D&D 5E Semi-Homebrew Campaign City / District / Battlemaps (5E Starter Set Expansion)
Introduction/background: Hello Cartographer's Guild! I'm a new DM to the D&D scene and I'm looking for some assistance getting my first campaign off the ground! I'll be running the D&D 5E Starter Set which takes place in and around the town of Phandalin in the Forgotten Realms. I'm planning on expanding the initial campaign far beyond its initial scope of a level 1-5 adventure and I'm using the surrounding points of interest to do just that! The biggest hurdle I'm running into is my complete and utter lack of any sort of artistic talent when it comes to drawing up or using map making software to re-create one of the locations. The first part of this project would require that I have a map of the nearby ruined town/city of Leilon mapped out (I'm a visual person at heart and need to have that visual representation of what I'm working with to breath life into it).
Project Scope: One overhead view map of the ruined town/city of Leilon as it exists today. I'll be sourcing various pieces of lore to aid with the creation, though the artist (if any) who decides to take this commission will have a great amount of freedom to design the city as they see fit. Additionally, I would like detailed maps created for at least two districts within the city itself where my players will be spending a great deal of time, and a battlemap of the town square where an important encounter will take place.
Description of Maps:
Overhead City Map - This map should reflect the ruined state of the city itself. It's been abandoned and strictly avoided since the Spellplague for fear of the magic and monstrosities that were unleashed as a result of that catastrophe. I would prefer a palisade wall around the city with The High Road entering the city in the northwest portion and exiting in the southeast. I will include images of the region map for this city. Additionally it should have multiple districts defined on the map, notably a Wizard's Tower, a ruined keep, a temple, and on the eastern section a district dedicated to the upkeep and processing of materials gathered from the three mine shafts that begin within the city walls and stretch out to the nearby Sword Mountains a few miles away.
Wizard's Tower District Map - I leave this one mostly up to the artist, but it should include an entrance to the tower itself with obvious signs of ruin around it from the creatures that were released when the magic imprisoning them failed.
Temple District Map- Same as above. I don't have many specifications for this, really. At least one entrance to the temple, and possibly an entrance to an underground crypt that the players will be visiting.
Town Square Battlemap - A simple town square battlemap of moderate size with an inn bordering it on one corner, a marketplace in another. The other two corners should have something that casts deep shadows, but other than that I don't have any specifications for it.
Potential Future Map Projects - I may also have additional projects available in the future to flesh out more locations that can be discussed with me. I will likely be looking for a Temple Map, Crypt Map, Wizard's Tower Map, Keep Map, and multiple underground mines that lead to two or three different locations. These aren't within the scope of the initial project, but depending on the work performed I may be willing (if the artist is) to commission further detailed maps of each of these locations with appropriate payment given.
Technical: This is the part I'm not entirely sure on. I have little to no understanding of the process involved with the creation of a map, so I will likely leave the technical aspects of it up to the artists' discretion.
Resolution: See above! I'm honestly not sure what the best resolution will be. I will be uploading each of these maps into Roll20 for use as maps / battlemaps, so the resolution should be conducive to resizing as necessary.
Format: .JPG, or whatever will work best being transferred into the Roll20 platform.
Transfer of files: Files can be sent to me via email.
Number of Maps and Style: One for the City Map. Two for each of the others; one without gridlines and one with. As for style, I would prefer something similar to the style used for official Wizards of the Coast maps, but this is not a necessity. I would also prefer color maps, though the two district maps could be done in B&W.
Copyright: The artist will maintain copyright of the maps with license given to me to make alterations with the understanding they will not be used for commercial gain by me. They will only be used for my personal campaign.
Deadline: Preferably within a two-month time frame, though they can be stretched up to a month or two beyond that depending on the length of time it takes my players to make it to that region.
Design Process:
Stage 1 – Initial sketches submitted for approval.
Stage 2 – 50% design development submitted for review.
Stage 3 - 90% design development submitted for review.
Stage 4 – Final Maps.
Stage 5 - Potential ongoing commissions based on artist availability and campaign need.
Payment: Paypal. $400. $100 up front payment made to artist once commission is accepted. Additional payment of $100 upon completion of Stage 2 and Stage 3 respectively. ($200 total.) $100 payment upon delivery of Final Maps. This is negotiable as necessary.
Contact: Email is the preferred method of contact. Eliniel1 at yahoo dot com. Remove the at and dot respectively. You may also reach me on Discord, Skype, or my personal Cell Phone; all of which will be given out once the commission is accepted and approved.
I'm unsure if I can upload copyrighted images from other artists to this thread, so if I can't please let me know and I'll take down the following images!
For reference only! The first image is the overworld map provided with the D&D 5E Starter Set showing the location of Leilon and nearby points of interest:
Sword Coast World Map (Phandalin).jpg
The second image is an older reference shot showing the location of Leilon along with other points of interest not included on the above map:
Leilon & surrounds.jpg
Other material referencing the town for added background and visuals.
Taken from the D&D Old Grey Box: Based in the small coastal town of Leilon, on the High Road north of Waterdeep, this ragtag band of local toughs has done surprisingly well in a brief career of adventuring, plundering (and surviving) at least six of the Mage-Tombs in the mountains east of Leilon, slaughtering a colony of lizard-men in the nearby Mere of Dead Men (gaining some strange magical treasure thereby), and doing some caravan guarding for merchants in Neverwinter.
Waterdeep and the North: This small human mining town sprawls along the High Road, on the Sword Coast. It lacks walls (an earthen bank surmounted by a wooden palisade shields it from the landward side, but where the road pierces these works there are no gates), and also lacks a proper harbour. A dozen massive, battered barges are loaded in the shallows in the spring and summer, and are poled and then rowed out to meet ships and unload by means of rickety cranes that rise from the stems of the barges into their holds. Needless to say, this is a fair-weather operation only, and tricky even then if the wind is fresh and the seas high. Increasingly, Waterdhavian entrepreneurs have sent wagons north to buy the copper, nickel, and silver of Leilon at bargain prices and take it south to sell at Waterdeep’s harbour. Leilon’'s mines are guarded by “the Lances of Leilon,” a force of some two hundred fully armed, mounted lancers used to fighting off pirates, orcs, bugbears, and trolls. Each lancer carries an axe and knife, usually a sword of some sort, his lance, and a light crossbow which he is experienced in firing from horseback. Leilon'’s total population is some 3,000; its ruler is Pelindar Filmarva, Lord of Leilon. Leilon is a firm ally of Waterdeep, and considered a friend of the Lords’ Alliance. In the mountains east of Leilon’'s mines is at least one important abandoned dwarf-hold, “Southkrypt,” said to be home to many strange and dangerous creatures.
Volo's Guide to the North: ... Leilon consists of stout stone cottages with slate or thatch roofs, the latter being covered with a hardened
slurry of mud. The houses cluster together within a crescent-shaped earthen rampart on the landward side of the settlement. The rampart has a ditch on the outside and a wooden palisade on top.
... The hard-working miners of Leilon concentrate on digging rich lodes of copper, nickel, and silver from deep mines in the mountains east of the town, though a few older shafts even descend from within the town itself.
... Leilon is a growing community. Lord Filmarya has established a shrine to Tyr in town. It stands beside older shrines to Lathander and Tymora. The Cult of the Dragon and the Zhentarim are both reputed to be active in Leilon, and there are also dark tales of local cults who worship undead mages or spirits of the mine deeps.
An abandoned mage’'s tower, known as the High House of Thalivar, rises in the centre of town. It is guarded by its own ward. Details on the powers of the ward and the existence of tokens remain unknown. It is known, though, that it has guardian monsters, and they have so far proven deadly to all adventurers seeking to plunder the magic reputed to be therein....
Neverwinter Campaign Setting: This sleepy mining town once served as a convenient resting place for travellers on the High Road. Now, the few travellers who still take this route shun Leilon, going miles out of their way to avoid even laying eyes on the town.
The High Tower of Thalivar long stood as a landmark here, abandoned by a forgotten mage. For generations, the tower proved a tempting target for plunderers - and, too often, a grave for them as well. The people of Leilon knew that the tower held guardian monsters, and they were content to leave it alone. However, the Spellplague's twisted magic unleashed the creatures trapped in the tower, which quickly ravaged the helpless village. Now, the tower is a place of terror, its magic freezing in place all creatures whose eyes rest upon it, even for a moment.
Everything above is simply reference material and does not need to be reflected in the final product as this is simply a personal project of mine.
I'd also like to state that I've drawn most of my inspiration for this project from the Scrivener of Doom, who's website can be found here. He goes into a lot of detail about a potential expansion of the D&D Starter Set and without his insight I wouldn't be nearly as inspired to do this as I am.
Final Note: I really look forward to working with someone on this project! It's something I've been pouring a lot of work into personally, and I'd hate for it to fall flat simply due to my lackluster skills in the art department. I'll make every attempt to answer any questions people may have expediently, and I'll do my best to stay out of the artists hair throughout the process! Help me breathe real life and magic into this campaign!
Thank you!
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