milbysmaps posts
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Mycenaean Citadel
This map was heavily inspired by the Citadel of Tirynsin ancient Mycenae. If you're not familiar with Mycenae, it was an ancient civilization that occupied all the parts of Greece you're likely to visit on vacation.Tiryns is old enough that it was mentioned in the Iliad. It was built around 2500 BC and abandoned by 200 BC. This place actually appears in the Hercules mythology as well. It was the home of King Eurystheus, who ordered Hercul...
Mycenaean Citadel - Patrons' Edition
This map was heavily inspired by the Citadel of Tirynsin ancient Mycenae. If you're not familiar with Mycenae, it was an ancient civilization that occupied all the parts of Greece you're likely to visit on vacation.Tiryns is old enough that it was mentioned in the Iliad. It was built around 2500 BC and abandoned by 200 BC. This place actually appears in the Hercules mythology as well. It was the home of King Eurystheus, who ordered Hercul...
Mycenaean Citadel (Work-in-Progress)
This is the Mycenaean citadel I'm working on, which is partly based on the 5000-year-old citadel of Tirynsin Greece. I'm gonna get back to work on this and I'll be back with the map in a few more days. Hope you like it!
The 72nd Cartographic Congress Final Runoff
One final runoff vote this month. What'll it be?Joe proposes a settlement carved into the walls of a stony mountain canyon with several bridges and lifts aiding movement around the city.Odd proposes an unseelie fae palace for the Duke of Thorns. The palace is a twisted nest of dark, narrow hallways adorned with creeping vines and spiked, thorny growth.
The Stygian City 13, 14 & 15: The Kuo-Toa Colony
On the 13th level, the pit intersects with a small, underground river, which eventually leads to the underdark. So, after the city became abandoned, it was only a matter of time before the kuo-toafound the place and moved in. Which they did.The kuo-toa Archpriest who rules the colony wants to expand his territory, but unfortunately, he's stuck between an ancient night hag above and a circle of myconids below. He's scared of the night hag ...
The Stygian City 13, 14 & 15: The Kuo-Toa Colony - Patrons' Edition
On the 13th level, the pit intersects with a small, underground river, which eventually leads to the underdark. So, after the city became abandoned, it was only a matter of time before the kuo-toafound the place and moved in. Which they did.The kuo-toa Archpriest who rules the colony wants to expand his territory, but unfortunately, he's stuck between an ancient night hag above and a circle of myconids below. He's scared of the night hag ...
The 72nd Cartographic Congress Runoff
We're down to four in the runoff. Which one am I drawing next month?Shawn proposes an Asian-inspired air elementalist monastery suspended under an overhanging cliff.Joe proposes a settlement carved into the walls of a stony mountain canyon with several bridges and lifts aiding movement around the city.Odd proposes an unseelie fae palace for the Duke of Thorns. The palace is a twisted nest of dark, narrow hallways adorned with creeping vines a...
The 72nd Cartographic Congress Vote
This is an excellent month for the Cartographic Congress and I think I could do something really cool with all of these ideas. Hopefully you'll agree. Anyway, feel free to discuss, debate and promote your choices. Good luck to everyone!Lost Nebula proposes a desert junkyard filled with broken tech, mechs and ships.Silas proposes a Salamander nest built in subterranean caverns with space for an entire Salamander tribe and their humanoid servan...
The Stygian City: 13, 14 & 15 (Work-in-Progress)
This is the art for the kuo-toasettlement in the Stygian City. A small, underground river flows past the 13th level, which is how the fish people found the abandoned settlement and moved in. On the 15th level, a broken bridge across the pit separates the kuo-toa from the myconid colony below.By the way, I've revised the plans a bit for the rest of the project. Here's what I've got in mind now:1-2: The village3: Villagers’ mines4: A ...
Dragonriders' Hall
I usually talk about the map in these posts, but this one is what it says on the tin. It's a stable/livery/hatchery for dragons. Let's talk about Council of Wyrms instead.Council of Wyrmswas a 2nd Edition D&D boxed set with rules for making dragon player characters. And it was absolutely terrible. Did I buy it? Yes I did. In my defense, I was 15 and a lot of stuff seems like a better idea than it is when you're 15.I tried it for one s...
Dragonriders' Hall - Patrons' Edition
I usually talk about the map in these posts, but this one is what it says on the tin. It's a stable/livery/hatchery for dragons. Let's talk about Council of Wyrms instead.Council of Wyrmswas a 2nd Edition D&D boxed set with rules for making dragon player characters. And it was absolutely terrible. Did I buy it? Yes I did. In my defense, I was 15 and a lot of stuff seems like a better idea than it is when you're 15.I tried it for one s...
The Stygian City 10, 11 & 12: The Hag's Domain
Here's the non-annotated versionof the map.The next three levels of the Stygian Cityare finally finished and, as you can see, there's a lot going on. I'm giving out the annotated version to everyone and, for patrons, there are in-depth explanations of everything in the DM notes. I wrote 4 pages of notes on these three floors alone, including some encounters and suggestions for monsters to populate the place with. If nothing else, read...
The Stygian City: The Hag's Domain - Patrons' Edition
The next three levels of the Stygian Cityare finally finished and, as you can see, there's a lot going on. I'm giving out the annotated version to everyone and, for patrons, there are in-depth explanations of everything in the DM notes. I wrote 4 pages of notes on these three floors alone, including some encounters and suggestions for monsters to populate the place with. If nothing else, read the part about the flesh golems in the 12th le...
The Stygian City – The Night Hag’s Domain (Almost Finished)
These are the 10th and 11th levels of the Stygian City. I'll need a few more days to finish up the hag's palace on the 12th level, so I'll be back with that soon. Hope you like it so far!
The 71st Cartographic Congress Runoff
We're down to two in the runoff. Which one of these maps do you want to see?Ethan proposes the "Impossible Vault." This dwarven vault was designed to be impenetrable, with multiple doors, traps and security measures to protect the artifact within.Morgan proposes a Bronze Age Mycenean citadel.
The Stygian City - The Night Hag's Palace (Work-in-Progress)
This is the 12th level of the pit, which has its own upper level just above the pen in the photo. There's a lot going on here and I promise I'll explain it, room by room, in the DM notes.The short version of the story is that an ancient hag is living here with her derrominions and an assortment of demons, flesh golems and various other creatures and she's trying to wake up Ghanya, the entity living at the bottom of the pit (info on th...
The Stygian City (Work-in-Progress)
These are the 10th and 11th levels of the giant pit megadungeon. I'm still working on the 12th. These three floors are the domain of an ancient hag named Black Hazel. Her minions reside on the 10th and 11th and she lives in the old palace on the 12th.There's going to be some insane stuff on the 12th level. There's a workshop for making flesh golems with a room full of body parts next door. There's also a pool filled with some kind...
The Astronomer's Tower - Ruined Version
As promised, here's the ruined version of yesterday's map.With that done, I'll be getting started on the 10th, 11th and 12th levels of the Stygian City. These floors are the home of a particularly ancient night hag who's trying to awaken the beast at the bottom of the pit. The first two floors are inhabited by the hag's minions and the third is the lair of the hag herself, who lives in the ruins of the royal palace.There are g...
The Astronomer's Tower
So this is a fairly classic wizard's tower. I wasn't trying to reinvent the wheel here, but I did want to make it more interesting than your average, military-issue wizard tube.The top floor has a telescope and an armillary sphere, which is basically a 3-dimensional astrolabe. It calculates the position and movement of stars. Beyond that, I'm not sure there's too much to explain.I drew a ruined version of this map for patrons, whi...
The Astronomer's Tower - Patrons' Edition
So this is a fairly classic wizard's tower. I wasn't trying to reinvent the wheel here, but I did want to make it more interesting than your average, military-issue wizard tube.The top floor has a telescope and an armillary sphere, which is basically a 3-dimensional astrolabe. It calculates the position and movement of stars. Beyond that, I'm not sure there's too much to explain.I drew a ruined version of this map for patrons, whi...
The Ruined Tower (Work-in-Progress)
This map was originally meant to be a ruined mage's tower, but I decided to make an intact version as well. Having two versions of the same map lets you do some interesting things, like have the party fix it up and move in. Or you can have the party enter the ruins, then find a magic orb that sends them back in time to when the tower was occupied. If you've got any other ideas for it, let me know.Anyway, I'm coloring these now and the...
The Black Ziggurat
This map was heavily inspired by the Great Ziggurat of Ur-Nammuin Iraq. If you've ever seen a picture of a ziggurat, that's probably the ziggurat you saw. I designed this primarily as the headquarters of an evil organization, but it could be used as a temple, cult lair or just a dungeon in the desert.I made a bunch of alternate versions of this place for patrons, one of which was unintentional. Here's how that happened. I was trying t...
The Black Ziggurat - Patrons' Edition
This map was heavily inspired by the Great Ziggurat of Ur-Nammuin Iraq. If you've ever seen a picture of a ziggurat, that's probably the ziggurat you saw. I designed this primarily as the headquarters of an evil organization, but it could be used as a temple, cult lair or just a dungeon in the desert.I made a bunch of alternate versions of this place for patrons, one of which was unintentional. Here's how that happened. I was trying t...
The 70th Cartographic Congress Vote
I'm just finishing up the next map, so I'll let you get straight to the vote so I can get back to it. I don't know if I'll have it up tonight, but I'm gonna try. Anyway, your proposals are:Morgan proposes a Bronze Age Mycenean citadel.DireSquirrel proposes a mound city similar to the Native American town of Cahokia.Stefano proposes a ruined temple in the middle of an ancient, abandoned city.AN7 proposes a drow academy of sorce...
The Stygian City: Goblin Village, Spiders' Nest and Temple
The 7th level of the pitis home to a clan of goblins, who get by on a healthy diet of giant bats, giant spiders and mushrooms (which are basically a vegetable). Below that, the 8th level is overrun with spiders and in dire need of a treatment that only Dr. Flamethrower can provide.Then there's the 9th level. Most of this floor is a giant temple to Ghanya (the deity of the people who built the pit). But there's a smaller group of rooms tha...
The Stygian City: Goblin Village, Spiders' Nest and Temple - Patrons' Edition
The 7th level of the pitis home to a clan of goblins, who get by on a healthy diet of giant bats, giant spiders and mushrooms (which are basically a vegetable). Below that, the 8th level is overrun with spiders and in dire need of a treatment that only Dr. Flamethrower can provide.Then there's the 9th level. Most of this floor is a giant temple to Ghanya (the deity of the people who built the pit). But there's a smaller group of rooms tha...
The Stygian City – Spiderwebs (Work-in-Progress)
I am incredibly proud of how these spiderwebs turned out and I don't care who knows it.
The Stygian City - 7th, 8th and 9th Levels (Work-in-Progress)
These are the next three levels of the Stygian Cityand, as you can see, they're a lot bigger than the previous floors. From left to right, they're a temple, a spiders' nest and a goblin village.I've had a few new ideas since I wrote up the original plans.One of the bigger additions is an underground river that runs through the city. Kuo-toa have found their way there and moved into that level and the one below it. I'm not sure...
Drow Academy of War, aka "Black Metal West Point"
This is a place where drow men-- the ones who weren't smart enough for magic school-- go to learn how to bludgeon each other to death with assorted metal objects. The lower level of the map is an obstacle course and I suspect that some people might not be into that, but I think it's a very drow thing and I want to try to sell you on it.Here's how I imagine it. The students don't run this course solo. They're running it alongsi...
Drow Academy of War, aka "Black Metal West Point" - Patrons' Edition
This is a place where drow men-- the ones who weren't smart enough for magic school-- go to learn how to bludgeon each other to death with assorted metal objects. The lower level of the map is an obstacle course and I suspect that some people might not be into that, but I think it's a very drow thing and I want to try to sell you on it.Here's how I imagine it. The students don't run this course solo. They're running it alongsi...
