# Gallery > Finished Maps >  A whole lot of Intime-Maps [will keep updated]

## SteffenBrand

Hey guys! =)

*Attention!*
_I created a lot of maps for the RPG 'The Dark Eye' (Aventuria) in the last year. They are most often meant as a handout for the players and they are in nearly every adventure. They all have a similar style, so I will keep this thread updated as they are published.
All (c)Ulisses Games & Distribution GmbH_


Today I wanted to show the first one: A smugglers Hideout. This one is basically a cave with an entrance you can only reach by boat. The shallow waters off the coast don't allow larger ships here and it is faced to the sea, the entrance only visible and reachable by dusk and dawn when the tide is lowest. At all other times, the smugglers are unreachable. This was my idea, Daniel S. Richter (a brilliant author responsible for a lot of content) brought this to life with vibrant descriptions ready to use in play. This was fun and is one of the larger ones. They are often very tiny, but I love making them a lot! :D



Best wishes,
Steffen

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## Redrobes

Fabulous artwork there !

Seems odd that they need roofs on the houses if they are inside a cave though  :Very Happy:

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## Robulous

> Seems odd that they need roofs on the houses if they are inside a cave though


Seems sensible to me - when you're sleeping in that house you wouldn't want falling rocks, dripping water, or bat poop in your hair  :Wink:

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## Mouse

That's a lovely drawing, Steffen  :Very Happy:

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## J.Edward

That looks great Steffen  :Very Happy: 
How has the job been going?

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## Quenten

Great picture. Very evocative

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## SteffenBrand

@Redrobes | Robulus: Thanks! Exactly, dripping and everything else is an issue I had in mind here. I also got asked about the fancy house in there: I thought of the walls as something like wattle and daub, actually very thin and only windows and chimney a bit more defined (I tried to define materials a bit more, but it was too busy and I had to scrap it). I thought they re-used broken windows (from the mainland) and just put them in there. Well, it was hard to show, I thought I give it at least something that needed additional support like the tarp, but well...

@Mouse: Again, thank you so much! =)

@J.Edward: The job is doing fine, I love it! The only thing making me a bit struggling at the moment is the delay of a publication I'd loooove to share some stuff right now (see below @qwalker). Had to make this thread instead... Hope you are fine, too? I'm so hyped at the moment to see so much good stuff coming from all sides by talented cartographers. So inspiring (and sometimes intimidating, but I guess that is the struggle with all art). =)

@qwalker: Thanks! I love the perspective stuff, with a lot of maps it can add really much. I actually did a city of about 200,000 people in 3-point-perspective I hope I can share soon. I think you will like that, too =)

Best wishes and have a nice week!
Steffen

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## Barek333

THis is such a lovely drawing, it really sets the scene  :Smile: 

Cheers,
Barek

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## Greg

Really lovely style Steffen! Great atmosphere and details!  :Smile:

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## DanielHasenbos

This is really a lovely map! It's great to see some work of you again and I look forward to seeing the rest of the series/collection (:

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## SteffenBrand

@Barek333: Thank you =)

@GLS: Thanks! 

@DanielHasenbos: Thank you, too! Hope I can post some more later today =)

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## Ilanthar

It's superb, Steffen! One can easily see where to hide or which to run with such a map  :Very Happy: .
Waiting impatiently for those to come  :Smile: .

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## SteffenBrand

@Ilanthar: Haha, thank you! =)

There we go with the next bunch. Most of them are really small, if I had to guess I'd say there are a minimum of 20 more to go. The reason why I only use one thread for those small things. I'll go through them one by one with just a few words:

Top: A map for different provinces of a region.
Middle left: Schematic map to find a path.
Middle right: A subterranean temple of a knowledge/wisdom godess.
Lower left: Just an overview of a region.
Lower right: A city as someone up on a hill would scribble it, partly how he thinks it should work.

Well, they kind of show the different approaches and what these type of maps are for.
Hope you like them as well! Best wishes, Steffen =)

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## - Max -

Lovely work, as usual Steffen !

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## SteffenBrand

Thank you - Max -, both your comment and rep is very much appreciated =)

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## Gonzotron

Great work! I look forward to the rest.

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## SteffenBrand

@Gonzotron: Thanks! They'll surely come =)

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## ChickPea

These are gorgeous, Steffen! I absolutely love that first drawing of the Smuggler's Hideout. Am envious of your skills!  :Very Happy: 

Hope I can rep.

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## tainotim

These are great! They feel so professional. Already eager to see the next batch.

Cheers,
Tainotim

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## SteffenBrand

@Chickpea & tainotim: Thank you both so much, and for the rep, too! =) I guess I will post the next few either tomorrow or early next week. There really is no shortage here (even though some are a bit boring because they are basically just In-Game riddles).  :Very Happy:

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## SteffenBrand

And here we go with the next bunch :D

Long one on the Left: Schematic plan of mechanics as a handout.
Left bottom: Pirate-Map I drew live during SPIEL 2016 in Essen.
Right top: Housing of an Order of Mages.
Right middle: Catacombs under a Metropolis. They should be shown with entrance and end-point for the finale, the Options are locations that can be put in freely by the GM  for encounters in the adventure as needed. They are described in the book, too.
Right lower: An astrolabe. It's huge in a room, on the vertical map you can see where it is in the building. 

Hope you enjoy these, too. I'll post ne next bunch next week.
Have a beautiful weekend and stay creative! =)

Steffen

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## ChickPea

Nice work! I like that schematic plan, particularly.  :Smile:

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## Mouse

I missed the second last update!  :Shocked: 

All these maps are wonderful, and I can finally understand why I felt like I was missing you for a while, with all this gorgeous work going on in the background  :Smile:

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## - Max -

Excellent !

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## Ilanthar

Gorgeous! I love the parts about the Astrolabium  :Smile: .

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## SteffenBrand

@ChickPea: Thanks, it was a lot of fun, too  :Very Happy: 

@Mouse: Thanks! I think it will pop up a few more times with updates, don't worry! Also: Too kind of you =)

@- Max -: Thank you, Max! 

@Ilanthar: Thanks! There is another real illustration of this, but I didn't find it online. I only found the Cover, made by Annika Maar... (link: Cover).

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## SteffenBrand

Just a quick question: Would you be interested in the riddle-stuff, too for the next post?

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## Mouse

Not being a player or a GM I've no idea what you mean, but it sounds fascinating, so yes please  :Very Happy:

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## Josiah VE

Beautiful maps Steffen!

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## ThomasR

That makes my mouth water about the upcoming release of the french version  :Wink:

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## SteffenBrand

@Mouse: You will be surprised then. I hope  :Very Happy: 

@Josiah VE: Thank you! 

@thomrey: Thanks, I can't say when though... :/

I'm prepping up the next bunch of maps, will post them later or tomorrow.
Best wishes, Steffen

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## Abu Lafia

Immer wenn ich aventurische Namen auf so wundervollen Karten lese kriech ich glatt Pipi inne Augen!  :Very Happy:  What a beautiful set of ingame maps Steffen. I love to see how you never fear to walk into new stylistic regions with your mapping and always come up with such wonderful results. Especially the last set with the maps around the Astrolabium are lovely illustrated! I'm eagerly awaiting the next update.  :Smile:

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## SteffenBrand

@Abu Lafia: Danke dir! :D So kind of you to say!

As promised here are the next few maps I made. Hope you enjoy them as well =)
Lets see, we have...

Top: A mansion. This was designed to be stand-alone Black / White a while ago, but was used a long time later so I had to 'sepia it up' (you can tell a bit, hope it isn't too obvious...)
Upper middle left: A burial-cave with graves, not much interesting stuff happening there
Lower middle left: One of the riddles. It is thought of a greater-than / lesser than Sudoku (I'd go insane if I had to solve it - to that day I have no idea...)
Bottom left: An Academy for mages under construction above an archeological digging site
Middle right: Another riddle. Basically: How do you have to pull the handle at the top to not get your hand chopped off *shivers*
Lower right: A rough city-plan with another Academy for mages



Best wishes, Steffen =)

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## tainotim

So impressive and inspirational! Especially the top one. Would love to see a larger version  :Smile: 

Will there be more? I hope so  :Wink: 

Cheers,
Tainotim

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## - Max -

Another very nice batch Steffen !

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## SteffenBrand

@tainotim: Sorry, can't post them larger :/ But there will be more  :Very Happy: 

@- Max -: Thank you, again =)

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## Mouse

They are a bit on the small side, especially with only a laptop screen to view them on, but even so the composition, texture and colour are gorgeous  :Very Happy:

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## SteffenBrand

Well, I can't post them larger sadly... but if there is any specific thing you want to have a closer look just let me know =)
Thank you very much, Mouse!

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## Mouse

Oh no that came out all wrong didn't it!  :Shocked: 

I'm sorry - I didn't mean to criticise, or anything.  I was just explaining why I couldn't really say anything about the detail.

I must have been having a bad day yesterday.  You aren't the only person that got a crabby mouse on your thread, and I have to go and do some more apologising right now!

It would be lovely to see them at higher res, but I fully understand the restrictions  :Smile:

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## SteffenBrand

No, it really didn't, dont worry Mouse - everything is fine =)
You don't need to, I didn't get it the wrong way or anything else.

(I'm German, if it (or I) sounded this way it is just because this isn't my native tongue)
Best wishes, Steffen =)

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## Mouse

Aw thank you.  That's really kind of you  :Smile:

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## Tom

I totally miss this post.. O_o Awesome maps Steffen, I don't know where to start, your style is simple but so evocative!

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## SteffenBrand

@Mouse: Sure, don't worry =)

@Tom: Thanks!  :Very Happy:  If you want more of the not-so-simple-stuff just look on my deviantart or here. For these... yeah, I pretty much went in the easy to reproduce direction simply because there will be a few years I have to do maps this way consistently. And even other freelancers should be able to do them quickly; if need be. =)

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## Ilanthar

This thread is becoming a candy full of mappyness  :Wink: !

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## SteffenBrand

Thank you, Ilanthar! And tomorrow or so we continue  :Very Happy:

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## mat_r

Very nice collection, Steffen!
I love the consistency in your style...
Also, the thing with the riddles is a really cool idea!

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## SteffenBrand

@mat_r: Thank you so much! =)

And here we go again, as promised! This bunch of maps was fun to do for a lot of reasons, you surely see why :D
Upper part left: Some castles and Villages along one of the most important rivers of this particular country. It's important to know where to face the thread from the Weal Mountains. 
Upper part right: The destructed part of Zurbarans hideout, a villain players had to face in an earlier version of this RPG about (real!) 25 to 30 years ago :D
Middle part right: The last shippable waters before the eternal ice. There is an overfrozen forest with dark surprises below the ice, waiting to be discovered by foolis... well, BRAVE adventurers. ;)
Lower part right: Some cities and villages - an overview.
Middle below: Haha, this one was fun, too! These are rocks adventurers can save themselves from the lava. As they break away you can mark off the nine fields on the side of each of them. Also, medieval scissors to cut them out for use on the gaming table. 

Best wishes, hope you like that bunch, too! =)
Steffen

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## Mouse

Oooh - curly water patterns - love them  :Very Happy:

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## SteffenBrand

Me, too! Thank you so much for the rep, again =)

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## ThomasR

Wonderful sets Steffen !

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## - Max -

I especially like the vertical top left one on this batch !

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## SteffenBrand

@thomrey: Thank you! =)
@- Max -: Like this one especially, too. Thanks!

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## Greg

All of these are just a pleasure to see, Steffen!

I'm always getting behind with the updates, but keep 'em coming as they're such a great style! But I'm afraid at the rate you're positng, my repping can't keep up with you!  :Wink:

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## SteffenBrand

You are not alone with the repping, but I don't mind at all. I'd rather keep this as regular as I can instead of giving priority to reps.  Thank you so much GLS, much appreciated! =)

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## SteffenBrand

And there comes the probably last update for a while here:
1st left: The remnants / ruins of Castle Eichtrutz.
2nd left: IIRC this was one of the early maps ^^
3rd left: A regional map.
4th left: Encampment of some orcs.

1st right: The sewers and basement (zomed-in) under Castle Eichtrutz. 
2nd right: Another early regional map.
3rd right: A LOT of boring (actually interesting, but not visually) Born Forest and well. 
4th right: Regional map with the Born Forest (more zoomed-out).

5th (lateral): An enchanted ruin.
Lowest map: The ruins under a castle which hides drakes. 

I get that this is probably the most boring bunch of maps. Well... I'm sure at some point there are more, but that's it for now. 
Best wishes and have a beautiful weekend,
Steffen =)

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## Mouse

_How_... can you call them boring?

The subject matter might be a bit mundane, but the way you draw them is just so beautiful that they are fascinating to look at.  For me its the line work that does it.  It gets me right in the texture loving spot of my mind  :Very Happy: 

I particularly love the labels, the cross hatch earth shading, and the ivy leaf decorations.

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## SteffenBrand

Thanks! Well, yeah, they are a bit more mundane - I often try to make everything as interesting as it could be whenever there is the possibility, but - sadly - sometimes it's hard.

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## Mouse

The subject matter is relatively mundane compared to all the earlier subjects they gave you to map - not your work, Steffen.  Never your work.  Your work is anything _but_ mundane :Wink:

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## DanielHasenbos

I haven't commented much, but I just keep checking back to see if there's anything new, and every time I'm amazed with the maps! They've all got the same style, yet they all are very unique and have their own feeling to them. Great work on all of these Steffen!

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## SteffenBrand

@Mouse: Thanks again. =)

@DanielHasenbos: Thank you so much, Daniel! =)

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## Diamond

These are fantastic, Steffen.  This style/look is perfect for adding to a world's travelogue or encyclopedia product.

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## SteffenBrand

Thank you Diamond for both your comment and reputation! =)

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## Kasiadoris

Like the work!  All simple and clean.  You make these look effortless, which I think is a sign of true skill.  :Wink: 

Also, medieval scissors...

!!!!!BRILLIANT!!!!!  love em

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## SteffenBrand

@Kasiadoris: Haha, thank you! =)

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## SteffenBrand

Our newest crowdfunding of Havena just started and my map was in the video already to be seen. It is in this style, of cause =) Checking out the crowdfunding of the campaign is worth it; here (German only, sorry :/)
I really liked working on that box, it felt more experimental than I thought to go away from landscape cartography to focus on one city. I mean, it is the oldest city for players of the dark eye and with this, there is a map of Havena before the great flood. A chance we took to depict what should be depicted with TDE 5th. =)



(c) Ulisses Spiele GmbH, 2018

There are some more maps to come. =)
Thank you all for visiting here and have a wonderful day!
-Steffen

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## ChickPea

Looks great. I like the grungy parchment texture. It works beautifully as a backdrop.

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## SteffenBrand

Thank you ChickPea! =) I like that one a lot, too. I like that they have a lot of the same feel. =)

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## MistyBeee

A really cool map, Steffen ! I especially love your icons, but the whole city looks great !  :Smile: 
I'm just discovering this thread and there is great maps at every page !!

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## SteffenBrand

I'm glad you like it, thank you =)
There is a constant but irregular stream of maps I make this way necessary for the game, depending on published works to come out I'll update this thread. I sadly can't show them earlier...

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## Mouse

Another beauty  :Smile: 

It looks so real I feel I could pluck it from the screen and roll it up to take with me!  :Very Happy:

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## SteffenBrand

Thank you Mouse, greatly appreciated!
There is one I HOPE I CAN SHOW SOON  :Very Happy:  It is so crude I laughed while drawing it  :Very Happy:

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## Ilanthar

Your style is very distinct and pleasant, Steffen  :Smile: . This is very nice and clean, with great icons.

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## SteffenBrand

Thank you Ilanthar! Also thank you again for the rep! =)
If you check in again tomorrow, I'll have posted another one!

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## SteffenBrand

As promised, here we go with the smugglers map of Havena:

After the flood, the lower city of western Havena was gone. 300 years later, all that remains are sunken ruins waiting to be forgotten in the cursed mists of the past. The ones lurking in this parts are smugglers, those who seek fortunes in the lightless depths and those who are lost that can't dare to walk among society. This is a map from smugglers. With notes. You can see another version of the map before the flood above.

I loved making this map! To be honest, I laughed so much while drawing  :Very Happy:  It is so crude and loose with notes that tell their own story. I wished there were more maps like that  :Very Happy:  

I included some water damage where ink was blurred. I thought it gave it a bit of a rougher and used look.

Also, it is the first map I had to put in a 'sexual themes' warning on Deviantart... just because of a not so subtle... well, you'll see. Some say, many cartographers try to hide something like this in some pieces. There is not much hiding going on. With the temple of Rahja (goddess of love and wine, a bit similar to Aphrodite), these smugglers went dirty on the map. Enough of that already, Steffen...  :Very Happy: 

So, I hope you like it, it is a bit exciting to put it out there, because honestly - I have no idea what reaction it will evoke. It is part of our current crowdfunding campaign of Havena. If you are interested, look it up here.



(c) Ulisses Spiele GmbH, 2018
Best wishes, Steffen

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## Mouse

Oh my word!

Maybe its a blessing in disguise I can't read any of the little stories  :Razz:

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## Neyasha

I love this map with all the little notes and I can imagine it must have been a lot of fun to make! 
Little sidenote: I read "Krankenversicherung" instead of "Krakensichtung" and was really confused.  :Very Happy: 




> Also, it is the first map I had to put in a 'sexual themes' warning on Deviantart... just because of a not so subtle... well, you'll see. Some say, many cartographers try to hide something like this in some pieces. There is not much hiding going on. With the temple of Rahja (goddess of love and wine, a bit similar to Aphrodite), these smugglers went dirty on the map. Enough of that already, Steffen...


I looked at the map before reading your description and I was wandering if it was just my dirty mind. *lol*

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## SteffenBrand

@Mouse: Thanks!  :Very Happy:  It is very likely that there will be an English version in the future. Feel free to not read it  :Razz: 

@Neyasha: Thank you! It really was. And no, it's not you, it really is there...  :Wink:

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## SteffenBrand

I realized I haven't posted here for a while, even though I had done a bunch more of them. To make it up, here is a larger one I worked on last. =)
Hope you like it; and maaaaan, I have to keep this somewhat up to date...

Best wishes, Steffen

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## ThomasR

You have some shiny lighting skills these days  :Wink:

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## SteffenBrand

Thank you, ThomasR! Yeah, I'm trying to learn and improve my stuff; but as you know there is a lifelong path ahead. =)
With these, I'm somewhat bound to the distinct style they are supposed to have for this game. But I'll use the wiggle-room I got, at least I hope so.

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## MistyBeee

Yey, great details and concept here, once again  :Smile:

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## SteffenBrand

Thank you, MistyBeee! Much appreciated! =)

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## kacey

This looks great, and like Thomas said the lighting is really nice, I always enjoy you’re work.

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## SteffenBrand

Thank you, kacey! =)

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## ChickPea

This is wonderful! Love the shading and your linework is fantastic.

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## SteffenBrand

Thank you, ChickPea =)

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## SteffenBrand

Time to revive this thread I guess =)

The Adventure 'Eiserne Flammen' for The Dark Eye is the end of an era of adventures giving somewhat of a close to the fallout of the Borbarad crisis. This city is a center of demonology, corrupt elements, and forecourt of the domain of Agrimoth. It is an ingame depiction of a spy. 

I also changed the ingame textures a bit going forward since I felt it was necessary. A bunch of these maps here still to come however were created before that.

Let me know what you think, hope you like it. =)
Best wishes, --Steffen

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## MistyBeee

I always love your work, but I think what I admire the most is how you manage to show a full story, a strong ambiancy in your maps. It's obvious there's definitely something corrupted here : we're not in this town to pet a happy little sheep under a happy little tree. I hope you'll accept as a compliment that I strongly wish I'll never ever put my feet in this town  :Wink:

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## SteffenBrand

Thank you ver much, MistyBeee! I take it as a massive compliment. We will also see more of this city - way more detailed - in a while. =)

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## Ilanthar

I'd say : unusual somehow, certainly interesting and undoubtedly very well done!

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## SteffenBrand

Thank you very much, Ilanthar! We'll undoubtably see more of this city if you are interested. =)

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## Kellerica

Already fave'd it on dA, but it is still a fantastic piece. I really like the colors and style of this one.

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## ThomasR

Gloomy and shifty map for a gloomy and shifty place. A win  :Wink:  And I love the minimalist detailing that does wonder for legibility.

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## SteffenBrand

@Kellerica: Thank you on this one, too!

@ThomasR: It really is. I hope I can show the (way bigger) original map soon, too! And thank you for the rep, much appreciated! =)

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## S. E. Davidson

Wow, beautifully designed! I really like this flat style, and like MistyBeee said, it's really got an impressive ambiance to it. This definitely inspires me to try to add different character to my maps.

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## SteffenBrand

Thank you very much, SarahEvelynArt! If you ever try a different style based on this, please let me know, I'd love to see it =)
Best wishes, --Steffen

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## IICubeII

Getting some serious "Don't Starve" vibes from this artwork. Looks great dude!

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## SteffenBrand

Have to check it out, thank you very much! =)

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## SteffenBrand

I have to upload a bunch of more ingame maps, why not? All of them use the old background, now there is a new one. =)
Happy holidays, everyone! --Steffen

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