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My idea for the next megaproject
🕑 Added 2024-11-18 12:06:52 +0000 UTCSo, I actually have ideas for the next two megaprojects, but let's talk about the first one for now, which is the smaller of the two. I want to get your feedback before I make any decisions about this, so nothing is set in stone here.
This project would be a city map drawn at a 5' grid scale showing the interiors of every building, some of which will have multiple levels. It would be similar in concept to Finbarr's Marsh, a map I drew a long time ago. Finbarr's Marsh was a nice enough map for 2018, but it's still the only full-city battlemap I've drawn and I think it's time to make something better.
The sketch above shows the basic layout I have in mind: a trade city built on islands in a river delta. This design has a few advantages. First, I think it's interesting and unique. And second, it allows me to easily break the map up into pieces. The whole city might be 500x500 tiles, which is a little big to use all at once. But since each island can be cropped into its own map, you'll be able to use a much smaller (80x100 or so) map and change to a new one when the party crosses a bridge to another island.
So, what goes into this city? A lot. Harbors for merchants and naval ships, homes for the rich and poor, the ruler's palace, a small fort guarding the harbor, several inns and taverns, dozens of shops, a marketplace, a college, a citadel and a ton of other stuff.
If I had to guess, I'd say this is about two months' work. So, is this something you want me to spend the time to draw for you? If not, I can always come up with something else. Leave a comment and let me know whether this is a map you're interested in. And if you've got any questions or thoughts about what might make it better, let me know that too. Your feedback will decide the future of this project.
Comments
fierce_pain
Yes something like that. I like your ship maps a lot.
Milby's Maps
I may do that. Maybe the flagship of their fleet or a riverboat?
fierce_pain
It would be nice seeing ship maps that belong to the city
Allan Grohe
Sounds great, and looking forward to it! :D
Milby's Maps
As far as the population, it'll probably only be a couple thousand. But I'm drawing this as a 5' grid map that shows the interiors of all the buildings, so drawing someplace big enough for 10,000+ people would take a year or more. It'll be big enough that, if I made it bigger, I'd just be drawing more of the stuff that's already there. Another library, another bank, a fifth tavern, etc. As far as the size, I suspect it'll end up being around 500x500 tiles, so about a square quarter mile. I think it'll seem much bigger than it is, though.
Allan Grohe
I love the idea of an island city interconnected by bridges, walkways, skyways, ferries, ropewalks, docks, boardwalks, tidal causeways and sandbars, etc. How large a city are you imagining—both in terms of population and size (square miles)? If the city also features an underwater component that could be pretty interesting: the city is a site where sea elves and surface elves meet and trade, or where pirates and saughin conduct slave auctions, or whatever. So, in addition to the surface layer of the settlement, an undersea one as well, with areas where the two meet and interact. Being on a river delta emptying into a bay or inlet, the water may be a meeting of fresh and salt water, with a zone of brakish interaction too, which might make for an interesting diversity of creatures and wildlife. The river would also bring a vast amount of silt to the city each year, so perhaps they need to dredge channels to maintain shipping lanes, or perhaps there are lots of bargefolk who live there and ply its waters (like the Rhenne from the World of Greyhawk’s Nyr Dyv and river systems). Perhaps the silt/sand is a source for artisan glass, a key feature in the local economy (Murano glass?). Allan.
Allan Grohe
I posted this as a comment last night on the blog post, not having seen the comments here yet:
Nethermatic Fantasy
Love the idea
shadowtim3 .
Ooo, depending on how you build the map, I could use it as a potential battlemap for a coven of hags, or a group of goblins living in the swamps. Or *starts ranting about dozens of idea's.* Lol. Brainstorming aside, the silhouette looks like it'll be an interesting marsh map. I'm excited to see.
Milby's Maps
Yeah, you can always just use a small piece to represent part of any other city.
Jeffrey P
This would be very useful. I love your Mont St. Michel map because it has so many interiors with details, and the way you provide an (optional) labeled version for the DM is great. Having a city with different interiors would also be a great single source for shops or warehouses or other city battlemaps, which otherwise I have to search through every time I run a campaign like that.
Milby's Maps
I'm thinking most of the bridges would be about 2 tiles wide, maybe 3. The whole thing would probably be 400x400 or 500x500 altogether, although a ton of that would be water.
Milby's Maps
Glad to hear it!
Evan Burgeson
I'm super excited to see this!
Andar
It's a very interesting idea. Unfortunately I can't guess the scale - the connections could be anything from one-tile-planks to 8-tile wide street-bridges where two carts can go in opposite directions. A Sky-version is also a very good idea - or perhaps a steampunk version over a chasm of lava deep below? The possibilities are endless.
Andar
no city can survive without an adequate water source - the number of people capable of surviving on transported water is simply too low to make more than a small village.
Luke Rolfs
Or like they are spires, and the docks are sky-docks. Kind of like a much larger version of Thunder Bluff from WoW.
KoonFox
excited for this! I'd also really love some locations in the Anauroch desert or similar concept! Some magical places buried by sand dunes, mines, Netherese ruins, orc settlements, creatures from other realms lurking in the underdark below it...
Matthew Neville
I love this idea. Finnbar's Marsh is one of my favorite town maps, and I love Brazenthrone as well, so the thought of a new whole city megaproject is very exciting.
Milby's Maps
Now that you mention it, maybe I should just make a sky version. That wouldn't take me too much work, either.
Milby's Maps
Thanks, I'll check that out.
Shasta
I think I could easily make this work for a floating sky piece by making some slight edits.
Silas
The really nice thing about a project like this is you can come back to it later. Do an extra island a couple years down the line. I’d suggest alongside the main city doing some ancillary maps. Ships (and barges, we rarely see barge maps) that move between islands, an open water map people can drop a player boat onto, a riverbed map for underwater activity (maybe with a sunken ship?), maybe even a secret island with a tiny bit above water entrance and an elaborate dungeon beneath. There’s also traditional flooded stuff that could be included, if the city is old enough the course of the river will have changed over the years, some bits of the old city might be underwater now, especially if they’re on less inhabited islands (I’d suggest looking at places like the Scilly Isles to get what I’m thinking about with submerged stuff due to water level changes).
Milby's Maps
Thanks!
Milby's Maps
Thanks, glad to hear it!
Milby's Maps
Hey, glad you got so much use out of it! This place would be even bigger than that, probably by quite a bit.
Milby's Maps
Sure, I was actually thinking of making it tropical, too.
Milby's Maps
Hey, thanks a lot! To be fair, cities in real life tend to be on rivers or coastlines too, so I usually don't feel too bad about placing them there. I do want to draw a map of an inland city at some point, though. I had the same thought about using walled districts to split up the map. Anyway, thanks for the feedback!
Milby's Maps
Sure, you could always rearrange it or cut out the parts you don't need.
Luke Rolfs
This looks like a great idea!
AN7
I like it, especially because it will be a complete location but also because with how you are describing it there is a positive it can be pretty modular.
Adam Thornton
I've already got a spot in my world that I could drop it in for my players, build away!
Tom
So for starters, this sounds awesome and would look amazing when its done; no debate. When I saw your maps I subscribed immediately, the first time I've ever paid for maps, because they are just so fantastic. That said, I feel like almost every city for D&D is based around water. Everything is on the coast, or if it's not on the coast, it's on a river. And they're always temperate. I frequently have my characters visiting towns that are... not. They're towns or cities that emerged because of trade routes intersecting. And there's a dearth of maps that fit that category. (I also think a map of this kind would be easy to do variants of; I imagine you can pretty easily have a forest version, a desert version, and an icy version. With some extra effort, I wonder if you could divide the city into walled districts; such that each district could have the others masked with terrain and it can act essentially as an entire other town.... Or maybe have variants where the districts are divided by terrain features instead of walls; like cliffaces, or a river, or a massive toppled statue ...) As you can see I'm very focused on modularity and variants. Anyway! I love everything you produce and this would be no different, but since you asked for feedback, I gave it =)
Kevin Morris
Love this idea. Can't wait to see it come to fruition.
Niyaga
I agree it's worth the time and the concept of island/maps works. Could definitely host a Pirate or City of Thieves flavour game
Morgan Holt
This looks really cool.
Carl Durcholz
The Deep Spire is one of my players all time favorite locations and maps, a spot where they can visit over and over and discover more of the map each time is a really satisfying and engaging experience. I will always be ready for more like that, and more like this! Absolutely worth the time in my opinion.
