milbysmaps

The Deep Spire: 5th Level

This part of the Deep Spire looks a little different from the rest. I'll talk about why in the DM notes, which will be coming with the next map, but I'll explain it a bit here.

So, this part of the spire is occupied entirely by a drow noble house: House Vaerixas. They were once the ruling house of the city of 2021-02-28 05:46:36 +0000 UTC View Post

The Deep Spire: 5th Level - Patrons' Edition

This part of the Deep Spire looks a little different from the rest. I'll talk about why in the DM notes, which will be coming with the next map, but I'll explain it a bit here.

So, this part of the spire is occupied entirely by a drow noble house: House Vaerixas. They were once the ruling house of the city of 2021-02-28 05:46:25 +0000 UTC View Post

The Deep Spire: 4th Level

Higher and higher we go! I usually crop my maps closer to the edges, but I want to leave in all of the background so you can see the lower levels spiraling below. It should be fine, since this is only 44x43 anyway, which is fairly small as my maps go.

This level of the Deep Spire is predominantly inhabited by deep gnomes and has a gemcutter's workshop, a tinkerer and the spire's second tavern, where the l...

The Deep Spire: 4th Level - Patrons' Edition

Higher and higher we go! I usually crop my maps closer to the edges, but I want to leave in all of the background so you can see the lower levels spiraling below. It should be fine, since this is only 44x43 anyway, which is fairly small as my maps go.

This level of the Deep Spire is predominantly inhabited by deep gnomes and has a gemcutter's workshop, a tinkerer and the spire's second tavern, where the l...

The Deep Spire: 3rd Level

I haven't written the DM notes for the Deep Spire yet, but I have been thinking about what will be in them. Particularly the lore.

My story about this place-- and, of course, everyone is welcome to replace any or all of it with their own-- is that it's a community of exiles. Drow, duergar, deep gnomes and other underdark denizens who fled or were cast out of their own societies come here to live among the other undesirables.

Here's a few of the ideas I've come up with for resident...

The Deep Spire: 3rd Level - Patrons' Edition

I haven't written the DM notes for the Deep Spire yet, but I have been thinking about what will be in them. Particularly the lore.

My story about this place-- and, of course, everyone is welcome to replace any or all of it with their own-- is that it's a community of exiles. Drow, duergar, deep gnomes and other underdark denizens who fled or were cast out of their own societies come here to live among the other undesirables.

Here's a few of the ideas I've come up with for resident...

The Deep Spire: The Grotto - Also, the next big project: The Black Loch

Three maps in nine days feels like a pretty good pace. Although, to be fair, all three maps are actually part of a larger map of the Deep Spire. Which is, itself, part of an even larger map of the Black Loch. Speaking of which, I haven't mentioned the loch in a while, so let's go over it again for anyone who isn't aware.

After finishing Brazenthrone, an enormous dwarven city that took two years to draw, I s...

The Deep Spire: The Grotto - Patrons' Edition - Also, the next big project: The Black Loch

Three maps in nine days feels like a pretty good pace. Although, to be fair, all three maps are actually part of a larger map of the Deep Spire. Which is, itself, part of an even larger map of the Black Loch. Speaking of which, I haven't mentioned the loch in a while, so let's go over it again for anyone who isn't aware.

After finishing Brazenthrone, an enormous dwarven city that took two years to draw, I s...

The Deep Spire: The Harbor Tower

This is a hollowed-out column of rock overlooking the entrance to the Deep Spire's harbor. There's not too much going on here. Some artillery, some guards' quarters and, most notably, the jail. That's where you go if you commit a crime and you're lucky. If you're unlucky, they just take you to the top of the spire and throw you off. The Deep Spire only has two punishments:

The Deep Spire: The Harbor Tower - Patrons' Edition

This is a hollowed-out column of rock overlooking the entrance to the Deep Spire's harbor. There's not too much going on here. Some artillery, some guards' quarters and, most notably, the jail. That's where you go if you commit a crime and you're lucky. If you're unlucky, they just take you to the top of the spire and throw you off. The Deep Spire only has two punishments:

The Deep Spire, 2nd Level

There's a bunch of stuff I want to tell you about this, so let's get started. This is the trade district of the spire. Most of the shops are here, the tavern is here... basically, this is the part of town where traders come to do business and get sloppy drunk before heading off.

The annotated version is sort of a first draft and I intend to make another one with every floor included once it's all done. I don't plan to change much, but I want to add some flavor. I'll give the tavern a na...

The Deep Spire, 2nd Level - Patrons' Edition

There's a bunch of stuff I want to tell you about this, so let's get started. This is the trade district of the spire. Most of the shops are here, the tavern is here... basically, this is the part of town where traders come to do business and get sloppy drunk before heading off.

The annotated version is sort of a first draft and I intend to make another one with every floor included once it's all done. I don't plan to change much, but I want to add some flavor. I'll give the tavern a na...

The Deep Spire, 1st Level - Unfurnished

Here's the "I've got my own ideas for this place" version of the map. I think I might start doing unfurnished versions for all of my bigger projects from here on. I know some people use my maps in sci-fi settings and some people would want to use this as an abandoned ruin, so I think the extra time spent to make something more suited for those uses is justified.

Anyway, there's not too much more to say about it, so I'm gonna get back to work on the next floor.

Wait, one last thing...

The Deep Spire, 1st Level - Unfurnished - Patrons' Edition

Here's the "I've got my own ideas for this place" version of the map. I think I might start doing unfurnished versions for all of my bigger projects from here on. I know some people use my maps in sci-fi settings and some people would want to use this as an abandoned ruin, so I think the extra time spent to make something more suited for those uses is justified.

Anyway, there's not too much more to say about it, so I'm gonna get back to work on the next floor.

Wait, one last thing...

The Deep Spire, 1st Level: The Harbor

This is the first of six levels of the Deep Spire. The next few will be much bigger, since the harbor doesn't go all the way around the column and the other floors do. I'm not sure how long this will take overall, but I've got a lot of it planned out already and this has taken much less time than I expected it to, so I think it could be done in about a month.

There are ship tokens to go with this, in two versions: one that will look good on this map but will look terrible on almost any ...

The Deep Spire, 1st Level: The Harbor - Patrons' Edition

This is the first of six levels of the Deep Spire. The next few will be much bigger, since the harbor doesn't go all the way around the column and the other floors do. I'm not sure how long this will take overall, but I've got a lot of it planned out already and this has taken much less time than I expected it to, so I think it could be done in about a month.

There are ship tokens to go with this, in two versions: one that will look good on this map but will look terrible on almost any ...

The 29th Cartographic Congress Vote Runoff

The vote has tied with three proposals at seven votes each. Unfortunately, the Catrographic Congress is not a Reno Airport slot machine and triple sevens is not a jackpot. So, on to round two!

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

Senator Anders proposes a gigan...

The Deepspire (Work-In-Progress)

So, this is the basic design I've settled on for the Deepspire. There's a long walkway that spirals around the column of rock, with homes, stores, temples and so forth leading off from it, carved deeper into the stone.

Underneath it all is the harbor, where ships can come to trade. Keep in mind that ships in the Underdark aren't going to have sails or masts, so they shouldn't have a problem getting in and out of there.

Next to the harbor entrance is a defensive tower. Then, carved...

A Dark Place

This is the most grim, surreal place I could come up with. While it's meant to be an estate on the Plane of Shadow, I think it could be good for a nightmare or someplace in hell.

People always depict hell with fire and lava and, you know what? That's just not scary. When I send my players to hell, I want them to be soaking their pants. Will a statue of an eyeless, obese man vomiting blackish liquid into a basin accomplish that? I don't know, but I'd say it'll make them more uncomfortabl...

A Dark Place - Patrons' Edition

This is the most grim, surreal place I could come up with. While it's meant to be an estate on the Plane of Shadow, I think it could be good for a nightmare or someplace in hell.

People always depict hell with fire and lava and, you know what? That's just not scary. When I send my players to hell, I want them to be soaking their pants. Will a statue of an eyeless, obese man vomiting blackish liquid into a basin accomplish that? I don't know, but I'd say it'll make them more uncomfortabl...

The 29th Cartographic Congress Vote

We have four contenders this month, but first, I want to talk a bit about the Cartographic Congress and game theory. You may have noticed that you can vote for multiple maps. Judging by the number of votes each month, I don't think very many people do this, but it is allowed and I want to explain why.

First, casting two or three votes isn't necessarily better than casting one. The more proposals you vote for, the less of an impact your vote has. Keep in mind that voting for all the maps...

A Dark Place (Work-in-Progress)

Here's a look at the map I'm working on of an estate in the Shadowfell. This idea was chosen by the Cartographic Congress and I was asked to make it "dark and surreal." Hopefully it's a sufficient degree of both, because this place is maximum weird.

The second picture is the entry hall, with a big stone head leaking black stuff into a fountain from its eyes. That's pretty representative o...

So, I forgot to post this. It's the floating market, except with nothing floating and no market.

Also, there's boat tokens, in case you liked the boats, but you didn't like where I put the boats and you want them to be somewhere else. Or on another map.

I made this a couple weeks ago and I thought I'd posted it, but I just realized I hadn't. Sorry about that, but here it is now. I thought this map might be more useful to some people with an empty river and i...

So, I forgot to post this. It's the floating market, except with nothing floating and no market - Patrons' Edition

Also, there's boat tokens, in case you liked the boats, but you didn't like where I put the boats and you want them to be somewhere else. Or on another map.

I made this a couple weeks ago and I thought I'd posted it, but I just realized I hadn't. Sorry about that, but here it is now. I thought this map might be more useful to some people with an empty river and i...

Windward Point Rookery: An Aarakocra Village

Windward Point is a place that isn't meant to accommodate the non-flying. There are no stairs between levels and no paths to walk between them, which might make things interesting for your players. The rogue and the wizard will be fine. The rogue can climb reliably well and the wizard can fly from place to place. But the cleric? He's gonna end up praying for his god to fix his broken legs by the time he's done here. No athletics OR acrobatics? Best of luck, fella.

In case you're unfamil...

Windward Point Rookery: An Aarakocra Village - Patrons' Edition

Windward Point is a place that isn't meant to accommodate the non-flying. There are no stairs between levels and no paths to walk between them, which might make things interesting for your players. The rogue and the wizard will be fine. The rogue can climb reliably well and the wizard can fly from place to place. But the cleric? He's gonna end up praying for his god to fix his broken legs by the time he's done here. No athletics OR acrobatics? Best of luck, fella.

In case you're unfamil...

The dynamic lighting for Brazenthrone is finished.

With the rest of Brazenthrone taken care of, patrons using Roll20, Foundry or EncounterPlus will never have to draw wall segments for any part of the city ever again. And neither will I. THANK GOD.

Anyway, I'm going to start sketching out the next map. Here's where to get the dynamic lighting stuff:

Roll20

Non-patrons can download the wall commands (which draw in the walls and...

Mind Flayer Dreadnought Spelljammer

You've gotta love Spelljammer. Want to travel into space? Just duct tape a spelljamming helm to the deck of a stolen fishing boat and you're off to explore the stars.

Mind flayers, however-- former masters of the universe that they are-- tend to be a bit more sophisticated about interstellar travel. Dreadnoughts are the capital ship of the illithid fleet and they weren't built for catching seabass. In addition to carrying a variety of weapons on board, the dreadnought also holds a fleet...

Mind Flayer Dreadnought Spelljammer - Patrons' Edition

You've gotta love Spelljammer. Want to travel into space? Just duct tape a spelljamming helm to the deck of a stolen fishing boat and you're off to explore the stars.

Mind flayers, however-- former masters of the universe that they are-- tend to be a bit more sophisticated about interstellar travel. Dreadnoughts are the capital ship of the illithid fleet and they weren't built for catching seabass. In addition to carrying a variety of weapons on board, the dreadnought also holds a fleet...

This Machine Jams Spells (Work-in-Progress)

Say what you will about mind flayers, but they understand the need for a well-funded space program.