Against the Peacock Throne (Oct 2017 Challenge)

[Diamond]

This was my entry for the October 2017 Challenge. It shows the quest of a motley band of adventurers to recover five mystical gems that together will allow the heroes to overthrow Shahzor the Black, a rakshasa mage whose cabal has overthrown the Rajah of Jindapur, the Peacock Empire.

This thing was a real b!tch to complete, but I'm pretty happy with the result. There are several things I would've added/done differently if I'd had it to do over again, but meh. It is what it is.
Note: The hero portraits and the various artwork in the boxes were not created by me and are not owned by me. Most are from various Pathfinder and/or D&D materials.
The banner template was created by Abu Lafia.

Anyway, hope you like it!

[Eilathen]

This is all kinds of cool, D!! Love it. I think with this piece, the map isn't even that important...i just love all the little stories and pictures. Very evocative! Makes me want to jump right in with a group of roleplayers and have at it.

If i can, i'll definitely rep. you for this.

[LordCartoart]

Awesome work, D! I already repped your WIP, so it won't let me do it again, so soon. But if I could, I would rep it three more times . Great job!

[Abu Lafia]

That was a truly epic ride around the Worldheart Sea Diamond! Everything in the Map works so well together to enrich the classic howardian adventure atmosphere of the story. From the majestic title and overall layout, to the well chosen illustrations. The shiny golden labels fit the wonderfully crafted map excellently. A well deserved challenge win! A tiny nitpick would be the missing hint about Shahzor the Black and the initial situation on the map itself, so nothing to worry to much about.
Btw. i'm glad you could use the diamond-shaped banners on the map. Your customization with the symbols looks very nice! The next one i'll make to appease you for not working further on my Korobrom map will have some more shiny golden bling bling to it. Given the space for your medals on your chest might run short, a standard would be a good place to carry them around with you!

[Diamond]

Yessssss, give me more bannersssssss.... gollum......

[Kellerica]

A great piece as usual, D.

Congratulations, I've offically run out of things to say about your maps. You just make too many of them, and they're always so good. Damn you!

[Mouse]

...I've offically run out of things to say about your maps. You just make too many of them, and they're always so good. Damn you!

Phew! Thank goodness I'm not the only one!

So at the risk of repeating myself (and making the usual excuse of getting too old to remember), a real beauty of a map, D!

Excellent work

[FrancescaBaerald]

Wonderful work!

[Ilanthar]

Great map, along with a fine adventure and composition !

[Diamond]

Thank you guys, I appreciate it!

A tiny nitpick would be the missing hint about Shahzor the Black and the initial situation on the map itself, so nothing to worry to much about.

This really nails one aspect of the map that I wasn't happy with. I couldn't figure out a graceful way to get the back story in there, and I think it really needs it. Maybe I could've done a sidebar on the left with a wall o' text explaining things. I also wasn't really happy using the art in the boxes. My original idea was to have each one of those boxes be a mini-map showing a closeup of a tomb, or river chase, or whatever was going on in that particular stage. But I got a late start on the project and soon realized there would be no time to finish if I went that route. Sigh. Maybe I'll revisit it at some point and change all that stuff...