Tree Village, Adept (Patreon)

Hello folks! This week's map is the Tree Village (30x30), another collaboration with James' RPG Art. He's made a painting to accompany this map, in which he gives a 1st person perspective of this village which is massively useful since there's a lot of verticality at stake here. Check it out on his Patreon or Instagram!

Your alternate version for this one is a subdued color palette, which I think I kinda like more than the original actually- it has lots of Appalacian charm to it that I find really appealing, and at the very least it will fit in a little easier in your more grim settings. 

1. The idea for this one was an Elven-styled small village in the trees of a huge and ancient forest. Originally I had sketched out a version of this with only 3 large central trees, with the rest of the huts built upon a number of stout branches which also acted as walkways to and from the central platforms. We decided later that the logistics of this wouldn't make much sense and, for the sake of keeping James' painting anchored in reality, we altered it so each hut was built around the trunk of a massive tree. The only issue I think came from this was that I lost the branches I was looking forward to adding beneath the hut level, which I thought might make it so the change in height wasn't so clear, but in the end I don't think it was that vital. 

2. The outlines were driving me nuts here. 2 level maps are an enormous pain in my butt, and the tree trunks proved to be even more annoying. On top of that, I tend to take much longer working on winter maps than grassy ones, this ended up being one of the more difficult maps I've made in a very long time. Here's hoping next week's is a little easier.

3. The colors were also very difficult to nail. I tend to like to keep my winter maps pretty blue, it helps keep the feel 'cold', but the issue was keeping the trunks and platforms a nice warm shade that will stand out from the background. This ended up requiring a good bit of extra effort as I carefully blocked out the trunks from various cool-colored layers just enough to that their oranges and browns could barely push through without looking completely out of place. Bla.