milbysmaps

Last Tower of the Mage Lords - Patrons' Edition

I'm back with a pretty fancy wizard tube for you. This isn't your standard 4-level tower for a wizard who hasn't talked to anyone but his cat in the last 2 years. This is for a wizard with friends. Maybe even a few wizards, plus an assortment of apprentices, servants and guards.

Of course, there's also another other option. It's not for everybody, but-- look, do you have airships in your setting? Because this can be an airship if you want it to be. There's nobody stopping you. There's a...

The 76th Cartographic Congress Runoff

Round two!

• DireSquirrel proposes a city map of a mound city similar to Cahokia.

• Shawn proposes a stockaded wooden fort with a temple styled after a Norwegian stave church.

• Ethan proposes a Salamander Fire Cruiser, an ironclad ship run by Salamander pirates that roams the elemental sea of fire.

Last Tower of the Mage Lords (Work-in-Progress)

Here's what I'm coloring right now. There are five more levels, but this should give you the basic idea. All right, back to it.

The 76th Cartographic Congress Vote

Since a lot of people are busy with holidays (myself included), I'll leave this month's poll open longer than usual so everyone has time to cast a vote. If you're one of those people, have a great holidays! And if you're not, let me wish you a great holidays as well, even if I'm several months too early. Anyway, on to this month's proposals:

• Stefano proposes a haunted house.

• DireSquirrel proposes a city map of a mound city similar to Cahokia.

• Shawn ...

  2024-12-24 14:49:48 +0000 UTC View Post

The Stygian City: History and Lore Overview - Updated

Here's the updated overview of the Stygian City lore. I added a summary of every level so you can get an idea of what's on each floor. If you want more details on the lore, the inhabitants of the dungeon and suggestions on running a campaign here, there are DM notes available to patrons.

They're 18 pages long and I feel like I wrote a book. The DM notes aren't a campaign, but they're the framework of one and, if you're thinking about running a game in the Stygian City, they'll probably ...

Stygian City Alternate Levels: The Vault, the Trash Pit and the Underdark Passages

I still owe you an underwater aboleth lair, but here are three of the four alternate levels I'm drawing for the Stygian City. I always intended to make a bottom level of the pit that was just full of rocks, debris and trash from the village above, but when I started drawing these, it occurred to me that they would all be like that. There's no way it's just perfectly tidy down there. So these are all just differen...

Thornhall

Thornhall is the palace of a lord of the wilds. A fey king, a high druid, a wood elf prince, or maybe even a hag could live here. The walls and roof are made of tangled roots and vines, twisting around each other in a giant mass of vegetation. It's a lovely place to live for anyone who doesn't mind a leaky roof and a slight mold problem.

Next, I'll be getting to work on the alternate bottom levels of the Stygian City. These maps will be for patrons and will include:

• A...

  2024-12-11 19:46:23 +0000 UTC View Post

Thornhall - Patrons' Edition

Thornhall is the palace of a lord of the wilds. A fey king, a high druid, a wood elf prince, or maybe even a hag could live here. The walls and roof are made of tangled roots and vines, twisting around each other in a giant mass of vegetation. It's a lovely place to live for anyone who doesn't mind a leaky roof and a slight mold problem.

Next, I'll be getting to work on the alternate bottom levels of the Stygian City. These maps will be for patrons and will include:

• A...

  2024-12-11 19:46:05 +0000 UTC View Post

Thornhall (Work-in-Progress)

I'm working on coloring this right now. This was one of those maps where I started off having no idea how I was going to draw the place. But oddly enough, maps like that tend to turn out really well. Anyway, what do you think so far?

The 75th Cartographic Congress Runoff

Tidal Town and the Viking Farm took big leads in the first vote, so they'll be facing off in the second round. I'm still working on the Palace of Thorns and I'll have a photo of that for you shortly. It's different and I hope you'll like it.

• Benjamin proposes a town with high tides that submerge part of the town.

• DireSquirrel proposes a Norwegian-style viking farm.

The 75th Cartographic Congress Vote

I just wanted to post this month's vote before I go play some Baldur's Gate 3 with my wife. Playing BG3 co-op is fun, but you do spend quite a bit of time trying to find each other. Like, "Hey, where are you?" "I'm still trading with that guy." "Which guy?" "The one at the mushroom town." "You're still in the mushroom town?" "Yeah, where are you?" "I'm in the Duergar city, I thought you were following me."

I'm not recommending against co-op, but you will spend about a third of ...

The Stygian City: Bottom of the Pit

So, here we are at the bottom. Remember that circle-and-star symbol I've been drawing on the floors throughout this dungeon? Yeah. This is what that's about.

So, the Stygian City is finished, but it's not. For patrons, I'll be drawing a few alternate bottom levels, which will include an underwater aboleth lair, a vault for some kind of artifact or entity, and a gateway to the underdark (or Hell or wher...

The Stygian City: Bottom of the Pit - Patrons' Edition

So, here we are at the bottom. Remember that circle-and-star symbol I've been drawing on the floors throughout this dungeon? Yeah. This is what that's about.

So, the Stygian City is finished, but it's not. For patrons, I'll be drawing a few alternate bottom levels, which will include an underwater aboleth lair, a vault for some kind of artifact or entity, and a gateway to the underdark (or Hell or wher...

The Stygian City: Bottom of the Pit (Work-in-Progress)

These are two of the last 3 floors of the Stygian City. I'm still working on the last level, which is Ghanya. Should be done in a few more days.

My idea for the next megaproject

So, I actually have ideas for the next two megaprojects, but let's talk about the first one for now, which is the smaller of the two. I want to get your feedback before I make any decisions about this, so nothing is set in stone here.

This project would be a city map drawn at a 5' grid scale showing the interiors of every building, some of which will have multiple levels. It would be similar in concept to Finb...

Dhelduhr - The Entrance

Here's the entrance to yesterday's map of the village of Dhelduhr. For patrons, there's also an underdark version of the village. It isn't wildly different from the original, but it'll spare you from having to make excuses for the plants.

With that finished, I'm ready to get started on the last three levels of the 2024-11-15 20:47:19 +0000 UTC View Post

Dhelduhr - The Entrance - Patrons' Edition

Here's the entrance to yesterday's map of the village of Dhelduhr. For patrons, there's also an underdark version of the village. It isn't wildly different from the original, but it'll spare you from having to make excuses for the plants.

With that finished, I'm ready to get started on the last three levels of the 2024-11-15 20:47:11 +0000 UTC View Post

The Village of Dhelduhr

Dhelduhr is a dwarven village carved into the cliffsides of a canyon. This is most of it, but I still need to draw the entrance. In the center-right of the map, there are some stairs up to the clifftop, where there'll be a small building with some stables.

I also want to make an underdark version of the map for patrons. This place would fit pretty well in that setting, but I need to get rid of the plants and the colors are a little bright. I'll have all that done in a day or two, then I...

The Village of Dhelduhr - Patrons' Edition

Dhelduhr is a dwarven village carved into the cliffsides of a canyon. This is most of it, but I still need to draw the entrance. In the center-right of the map, there are some stairs up to the clifftop, where there'll be a small building with some stables.

I also want to make an underdark version of the map for patrons. This place would fit pretty well in that setting, but I need to get rid of the plants and the colors are a little bright. I'll have all that done in a day or two, then I...

The 74th Cartographic Congress Runoff

We're down from 11 to 5. Good luck to everyone!

Kevin proposes a city map inspired by Vienna.

Morgan proposes the Last Tower of the Magelords, floating on an island in the sky above a massive crater.

Shawn proposes the Krak de Chevalier, the famous crusaders' castle.

Silas proposes the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

Ethan proposes a Salamander Fire Cruiser, an ironclad ship run by Salamander pirates that roam the elemental sea of fire.

Canyon Village (Work-in-Progress)

These are the drawings for the canyon village I'm working on. Gonna get started on coloring this today. Let me know what you think so far!

The 74th Cartographic Congress Vote

We've got 11 proposals this month, so I won't give you any more to read. Here you go:

Kevin proposes a city map inspired by Vienna.

Morgan proposes the Last Tower of the Magelords, floating on an island in the sky above a massive crater.

Shawn proposes the Krak de Chevalier, the famous crusaders' castle.

Lost Nebula proposes a desert junkyard filled with broken tech, mechs and ships.

DireSquirrel proposes a small, barebones smugglers' base on an asteroid.

S...

The Stygian City 16, 17 & 18: The Myconid Village

The next batch of floors in the Stygian City includes a myconid village on the 16th level, an ancient oracle on the 17th and a center for magical research on the 18th. The next three floors will be the last and will include the thing that lies at the bottom of the pit: Ghanya. I'm a...

The Stygian City 16, 17 & 18: The Myconid Village - Patrons' Edition

The next batch of floors in the Stygian City includes a myconid village on the 16th level, an ancient oracle on the 17th and a center for magical research on the 18th. The next three floors will be the last and will include the thing that lies at the bottom of the pit: Ghanya. I'm a...

Almost done. Here's the 16th level.

Here's the myconid colony on the 16th level of the Stygian City. The next two levels are almost finished and I should have them done in a couple days. Okay, back to work!

Here's this.

I got home from Spain a few days ago and I'm back to work on coloring the next three levels of the Stygian City. In the meantime, here's a collection of the first 12 levels I made a while back. It doesn't include the 13-15th levels, but I'll make another one with all the floors once...

The Stygian City 16, 17 & 18 (Work-in-Progress)

Here's the art for the next three levels of the Stygian City. We've got the myconid colony on 16, an ancient oracle on 17 and the ruins of the warlocks' guild on 18. As you can see, some things happened there that were not super amazing. Magic do be like that sometimes.

Tomorrow, I'll be heading to Spain to see some friends for a couple days, so I might be a little slow to respond to messages, but I'll chec...

The 73rd Cartographic Congress Runoff

I've got the drawings done for the next three levels of the Stygian City and I'll post a picture for you in a minute. In the meantime, let me know which of these strikes your fancy:

Silas proposes an open-pit quarry with ramps between levels and a space where the workers have unearthed something best left hidden.

Violette proposes the Biltmore Estate, a large mansion built in the US in the late 1800s.

Odd proposes an unseelie fae palace for the Duke of Thorns. The palace is ...

The 73rd Cartographic Congress Vote

I'm working on the myconid colony level of the Stygian City and my hand hurts from drawing all these mushrooms. Just a few more to go and then... I have to ink all the mushrooms. Send help.

Okay, I'm done complaining. Here's this month's vote:

Silas proposes an open-pit quarry with ramps between levels and a space where the workers have unearthed something best left hidden.

Violette proposes the Biltmore Estate, a large mansion built in the US in the late 1800s.

A...

Mycenaean Citadel Battlements

As promised, here's the upper level of the previous map. I don't always draw roofs, but they're important for a fortress like this. That's how you keep the Huns out.

Next, I'll be drawing another three levels of the Stygian City. With only 6 more levels to go, we're getting pretty close to the end of this project, alth...