Sneak Peek: Restless Sands Maps (Patreon)

Hello all!

A nice early post on the weekend today! :)

I wanted to share the progress I've been making slowly over the last few weeks on some maps and assets that are coming next for the Patreon!

As you can see from all the images of this post, I’ve gone back and reworked the desert assets I made about a year ago. Now I should mention when I’m talking about reworking, those older assets are still somewhat functional in most cases but I remaking something just brings it up to date  and I now have a standard system for making things so it should hopefully cut down on remaking anything in the future. In addition the old desert assets were… a little basic so I wanted to add more to them this time around! :)

The palm trees are much more detailed but still fit my style, there are some cactus from a slight perspective so you can tell what they are. Some wonderful tents, and carpets for that arabian feel and of course a whole bunch of eyptian assets to really sell that desert vibe!

Of course while I was working on these I realised that I could absolutely use this opportunity to make a few battlemaps as well!

It has actually been a long time since Ive made any battlemaps and the reason for that is sort of simple. For a while I thought my stuff just wasn't that good. I would make something and then really over think how people were receiving it and enjoying it. I suppose imposter syndrome really kicked in a while, mostly due to the fact that I was comparing myself to other mapmakers out there that are doing amazing work.

I’ve been improving a lot over the last few years but comparing myself to people that have only just started in the industry and seem to be at a much more advanced stage of creating awesome tokens and maps hit me quite hard. Nevertheless I powered on and kept working on bits in the background and eventually decided to stop looking at other people's work entirely to try and bring back my own sense of wonder and excitement to draw cool maps.

Which leads to the maps you can see below :)

Above is a great wyrm skull that is absolutely huge, from a long dead ancient wyrm that must have died hundreds or thousands of years ago! (I know, another dragon!) But at least this one is in map form that you would come across while roaming the desert wastelands.

Above is a simple desert campsite with some large tents, a place that PC's might set up themselves while exploring a desert area or perhaps a place they come across in order to seek out wisdom from the locals.

Of course no desert is complete without a pyramid (This is similar to one I did a while back but has been updated a bit) and this one is nicely detailed with a scarab stone slab door, perhaps a puzzle of some kind will open the way.. Oh and the door is an asset that you can remove in order to enter the ancient burial tomb...

Speaking of ancient burial tombs, this is the interior of the Crimson Pyramid, a well preserved tomb of an ancient king, with a few side chambers to explore and even a top right secret chamber that has no visible doorway. In a VTT you could easily block the line of sight to this chamber and fill it with treasure that the PC's must find through other means..!

The above map is my attempt to sell that desert theme once again, with tons of character and a tone that would really set the stage for the PC's to encounter some desert villains or monsters. Raining down arrows from the cliffs tops from behind the ancient statues heads.

Who knows, maybe the statues themselves are guarding the desert pathway forwards with enchanted ruby eyes that shoot powerful beams of energy at anyone attempting to pass without answering ancient riddles!

Above is another example of what I like to call "setting the tone" you can really put the players into the world by showing them a map like this, a half buried ancient skull or statue of a long gone desert kingdom or empire that is now the home to giant scorpions nesting in the skull cavity perhaps, or perhaps the mouth is the entrance to a desert cave of long lost treasures..

Above is the entrance to a desert town or city that the PC's might come head towards through the desert, pleading with the guards to grant them access so they can buy some precious drinking water.. or perhaps they might be called to defend the gates from attacking desert gnolls while staying in the city itself!

Speaking of cities, this map is one I'm very proud of and would make an excellent map for wandering around buying supplies in the desert heat or finding out information about the surrounding area.

Perhaps those desert gnolls from earlier manage to break through the gates and attack the city center itself and the PC's must battle the hoard alongside the city guards across rooftops and side streets..

Either way I think these eight maps are some of my best work to date and I'm really excited to start colouring them and finishing them off!

If you have any thoughts on these and would like to give any feedback or suggestions please let me know in the comments!

As always, thank you all for reading! :)

Caeora