The Wizards Academy maps 1

[ChickPea]

Although this isn't really my thing, the maps looks great and your skills shine through.

[Ilanthar]

A Nymph Lake close to an academy? That would surely cause a lot of distractions for some students !
More seriously, that's another great set of maps, with more informations and maps than required for adventures. Great job!

[Abu Lafia]

Can only agree with the others. That's a fantastic set of maps J.! I don't know much about dungeon maps, but i really like the way you did the ground/walls in the lower levels. I haven't seen too many dungeon maps like this (i can only remember your "Frog Lorde" dungeon where you had it in a similar way) and it looks very good. The "pit to the cavern" in the warm up room looks particularly great!

[Larb]

I agree with everyone else - really nice set of maps. My only criticism though (and I know a magic academy likely has access to magical light) is that there seem to be many rooms with no windows. =P

[J.Edward]

Thanks all for the comments. I'll address some of them.
Bogie - The lairs are colorful and detailed, so you'll still get some of that once they're posted.
When I was first asked to do this a sample was given that was very subdued and didn't have much color. So I was following that directive.
You know me... I tend to use a lot of color normally. That's why I don't get as many book commissions - don't have enough B&W examples.
Some rooms are likely larger than they should be but yes, I do try to make rooms that are large enough to do something in. A hall closet doesn't provide for much actionable room.

Ilanthar - yeah, a nymph lake and a succubus teacher too. This school has some truly unusual teachers. That made for some unusual lair maps.
I wasn't able to get my hands on the text of the module so I can't speak to how it plays out as an adventure but from the info I had about the teachers it seems like it would be quite a story there. I think it was 14 maps in all... well, some of those maps were multiple floors so actually a few more than 14 I guess.

Abu - yeah, that is a style of walls I had been working to develop. I used to do my dungeon and cave walls differently. But I needed to develop something that would blend with some other styles I did so this one seems like a good fit. The 'pit to the cavern' was a later add in that the client informed me of after I had done the whole map. So it doesn't fit as well as it should have, had I known ahead of time. But I'm glad it still works.

Larb - and also Red Kettle[as he messaged me about this issue as well] - regarding the windows, light, etc. Sometimes you just have to concede things to your client.
I did make some changes here and there but you have to be careful not to **** off your clients. So sometimes you just let things go and do the work as it's given to you.
C'est la vie. From what I am given to understand this academy is HEAVILY magical, so I would imagine that light isn't much of an issue for them.
Most of the adventure in the dungeons and the lairs occurs underground. Many of the teachers living quarters are underground so I figure they're maxing out their magical lighting on a regular basis.
As I told Red K, the map sketches I was given didn't have windows. And that didn't seem to be an issue. But I had to add windows. So I added them where i could.
Oh well, what can you do. Do the work as well as you can, get paid, move on to the next contract.

I'll add this, the old world was a much darker place. Windows were not as common. Arrow slits don't provide much light.. and are probably drafty and cold in the winter.
Glass wasn't around for a long time. There were often many dark windowless rooms in large buildings. That's why magic was invented, of course.

Thanks again everyone.

[Sanderling]

These are great maps, and the floorplans are really outstanding – the isometric style is used to excellent effect.

And I can appreciate that here, at last, is an academy which really looks and feels like a large institution, and which gives the sense of a sizeable student population and a bustling community. This is a place where you can feel how intimidated a new student would be, those first-day jitters in a place where you could very easily get lost just looking for the right classroom.

There’s also been some good thought given to what’s needed in the floorplan, in particular the many guest rooms, the plentiful storage closets (more than most real-life institutions) and an abundance of teaching space. In a word, this is quite professional, and it reflects very well on both yourself and the fictional architects who designed it to magical spec.

I only have two things to point out. I’ve been re-watching Downton Abbey recently, and with that in mind I’m wondering where the servants at this academy will gather for their meals and socializing. Would that be in one of the two servants’ rooms to either side of the Great Hall? It’s not clear from the floorplan whether these are barracks for servants, separate meeting and social spaces, or a combination of some sort.

And also, for the student dormitories on the second floor, you have rooms labeled as “Boy’s Dormitory,” “Advanced Girl’s Dormitory,” etc., when they should probably be labeled Boys’ Dormitory, Advanced Girls’ Rec Room, etc., with the apostrophe after the –s to indicate a plural possessive.

Other than that, really fantastic work here. Now I want to see this module!

[dglott]

Wow those are great to bad im a D&D player and not pathfinder but still amazing work!!!

[Tom]

What can I say J.E., impressive work.. clean, detailed, very nice! If I may, how much time it required to you to complete the work?

[J.Edward]

Thank you Sanderling.
Might I say - very astute observations. Especially regarding the plural possessive.
If it were an easy fix I would correct it. Alas, it isn't an easy fix. At this point the text isn't editable I'm afraid.
The problem with putting text in perspective/iso.
Regarding the servants... you know, most people kind of glaze over that stuff.
Where do the servants, eat, bathe, etc. I try to add that stuff in where I can but clients aren't usually that interested since the story never focuses on the servants.
They're usually lucky to get more than one room. I'll be honest and say that it was not discussed at all.
I added more storage rooms, guest rooms, and servant rooms than were originally requested but I was making changes the client didn't ask for so I had to walk a line and not make them mad about too many changes to their vision.

Thanks dglott. Well, the maps are based on a 5 foot grid, which is the same as dnd so you could play the maps but I guess the stats would be different.
Maybe there's some easy conversion tables somewhere for that sort of thing? Anybody know?

Thank you Leso.
Well, to complete all the maps, including the lairs [which are not up yet] the work spanned about a month. However I was working on several projects during that time so it was not a solid month. The academy floorplans took about 2 days, with an additional day or two to do requested edits.
The cavern was maybe a few hours, then some edits and changes.
The forest map took about maybe 5 hours, and again some further edits after that.
The dungeon maps took longer. A lot more went into the layout for those as they were really rough to begin with. Plus the time to do the overlays and make sure things were lining up properly. Maybe 2 days on each... and of course a few edits after they were done.

If I had to guess, solid work time [as in 8-12 hour days] would probably be between 2-3 weeks for all 14+ maps. The lairs actually took the most time to do. They are all furnished and everything had to be hand drawn so I had no premade furnishings that could be used. I also wasn't told what furnishings to use so time had to be spent figuring out what all should go int each room. Surprisingly, it is sometimes better when a client tells you everything they want and you don't have to think about it - just draw it.

I talk too much.

[dglott]

Map wise I can use it as is the monsters are really the only thing that would be differant...