# Gallery > Finished Maps >  Baldur's Gate street level [commission]

## J.Edward

Baldur’s Gate street level

 Last year I had the pleasure and privilege to work with James Ohlen and Arcanum Worlds on a number of maps.
This one zooms down in on a section of the city of Baldur’s Gate for some street level encounters.
Here in this section we have the Elfsong Tavern as well as Sorcerous Sundries.
Next week we’ll go underground. I’ll link to a section of the city so you can see where this sits.
*BG street level location
*
It ended up becoming a campaign setting book over on the DMsGuild - https://www.dmsguild.com/product/269...aldurs-Gate-5e
Definitely go pick up a copy. Works like that help more maps get made.  
Check out close-ups of the city on these other platforms…
twitter - https://twitter.com/jstevensonartand
tumblr - https://jstevensonart.tumblr.com/
maybe even instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jstevensonart/

Gotta get back to mapping. Deadlines are looming. ;P
Cheers, J  :Smile: 

   -   -   -   

Edit - forgot, other BG maps are *City map* and *Sword Coast map*

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## ThomasR

There's a vibe that reminds me a lot of the game so, great work  :Smile:

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## QED42

> Baldur’s Gate street level
> Here in this section we have the Elfsong Tavern as well as Sorcerous Sundries.


Two very familiar locations. Those arrows of exploding you get at Sorcerous Sundries are legit.

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## J.Edward

> There's a vibe that reminds me a lot of the game so, great work


Thanks Thomas  :Smile: 



> Two very familiar locations. Those arrows of exploding you get at Sorcerous Sundries are legit.


Oh man, I had forgotten about having to carry all of those arrows. Inventory systems have changed. ;P

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## Bogie

Love the detail John!!

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## arsheesh

Looks great!  I can't quite tell but are those sheets hanging out of the windows of the buildings?

EDIT: out of rep  :Frown: 

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

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## MistyBeee

I'm late for the special-Monday post ! Amazing, as usual, and this one has a very special flavor : is there some kind of intense activity on the roofs there ? o_o
If I can ask, there's something I'm curious about... I wonder what kind of references you had for drawing those cities : was the layout totally up to you, or did they provide some plans to help you fit at best what's in the game ? Or did you... played for two years before you was able to map the cities ?  :Very Happy:

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## QED42

> Thanks Thomas 
> 
> Oh man, I had forgotten about having to carry all of those arrows. Inventory systems have changed. ;P


Thankfully the inventory is one of the things they cleaned up a bit in the Enhanced Edition!

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## MapMappingMapped

I love this! Classical J.Edward work.

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## J.Edward

> Love the detail John!!


Thanks Bogie  :Smile: 



> Looks great!  I can't quite tell but are those sheets hanging out of the windows of the buildings?
> 
> EDIT: out of rep 
> 
> Cheers,
> -Arsheesh


Thanks Arsheesh  :Smile: 
They're supposed to be some sort of shade banner kind of thing.
I had done these in the city of Mytros map that I had done before working on the BG maps.



> I'm late for the special-Monday post ! Amazing, as usual, and this one has a very special flavor : is there some kind of intense activity on the roofs there ? o_o
> If I can ask, there's something I'm curious about... I wonder what kind of references you had for drawing those cities : was the layout totally up to you, or did they provide some plans to help you fit at best what's in the game ? Or did you... played for two years before you was able to map the cities ?


Thanks Beee  :Smile: 
They wanted more rooftop options for gameplay, so I added decks, terraces, and ladders so rogues and such could go roaming.  :Wink: 

So for the Baldur's Gate map, I did a lot of research. A LOT.  :Surprised: 
But that was mainly to make sure specific locations were in the right place.
Surprisingly, there wasn't a good accurate map of all of this. At least not that I could find.
I had played the BG games many times, many many hours.
I've also been a fan of the Forgotten Realms for many years too.
That said, I still had to come up with stuff on my own.
Arcanum has been great to work with and has allowed me freedom to create as I feel is appropriate.
They let me know if something needs added or changed.

With the Odyssey maps, there were some descriptions of locations they needed in there.
Beyond that, they would give me a few terrain pics of what they were thinking.
I spend a lot of time researching architecture and satellite images.



> Thankfully the inventory is one of the things they cleaned up a bit in the Enhanced Edition!


Hehe, I should pick that up and play it again.



> I love this! Classical J.Edward work.


Thank you MMM  :Smile:

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## - JO -

As I said on FB: your work on Baldur's Gate is really beautiful! When a region is mapped at different scales, it becomes so much more alive, more real! And when it's done with such talent, it's real happiness that you're offering us here

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## Ilanthar

I seriously begin to think you did there what I'm dreaming of with some of my cities... Splendid work  :Smile: .

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## J.Edward

> As I said on FB: your work on Baldur's Gate is really beautiful! When a region is mapped at different scales, it becomes so much more alive, more real! And when it's done with such talent, it's real happiness that you're offering us here


Thanks Joel  :Smile: 
I agree, it really lets you get a feel for depth.



> I seriously begin to think you did there what I'm dreaming of with some of my cities... Splendid work .


Thanks Ilanthar  :Smile: 
Hehe, well, you like doing totally ridiculous levels of complexity too.  :Very Happy:

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## Mouse

I love it!  :Very Happy: 

You seem to magic things and make them all beautiful.  I doubt anyone else could make a group of rooftops work so well!

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## J.Edward

> I love it! 
> 
> You seem to magic things and make them all beautiful.  I doubt anyone else could make a group of rooftops work so well!


Thanks Mouse  :Smile:

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## J.Edward

I was lazy and just added the sublevel map along with this one, back at the first post.
Here they are side by side, for comparison.

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## Larb

It's more effective being able to see them side by side - you get a better sense of the verticality of the place.

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## J.Edward

> It's more effective being able to see them side by side - you get a better sense of the verticality of the place.


It would be cool to do a version where you could turn off the individual upper level buildings to reveal the ones below.

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## Bogie

I.Love.This!
As I said on FB, I've never seen anyone do this with a whole city block of basements!

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## MistyBeee

Really interesting ! I especially love how the grid match for the two levels. Well done. Really well done  :Smile:

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## J.Edward

> I.Love.This!
> As I said on FB, I've never seen anyone do this with a whole city block of basements!


Thanks Bogie  :Smile: 
I thought it would be fun to do a bunch of sewer/underground stuff.
I have some started for the underground beneath Chiezbehrg.



> Really interesting ! I especially love how the grid match for the two levels. Well done. Really well done


Thanks Beee  :Smile:

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## Ilanthar

Just splendid work! I'll certainly use this underground part for reference.

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## delgondahntelius

Wonderful! You have so much raw talent, it makes me want to puke!!  :Very Happy:  lol. Such a great artist! I wish I had more artistic skill so I could add things to my map once in a while. 

Also... I spent so much time playing this game! I can't believe that it's been that many years since it came out.. makes me feel old lol.

Del

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