Haunted Cabin, Adept (Patreon)

I'm back! This week's map is the Haunted Cabin (25x25), a lonely cabin in the woods with a history, or at least we can assume it has a history considering how extraordinarily haunted it is. But one thing's for sure, a shack this haunted has to have something interesting/expensive underneath a floorboard, tucked inside a book, or hidden behind a bookcase. 

1. When I get around to making a building map I usually like to make it take up a decent portion of the canvas, which is fine when it's a larger building, but when it has to be small that means that the map is going to be small as well. Lately I've been having a good time making significantly larger maps than usual, but when, for whatever reason, time is short, I don't mind taking the opportunity to set myself up for a faster turnaround. 

The forest part of the map is a forest, not much to talk about there. The building took a bit of trial and error, mostly because I don't draw very many buildings and floor plans aren't my forte. I had a few thoughts when I started though: I wanted a back entrance, which I felt would help the flow of the map; I wanted a couple back rooms, for DMs to place enemies/clues/surprise twists; and I wanted a lil' front porch, to break up the shape of the building so it wouldn't be a simple rectangle and give the place a bit of life. I don't think I had much else in mind, beyond the basics like needing a fireplace, a bedroom, and something like a kitchen. 

2. Outlines! Tell you what, I don't much enjoy trying to think of props to fill a building with, but ending with a nicely busy cabin that tells a tiny story is pretty satisfying. But seriously, I really hate drawing and placing props for houses, it bores the hell out of me. I always end up dropping in barrels/boxes/shelves when I start getting antsy, which is lazy, I know, but I just stop caring after the big stuff is in place.

Anyway, I'm still happy about my newest batch of dead trees! I've used them enough now that I've noticed branches that I think look sloppy, but that'll probably not be enough to make me touch them up. 

3. Not much to discuss here, I'm on week 5 of making 'Haunted' maps and I haven't made many major changes to the palette for 2 weeks. I did, of course, have to make some decisions for the cabin itself and its props, but I kept everything fairly moderate and threw some 10% of the grass's green over anything that popped too much. 

Something fun I did when coloring the props was I shaded using almost only red. It gave everything a mildly bloody vibe which I think is neat. Not terribly subtle, maybe, but neat!