Forgotten Realms Battle Map: Glister

[Cunning Cartographer]

Well this is the first map I've ever made that is purely illustrative. Normally I photoshop using a lot of textures, using items from RPG map share sites and putting them together for a session. Probably not done any hand drawn illustrations for about 5 years, but recently landed a gig doing it and invested in a Wacom tablet, which has just allowed me to do so much stuff I never could before. Recently looking through this site, Deviant Art and WOTC maps for the new D&D campaign I'm about to run I've come across time and time again the works of Mike Schley, Torstan and Djekspek and needless to say I'm in love with their illustrative styles and so have begun my own journey into illustrative map design; the following is my first attempt and I'm pretty happy with it.

All drawn from start to finish by myself, the exception being a parchment texture from CG Textures that I used for the background. i'm hoping to making a full D&D Campaign to sell so will probably come back to my maps down the line (right now I need to finish them so they can be used in my sessions as well!), adding a few more items and pretty to the map, etc That said, I welcome any constructive criticism or pointers, especially from those mentioned if they stumble across this post.

Two versions of the map; sunny day and a sunny day with heavy rain (which is what my map is going to be in for some added excitement), so tried to get the point across in the map (quite difficult ).

Glister Sunny.jpg Glister Rain.jpg

Map Synopsis: So I'm starting a 4e Forgotten Realms Campaign soon and after picking a suitable area to start did some reading about an Orc/Goblin/Ogre horde invasion that wiped out one of the towns out (Glister), so thought it would be fun to have my guys in the town when it happened, fending off the horde. The idea for the map is our party are on the walls trying to kill mobs making their way to the city gates (the white block under the wall) which has HP, enough damage on it and the gates bust open. As it's primarily caster/ranged focused, my melee guys will be fighting off random mobs that do get up the wall further down the wall (appear from the side of the map) but can also drop rocks through the machicolations on any mobs that make it adjacent to the wall (out of LOS for ranged).

The defenders need to hold out for 25 turns until the town Archmage appears to rain down some mighty destruction. On turn 10 a level 6 Ogre appears (my guys are level 1, but he has no melee contact with them) who starts doing major damage on the doors. Due to this, in the event that the Ogre does break down the door, they will have to fight him on the other side of the wall as minions pour in.

[Jacktannery]

Beautiful map. The style and colouring works very well; your rain is a great success, as are your puddles. The map is very clear. Looking forward to see more of these.

The only thing not working for me is the door and window into the structure in the upper-left. Firstly, although I can instantly distinguish between the door and window, I know that one player in every group I GM will get mixed up (honestly they are hopeless) and have no idea. Secondly, it's too white in relation to the rest of the map; it looks incomplete. Even shading these opes a very pale brown would allow them to sit in the map a little more naturally.

[Cunning Cartographer]

Yeh I didn't really like the icons either (especially as it sits on top of the detailed edging of the tavern roof), but was trying to conform to expected style over personal preference. Will definitely readdress them

[arsheesh]

Hey that's a nice looking battle-map. Great job.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh