Midaka Maps

Everyone who became a DM in their youth created their own fantasy world. Mine was called Midaka. It grew out of the imaginings I had as a young teen alone in my room, creating characters, making up backstories for them, creating castles they lived in, and so forth. Eventually I drew these maps of the Old and New lands of the east and west.

I have a few binders of lore about this setting, old and musty and full of embarrassing content. I might scan a bunch of it eventually. I don't know. For now I have a few scans here and there and the material is safely stored away once again, probably to be found by my kids when I'm dead. Possibly tossed out, who knows? (I kid... I think they would keep this kind of personal stuff. But that's really their choice, not mine.)

Maybe I'll post these maps again later and talk more about them, unpacking some of the stuff you see here. Like what the hell is Curab's Anomaly? There's some deep lore about that, I think. A wizard, a betrayal, a rift in reality. Stuff like that.

 

Mapping

A random Dyson map.

Dyson Logos has, in addition to many other things, drawn a map or two. And they're quite good. So good are they that his name is basically synonymous with maps in the RPG circles. When I'm running a shotgun game and I need a quick map I just google Image his name and I'll have what I need in minutes.

If you google image my name and add "map" you get some maps but none of them are mine. It's because I don't draw a lot of maps. Why?

I mean, I love a good map and I've done a bunch of them. But I tend to do world maps more than dungeons and then I don't like to share them until I have a world to share... which is a pretty big hurdle to get over. So I have lots of world maps laying around for worlds that were merely a name or idea.

I have a love/hate thing with maps. I have always been attracted to things that invite me to create. Pens and papers and RPGs invite one to create. A map has the capacity to invite creativity as well, but it is also by definition a bit of fixed real estate. Once you map an island then it is "known". If the map is reliable, of course. I think this idea of fixing something firmly in place fucks with my psyche and I resist it.

Still, a lovely map is a lovely map and inspires you to step into it. Maps are a net good.

A literal sandbox map for Goodman Games.

A region of Yria, my D&D world.

Early idea for Pan-Gea.

Underground Down Below

The biggest feature of the new Black Pudding is the 8-page adventure based on Evlyn Moreau's stunning little map shown below. In the same way I created Vault of the Whisperer in Black Pudding #2 based on a map by Karl Stjernberg, I created Underground Down Below based on Evlyn's map. I hope someone gets to play it and have a good time.

More Original Zyn Dweomer

In this post I had some images for the races of my setting, Land of Hof, which I was calling Zyn Dweomer for a time. Here's a map I drew for the setting when it was Zyn Dweomer.

The idea at the time was to have three kingdoms.

Arcazia was the land of the elves, who were masters of spacial magic. In theory their domain was limitless because of the way they used their magic to warp space and time, bending it in ways that defy logic. The elves here were also darkly humorous and weird. Their customs were abominations to the puritanical humans.

Grynmere was a vast lake or inland sea surrounded by picturesque hills and fields. This was the land of the grimmers, a sort of mix between goblin and dwarf and gnome. Their deal was hospitality. You go to Grynmere if you want good food and relaxation. But don't start any shit because you'll be at the bottom of the lake wearing iron boots.

Ondwaland was the human lands. Humans in this version of my setting were just the most regressive dickheads imaginable. Loosely inspired by Rome and the Catholics and imperialism in general, they had this oppressive monotheistic religion and a mandate from god to dominate the world.

So the idea was to have this constant tension between these three peoples. There would be an uneasy treaty at any given time, with the humans trying to find ways to expand, the elves fucking with the humans, and the grimms trying to remain neutral and make mad cash off the stressed out humans coming to their lands for respite.

One of the ideas lounging around in my folders and my head that will probably never see the light of day (in this form anyway).

Drawing an Adventure for Black Pudding

I'm working on issue #6 of Black Pudding. In this issue, I'm doing an adventure based on a totally badass map created by Evlyn Moreau. Like the one I did in issue #2 from a map by Karl Stjernberg, I'm slamming this together on-the-fly. I like working this way. I like just shoving things around my canvas and seeing what fits. I can compose both visually and thematically and technically all at once. I can then go back and refine, moving things as needed, linking up adventure elements in ways that feel organic. It's such a creative and fun process. I'm thankful to have such good material to work from as Evlyn has provided!

Here's a WIP of the adventure, which is tentatively titled "Underground Down Below". You can see the gray border that lets me know the safe area where stuff should go so it doesn't get cut off in print. I have an overlay of lines to help align things, as needed. I'm still toying with certain elements, such as whether or not to include the key numbers next to the description since they are buried in some of the map snippets. Also, those random tables are just screenshots from the spreadsheet I have open where I'm creating them. Once I decide on the tables' contents I'll export them to a high res PDF, then import that into Photoshop and paste the 300 ppi tables into the adventure itself. I'm like a kid with toys!

Rub It Review: Dyson's Delves I

+Dyson Logos has been doing adventure maps for years. And they are iconic. So iconic, it's very easy to rip him off and maybe not even know it. That's because he has perfected a craft of simplicity.

Dyson's Delves I is a 152 page book you can score in paperback or hardback from Lulu (link below). From the back of the book: "Being a collection of cartography and detailed adventures hand crafted by Dyson Logos, cartographer and explorer."

One-third of of the book is a series of detailed adventures, generally taking up 2 pages each with a map and keyed area descriptions. In the OSR spirit, these adventures are scripted, merely keyed. The stats are given in classic D&D terms (basic/expert). The adventures are for low level PCs ranging up to level 5-6.

All of these delves are part of the same quasi-megadungeon and you can string them together into an epic crawl or use them individually.

The rest of the book is a series of awesome maps with blank lines for you to fill with your own adventures. Just write in the book, dummy! It's POD.

Obviously the thing that makes this book great is Dyson's actual maps. They are just nice to look upon. They are works of art from a person who as mastered their craft. They demand to be explored. But in addition to that, the keyed adventures herein are pitch-perfect for a good old game of D&D where you roll 3d6 in order and die at zero hit points. You can pop this book out at the table without any preparations and run a game, no problem.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/dyson-logos/dysons-delves-i-revised/hardcover/product-21797916.html

https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/maps/

Dyson don't screw around. His maps are featured in the latest D&D 5e offering from Wizards of the Coast, Dragon Heist!

http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/dragonheist