Well THIS was a challenge. As usual, mapping outside of dungeon mapping gives me a little anxiety, but I dug in a think the end result wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and I rather like it. I opted to do the 3d perspective of a castle, as this, I think is the most challenging map to create in this series. We are all pretty used to mapping top-down, so that didn’t seem like it would be useful to as many people as another 3d map in this style would.

(Download the FCW file of the castle.) (See the more info on the Annual “Beaumaris Castle” here.)

So, setting this map up, for myself, was a little difficult at first. Math. Not my thing unless it’s dosage calculations for meds, so getting the perspective of the background right wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Originally, I started the map out in the Isometric Town annual so I could access the fills, but found that proved difficult. Instead, I started a map out in the Castles type and used the Pick a pre-defined template option, then choosing the right sized perspective map. Once I had that, it was easy to just import the fill styles from the Isometric Town into this map and get started.

I will admit, I took a few different starts figuring out the angles and perspectives of the buildings and walls….and I am SURE my castle lacks in originality, and likely reality, but hey….it’s a fantasy world, so it works for me. I’ve learned not to be so critical of something in a map and to work it into the story instead. Who knows? That mapping mishap could just be the best story arc your players ever had!

About the author: Lorelei was my very first D&D character I created more years back than i’d like to remember. When I decided to venture into creating maps for my and others rpgs, I thought I owed it to her to name myself Lorelei Cartography, since it was her that led me to the wonderful world of tabletop gaming in the first place. Since then I have been honored to have worked with companies such as WizKids, Pelgrane Press, and ProFantasy.