Treasure Map : Kuth's Tomb.

[Aval Penworth]

I made this map for my players to find in some ruins, along with the classic strategically-water-damaged journal of a would be tomb raider. It shows the location of the tomb of a warlord and his buried treasure. I was tryng to go for a pen and ink on heavy parchment like look. The features on the map are deliberately a little ambiguous. I want them to have to do some investigation to discover the locale.

I haven't decided what kind of hideous undead entity the warlord has become...maybe a revenant.

Unfortunately, I accidentally saved over my master file after I flattened the layers in PS, so any modifications will be a nuisance. D'oh!

Anyway, here it is. The map to Kuth's tomb.

[tilt]

looking good love the subtle levels ... AND, the edit I wan't to suggest will be easily made even after flattening
I think the gate by Kuth's tomb is to "nice" - it doesn't fit with the map. So make a handdrawn copy of that and you're set

[Aval Penworth]

OKay, I had a go at hand drawing the tomb entrace. I have included two versions on the same map, one free hand one trace. Opinion? Also included a version with more muted tones. Eh?

[Ascension]

The browns are definitely much easier to look at than the yellows. I am confused about other things, though. What are all of the little brown specks...grunge, mountains, trees? The brown outline makes me think that the center area is a lake but it could also be a forest outline...not really sure either way. The little dungeon things are good, I like both but it depends on what kind of map you want that would determine which to use. A precise map would get the trace while a hand-drawn map would get the other.

[Aval Penworth]

The browns are definitely much easier to look at than the yellows. I am confused about other things, though. What are all of the little brown specks...grunge, mountains, trees? The brown outline makes me think that the center area is a lake but it could also be a forest outline...not really sure either way. The little dungeon things are good, I like both but it depends on what kind of map you want that would determine which to use. A precise map would get the trace while a hand-drawn map would get the other.

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah I think I'll scrap the yellow. I find everything I upload here looks brighter and more saturated than the original...wierd.

To answer your question: As stated earlier, this player's map is meant to be a little ambiguous. I want my players to be unsure of what they are looking at, prompting inquiry and NPC interaction to discover just where this place is. And offer a surprise or two when they get there.

The centre area is a lake. The brown dots in the lake are great spires of rock that emerge from the water (hence "forest of spears")... an important feature as these formations only occur in a few select regions of my game world.

[tilt]

I'd go with the handdrawn, but perhaps an even cruder version?

[Steel General]

I like the 'toned down' brown version much better.

[Aval Penworth]

Okay this is the final version. Not much different, but included for completeness.