I first started with Dungeons & Dragons in December of 1979. !!! Back then, our maps were hand-drawn on graph paper, or store-bought modules that were only slightly more sophisticated than graph paper. Played off and on with different groups for decades.

In 2017, having not played for nearly a decade, I started to create my campaign world. I searched for mapping software and the Internet's consensus was that Campaign Cartographer was both the most powerful and the hardest to learn. Sounds like a challenge! I used my tax refund to buy everything except the annuals (which I didn't understand)...and failed.

I've always been a visual learner. I retain more from reading a book than from listening to the audio version of it. I thought I could teach myself from the PDF manuals. I got some basic concepts, but I didn't really get them. I fiddled around with the software but everything looked awful. (They might have looked slightly less awful if I knew how to turn on sheet effects.)

Then COVID hit in 2020, and with a lot of not-leaving-the-house-time, I revisited my world-building, but not map building. It wasn't until mid-2023 (six years after buying the software!) that I finally decided to start watching some of the tutorials. The obvious thing to everyone except me: videos aren't just audio, they are also visual. Things started to click. And then I became addicted to the videos. To see a blank canvass come to life and turn into a work of art! And then to start mapping: even more addicting! I've mentioned this before, but it is really stimulates left brain/right brain simultaneously. There's the creative part about creating a work of art. But there's also the analytical/problem-solving part about how to do that with textures and symbols and optical illusion sheet effects. I posted my first map here (not the first map I created, but the first I posted) in January 2024, and it's been full speed ever since.

Round 3! These fog symbols are scaled at x4.

I decided against trying to "erode" the levels of the ziggurat. It was a lot to change, and I decided that I will keep the technique in mind next time I do one. Instead, I focused on adding layers of the sand texture to each level of the temple (except for the top portion that the priests are more diligent about sweeping). I tried to vary the patterning by starting drawing from different corners, but I'm not sure that helped much. I might alternate which of the sand textures are used, as I did set each to different scalings. I like the color and scaling of #4 the best but I really should change it a little so you don't see angled paths of no sand like on the north face.

I also added the edge of a mountain using the same techniques as the dunes, but with the bevel isn't smoothed as much, and I used a dark brown earth fill. Maybe I should move the mountain to the NW or NE corner?

The trainees who survive still have two final tests before they graduate: the Trial of Fire and Ice, and the Trial of the Elements. Those who succeed at both trials will join the ranks of the monks of Zhao Guang Si. Those who fail are generally dead.

For the Trial of Fire and Ice, the initiate must climb the cliff walls without benefit of rope and then make their way through the Hu0 Yu Bing Caverns to the Labyrinth of Fire and Ice, a path magically made of ice and molten lava.

In addition to venomous snakes and giant spiders, the caverns are home to two undead perils as well. When a trainee dies in the caverns, their body is left to rot. Once the worms have picked the bones clean, their bones reanimate as a skeleton, and will attack the next trainees who enter. In addition, their spirits also haunt the caverns and can attack those who enter. (I used purple will-o-wisps to look like the spirits' eyes.)

There are two magical shards of crystal that trainees can try to get, which will help with both the Labyrinth of Fire and Ice as well as with the Trial of the Elements. The first is a shard from a red crystal on the other side of a pool of lava. If the lava wasn't barrier enough, the room is also guarded by a pair of lesser demons.

The second is a blue crystal on the other side of an icy lake in a room guarded by a pair of ice devils.

Trainees don't need to even try to get shards from either crystal, but they will sure help if they do.

At the end of the caverns is the Labyrinth of Fire and Ice: an icy path marked by red hot lava. A statue on the other side of the room will animate when anyone enters, and tell them that the only exit is a teleportation portal in the center of the labyrinth. It will only activate for those who walk the path. If anyone attempts to bypass the path, it will not activate.

Every turn that a trainee walks the path, they must make a Constitution saving throw. Failing results in cold damage unless they possess a shard of the blue crystal. They must also make a Dexterity saving throw every turn. Failing means they slip and touch the lava, resulting in fire damage unless they possess the red shard.

If they make it to the teleportation circle in the center, they are teleported to the Trial of the Elements.

Here is Basement 2. Most of it is taken up by the mansion's sewer system, including a branch that comes from beneath the barn. There are shadows from the shafts above where waste is deposited into the sewers. Waste flows to the southern-most part of the line, where a chute connects the mansion's sewers to the municipal sewers. There are also two shafts here to connect the wells (one in the barn) to the water table below.

The secret stairs from the wine cellar connect to a small area here, with more stairs continuing even further below.

Here's a zoomed-in look at the chute that also shows a closer look at the effluent (with sheet effects copied in from Sinister Sewers).

Great! I played with the ADJUST HUE/SATURATION effect to soften the wooden part of the bridge so it blends better. Even though it's unlabeled, I may declare this map is "done" unless anyone else notices anything that needs fixing. Love this style! Thank you to @C.C. Charron, Ralf, and everyone else who had a hand in its creation.

It looks good! First I tried it with 10-foot wide, 10 degree pitch increments, with a 80 degree pitch at the edges, working up to a 10 degree pitch at the center. The transitions were a little sharp:

Then I redid it with a more gradual transition, 5-feet wide sheets with 5 degree pitch increments going from 85 degree pitch at the edges to 5 degrees at the center. That worked much better! Some fill styles worked better than others, of course -- though some that I didn't care for might be improved if I play with adjusting the scaling. Roof tiles didn't really work very well, but wood worked, as did different stone fills. Here are the top 50% of my experiments:

Thank you for the tip, Sue! I can play with fills (and the scaling of those fills), but I feel like I have something solid to work with here.

Reworking the mountains, replacing all of the ridges and ripples so they flow together better to my eye.

Here are a few different tweaks. Thoughts?

Version 1

For the snow-capped mountain, I replaced the scorched alpine fill with a tundra fill, and redrew the snow to be tighter around the snowy ridges. Also added an ice fill between the ridges. I should probably add some ripples onto the tundra terrain but should they be snowy or arid?

Version 2

All of the changes in #1, but I drew a hill polygon around the mountain. Not so sure about this one.

Version 3

All of the changes in #1, without the hill in #2, but I lightened the tundra using ADJUST HUE/SATURATION effect (Lightness +50%)

Version 4

Same as #3, but I added the Uneven Ground texture over the mountain.

Okay, here's a first pass at the portion of the map I've adopted for the Community Atlas. This was done using the Spectrum Overland style. So far, this is mostly just terrain converted from the parent map.

I want to add more individual trees around the edges of the forests where they look too squared off. I still need to add rivers (this map only came with one in the bottom right), and if necessary, more hills or small mountains at the source of the rivers.

This map came with five settlements. At this scale (each grid square is 100 miles), should I keep the beveled dots from the parent map or use the lovely Spectrum Overland symbols? I created a diamond-shaped one (on the larger island) for other points of interest. (I'm thinking that island may be a resort playground for the rich and famous, like a cross between Monte Carlo and Las Vegas, that operates outside of the reach of the country's law enforcement.)

I wasn't thrilled with how the savannah/grasslands blur into the desert on the right. I may need to adjust the sheet effects. I also thought about encircling the desert with dunes. I did it half of it that way so you can see it with and without the dunes. Thoughts? Oh, and I need to add some saguaro cacti or joshua trees.

I'd like to add a swamp somewhere. I plan to add a henge at one of the northern forests, surrounded by more trees -- that's where elves live. And a dwarven fortress in one of the southern mountains.

Roads will come last, once I've determined the rivers, major settlements, and points of interest, and then need to connect them.

Advice welcome, including the name.

I finally have a bit to show for my contribution to the Community Atlas Competition. More work is needed but it's enough to provide the gist.

I adopted a little farming village on the edges of Verinress'Arl on Artemisia. The parent map's notes explain that Verinress'Arl is populated by Aeifa (surface dwelling drow), who are ruled by a Matriarch, where succession is by fight to the death among her female offspring. The red box here (northeast of center) shows the village in relation to the rest of the kingdom:

The village was once the site of a military outpost, but when it was decommissioned generations ago, a village grew up and took over some of the surviving military facilities: a small fortress that became the village jail, and a tower atop a hill that was purchased by sorceress to live out her years of retirement. The tower was passed down to one of her apprentices, and so on through the generations.

While the villagers are mostly self-sufficient, raising enough of a variety of crops to sustain the village, it's known for its fruit orchards and even more for its vineyards and the wines that are popular throughout the realm.

Here's the village so far (I also put a copy in my gallery if you want to zoom around):

Still more to add within the area protected by the palisades, and forests to the north/northeast.

Here's a closer view of the hillside known locally as "the rock" (though a proper name will be provided on the map):

In addition to the sorceress' tower on top of "the rock," there are three other buildings the dig into the hillside. On the south/southeast, a decommissioned military fort has been converted into facilities for the village watch, with jail cells built underground in the hillside. On the eastern side, the Temple also digs into the hillside where the crypts and religious records/artifacts are maintained. And on the north side, the winery (which may be a bit oversized, now that I see it) also extends into the hillside, where wine can ferment in giant vats in caverns protected from the heat of the sun.

The government buildings include the City Clerk's office in the center, with the courthouse to the east, the mayor's office to the northeast, and the town council chambers to the northwest.

Here's an example of treehouse housing. More smaller complexes like this will be built elsewhere within the palisades.

Outside of the village walls on the southwest side is a large pond. There are some industries along the creek that exits the pond: a small mill, blacksmith, tanner's, and glassblowers. North of them is a hillside and field that have become an entertainment area. A large bonfire is lit most warm nights, where the villagers make music and dance. There's also a stage where traveling minstrels, troubadours, and traveling acting troupes can perform for the villagers who can sit on stone benches before the stage or on the hillside behind. The big building on the northeast side of the pond is the community baths (elves are stereotypically fastidious, after all).

Much more to come, but since it's officially August, I wanted to post what I have to date to start getting feedback.