And another small map, this time in SS2 / CSUAC2
Daniel Pereda De Pablo
Surveyor
Hi there.
Another one, that thankfully took shorter than I expected: a shrine to an elven deity in the forests, for my adventures in the D&D Dragonlance setting. SS2 bitmaps with lots of the striking CSUAC2 and Bogie bitmaps and symbols. I fought a bit with the resolution / size, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. The border is made in Photoshop, following this excellent tutorial I found years ago by the one and only Par Lindstrom.
Enjoy!
and 11 others.
Comments
You're making some really pretty maps, Daniel :)
Well, thank you, madam. Coming from you it's really a high praise.
Another SS2 / CSUAC2 map, this time in light and dark versions thanks to Photoshop, for my Dragonlance D&D adventures. By day a peaceful glade, the rise of the moon and the work of evil fairies turn the camp site in a lethal trap. Enjoy!
Another great looking map. Well done.
Okay, I may be developing a tiny, harmless addiction to SS2/CSUAC2 maps. This one is a version of the "questing knight" where a knight challenges travellers that pass through his camp to a friendly joust or a competition at the gauntlet to prove his own mettle. Enjoy!
All these maps are really beautiful and so well in line one with the others!
Thanks, I find that keeping the map homogeneous helps me with the sheet effects and the editing.
An underground SS2/CSUAC2 map, a network of sewers hiding the workshop of a nasty wizard with a fondness for flesh golems. I have to admit, I miss the trees here, but not everyone can live in a forest in autumn. Enjoy!
The last one for a few days, regretably. An underwater temple to a cruel deity of the seas, whose sahuagin priests grant visions in exchange of blood sacrifices. The SS2 / CSUAC2 symbol sets really pays off here, with the underwater effects and the borders made in Photoshop. Enjoy!
Another map, this time in the gorgeous SS4 and SS5 Schley styles, with the usual border in Photoshop. "The mocking grievers", an urban manor where the Lockhart family amass a new fortune from the ashes of the past thanks to their reverence to an evil god. Enjoy!
Back to CSUAC2 / SS2 (I'm not going to lie to you, I kinda missed it). "As above, so below". Hidden beneath the ruins of an ancient temple, a cult of the undead has created a refuge for their terrible deeds. Enjoy!
Bear with me here, because this map has been a funny one. In trying to create an extradimensional corridor between a forestal location and the underwater temple a few maps above in Sue Daniel's Marine Dungeon style, I found myself piling underwater rocks and borrowing gigantic tentacles from the CSUAC2 style until, somehow, I created a colossal tentaculated sea ant with a literal corridor on its back. I'm not lying here, this was not my intention at all, and yet I am really satisfied with the way everything cleaned up, with the wave symbols creating the illusion of movement.
I'll have to create the homebrew monster now.😅
Enjoy it!
I'm back with my series of CSUAC2 / SS2 maps. This next one is going to be a large one, so I'm going to post some WIP images along the way. Here you can see a temple to a goddess of trade and commerce (Shinare, of the D&D Dragonlance setting), based on the Cathedral of Granada, in my native Spain, with several annexes, and a big town market based on the Pike Place market on Seattle, USA.
I'm using a separate sheet for the pink lines (aptly named REFERENCIA) to help segregate the different trade hubs you'd expect to find in a fantasy medieval market (spell components and wizardry, food, all kind of smiths, tanners, etc...) and inspire me to find specific locations that kind of appear by themselves during the process, like the small round square with the font bottom left or the rectangular-ish garden slightly above.
Okay, much as I love CSUAC2 my current approach is nor working. Too many open spaces for this style.
So, change of plans. I kept the general outline but altered the design behind it from a singular building in CSUAC2 to a series of interconected middle east Mike Schley SS4 structures forming a single walled complex. Because the patron goddess of the temple is a commerce and trade one, I've created a wide central souk market where merchants can offer their products during the day. I've complemented it with some domes and other garments and I have to say I'm much happier now with how it is turning out.
Almost done. Put together quite a few market resources from SS4, Symbols of the month and Bogey and added vegetation, roads, a few buildings and some relief to give context to the surroundings.
I still have to add the river, I'll probably use Texture Overblend with png images of the Ryecroft style Water, blue, and a bridge from the SS4 style, and I'll be ready to start with the temple floorplans
Finished, with some minor touches. I've started with the floorplans, I'll let you know how that goes.
The tents look rather flat, very pale and a bit "ghostly" by contrast to many of the other symbols. Might be worth rethinking their use here?
Also, the bridge shadow seems to be at a different angle to all the others in the map (presumably because this has been drawn as a separate "shadow" polygon).
You are right about the shadow, Wyvern. I'll take another hit at it. As for the tents, let me think about what I can do.
While I'm finishing the retouches Wyvern suggested, I've been working on the inside of the complex. Here is the first floor, including the many shops and establishments inside the general structure and the proper temple, in the shape of a balance. Remember Shinare is the patron goddess of trade and industry, so her temples house all kinds of businesses, from the funeral bussiness down to the left to the more recreational to the right.
So a bazaar of the bizarre? 😉
More like a municipal market of marauding merchants. And I just downloaded the Monthly Content for October in all his marble glory, so I think a marble-ous one as well.
I've finished mapping all the different parts of the complex, above and below. I'm assembling them all together in a single map, but in the meantime I've thought it was time past time to show you an update.
And a few more
Well, I think I'm done. Or at least I've reached that point where everything you change does not feel like it's improving the map. Here it is, the Dome of the Walking Liberty, a religious complex devoted to the goddess Shinare, patron of commerce, industry and trade, in the city of Lancton, in the Dragonlance D&D setting. The temple is also a prosperous marketplace, where everything can be purchased and sold. Itinerant merchants set their tents at the gates of the temple, and a company of mercenaries sponsored by the goddess, the infamous Coinswords, has a garrison inside the complex where members can heal, rest and train, and contracts between the company and the clients are arranged under the watchful eyes of the priests.
I've already detailed the mapping styles above but, briefly, it is mostly Mike Schley with some Bogey and CSUAC2 here and there, some Ryecroft for the water and the usual Photoshop map border and final touches. It's been more than six months on and off and half a GB of memory, but I am finally satisfied, I hope you all enjoy it!
PS: because the file size is huge, I've posted a much larger version of the map in the Facebook group, and, if someone is very interested on using the file anyway, I can share a Drive hyperlink.
Beautiful work, Daniel! :D
The hyperlink to the Photoshop PSD file and the original fcw files I created for every individual part, just in case anyone is interested: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mNUFPbQWtV1t40C29Oc4cTzTVMk808lK?usp=share_link
Thank you :)
Beautiful work!