EDIT: Any map I post to this thread can be found and downloaded at 300dpi from my blog at http://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com
I'm Dyson - I draw maps.
If you haven't seen my maps, here's an example of how my hand-drawn maps come out:
This particular map is quite small, just right for an evening of play if you account for lead-in, finding the location, and whatever other hijinx the party will get into in the process. If you've got one of those objective-oriented parties that get in, loot, get out, then this won't be enough dungeon for a full session most likely (especially with how quickly combat can run in 5e).
Unlike most of my maps, I drew this one with a camera watching the whole thing, so a video is available to see the work progress (in fast-forward, no one wants to watch someone draw out a whole map - so this cuts it down to 2 minutes).
That's really great. I've been trying to draw/sketch more the last few years. I also hand drew the map of the Dessarin Valley for the latest adventure this spring, minus the adventuring locations. I hadn't thought about intentionally trying to draw maps like this for practice and increasing skill. I love cartography and this is a great motivator, so thanks for that. Also... my work access blocked your video, will have to watch it on another machine later on my home network 
http://www.apple.com/apple-pencil/
Elfcrusher wrote:
Yunru wrote:
Elfcrusher wrote:
Elfcrusher wrote:
My latest map:
The Ruined Ha'Tak Temple
There’s a structure in the Forbidden City with five small pyramids poking out of the roof. It was once either a museum or a temple – definitely a place where people came to contemplate (their history, their gods, all of the above?) (This is a detail map from the 1981 Dwellers of the Forbidden City city map over on the east side of hte city on the edge of the swamp - our party is exploring that adventure right now in our 5e game)
The east side of the structure is partially collapsed, with one wing having almost fully given way and crashed down into the street.
The five pyramids in turn were taken over by the local dwellers as nests for their giant wasps – each pyramid is now a mass of mud and paper that held a number of giant wasps before the area was contested by the newest dwellers in the city.
The most recent dwellers in the city are also the weakest, but proved that they are not to be underestimated. When harassed by the grippli upon their giant wasp mounts, the latest arrivals (bullywugs) began a guerrilla action to wipe out the wasp nests closest to their homes. These ruins were the scene of one of these actions, and the long-dead exoskeletons of poisoned wasps still litter the area.
Again, I can present this map to you for free for your personal and/or commercial use thanks to my awesome patrons of my Patreon Campaign. You can download the map in 300 dpi with and without grid from the blog at https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2015/09/11/friday-map-the-ruined-hatak-temple/
Thanks for sharing Dyson! I still really enjoy making my own maps & dungeons, but I'm sure I will make good use of some of your free maps in the near future. When I need a quick village map, small cave system or crypt because the party went left and I expected them to go right, this will come in very handy!
Great work! I think we should request a "sticky" tread for just maps. I have several that I think people would enjoy.
Does anyone know how to do this?
I really love your maps. Do you do commissions? That is, turn a bad drawing with notes into an elegant map?
Elfcrusher wrote:
Yunru wrote:
It saves the scanning step I guess?
Here's another recent pyramid-themed map I drew up and posted:
While I have many a tower map on the blog, I seem to be lacking in ziggurats and stepped pyramids – wonderful constructions that evoke ancient civilizations, mysteries, and probably hidden treasures.
Dreaming Feather was one of the last rulers of the Dyonis Empire – shrugged off by most histories as a freak and sign of the end of the empire because she was a psionically gifted siamese twin who ruled for only nine years.
As one of the later rulers of the empire however, her tomb and temple remains in good shape to this day and the priesthood of the small city built up around it still conduct rituals and observances from the steps of the pyramid.
The pyramid has multiple entrances leading to different areas.
- Area A is used for rituals and for private meetings with the faithful.
- Area B is unknown to the priesthood and leads to the tombs and false tombs of the Dreaming Feather.
- Area C is used as storage and emergency quarters for the priesthood and associates.
- Area D is the crypts used by the priesthood. Originally the tombs of Dreaming Feather’s top 3 priests, the central crypt is home to the remains of a priest who was reviled after her death and is presumed by many to have been her assassin. As such, the new priesthood had no problems desecrating his crypt and digging a new set of crypts for their own elders behind it.
- Area E is only reachable by a shaft that leads down 60 feet from area B above, and then bends and continues down a further 40 feet to area G. Secured by a massive stone portal, this is the tomb of Dreaming Feather’s chief adviser, and is well trapped and defended.
- Area F is the actual tomb of Dreaming Feather, reached by a narrow chimney that climbs directly up 30 feet from the tombs below. The antechamber is still defended by a pair of psionic constructs.
- Area G (the G is missing on the lower level map, but is the central area of the map) are the tombs of Dreaming Feather’s various stuff. Baskets of food, boats, chariots, mummified horses, glorious peacocks, golden monkeys and more can be found down here.
Every now and then, you just want a bigger map.
Built by priests of Amon-Gorloth, this dungeon was constructed and adapted from existing caverns following their dreams channeled from Amon-Gorloth itself – making them a twisted and nightmarish version of the convoluted mausoleums under the desert sands where Amon-Gorloth sleeps and dreams.
This is a monster of a map – a full ledger-sized page of fairly fine graph paper (5 per inch, I think) was used to put together this map based on the look and feel of my much older Mapper’s Challenge map from 2009. At 300dpi, these images are 5 megabytes in size.
Spread out over seven different depths, these caves, chambers and twisting passages provide an immense dungeon for exploration. So immense that I haven’t even considered how I would stock it.
Yunru wrote:
Elfcrusher wrote:
Here's a map from two years ago - at the time I was drawing in a 4x6 book I had bought at the Dollar Store and this particular map was spread out over three pages before I assembled it in photoshop.
For large complex maps, I find a bit of color-coding to be helpful. On paper, I use a 6-color highlighter set.
Green: Denotes a zone contiguous with an entrance. Does not extend through any locked, barred, or secret door.
Yellow: Denotes a zone separated from other zones by locked or barred doors. Does not extend through secret doors. When populating the dungeon, intelligent monsters favor these zones, and most of the time, the occupants of a given yellow zone will be in the same faction.
Blue: Denotes a zone separated from other zones by secret doors. When populating the dungeon, consider whether the current inhabitants have discovered these zones.
Orange: Denotes bottlenecks: any room containing the sole access points to other sections of the dungeon, even if it's just one or two other rooms with no exits of their own. Intelligent monsters will be particularly interested in guarding or trapping these areas.
Purple: Reserved for marking locked doors.
Pink: Reserved for marking any other significant boundaries.
DysonLogos wrote:
Dyson,
Your maps are excellent.
Geoarrge wrote:
Geoarrge wrote:
I also occasionally draw cities. But they take a LOT longer to draw than a dungeon map of the same size...
Here’s Axebridge over Blackbay (just called Axebridge by most). This city is fortified only along the waterfront, so the impression is that they have come under naval attack before. However the lack of other defensive structures implies that the city is well positioned in a friendly environment. The number of different docks implies numerous merchant and fishing families / businesses, and that the city has grown in spurts since it was founded, requiring new docks as more naval traffic starting using the port.
I drew this in a 4x6" booklet with a plain old black gel pen from Staples.