# Barrow Maps



## Kris (Jul 26, 2006)

Hello all 

I thought I'd have a go a drawing a few barrow/cairn/burial mound style maps today...

I admit I'm no expert - so they may be nothing like real barrows, but for my gaming purposes they will probably do the job (well, at least I hope they will  ). I'll likely do three or four more of varying sizes (maybe for a 'Barrow-Downs' style area)... and as usual I thought I'd post them here just in case anyone can get some use out of them in their own games.

Anyway... here are the first two... see what you think.


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## Kris (Jul 27, 2006)

Here's another I've just finished up... one long since plundered...


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## pogre (Jul 27, 2006)

I'm going to have to borrow yer' barrows!


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## Nellisir (Jul 27, 2006)

Nice stuff.  How about one with a hidden stairway or trapdoor to a lower level?


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## TheNovaLord (Jul 27, 2006)

very nicely done sir

JohnD


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## Whizbang Dustyboots (Jul 27, 2006)

Nice! I'm going to steal these to add to the cairns in my campaign setting. These are much smaller (and thus more realistic) than the Cairns set by 0one Blueprints, although those are good for dungeon crawling.


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## Kris (Jul 27, 2006)

Glad you all like them 



> How about one with a hidden stairway or trapdoor to a lower level?




Here's my attempt...


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## XCorvis (Jul 27, 2006)

Neat. Keep 'em coming.


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## Kris (Jul 27, 2006)

Here's a slightly larger one (the dotted line is supposed to be a secret passage):


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## Kris (Jul 28, 2006)

Hmmm... I'm not sure if I like the 3rd and 4th images I posted... so here's a new one I put together really quickly using bits from both:


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## Kris (Aug 1, 2006)

Been playing around with these a little and I though I might try to put them all together as some kind of pdf download for my site. Perhaps something like this...

http://www.enworld.org/CrookedStaffProductions/map_page_001.pdf

I'm not finished 'tinkering' with it yet ...and I'll probably make the final version a higher quality pdf.


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## terrainmonkey (Aug 2, 2006)

so these are great maps. i just have to know, what program are you using for these? i'v ebeen trying to get my maps to look this good, but i am stymied to this day.


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## Kris (Aug 2, 2006)

> what program are you using for these?




I'm drawing the basic shape of the 'dungeon' in some software called 'greenstreet draw4' (but that's just blocks of colour to represent the wall, the grid, etc.) the main work is done in photoshop.

If it's of interest to anyone I can attempt a quick tutorial if you like?


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## terrainmonkey (Aug 2, 2006)

hey, that would be great. i mostly work on corel draw but the design ideas are pretty much the same. multiple layers, textures, etc. so yes, i think most would like to see or hear how you do it.


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## Kris (Aug 2, 2006)

OK… here goes… but this is only the way I've been doing things - there might be an easier way, or quicker techniques to get a similar effect - but I've just been figuring this out as I go along and teaching myself the software… (one day I might actually read the manual …but I doubt it    )

Anyway…

…first I draw the basic layout in some (vector graphics) software called 'Greenstreet Draw4'. It's basically a very cheap version of something like adobe illustrator (I think you can get a similar thing as a free download called 'Inkscape'). You could of course draw something like this in photoshop or whatever… but I've been using this 'Draw4' software for ages now - and I'm kinda stuck in my ways 






Top Left Image:
Once I've got the basic shape drawn in 'Draw4' I export it as a bmp image and then open it in photoshop (I'm still on 'adobe photoshop 7' I'm afraid). Right now the image is pretty basic and is just a number of simple lines/curves as shown above.

Top Middle Image:
Now that I have it open in photoshop I simply select and copy the floor area (both the white and red parts - to make a new layer) and play around with different styles (like applying a bevel/emboss texture, pattern overlays, colour overlays, etc.)… until it looks something like how I want it (note if you save the style, you can make sure that the next map you do looks exactly the same  ).

Top Right Image:
Then I simply copy and paste the red lines from my original background image and again use the styles feature to make it slightly transparent, give it the correct colour etc.

Bottom Left Image:
Next I copy and paste (thus making another new layer) the blue lines from the original background image and then go to work getting the walls to look right. Again, I have used various options to create a new 'style' utilising the textured bevel & emboss feature, pattern overlay, drop shadow, etc.

Bottom Middle Image:
Now I select the pink & black background… copy and paste that to the top layer and give that some kind of pattern overlay to make it look a little like stone or whatever. (I've also got a slight inner and outer glow going on with this layer… which is why I've 'cut' out an area next to the entrance - to stop it darkening the floor near the entrance).

Bottom Right Image:
Finally I copy the pink area from the background, bring it to the top layer and fill it white to give everything a nice crisp edge. I also might tinker with the colour balance at this stage.

…and that's pretty much it. Drawing all the little bits of furniture & debris etc. will be a bit more demanding and take a while longer… but the actual 'dungeon' itself is quite simple. And for anyone who doesn't have photoshop (or similar) there is some free software called GIMP that will do a similar thing.

I actually attempted a similar tutorial over on the OpenRPG website a while back (where I post as Hador)…
http://forums.rpghost.com/showthread.php?t=42788
…and someone was kind enough to show how to get similar results with GIMP.


Anyway… I hope that helps


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## terrainmonkey (Aug 2, 2006)

it helped a bunch. thanks. i do the same with coreldraw, so it shouldn't be that hard. i just played with it since i got it, and i also never read the manual. i just experimented with things until i got the style i wanted. also, transparency the grid lines. how come i didn't hink of that? duhhhhh... i feel like a moron sometimes when i don't see something so fundamentally simple. oh well. thanks a bunch. i'm going to go experiment with this technique, maybe post something a little later on.


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