I suppose a winter scene would be more seasonal but the campaign calendar just hasn't gotten there yet. Forset Trail + SS2 and a few others. Comments/Suggestions/criticisms always welcome.

Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to all....

It's good to be back creating for a DnD campaign. A number of new maps to share as the party finishes exploring the unknown. Messengers are easy prey for the denizens of this wilderness, and they love to play with their food.

Enjoy

Thank you for the ideas DaltonS. The Lord of this area is a Ranger, she does look out for her woodsmen and Rangers. Travellers on the high road gain the benefit of her generosity. A toll wouldn't be consistent with her views on hospitality.

U[pdated the map with a number of the helpful suggestions and used some of the latest releases of this years annual. I just finished reading Expeditious Retreat Press' A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe and will likely completely overhaul the map to include more wards during the christmas break. Thanks for all of the suggestions

Ed

I needed a small town for my DnD 5e campaign and I thought I would try something different. Lopsford is a small settlement founded in frontier lands that has become a neutral trading hub for the surrounding factions. Still playing around with ways to depict stone and cliffs.

Feedback and suggestions always welcome.

It's been a while since I posted, life has been busy. Here's an encounter map that the adventurers are currently struggling along a muddy trail, trying to reach the summit of a rock outcropping while orcs rain missiles down upon their heads. Still not satisfied I'm portraying the height difference well enough.

JulianDracos,

First, thank you. Most of the credit goes to the software and LoopySue for creating the styles.

The river is on three sheets (see below), all of which are in the Forest Trails style. 1 - riverbed 2 - water 3 - deep water. The white lines are an additional water contours sheet. Shessar has a great tutorial on contours (Writtent tutorials/shessar's battlemats/contours) that can be applied to white lines over water to make "foam" that suggests turbulence.

The rest is just sheet effects. Draw "river" Most common sheet effect is edge fade inner with reduced inner opacity to 60-80%. It's personal preference. Copy river to Riverbed sheet (Copy to sheet - right click copy button) and change the Fill to Terrain, default Riverbed. (Change Properties - right click & select change fill style). Change sheet to Deep Water and add the darker water. Typical Sheet effects are Edge Fade Inner with the inner opacity adjusted until I like the look (40% seems to work well). I usually add Blur as well to make the dark water more difuse.

Add sheet Dark Water Contours. Set Default colour to white, line width to 0.2 or 0.3, and use the Smooth Path tool (RHS tool bar) to draw the lines. Per Shessar's tutorial, add Blur effect to sheet and play with the Blur Radius until you like you like what you see.

Adding in some of the suggestions from EukalyptusNow and you get...

I discovered that humanoid bodies covered in blood are not particularly intersting to my party. The party "cleansed" the fort of a demonic presence and avoided "most" of the traps. There's a mimic inside the organge coach but they never bothered to check it.

SS2 and Dungeons of Schley

Ground floor

Second floor with view of the courtyard.

Basement with the secret back entrance.

My players are travelling oveland for a while but some dungeons are a'coming... SS2, Forest Trail and Creepy Crypts work well together. A place to encounter other travelers on the Shattered Road.

I needed a city location for my players to meet a gnome who belongs to an organization that "acquires" unique and valuable "stuff". Might add a small kitchen in the lower left corner later but for now it's just a place to meet, drink and arrange contracts.