Rocky Peninsula, Adept

Hello again, Adepts! This is the Rocky Peninsula (11x16), a pretty small peninsula as far as peninsulas are concerned. But you know what, small maps might actually be kinda fun, it's not like the combats I'm taking part in involve a foot race or anything like that, I'd rather have a reasonably-sized map with lots of little nooks and crannies to clamor over and hide behind than a sprawling cliffside with a few scattered rocks to spice things up. That isn't to say that this isn't also a cliffside with a few scattered rocks, but I think the size adds a certain something.

1. I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised if I told you this started life as an island map. That would have been fine and all, but then I'd start thinking that it wouldn't be right to make an island map without a fair bit of water included in the frame, not to mention a decent amount of sand surrounding the rocky bit. To settle this issue I adjusted the island to fill the frame a little more fully and added in a land bridge leading out of frame, which I believe gives you a simpler way to have your players approach the battleground without requiring boats or room for boats on the map.

Also, who's to say this isn't an island? This could just be one part of a greater island that juts out into the water, so go ahead and live out your island dreams if you so wish.

2. I could have whipped up this map pretty quick if I wanted, but no, I had to try to improve on my old style again. Remember the Secluded Cove from a couple weeks ago? I was pretty unhappy with the way the rock walls turned out, they were very unimpressive. I drew them as I would draw cave walls, just the implication of height through layered hints of rock walls. It works for caves because it isn't supposed to be all that interesting to look at, but when used as a major focus of the map it was a bit of an eyesore.

As an alternative to that style, here I did something similar, lightly drawing in the contours of the rock wall inside of the space where, in days past, I would have drawn vertical lines leading from the bottom of the walls to the top, then a few contouring lines to fill in the gaps. That old style often looks wrong when the topology of the map becomes a little complicated, which is why I keep trying out different options. I think this one should be much less eyecatching while still giving the impression of height. It could be better, I think, but maybe this is progress.

3. I've been having a hard time with colors recently because I've spent several months coloring/shading outdoor spaces and now I feel like I don't know how to properly light natural environments. Maybe that's a good thing, because I look back at my old maps and find them a little ugly, so perhaps it's time for me to take a step back and start fresh. This one is more mildly colored than my previous outdoor maps from last year, featuring saturation levels more similar to my Autumn maps and overall more reigned-in lighting and effects. This is more in line with what I think I should be doing with my colors, I plan on working toward more grounded maps like this in the future.