Old Fashioned Hand Drawn Maps (with Tutorial)

[nijineko]

very nice.

myself, i vary in how i draw them. when i am going by hand, i will use two pencils and a super fine point ink pen. i usually use a 2h or 4h pencil as one, and a 2b as the other. lots of lighting, mixed with sunlight if at all possible. i wind up with a three tone map when i am done. sometimes i will scan it into a computer and add special effects like water, lava, or magical auras.

even when i do a map completely by computer, i use a pen tool and a software like painter to take advantage of pressure sensitivity, color, blending, texture, and other options. i really prefer the 'by hand' style, even on a computer.

now i'm off to spend hours downloading every single one of your maps. any chance of a all-in-one download?

 

[Manbearcat]

Some people paint life-like portraits. Some people hit baseballs 450 feet. Some people jump on grenades to save the lives of their brothers-in-arms.

You make maps for dorks to use during make-believe. Stupendously, Awesomely, Fantastic maps for dorks to use during make-believe.

 

[Dyson Logos]

very nice.

now i'm off to spend hours downloading every single one of your maps. any chance of a all-in-one download?

Not a download no... but the first of my map books is available here. It comes in two versions - one softcover for $20, and the "I want to pay for Dyson's internet" special hardcover limited edition for $40 which also includes an exclusive adventure not in the other book and which will never appear on the website (which is limited to 100 copies).

 

[nijineko]

Not a download no... but the first of my map books is available here. It comes in two versions - one softcover for $20, and the "I want to pay for Dyson's internet" special hardcover limited edition for $40 which also includes an exclusive adventure not in the other book and which will never appear on the website (which is limited to 100 copies).

oooooh. tempting. ^^

 

[Dyson Logos]

So, tomorrow I've got to post another map to the blog (the whole Friday Map thing), but I thought today would be a good day to go back and pull up one of my old favourites:

The roots of the world is the name of the dungeon and it was one of the quests in a short quest arc I ran in a Labyrinth Lord / AEC campaign I ran in 2010.

Something about this map makes me very happy - the large central room, lots of stuff under water... It's fun.

You can read how I used it here.

Also, this is one of the many maps available in print in Dyson's Delves.

 

[MortalPlague]

Your maps are a thing of beauty.

I really enjoy drawing a map myself, and I'm always keeping an eye out for new techniques. For an upcoming session in my 5th Edition game, my players are going to delve into the haunted Hall of Bells. I had a decent map done up, but I decided to re-do it, and I used some of your techniques. I'm only about a third of the way done, but so far, I am quite pleased with how it's turning out.

Thanks for the tutorial!

 

[Dyson Logos]

Nice piece!

Hand drawn maps actually make me kinda giddy when I see them online. They bring back all the awesome of when I first started playing D&D so many years ago.

 

[Dyson Logos]

Friday Map time!

Rumsolt was a local baron during the great war, and was said to maintain a small fortified underground complex nearby that was built by a clan of dwarves allied to his cause against the elves.

The retreat saw little use during his reign, and baron Rumsolt was slain during a pitched battle of mystical forces that razed his keep and most of the nearby town. The dwarven clan sealed up the retreat soon thereafter, until it was found and plundered not a dozen years ago.

Rumour has it that the group responsible for plundering the retreat destroyed the great stone doors that hid it, thus allowing other less wholesome creatures to move in and take up residence there.

The map of Rumsolt’s Retreat was drawn with a 0.5mm black gel pen on a scrap piece of paper I was using as a bookmark in The Cold Commands, an awesome fantasy novel by Richard K Morgan.



If you like maps like these, check out Dyson’s Delves, a 150+ page book of maps and adventures in a similar vein.

 

[MortalPlague]

That's a nice one too, Dyson. I really like how you come up with a background to accompany each; it makes them a ready-to-go delve, just add monsters and go.

I finished up the earlier map. I was really happy with how it turned out. Thickening the wall lines just a little made a world of difference. I also posted up the adventure to go with it, so people can use the map at their own table.

 

[Dyson Logos]

That's VERY sharp, MortalPlague! If you don't have a blog to show it off at, I'd be very happy to post it to mine to mix it in with the other awesome maps I have. I like your unique flair of having the masonry in the floor.

Speaking of maps, it's Friday and to heck with the end of the world (although we ARE going through a pretty impressive Snowmageddon up here), here's another map!

A series of twisting caverns descend into the hills near Kevan’s Ford. Known as Kevan’s Depths, these caverns have been home to rebellious partisan fighters, wandering morlocks, a tribe of goblins, and even used as a secret storehouse for Kevan’s Ford during times of war.

However, in recent years the population of Kevan’s Ford has fallen down to a few dozen people who mostly work in and around Kevan’s Roadhouse and the caverns have been abandoned and mostly forgotten, being nearly an hour’s walk into the brush south of the ford.

But obviously the caverns didn’t forget Kevan’s Ford. When the party approaches Kevan’s Ford, the roadhouse is abandoned, the people slain. And the trail of death leads back to the caverns…

Is the party brave (or foolhardy) enough to find out what is behind the rampage?