Jungle Ledge, Adept (Patreon)

This week I made the Jungle Ledge (30x30), a simple jungle map with all the basics and nothing else. It's been a while since I made a solid jungle map, and this one should be a nice addition to the roster for anyone with parties cutting their way through Tomb of Annihilation and are in need of a fun place to make into their graves. 

Your alternate version of this map is a Spooky recoloring, where I returned to my fun Halloween-y palette and added a healthy dose of fog. I also know that some of you will dislike the heavy vignette on this one, but I really enjoy the dramatic and claustrophobic feel it adds to the map, so bear with me- it's an artistic choice. Anyway, I liked the thought of jungle zombies creeping toward a party through the mist, so here you go!

1. So like I mentioned, I wanted this map to be a simple one, something equivalent to my Forest Clearing that could be used as a sort of vanilla stretch of jungle between other maps. That means that I couldn't add too many spicy props or other exciting features, because I wouldn't want the map to be too terrible recognizable that you couldn't rotate it and pass it off as a different piece of the forest. 

After sketching out a fairly irregular layout of trees, I decided that just flat ground would be a little too plain for this one, so I added a single long ledge to cut across the map. It might be a bit too exciting for what I was originally aiming for, but I love the way it will add some variety to a plain ol' encounter. 

2. Fortunately for me, I've drawn a handful of jungles before this one. Most notably, I have a small collection of palm trees which are great for adding variety to a jungle map, but are a pain to draw. I placed the few palms I had on hand but decided that they were all a little too small for my taste, so I ended up drawing 4 new larger ones and duplicating each one once. They might stand out a little more than the old batch, but it's fine- the trees are as close as I got to set pieces in this map so I don't feel bad about a couple big ones catching the eye. 

Otherwise, I was able to pull together bits and pieces of several maps to help fill out the space, along with a couple fresh additions where it felt appropriate. Once you've made as many maps as I have, drawing trees and rocks every other week gets a bit tiring. 

3. Originally I was planning on imitating the colors and lighting of the Jungle Basin, but I forgot how funky I had gotten with its colors. Next I took a look at the Jungle Camp, which was one of my first jungle maps, but I realized that I'm not a huge fan of what I did with its lighting anymore, so I passed on it as well. The other jungle maps I've made all sit somewhere between those two, so in the end I decided to start fresh, which is always an undertaking. 

For this pass I decided to stick to somewhat tropical colors, with an emphasis on more of an emerald green as the base with fades into yellow. As a nice way to add some variety, I chose to stick with the reddish tint in the rock that I used in the Jungle Basin, leaning a little more toward orange. I think I went too hard on the yellow, which maybe comes across a little too bright for a jungle, but the vibe is similar to what I was aiming for, so I'll consider this one a moderate success. I have plans for another jungle map in the coming weeks, so this was a good experiment to help prepare for it.