus proposes the Indian island fortress of Murud-Janjira.

Parker proposes a dwarven town built around a vertical shaft that descends into a cauldron of magma. Buildings, platforms and bridges are suspended over the center of the shaft.

Noah proposes a dwarven system of underground canals, designed to transport goods and people around an area.

Shawn proposes the crusader fortress of Krak...

The Next Big Project

So, let's talk about the next big project that will follow in the footsteps of Brazenthrone and the Black Loch. I want to do something bigger this time. A lot bigger. I want to make a world.

It's not going to start as a world, though. That'd be a lot of blank space to fill at once, so we'll start with an island or two. An...

The Black Loch is Finished.

I'm giving away the Patrons' Edition stuff for this map to everyone. You can download it all here. When I drew those cave and tunnel maps earlier, I was thinking about giving those away, but I decided I should give you a good map instead. So here it is.

...

The 49th Cartographic Congress Vote

I've been really caught up in working on the next map and I just realized that I hadn't posted the vote yet. I'm really sorry, but here it is now. Of particular note this month are two separate proposals for spelljamming turtles. Feel free to discuss below.

Andrew proposes a Turtle Ship spelljammer, modeled after a dragon turtle rather than a sea turtle.

Odd proposes a small community on the back of a zaratan (a gigantic turtle) that has been equipped with a spel...

Charwall (Work-in-Progress)

This is Charwall, the last map in the Black Loch. The underground canals are on the right. I hope you like it so far! Well, I'm gonna eat something and start coloring.

The Complete Black Loch Token Collection

These are the rest of the tokens for the Black Loch. You can download the complete collection here.

The collection also contains the previous tokens I made for the Black Loch, as well as the...

The Black Loch: Caves and Tunnels

I'm fully prepared to admit that these are some of the most uninteresting maps I've ever made, but that's basically the point. There are plenty of interesting maps in the Black Loch, but sometimes that's not what you need. Sometimes you just need a cave or a tunnel without anything special in it, because it's random encounter time and the party will be fighting *rolls dice* ...giant bats.

That's what ...

The Black Loch: Caves and Tunnels - Patrons' Edition

I'm fully prepared to admit that these are some of the most uninteresting maps I've ever made, but that's basically the point. There are plenty of interesting maps in the Black Loch, but sometimes that's not what you need. Sometimes you just need a cave or a tunnel without anything special in it, because it's random encounter time and the party will be fighting *rolls dice* ...giant bats.

That's what ...

The Black Loch Codex - Free Version

You can download the free version of the Black Loch Codex here.

The Black Loch Codex compiles the Black Loch History and Lore Overview, as well as all the DM notes, in one PDF.

I made a version for non-patrons as well, which has all the DM notes I've given away for free so far. I also threw in the DM notes for the 2022-09-17 19:39:38 +0000 UTC View Post

The Black Loch Codex - Patrons' Edition

The Black Loch Codex compiles the Black Loch History and Lore Overview, as well as all the DM notes, in one PDF.

I made a version for non-patrons as well, which has all the DM notes I've given away for free so far. I also threw in the DM notes for the Grinning Widow, since I think some of the suggestions about how to handle the crew might be useful, particularly f...

The Black Loch: History and Lore Overview - FINAL UPDATE FOR REAL THIS TIME

Somebody told me there was a location missing from here, so I double-checked it. As it turns out, there were four locations missing. Anyway, it's all fixed up now.

Here's the new PDF version.

The Black Loch Overview Map

Okay, here's the final version of the Black Loch regional map with all the proper location names written in. There's no Patrons' Edition version of this map, I'm just going to give everyone all the stuff I made for it. You can download it here or from the attachment below.

There's a blank version of ...

The Chronomancer's Tower

There are a lot of possibilities for this map, but I feel like the most interesting would be for this thing to be a time machine. You turn a few wheels, set some dials and you're off to the future. Or the past. This could allow the party to get some ancient, lost artifact or talk to that one guy who knew that thing the party wants to know but has been dead for 2000 years.

Alternatively, you could just completely jump the shark and send the players to 2022-09-13 02:32:36 +0000 UTC View Post

The Chronomancer's Tower - Patrons' Edition

There are a lot of possibilities for this map, but I feel like the most interesting would be for this thing to be a time machine. You turn a few wheels, set some dials and you're off to the future. Or the past. This could allow the party to get some ancient, lost artifact or talk to that one guy who knew that thing the party wants to know but has been dead for 2000 years.

Alternatively, you could just completely jump the shark and send the players to 2022-09-13 02:32:26 +0000 UTC View Post

The Chronomancer's Tower (Work-in-Progress)

Here are the drawings for the next map. While I was looking at various clock towers for inspiration, I discovered the Prague Orloj, which is an astronomical clock. It was too cool to not include it in the map, so I drew it in. It's based on a geocentric model, but I think we can let that go, since it was made in the early 1400s and telescopes were still two centuries away.

Anyway, I'm gonna g...

Cinderfork Foundry

Cinderfork Foundry is a duergar armorsmithing operation built around an exposed magma vent. Is that safe? No, it's not. But pumping a bellows is hard work and it's nice to have a pool of molten rock do the job for free. Well, it's free if you don't count the expense of a few people dying because a tectonic plate jiggled a bit, squeezing 80 tons of magma into the room. But of course you don't count that. Or maybe you do. Look, I'm not an accountant.

If you use this map, remember that it'...

Cinderfork Foundry - Patrons' Edition

Cinderfork Foundry is a duergar armorsmithing operation built around an exposed magma vent. Is that safe? No, it's not. But pumping a bellows is hard work and it's nice to have a pool of molten rock do the job for free. Well, it's free if you don't count the expense of a few people dying because a tectonic plate jiggled a bit, squeezing 80 tons of magma into the room. But of course you don't count that. Or maybe you do. Look, I'm not an accountant.

If you use this map, remember that it'...

The 48th Cartographic Congress Runoff

We have two proposals that pulled well ahead of the pack this month and I'd love to draw either of them. Since I'm about to post the next map, I'll just leave it at that. As always, feel free to ask questions or discuss your choices.

Jon proposes the Barre Sinister, a spelljammer pirate port built into the palm of a gigantic stone hand that orbits the sun. There are docks and several buildings, most notably the Barre, a notorious tavern where pirates come to drink and parley.

Noah...

Duergar Outpost (Work-in-Progress)

Here's the art for the duergar outpost. It's built in front of a magma vent, the heat from which is used to melt and cast steel to make duergar screamers. A screamer is a metal construct with a dwarf trapped inside. The dwarf is in constant agony and it channels that pain into screams that can shatter stone.

Anyway, just thought I'd give you a look before I get to work on coloring it.

The 48th Cartographic Congress Vote

We've got 10 proposals for you this month, but before I get to them, I wanted to ask you all something. The 50th Cartographic Congress is coming up and I was wondering what you think I should do? I want to do something special and I had a few thoughts, but I was curious if you had any ideas. If so, I'd love to hear them.

Anyway, your proposals for this month are:

Jon proposes the Barre Sinister, a spelljammer pirate port built into the palm of a gigantic stone hand that orbits the...

Clogwyn Prison

Clogwyn Prison was once a dwarven prison in the Black Loch. It used to be above the water, but a giant hole opened in the roof of the loch and the surface sea above started pouring water in. This hole was called the Great Breach and the rise in sea level it caused put quite a few places underwater....

Clogwyn Prison - Patrons' Edition

Clogwyn Prison was once a dwarven prison in the Black Loch. It used to be above the water, but a giant hole opened in the roof of the loch and the surface sea above started pouring water in. This hole was called the Great Breach and the rise in sea level it caused put quite a few places underwater....

The Sewer's Terminus

So there are two unusual things about these sewers. First, they run through the ruins of an ancient dwarven settlement, which makes them a little more interesting to explore and gives a little space for things to happen.

And second, the sewers don't flow out into a lake or a river. They flow down. Maybe into more dwarven ruins. Maybe into the underdark. Or maybe the sewage flows into the groundwater that th...

The Sewer's Terminus - Patrons' Edition

So there are two unusual things about these sewers. First, they run through the ruins of an ancient dwarven settlement, which makes them a little more interesting to explore and gives a little space for things to happen.

And second, the sewers don't flow out into a lake or a river. They flow down. Maybe into more dwarven ruins. Maybe into the underdark. Or maybe the sewage flows into the groundwater that th...

Sewer Running Through Dwarven Ruins (Work-in-Progress)

Here are the drawings for the next map. I wanted to design the sewers in a fairly realistic way, so I did some research. It turns out that, for most people, your toilet does not lead to a place that would make a good fantasy map.

There are some exceptions, though. Are you in London? Your waste actually does goes to fantasy map sewers. 2022-08-14 18:43:22 +0000 UTC View Post

The Sanctum of Psor'il

For a number of reasons, I don't draw monsters in maps. It might look like that's what I did here, but... it is and isn't a monster. Allow me to explain. Psor'il, the aboleth who resides here, is trying to bring a creature from a bizarre, hostile dimension into the 2022-08-10 18:24:42 +0000 UTC View Post

The Sanctum of Psor'il - Patrons' Edition

For a number of reasons, I don't draw monsters in maps. It might look like that's what I did here, but... it is and isn't a monster. Allow me to explain. Psor'il, the aboleth who resides here, is trying to bring a creature from a bizarre, hostile dimension into the 2022-08-10 18:24:30 +0000 UTC View Post

The 47th Cartographic Congress Final Runoff

We're down to two proposals this month: wizard and clocktower vs. wizard and volcano. Pick me a winner.

Odd proposes an ancient, rusting, arcane clocktower, sitting forgotten amid the dark ruins of a destroyed city. Underneath, there is a chronomancer's workshop and laboratory.

Shawn proposes a wizard's tower on an island that hovers over a volcanic caldera.