Fantasy maps created using Xara Xtreme

[Gamerprinter]

OK, I finished the base map for the Blue Ox Inn. Stables are to the left side, the innkeeper's home is in the far top right corner, with an outhouse and a storage shed in between. Tomorrow night I begin to work on the various map objects to fill the place.

Blue Ox Inn final (full scale) version

[Gamerprinter]

This month's challenge at the Cartographers' Guild is to create an Aquatic Civilization map, so rather than create a whole city, I opted to create an encounter scale (1" = 5' scale) location called the SeaRiver. Essentially a fast moving ocean current, in this case caused by a cascading river from the shore pushing its water into the sea. The SeaRiver village is located along the continental shelf roughly in 80 feet of water, located in a temperate zone - so lack of coral, but heavy presence of various kelp and seaweeds. The village only includes two small hovels, a kind of stable building and a sea cave, as it is more a work camp than a true village operated as an outpost for some submarine lifeform.

Nets are stretched across the current's trajectory in an attempt to catch various kinds of detritus caught in the flow - such as metal implements attached to wooden handles, serving as kind of a 'mine' of surface products fallen into the river at the surface.

I hadn't determined whose village this is, but obviously some kind of water breathing humanoid, as available weapons include spears, tridents and a net.

This map is in my purely digital style, which I can create quickly and photorealistic results. I created this map in under 24 hours. This is a purely Xara creation - no scanned linework. I do incorporate some sliced photos and a few 3D objects, including the nets.

Link to larger version: Sea River Village

GP

[Gamerprinter]

So I am doing the page layout for the second adventure of my 3 part mini-arc for my Kaidan setting, called The Curse of the Golden Spear, Part 2: Dim Spirit. And I'm finding myself in the lack of needed illustrations for it, and the budget is at $0 at the moment. So I've turned to my own illustration skills once again.

'Dim Spirit' is the direct English transliteration of the Japanese word: 'Yurei' which basically means ghost.

I see about a dozen illustrations I might need to create, but 3 are definite for sure.

This illustration is for the opening scene: Lord Hachiwara is torturing Honya Tyro, the daughter of the merchant, that has hired the adventurers to escort a gift, in actuality a ransom for the rescue of his daughter. Lord Hachiwara is about to kill the poor girl and turn her into an Honna-yurei or skeleton spirit ghost, as an added lesson for the scheming father of hers. He says, "What I am about to do to you will be very painful, but do not fear, for what comes after is far, far worse..."

[Cholkan]

Hi there. Just wanted to say I'm enjoying seeing your maps. It's something I would actually probably do some time. Great looking maps!

Thanks for posting.
Paul

[Gamerprinter]

Thanks, Cholkan - and welcome to TalkGraphics!

Here's an older Tavern map that will part of the set with the Blue Ox Inn... (this is really only a thumbnail)

[Gamerprinter]

Not trying to promote my products here, just excited that publication release is soon.

My three adventures for my Kaidan setting: The Gift: Curse of the Golden Spear, Part 1; Dim Spirit: Curse of the Golden Spear, Part 2; and Dark Path: Curse of the Golden Spear, Part 3 is being released as a print/PDF bundle through Cubicle Seven Publishing. The Gift will be release on June 9th, Dim Spirit on July 9th, and Dark Path on August 9th.

Its also exciting to see that these pre-orders are available at the Paizo Store, Cubicle Seven shop, Amazon.com (US/UK/AU/De/Fr/etc.), Barnes and Nobles, or can be ordered through your favorite book store or local game store, as the products have an ISBN and is in the Alliance Distribution database.

I was originally expecting these releases as PDF downloads only - to see them available in print through normal channels is way beyond expectations!

Michael

[Gamerprinter]

Here's a map for a Convention Game (1 of 2) for Kaidan, being run by the lead designer at Origins 2011 (Origins is a gaming convention held in Cleveland, OH.)

The adventure is called The Frozen Wind, featuring a remote mountain monastery during a snowstorm. The adventures are caught in the might of a snow storm and forced to seek shelter at a Yamabushi stronghold.

Once settled into their beds (area 1a), sometime during the night Ice Oni and their mistress a Yuki-onna invade the monastery and kill all the resident monks. The adventurers awaken to a cold dead monastery and all other inhabitants are dead.

Because of the size of the complex and details needed, I hand-drew this at 33" x 43", scanned then imported to Xara. Beveled shapes with dropshadows placed underneath the scanned linework - my usual process.

Enjoy!

Link to larger version: (8.4" x 10.8" 300 ppi) Frozen Wind Monastery

[Fred C]

...I hand-drew this at 33" x 43", scanned then imported to Xara....

Hi Michael,

It looks great! Curious; what type of scanner are you using to scan something of this size?

Regards,

[Gamerprinter]

Traditionally I've been scanning my linework onto an 11" x 17" flatbed scanner in multiple pieces then composite the whole in Xara, however for a 33" x 43" that's too many scans. I run a graphic design studio/digital print shop and I have a large format B/W scanner/printer in the shop capable of 36" wide scans by up to 10' long (Kip 2053). I've avoided using it as it scans as B/W and not grayscale. But since the linework is black ink on white paper, I decided to give it a try. I was fairly satisfied in the results so may use the large format scanner for future map scan work.

Michael

[Fred C]

Thanks Michael, it seems to work well.