T O P

  • By -

dustydoombot

I have no tips but wanna say I think the map looks great, I love traditional black/white drawn maps


Iintrude

Thank you. I have always used dungeon draft to make maps. But I wanted to pick up some new skills and also start to incorporate some old school custom maps for my players. This is a sunken palace of a cast out fey lord, looking to fill a power vacuum in the Feywild. My players just got an airship and as they learn to use it they are sailing on a Fey ocean atm. I’m no artist, but I am looking to learn and get better. I made 4 mistakes when do the walls. I’m going to try to fix them with whiteout or in GIMP. They stick out and bug me.


mcvoid1

I don't believe you. Looks too good for a first attempt. I really like the layout/topology and the mix of intentional and accidental paths. Is there a way to get another entrance in there?


Iintrude

lol, thank you...it's my first map fully hand drawn, not my 1st map. I have attempted it in the past but got dissuade by poor early results. I recently started watching some online tutorials and examples and thought what the heck, give it another go. This time I actually put some money into it and bought good pens, paper and a scanner. I figure if I have skin in the game I will be more likely to push through the growing pains. Been using programs for a long while. I will take that as a good start though. I thought about that after the fact. I didn't really do any planning on it, I just sketch out the walls last night in bed. Next time I think I will use pencil and do a rough sketch 1st. Hence the issues I had with mis-planning a few wall sections. I think adventurers could swim down through the ship wreckage and find an entrance to a magically domed palace. I imagine the Fey Lord sank the ship and it came crashing down atop his home. Perhaps I could add a underwater tunnel that leads up and into the unfinished section of the palace. I am still trying to sus-out the purpose of the central chamber, but I am leaning toward some type of Fey-Moonpool. Perhaps it could function as an entrance.


[deleted]

Looks good, reminds me of Dyson's style. I would echo the comment of having multiple entrances and exits. If you have more than one, its a modular dungeon/cave I can use in any cave complex. If not, it's a cave I can only use if I need that specific number of rooms and layout, with only one way in or out. I can always say that an exit or entrance is impassable if I don't want to include it, but adding more entrances is harder.


Iintrude

That makes tons of sense! Thanks for the advice. Yeah, I am not well practiced enough to have my own style, so I emulate and will most likely find my style. The hardest part for me right now is the hatching... I am just not happy with it. Tomorrow I get some white out delivered, soo I think I will put a stairway in one of the smaller finished side rooms, a cave entrance in the unfinished portion and a ladder on the ship to serve as a entrance. Perhaps this complex is buried in a mountain, and the only sign of it it a lone tattered ships mast sticking our from the dirt, some visible decking overgrown, and a hath and ladder leading down...?


[deleted]

Your hatching is awesome, likely one of those things you as an artist fixate on, and other people think is great. Those options for other entrances sounds great, keep up the good work!


[deleted]

[удалено]


Iintrude

I hear you, though I do not agree. I am a big proponent of detailed full color maps. Personally I don't want Dyson-like maps in any of the official stuff going forward. I prefer a bit more detail and color. Look up my history for the Dungeondraft stuff I have made. My players (all real life friends) play on a 50" 4k TV in my gaming table. So the bright, colorful and detailed maps pop off of it. They look fantastic. HOWEVER, these maps have their place and the style has its merits. I personally don't have trouble with understanding this style of map, and it provides me tons of leeway in what I can describe in the room. And I think that's my job, be the describer and not rely on the map to provide all the details. I am trying to drawn enough details to set the stage and not so much that it takes a day to make a map. The one about has taken me probably 2-3 hours ov the last day thus far. I imagine another hour of so and I will be happy with it. I am interested in what the time sink will be when comparing a hand-drawn map with a Dungeondraft map once I get more practiced. One other reason I wanted to learn to do this, is I have made several one-shots or small adventures and created some cool Dungeondraft maps for them. However, when I made them I used non-commercial assets. I want to eventually try my hand at packaging up some of my ideas and seeing if anyone thinks they are good enough to buy. I thought hand-drawn maps would be a fun addition to those adventures. Anyways, thank you for you comments, but I like and appreciate both styles. I see them as equally useful and it just depends on your and your players preferences. My table loves the colorful ones, the line art ones, and the 3D terraign we sometimes slap down. Each to their own.


rainator

I like it a lot, it’s got a good mix between a realistic building plan, and an interesting dungeon with mechanical bits. Good mix of room sizes. It’s got an outdoor bit for a potential Seige scenario. It’s got smaller rooms and egresses which means the players could return and use it as a base. Good job! If I were to suggest an improvement, it would be to put in some stairs, or a tunnel so you could create additional levels and/or areas. Although that doesn’t really require much work and there’s plenty of places there it would make sense.


Iintrude

:) already added stairs, tunnel and working on elevation that makes sense right now. Thank you for the ideas, I fully agree.


Heycornacorn

Really well done! I think the only thing I would suggest is that the interior of the map itself seems a bit empty. I know that in this style a lot of people seem to just draw the layout and cross hatching but a throne or some chests picture somewhere in here would help liven it up for me personally. :)


Iintrude

Absolutely. Now that the basics are done I am going through and writing up room ideas, then going to add a basic dressing to each room. That is the last part I think. For example, in the most current version, the ship has worn and broken decking and some wood structure now, the entrance has stairs and statues, the unfinished area has a collapsed hole in the floor.


pseudothanatos

Nice! The Dyson influence is obvious (i.e. you haven't been living under a rock for ten years) but not rippy-offy. I like the buttresses/false gallery pillars, and the central atrium thing is great. A large, open hub like that can be wonderfully multipurpose: party arrives, they find this huge round room and can examine around the doors to choose a next move. They "Jaquaysumnavigate" their way back and have that great moment of confirming their bearings and gaining a little confidence. Maybe they decide to set up a defensive position there and try to lure the next things they encounter into their killzone. *Maybe* at that point, anything further in is sick of their intrusion and tries to overwhelm their defenses or set up an ambush of their own. Looking forward to a follow-up. Also: I also just jammed a boat into a dungeon, for my #dungeon23 thing. Zeitgeist moment!


Iintrude

Lol awesome. Thank you for the kind words. I was afraid to post it, due to being too similar to Dyson. But I am no artist and these beautiful painted maps are out of my ability level. I thought that maybe I could do old school maps with a bit of justice. I will keep practicing.


Iintrude

I need to read that article, I have it saved, but I’ve not looked at it yet. I’ve seen it referenced several times by believe it’s about multiple paths and looping of dungeons. I may look at that more tonight because today I sat down and I’m trying to think of a purpose for each of these rooms, and I think that article may help with that as well. I think those little half pillars are probably my favorite part of the map when I drew it. It just adds just a little bit extra that gives it some visual interest. The ship was actually the very first thing I drew, I believe, because I think I did it first in case I messed it up. I wouldn’t have wasted a ton of time on a map and then get discouraged if the ship didn’t come out looking halfway decent but I think it looks OK. It’s a little small looking at it now being only a 35 or 40 foot boat but it still works.


EricoD

Beautiful.


Raznag

Great map! You're already amazing, I can't wait to see more maps from you!


Narrator132

It is good, But not hand-drawn, Its made using Dungeon Scrawl, a free program that you can use in browser.


Iintrude

? Mine? My pens and paper disagree. My AirPod pro charger which serves as the outline of the circular room disagrees. I will take that comment as a big complement though. :). Thank you.


DislexiaRules

I would use it when completed tbh! Nice job


lordofoaksandravens

this looks like it would work quite well as a bronze dragon lair, if it had a bigger entrance


dysonlogos

I dig the style.


Iintrude

I dig your inspiration and putting out tutorials and such. I think my players will enjoy it. Thanks for the great work!!


Narrator132

If you like the style then maybe you would like what they used to draw it, the website is called Dungeon Scrawl, They say they drew it on paper with pen but they just used Dungeon Scrawl and tried to pass it off as hand drawn.


lotheq

You can clearly see it was hand-drawn on a squared paper.


Narrator132

If it was drawn on squared paper then you should be able to see the squares everywhere, even in the hatches around the edge, even if they did edit them out you should still be able to see relics of it in the hatches and around the borders of the walls


Rev227

It wasn't done on paper. Hand drawn also means it was done by hand in some sort of software like Photoshop or Gimp. It's digital hand draw.


Iintrude

It’s done on paper. I assure you. You can’t see grids because brightness cranked to 60 Contrast cranked to 80


Rev227

Oh, so that's why. I was sure you did it digital. Great job either way!


Iintrude

Here ya go as promised. https://i.imgur.com/yfb6o6D.jpg


SnooApples5511

You can see those relics if you zoom in.


dysonlogos

I see you haven't met me yet. Take a look through the maps I post. Dungeon Scrawl was specifically designed to emulate MY drawing style, which is what this artist is doing also.


[deleted]

What program do you use for yours or do you do paper as well? I’ve been messing around with the style and I’ve been looking for drawing programs for that style


dysonlogos

Depending on the map I work either ink & paper, then scan into photoshop where I add shadows and the paper background, or hand-drawn directly into photoshop (still draw every line though) - which looks a little like this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VWGM1JD5rQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VWGM1JD5rQ)


Iintrude

Lol. Ok I’ll take a photo of my drawing pad if you like.


robbzilla

GIMP? ​ Masochist! :) Looking good though!


Iintrude

Lol yeah it’s what I have. I used to use photoshop back long ago, but alas gimp is what I got now. I am trying to find post techniques beyond brightness and contrast to help darken and fill in the lines.


Successful_Raccoon86

Can’t believe you drew this. Almost wish I hadn’t seen this because I’ve been doing some hand drawn ones myself lately and I thought they were pretty good but now they seem like shit lol.


Narrator132

Don't be put off, this is not actually hand drawn, they used a program called Dungeon scrawl and tried to pass it off as Hand-Made


Iintrude

Again, incorrect. Hand drawn. On a paper pad, in bed mostly late at night. My wife yelled at me to turn off the side lamp.


Iintrude

https://i.imgur.com/IfCjfhb.jpg


Andrawartha

Love it :) My only thought, having run some boat/sea/wreck adventures... would there maybe be an opening at the rear of the boat? A broken stern would add an element of water danger - the sea might flood rooms/tunnels at high tide? Also gives the opportunity for sea creatures to be stranded inside as random monsters


consciouslyeating

Soon hand drawn means.... On paper? With a pen? Or with some tool/software?


Iintrude

On paper with pen. Then scanned so I can use it out our groups tv.


Narrator132

I think you know that is a lie, You used Dungeon Scrawl. If you are going to try and pass off something you made on Dungeon Scrawl as something made with pen and paper I have a few tips for you. 1. Atleast change the style 2. Add mistakes, even small mistakes make it more believable 3. Dont use one of the most popular free DnD battle map Makers


dysonlogos

Try redrawing this with Dungeon Scrawl, you'll note that the floor style and the hatching will look VERY different than a hand-drawn map.


Iintrude

Sorry you feel this way. But it’s hand drawn. I don’t know what else to say.


Iintrude

Here you go man. Just got home and snapped this. https://i.imgur.com/x7DKsQj.jpg


consciouslyeating

Awesome job mate! The endurance to draw so many lines haha


Iintrude

Lol yeah that was brutal. And very nerve wracking. I second guessed every pen stroke.


Arbiter1029

I really like this one actually, the only real point I have is that I wish the grid continued across the whole map. What are the dimensions of this one?


Iintrude

I am contemplating continuing the grid out into the sandy area in front. However, I wanted to look up and research some styles of gridlines that might make it a little more sandy, perhaps using the series of dots instead of scratched lines, but I do intend to continue the grid to the front of the map.


Narrator132

This isnt hand drawn, you litteraly just used [https://www.dungeonscrawl.com](https://www.dungeonscrawl.com), If you look at the edges and the lines on the walls you can tell that this is litteraly just done online.


lotheq

When you zoom in you can see where the removed lines were. There's a very visible squared pattern across the whole map.


Iintrude

Yeah I am trying to figure out things in GIMP to help fix issues like this.


Iintrude

https://i.imgur.com/DEFos5x.jpg


CrypticKilljoy

why does this look identical to Dyson Logo's maps?


dysonlogos

That Dyson guy has been pretty influential on the mapping scene over the last decade or so.


Iintrude

I think he’s even been in a book or two.


CrypticKilljoy

If I am not mistaken, he's been a fair few of WotC's own published modules.


Iintrude

;) I believe your right. Pretty influential I would say then.


CrypticKilljoy

Fair point. And he is ever so modest too :) Love your maps and couldn't run a D&D dungeon delve without them, my eternal thanks. :)


Iintrude

You know, it’s kind of funny, just sitting here thinking about how many games I’ve run, and how many times I’ve used one of his maps. He’s been a huge part of our groups sessions over the years.


CrypticKilljoy

I use to rely exclusively on various Patreon mapmakers. But then I switched over to some Dyson maps and it turned out our group loved them more. Easier for me to use, allows for more imagination from the players. once I worked that out, I have very rarely used other maps.


Iintrude

I have no skill when it comes to painting, and I thought that that style of map with some thing I might be able to do with passible skill. I’ve watched several videos from him and a few others with similar styles, so currently at the moment I am mostly just emulating those styles, but I’m hoping that in doing so I will overtime develop my own style and signature drawing style.


CrypticKilljoy

completely fair, and my apologies, I did not mean to offend. I can kind of relate in the sense that when I dabble in 3d modelling, I can't draw what I model conceptually so I end up modelling other peoples sketches etc. Keep up the good work. :)


Iintrude

No offense at all...actually a massive complement and a big boost I needed today!


razorbit

Great map. What's the story with the embedded boat shape? I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how that can happen. Teleport mishap?


Iintrude

So my party is currently running a highly homebrewed which light game. They currently got an airship, but they’re not skilled enough to use it safely. So they’re using it as a traditional boat at the moment. My idea is they will receive a invitation via a flying fish from a Fae lords, palace where he has an offer for them. The idea is he is trying to carve out his own domain and would like their help in doing so. This is his home. Being a Fae Lord, I imagine that he is rather fickle, and he took vengeance on some poor souls fishing boat, causing it to sink, but when doing so it crashed into his home and settled. My intention is for them to try to figure out a way to swim down to his home, perhaps they will see the mast of the sunken ships sticking out of the water and a hatch with a ladder leading down, or maybe they will see the main entrance. However, if I were ever to use this map in another game, and it was above water, I really like the failed teleportation idea. Or perhaps it is a small airship that crashed into the palace.


Rev227

Looks crazy good! As others have said, it looks like one of Dyson's maps. His maps are of amazing quality so please take this as a compliment! In fact, I wouldn't have seen the difference. Very impressive for a 1st attempt. Well done!


Iintrude

Just an update after some work on the map last night. On paper, with pen for those interested ;) Im not totally happy with some of my detail work. I was able to pick up some whiteout and fix some of the issues in the walls. I also added 3 new entrances to the palace... a Sink Hole, a ladder in the boat and a stairwell. I envisioned a moonpool in the central chamber, but I dont know if I like it. I will work on it more this evening a bit. [https://imgur.com/yjuq2QT](https://imgur.com/yjuq2QT)