# Settlement Maps (updated - abandoned house map)



## Kris (May 29, 2005)

Hello all,

For some time now, I have wanted to draw a map of a small settlement - where all of the buildings featured on it where also mapped out internally (overkill maybe, but I though it would be cool)  

So I have used the (basic looking) interior plans that I have already drawn (in the 'bricks & mortar' section of my site) for reference, and then drawn the 'overhead' view of each of those buildings, so that I could then put them onto some kind of map.

So, after tinkering around for quite some time, trying to get a (somewhere near convincing) grass & road texture, I have finally come up with this:

http://www.enworld.org/CrookedStaffProductions/hamlet_test.jpg

It's not 100% finished yet (I've still got to try and add some ploughed field areas, and other little extras), but I thought I would post it in it's current state to see if any of you guys think I'm headed in the right direction 

I'm quite happy with it so far, but I'm not sure if it's a little too crowded, or if the trees look like, well.... erm... trees 

Also, I suppose I should add that this map is copyright Kristian Richards 2005 (an unfortunate necessity these days so it seems).

Anyway - thanks for looking


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## Eosin the Red (May 29, 2005)

I like it.


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## HellHound (May 30, 2005)

It's great. It is at least as good as ANY village published in Dungeon magazine to date.


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## Arnwyn (May 30, 2005)

I think it's great. These types of maps are very useful for one's game.


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## Kris (May 30, 2005)

Thanks for the comments - it's cool that you all like it 

Anyway, I've been tinkering with it a bit more, and I think I'm gonna call it done. Here's the finished version...

http://www.enworld.org/CrookedStaffProductions/new-edor_map.jpg

As you can see I've included a few ploughed areas (well I've tried to), and some enclosures (perhaps for livestock).


Now that it's done, I will probably upload it to my website sometime soon (as a pdf file) - and so I was wondering if I should perhaps number a few of the areas of note (like the inn, the smithy, the shops, etc.) or perhaps just number all the buildings and put a blank key along the bottom of the page (for people to add their own title for each of the buildings).

What do you think would be most useful?

Thanks again!


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## Arnwyn (May 31, 2005)

I don't know about others, but when I use vilage maps from different sources, I always prefer the blank key.


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## colonelthread (May 31, 2005)

Very nicely done, Kris. I've been toying with drawing up a small village I created for my latest campaign, but I'm afraid I don't really have the skills to do it. Shich software did you use to create this? I've been playing around with Gimp a bit, but haven't graduated much beyond simple figures as of yet.

Cheers,
ct


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## Kris (May 31, 2005)

Most of the map was drawn in photoshop (though I did draw some basic shapes in a vector graphics program, simply because I am more familiar with it's commands - as I'm still learning with photoshop).

I've heard quite a few people mention gimp - but I have never used it (so I can't really comment on it).


Also HellHound - thanks for drawing a similarity with some of the maps that appear in Dungeon magazine  (I am really flattered that you think it's of a similar quality - cool  ).

I did have that kind of 'look' in mind when attempting this - though I purposely did not dig any of my old magazines out when actually drawing it - as I didn't want to blatantly copy their style (or try to just duplicate what they already do), but it has turned out to be somewhat similar.

It's took quite some time to get looking just the way I want it, and despite what I said in my last post, I have adjusted a few things that were bothering me (not that anyone will notice, so I won't bore you all with another pic).

Anyway, I should now be able churn out any future maps of this kind a little quicker now that I know what I'm doing (well... almost know what I'm doing  ) - as this one was basically a test, to see if I could pull it off.

Thanks again!

PS - just another thought about the final pdf I make of this map... would it be more useful to people if I were to leave the name (i.e. New-Edor) off the map so that it can be used to represent a little settlement in their own campaign world??


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## HellHound (Jun 1, 2005)

Now what we need is a bigger one... with a river, and maybe a keep somewhere on the premises. Oh, and a small forest. Maybe some standing stones nearby. And a church & graveyard.


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## Conaill (Jun 1, 2005)

Looks very nice!

Just one detail... I would at least double the size of the plowed areas. Right now, what you have is barely enough for a good-sized vegetable garden, let alone to grow a crop the village can actually live off.


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## Ferret (Jun 1, 2005)

High quality towns! Very handy. Keep up the good work!


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## Kris (Jun 1, 2005)

> Now what we need is a bigger one... with a river, and maybe a keep somewhere on the premises. Oh, and a small forest. Maybe some standing stones nearby. And a church & graveyard.




Yep - now that I've got this one finished I've kinda got the urge to do more maps of this kind - and to try out some new features like the ones you mentioned. I don't think I'll be as ambitious as to try everything on one go    - but I think I'll at least try adding some water to the next one (and maybe do the watermill that this one points to    ).

---



> I would at least double the size of the plowed areas




Actually, the ones on the map weren't supposed to sustain the whole settlement - as I kinda thought that the main farmland (and associated farmsteads) would be a little further out of the town-centre or just 'down the road' so to speak - kinda like the watermill mentioned on the map itself (well that's my excuse anyway    ).

I'm not sure if this is too modern an idea - but a lot of the old, little, villages that I have passed through from time to time seem to follow a similar pattern (though I could be mistaken, and like I said it might be more of a modern idea, I am no historian - so please correct me if I'm way off     ).

---

Once again... thanks for all the comments & feedback - they are much appreciated


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## Vigilance (Jun 2, 2005)

Kris, I sent you an email, drop me a line at ricecharles2112 at netzero dot net please.

Im interested in using your map for an Excalibur adventure if you're interested.

Chuck


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## Kris (Jun 2, 2005)

Vigilance - another e-mail has been sent (let me know if you don't receive this one either)
...and thanks for the interest.


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## Kris (Jun 5, 2005)

Hello again 

I've been trying to come up with an effective look for a river today - and so as a test I have tried to do a (very) small map that shows the mill that the first map points to.

http://www.enworld.org/CrookedStaffProductions/testwatermill.jpg

I am quite happy with how the water-mill itself turned out - but I'm still not sure about the water     ...I've tried it lighter, darker, different colours - but this is the best so far  :\ 

Anyway, see what you think.

Thanks for looking!


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## Eosin the Red (Jun 6, 2005)

It looks pretty snazzy to me.


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## colonelthread (Jun 6, 2005)

Kris,

I think the river looks great, I can easily see that it is supposed to be water. I especially like the "reflection" effect you have used. Those are the kinds of things I need to learn how to do so that my maps are more than just simple lines and boxes.

BTW, I took at peek at the other items on your website and was very impressed. The "Bricks and Mortar" maps are wonderful drop-ins for any DM, and the "side-tracks" adventures are perfect for when a party wanders off in a direction you didn't anticipate. I will certainly keep them handy for just such an event.

Thanks for all you work and for giving these things to the community!

Cheers,
ct

EDIT: In answer to your previous query, maps without any text are the most versitile for other DMs, but maps with text tend to display more of a "finished" product. I say include both.


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## Kris (Jun 6, 2005)

Thanks again for the kind words.

...actually now that I have took a look at the water today, I'm a little more happy with it. I guess I was just looking at it for too long yesterday (and tinkering with it too much), and I just needed to take a break from it for a while.

Also (ColonelThread) - thanks for checking out the site and for the comments. I went back a not too long ago and took a look at some of the mini-adventures I put on there and, in all honesty, I considered taking them down. I think that the 'derelict house' one is maybe OK - but I'm not so sure about the rest any more.

So I'll probably just be sticking to maps & stuff in the future 

----


Oh - and the reflection on the water was achieved simply by using the 'ocean ripple' filter in photoshop. I do have a whole mess of other stuff going on to create the water itself - but the reflection is all photoshop (so I can't take much credit for that)


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## Kris (Jun 11, 2005)

I had a bit of spare time today so here's a quick map of one the few farmsteads that surround the hamlet. I have attempted a wooden roof of a small barn (or a large shed maybe) this time - to see if it would look OK (and it's also got may latest 'tree' version as well).

http://www.enworld.org/CrookedStaffProductions/farmtest.jpg


I think I might try a small ruin in the next small (test) map I do (or some other feature that I haven't tried yet), and then I'll try an put all these together as a free pdf or something (maybe with the hamlet stats, a few NPC stats, a key, etc. - so it's can be dropped in at a moments notice if needed). I'll also include some blank versions as jpg's as well - so people can add  their own text, keys, etc. if they prefer.

Anyway, once again - thanks for looking.


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## crabclaw (Jun 12, 2005)

The pastels, the PhotoShop layered pillow embosses, and particularily the roof tops (key) are all very nicely done -- thanks for sharing


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## colonelthread (Jun 14, 2005)

Kris,

Thanks again for sharing this with us. I am quite impressed, and inspired, by your talent. It is a shame that many commercial products are below the quality that your work exhibits.

By the way, do you take requests?


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## Kris (Jun 15, 2005)

To be honest - I hadn't really given much though about taking individual requests (as the maps can be a bit time consuming). I suppose I might be able to squeeze something in if it's relatively simple (maybe just a few buildings - or something like the farm or mill) - but I can't make any promises.

But now that I think about it, you've got me wondering about something along a similar line...

...Would anyone be interested if I (or someone else) started a new thread - where we could all build a small settlement together. What I mean is... we could start small (with a thorp maybe), and then discuss what to include (with regard to buildings, rivers, roads/trails, etc.).

I could try another map in a similar style to those posted above (once the layout had been agreed on), and maybe some of the great artists on these boards might be interested in doing a few sketches/portraits for some NPC's, or floorplans for buildings, or  handouts, or whatever takes their fancy.

Basically just bring together a bunch of different artwork - all of which could be used to represent a single community (be it a picture of 'Bob the miller' or a crumpled parchment displaying the inn's prices).

I don't know if it would work   , but I think it would be cool


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## colonelthread (Jun 16, 2005)

I'd certainly be interested in participating, but I absolutely lack the artistic skills to do any of the cartography or other art work. I can, however, lend my time in helping to "design" these entities.

What about another thought. Would you consider releasing your creations as "bits" for people to use for making their own maps? In other words downloadable bits of the buildings, sections of grass, trees, etc, that someone could use as the building blocks for coming up with their own maps? Just a thought, and I can understand why you _wouldn't_ want to do something like that.

Cheers,
ct


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## robjh (Jun 16, 2005)

Kris said:
			
		

> I've been trying to come up with an effective look for a river today - and so as a test I have tried to do a (very) small map that shows the mill that the first map points to.
> 
> http://www.enworld.org/CrookedStaffProductions/testwatermill.jpg
> 
> I am quite happy with how the water-mill itself turned out - but I'm still not sure about the water     ...I've tried it lighter, darker, different colours - but this is the best so far  :\




What, no mill pond? A simple dam would provide more power for the wheel and would also serve as a crossing point. During medieval times some mill pond owners charged a fee to use their dam as a ford/bridge, providing a little extra income.


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## Kris (Jun 16, 2005)

> Would you consider releasing your creations as "bits" for people to use for making their own maps?




Yeah - I had thought about trying some modular way of putting maps like this together.

My previous (quick test) attempts weren't all that promising though - as they kinda looked too uniform - and there was always a pretty obvious join where two pieces come together, and as soon as you start rotating things all the shadows look wrong   

I also think there is other software out there that would be a lot better at this kind of thing - so it's not something I plan to do in the near future - though I haven't completely abandoned the idea


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## Kris (Jun 16, 2005)

> What, no mill pond? A simple dam would provide more power for the wheel and would also serve as a crossing point.




hmmm... so did mills like the one I have drawn actually exist? (I admit - I have very little idea myself). I see how it would not be all that efficient - but is it a plausible design for an early mill perhaps?

And regarding 'mill ponds'...

Like I said, I now very little    so...  would we would basically have a dam (and the obvious build-up of water behind it) with the water wheel actually set into the dam - so the water flows through a narrow channel - thus propelling the wheel. Or could you also have it so the water flows down on top of the wheel to turn it? (or maybe I should just google).

I guess doing the 'community settlement' thing I mentioned above would be great for ironing out  these sort of creases beforehand - as we could attempt to create a little thorp (or whatever) that would look like it may actually work (rather than someone like me doing a map of what I think looks about right - but actually having very little idea about what I'm drawing). I know that it'll just be a map for a game, and not a lot of people would care too much about it's 'historical' or 'engineering' accuracy - but it wouldn't hurt to get it looking right


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## Lawrence of Arabica (Jun 17, 2005)

I've got one technical nit about the layout of the cottages in the farming village. In a more or less medieval Europe culture, I'd expect each cottage to own a small vegetable garden, and maybe a chicken coop. Most of the cottages have room for this (though they're not shown on the map) but a few don't.


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## Ferret (Jun 17, 2005)

Just a thought, what happened to old edor? Fire? Magic? Care to draw it?


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## Kris (Jun 18, 2005)

> I'd expect each cottage to own a small vegetable garden, and maybe a chicken coop




OK... I've been caught out again    though a couple of the buildings pictured are gonna be a shop, a smithy, a hall, etc...  so maybe they're OK as they are   

I do however see your point, and this is the kind of feedback that's going to help out in any future maps that I do - thanks  (keep them coming).




> what happened to old edor?




Actually, if you want further info on the settlement, I've just finished putting a rough pdf together for possible inclusion on my site. I've basically put all the pic's together and added a quick overview of the hamlet - but kept it all to just two pages long (well... 3 pages if you include the title page... but that's just there so that I can add my copyright and a link back to my site).

Keeping it to just the two pages means that a DM can have a reasonable starting point (hopefully    ) for a small settlement tucked away in their folder, that's printed out on a single sheet of paper.

I do however apologise for my lack of writing skills (I should probably stick to maps  ), I have purposely tried to keep the write-up brief - though I've probably only really succeeded in stating the obvious  :\ 

Anyway, here's the link... (it's nearly 750KB)
http://www.enworld.org/CrookedStaffProductions/new_edor.pdf

I hope it turns out to be useful to someone.


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## Ferret (Jun 19, 2005)

Looks good! Might use that actually....


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## Reese (Jun 20, 2005)

Excellent work! As I'm need a map for a small village for an upcoming game these will come in quite handy!


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## Kris (Jun 26, 2005)

Hello again 

I haven't had much to do this weekend - so rather that sit about doing nothing, I thought I'd attempt another map 

So this time here's a small thorp - nothing special, just a cluster of buildings around a road junction (it's around 650KB)...

http://www.enworld.org/CrookedStaffProductions/bradmor.pdf


Anyway... I hope you like it (and I hope it turns out to be of some use to someone).


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## Eosin the Red (Jun 26, 2005)

Very nice. Very useful. Very stolen.


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## Cergorach (Jun 26, 2005)

I like the maps a lot, but love the parchement, how did you do that?


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## Kris (Jun 26, 2005)

Thanks for the comments.




> I like the maps a lot, but love the parchement, how did you do that?




I only recently discovered how to get a basic parchment effect (in a surprisingly short space of time) by reading a thread on these very boards - started by HellHound... here's the link...

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=132477

I've changed little things here and there to try and obtain my own 'look' - but the basic concept is still pretty much as described in the above thread (so I can't take much credit for that).

I hope that helps.


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## RuminDange (Jun 26, 2005)

Eosin the Red said:
			
		

> Very nice. Very useful. Very stolen.



Ditto!   
Awesome.

RD


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## Turanil (Jun 29, 2005)

Excellent work! Thanks for sharing. The PDFs are really cool to use whenever the PCs would stop in a small village along the road.


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## Berandor (Jun 29, 2005)

Excellent!


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## Nellisir (Jun 29, 2005)

Really nice work!  My thoughts - keep in mind I can't do any of what you're doing, these are just my impressions: 
- I'd like to see some of the trees be a bit larger - at least equal to the width of the houses; 
- the green fields might be lightened a touch - maybe it's my settings, but the yellow rooftops are much brighter and really pop out too much; 
- some of the roads should be narrower (footpaths) or green down the center (this occurred to me looking at the single farmstead map); 
- stone walls or wooden fences to divide fields and fields from pastures, not just enclose a paddock;
- curve fields around hills & such, highlight the terrain (not all fields need be rectangular).

Great work!
Nell.


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## Rel (Jun 29, 2005)

Nellisir said:
			
		

> - stone walls or wooden fences to divide fields and fields from pastures, not just enclose a paddock;
> - curve fields around hills & such, highlight the terrain (not all fields need be rectangular).




I was thinking the same thing.  If the ground is at all rocky then there are going to be stone wall dividing the fields, not because farmers really liked building walls but because they needed someplace to put the stones kicked up by the plow and stacking them all in a wall was the easiest thing to do.  This will vary by region of course.  My grandparent's farm in eastern NC didn't have anything like this because the light, sandy soils there didn't have all that many stones it it.  But in New England I think most farms were like that as were the ones in England.

In northern France the hedgerows between fields were so massive that they held up the allied invasion in WWII for WEEKS longer than anticipated because each hedgerow was a fortification unto itself.  I've often thought that having a big battle set amongst that kind of terrain would be interesting.

That said, I love your maps and I think they are some of the best I've seen anywhere.  I also admire your willingness to incorporate the suggestions of others.  Keep up the excellent work.


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## Kris (Jun 29, 2005)

Hello again - thanks everyone for the input 


Yep   - I'll try and include pretty much all of these ideas in future maps (especially the fences/wall/ditches issue). Though I'm not so sure about lightening the grass though - as when I've printed the pic's out  - they seem to look ok (though the printout does look a little different to what I see on my regular monitor - and different again on my laptop screen  ).

...So I've basically gone with what they look like when printed on glossy paper (as that's what I'm printing them on myself).




> The PDFs are really cool to use whenever the PCs would stop in a small village along the road




Glad you like them - I hope they turn out to be useful. I've still not got round to putting a zip file on my site with all of the maps minus the text (for player handouts perhaps - or for DM's to name themselves). I'll try and get round to it soon.

Also - today I had no work , so I've been trying to come up with a suitable 'look' for a cliff-face or mountainous area. So here's my test map for that... a small mine:

http://www.enworld.org/CrookedStaffProductions/mine_test.jpg

I'm reasonably happy with the stone texture, and I think the cave entrance has turned out quite well). I've probably got the layout all wrong  again, but heh - guess what - I know very little about mining either  (no surprise there then). Hopefully it would work for a very simple mining operation.


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## Nifelhein (Jun 29, 2005)

This one, as all the others is good, although i can say I know as much of mining as you do. 

Congratulations and thanks for sharing your work, this sure will come handy sometime.


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## Nellisir (Jun 30, 2005)

Kris said:
			
		

> I've probably got the layout all wrong again, but heh - guess what - I know very little about mining either  (no surprise there then). Hopefully it would work for a very simple mining operation.




I don't mind people being wrong as long as they know they're wrong.  That's called artistic license (or doing what works -- sometimes what's right isn't what's best).

I did a search last night for satellite photos and came up with USPhotoMaps.  It's a free program that'll go out and get satellite photos for you of just about anywhere in the US that you want, plus topographic information. It might be worth looking at, to give you some idea of how stuff looks from above.  It doesn't get really detailed -- at 1 meter/pixel you could probably make out a car against a light background, but not a person -- but you can see how fields and buildings are arranged around the terrain.

Also, I live in New Hampshire, and might be able to figure out a few places to look at for small,"non-modern" farms, if you're interested.

Cheers
Nell.

PS - I think you've got some great maps, BTW.


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## Kris (Jun 30, 2005)

> Any chance on including some breif instructions on how you create these amazing maps?




I'll try...   

I started by drawing the 'rooftop' view of each of the buildings and saving them as individual photoshop files.

I did this by first getting the basic shape done in a cheap vector graphics program called Draw4 (cost me around £20 a few years ago - it's basically a poor-man's version of something like adobe illustrator) and then tinker with it in photoshop to get it looking something like right. For example the wooden roof pictured in the example below was created using a few different 'filters' and creating a couple of different 'styles' to get the texture and shading effect (basically a lot of trial and error).

All of these rooftops I can then copy and paste into the finished map   (and just have to mess with the shading on each of the roof sides accordingly - depending on how it's rotated (to simulate which side catches the sun). 


Then for the map itself - I start from the grass layer (which is done in a similar way as the link posted above on how to get a parchment effect) and work up. A lot of this is done in a similar way as the building - by which I mean, I start with simple shapes drawn in Draw4, and then mess around using different 'styles' and using various 'filters' in photoshop. For example, the tree in the pic below is created from the basic blue shape that I have drawn - so I basically copy & paste a section of grass the same shape as the blue 'blob' and use this new layer as a base to start from.

After that I simply apply a 'style' which I have created, to this new shape (the style being comprised of various bevel & emboss, drop shadow, colour overlay, satin, etc. effects) - and then make any slight adjustments accordingly.

here's the example pic's...

http://www.enworld.org/CrookedStaffProductions/june05example01.jpg


So individually the pieces don't look all that spectacular - but when they all come together on the finished map, they (hopefully) look OK.

I'm not sure if I have explained things all that well (especially to those of you are not familiar with photoshop) - but it's basically all created by drawing simple shapes first, and then a lot of messing around in photoshop.


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## Kris (Jul 1, 2005)

> I don't mind people being wrong as long as they know they're wrong. That's called artistic license (or doing what works -- sometimes what's right isn't what's best).




Yeah - like I've said in some of the above posts, I'm no expert - just some guy trying to come up with a few maps to use in RPG's   

...And I guess any real world examples are always good for inspiration. I suppose I could also check out the aerial photo's of the UK (on the multimap website) as well. 

I've also been 'googling' a bit and I'll try and incorporate some of my new-found knowledge   in future maps (though I'll probably lean a bit towards what is easier to draw than what is exactly 100% accurate - simply due to my own laziness  ).


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## Hussar (Jul 2, 2005)

If you're looking for an online program to find aerial photos and such, you might want to try Google Earth which is just an incredibly groovy program.  REALLY useful if you play modern games.


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## Kris (Jul 9, 2005)

OK - so after finishing that small mine map above, I thought I'd try drawing a map for a small mining community to go with it   

So this time (keeping some of the suggestions posted above in mind) I actually drew the terrain first and then tried to fit in all the various buildings etc. (as previously I had started with the road and buildings and then placed any terrain etc. in the spaces left over   ). The old way does seem a bit backwards now that I come to think if it - but heh - I'm learning slowly   

I know I've forgot a few things (or failed in a few areas) - for example I tried making some larger trees - but now there're one the map, they don't look hardly any different  :\  (guess I need to make some really big ones on the next map), and also I didn't add many fields to this one - so I didn't get to do many hedges   

Anyway, enough of my rambling... this latest pdf file can be found on the bottom of this page on my website...
http://www.enworld.org/CrookedStaffProductions/page6.html

or just click on the following link for the pdf itself:
http://www.enworld.org/CrookedStaffProductions/beorgham.pdf


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## Darrell (Jul 22, 2005)

Wow.

I stumbled across this thread a few days ago, and I have to say, I'm impressed.  I always seem to be needing small communities for a party to stop in, and these will fill the bill quite nicely.  The maps are beautiful, and the settlement layouts seem to me to be well thought-out.

Have you given any thought to other types of small communities, say a coastal fishing village, an elven tree-dwelling homestead, or a "Hobbiton-like"gnome or halfling settlement"?  Or, perhaps, something a bit larger than New Edor? 

Also, have you given any thought to going back to some of your earlier work on the CSP page and putting some of those building maps onto the parchment background you're using now?

In any case, your maps are wonderful, and I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Regards,
Darrell King


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## Kris (Jul 23, 2005)

Hello  and thanks for the comments (I hope you get some good use out of them).



> Have you given any thought to other types of small communities, say a coastal fishing village, an elven tree-dwelling homestead, or a "Hobbiton-like"gnome or halfling settlement"? Or, perhaps, something a bit larger than New Edor?



Yep, I have had a few random thoughts about most of these (though only 'thought' about them at this stage  ), and the 'hobbiton-style' map is one that I would really like to attempt in the future.

And with regard to bigger maps - yeah, this is also something I want to try - but I have started small and hope to eventually work my way up  . Though for bigger settlements I think I'm going to have to make the map icons a lot smaller (and thus re-do all my styles in photoshop  ), as my computer is taking an age just to open & save these small maps - or maybe I just need a new computer    (though the original images are disturbingly large and contain a lot of layers).



> Also, have you given any thought to going back to some of your earlier work on the CSP page and putting some of those building maps onto the parchment background you're using now?



This is also something I have considered - as I think adding the parchment to them makes them look a whole lot better (as on their own I have to admit that they do look pretty basic). However, I'll still leave the black & white ones on the website, as a few people have expressed that they prefer B&W images over colour ones to save on printer ink  (though parchment versions may appear alongside them at some time in the future - or maybe as one big pdf download).



> ...and I look forward to seeing more of your work.



I'm not sure when the next map will appear, or when I'll get round to updating the site next, as I generally have phases where I go mad on creating maps for a while, then I might have a phase where I spend a lot of my spare time painting miniatures, or work on my hirst arts dungeon, etc... etc... etc... ....and I have just got myself into a regular D&D game again (hopefully)   

...so the time I dedicate to gaming stuff is pretty much packed full of too much stuff that I want to squeeze in... as always (damn this hobby  ) - but more maps will no doubt be appearing in the not too distant future 

Anyway thanks again for the comments!


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## Kris (Aug 8, 2005)

Hello again...  

...I had nothing to do yesterday afternoon, so thought I would attempt a new map, and seeing as how I'm thinking about trying my hand at DM'ing online (using OpenRPG) some time in the future, I thought I would try and come up with a site map for an adventure I have been thinking of.

Nothing special... just an _'out of town - old witch-house' _ kind of scenario (with a slightly spooky garden - maybe something lurking in well, or in the pond... did that bush move? etc...).

So here's my attempt...

http://www.enworld.org/CrookedStaffProductions/old_house.jpg

...I've tried to draw a bare tree on top of the small hill (just beneath the scale bar), and added some dead bush-type areas by the (slowly disappearing) path - maybe for twig blights to hide in. I should probably try to develop some kind of technique for making the grassy areas look a bit more overgrown, but overall - I think it'll do the job that I need it to do.

Anyway, I thought I'd share it with you guys - just in case anyone else might find a use for it in one of their games


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## teknohippy (Sep 20, 2005)

I really like your mapping style there Kris. They have that shiney, sexy look that Christopher West's work for Dungeon has.

I've just switched to Photoshop myself after years of using CC2. 

I've never been happy with the often flat look of CC2 and the fact that it's a sod to use. Well I use PS for a living so I thought I'd give that a go and see if I could develop my original hand-drawn style from the old school days into something a bit more modern and refined looking. I'm lucky enough to have a decent Intuos tablet and a copy of Photoshop so off I went.

The look you're getting is just the kind of look I'm trying to achieve, I just started this weekend experimenting with a photoshop based water effect, which looking at your maps seems to be done in a similar way to yourself.

I almost happy with it 

http://www.teknohippy.com/junk/smallmap.jpg

I've now started on redoing one of my old city maps from a long running campaign in this new found Photoshop world of wonders. Just finished laying out all the land, adding the water effect and giving the land a sense of relief.

http://www.teknohippy.com/junk/portjonna.jpg

That's quite zoomed out, about 20% I'm actually doing it A5 size. Photoshop's getting slower with each new layer!

I'd be interested to know what you think.


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## LORDVOLDEMORT_UK (Sep 27, 2005)

*Grass & road texture*

Hi Kris,
may I ask if you explain step by step how you came up with your fantastic grass & road texture, in Photoshop?

I can't seem to come up with anything like it?

Simon


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## LORDVOLDEMORT_UK (Sep 27, 2005)

Hi teknohippy,

How have you done the water effect and give your land a sense of relief?

Please explain in Photoshop methods?

Simon


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## teknohippy (Sep 28, 2005)

The water effect took me ages and as it's an almost direct rip-off of the water effect Christopher West uses which he considers one of his trade secrets so I'm not entirely comfortable doing a step by step for that, it took quite a while to get it looking exactly the way I wanted, have a look through the distort filters in photoshop and see if anything stands out as being useful , once you've found the right filter have  a play and see if you can come up with your own method that suits your exact needs.

The relief on the grass texture is simply judicious use of dodge and burn.


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## Kris (Sep 28, 2005)

Hello all - sorry for the late reply 

Anyway - teknohippy...
...those maps look pretty cool  the water effect is especially nice. I also like the way you have drawn the sand... though the bevel effect on the three highest levels (of the grass areas) looks a bit harsh for my own personal tastes - unless they are maybe man-made defensive structures (not that I can do any better... 'cause I got a similar effect on something I tried  ).

I have never used any of 'CC' software packages, so I can't really comment on it, but photoshop seems to be pretty cool for these kind of maps (though I think I have done my own original images a bit to big - as they take an age to load or save  ).

I look forward to seeing more of your stuff - especially that city map finished 


And LORDVOLDEMORT...
...I'll see if I can get a basic outline of what I do (to get the grass texture) written up soon


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