# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Dungeon/Subterranean Mapping >  The way to the fountain of youth - a map for my book (Teacup)

## sarawinter

Hi,
Like I mentioned in my previous post, https://www.cartographersguild.com/s...ad.php?t=43394, I am working on a map for my book "Teacup".

In my main map, which is a regional map, I want to insert a smaller map of a dwarf mine that which leads to the fountain of youth. (Which is what the book is about.)

At the moment I am getting my inspiration from isometric grid maps, such as the ones posted here and here.

So far I only have a very raw sketch, which even I can see is not very good, but I thought I'd post it here anyway so that you can see its true progress.


If you have any tips on isometric maps, please let me know  :Smile:

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## sarawinter

Some more info about the map...

The map is devided into 7 sections, the following is my description of them:

page #1:
a huge room that is the central area for the mine

page #2:
long and winding corridors, sometimes enormous caverns that must be traversed by slender bridges over wide cravasses (cracks in the mountain), high stairs carved in the rock, side corridors that are little more than holes where promising seams had been followed but usually turned out to have very little yeilds.

page #3:
a round room that spirals downward, there are doorways all along the spiral, a track leads along the walls all the way to the bottom.

page #4:
long and winding corridors, occasionally great rooms sometimes tight corridors

page #5:
long and winding corridors interspersed with larger caverns
here they find the mouth of the cave and the difference is staggering. Not much has been done in the cave, but some areas have been modified for greater ease of passage (framkomlighet).

page #6:
once again long winding corridors
the lake where the dragon lives

page #7:
a beautiful drawing of the portal leading to the chamber where the well of youth is

Does this make sense?

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## Larb

Are you working with traditional media or digital? Digitally an isometric grid makes life a lot easier. For traditional - well I guess you could draw in the iso guidelines yourself in pencil. Sounds like a bit of a pain though. =P

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## sarawinter

> Are you working with traditional media or digital? Digitally an isometric grid makes life a lot easier. For traditional - well I guess you could draw in the iso guidelines yourself in pencil. Sounds like a bit of a pain though. =P


I thought I'd do it traditional, I'm not very good with digital tools... but as you say, it may turn out to be a bigger project than I imagine.

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## sarawinter

For anyone interested in the history of the map, and have patience enough to read it, here is what is said about it directly from my manuscript:

Bradean Uvring

A hackling laugh came from a man in the back of the room. Teacup had not noticed him. It was a very old man, he was so slim and scrawny, almost just skin and bones, that he looked as if he were going to fade away at anytime. He had hardly any hair left on his head, but his beard hung from his chin in long silvery stripes. The man was sitting on a chair and leaned against a crooked stick with both hands. He glanced at Teacup and Leffe while he laughed. Under his bushy eyebrows, the man's eyes were squinty and razor sharp.
"No," said the man, shaking his head, "none of your past experiences will be helpful here. Just as those who have wanted to find the source of the fountain youth before you, you have underestimated the mine and will not find anything other than the same fate as them. "He looked up at Yrick," how many have returned with their lives of those who have tried?"
Yrick shrugged and muttered something in his beard.
The man dragged his chair a little closer to Yrick, "excuse me?" He said.
Yrick sighed and said slightly louder: "No one - as far as we know, anyway."
"That's exactly what I mean," the man said, and thumped his stick against the floor. "You are shamelessly unprepared, but that is not your only problem. Hofingknall - that mountain is condemned! Those who set foot there only bring misfortune and misery upon themselves. "
"But the people who live there then?" Teacup asked. "I saw smoke coming from a chimney on a house that is on that side of the mountain."
"Those who live there... yes, they have chosen their fate!" The mans face soured, and he started a long harang of mumbling. "They should anyway...the old man on the mountain! ...he knows what awaits him."
"Excuse me?" Teacup said and leaned closer to hear better.
 Oh, forget it! What I mean is that the mountain only leads to ruin, decay, doom! He seemed to enjoy every fateful word so that his long beard rattled. "I know that mountain, and I know that map," he continued, pointing his stick to the map that Leffe held in his hands.
Teacup turned to Yrick who stood beside him and raised his eyebrows.
Yrick's shrugged his shoulders, "it is true, he knows a lot about the map. That's why we thought you should meet him. He doesn't scare you, does he?
No, no, not at all. But it is obvious that he has a sense of drama," Teacup replied. Though he looked away at Leffe and saw that he was standing with his mouth open and listened to all the old man had to say.
"I'll tell you the true story of the map!" said the old man. "The legend..." he began and glared at everyone in the room, "the legend is the following:
"Bradean Uvring, known among the dwarves as the best cartographer in two hundred years - Uvring, who had been involved in countless expeditions and explorations on and inside mountains - was found dead at the opening to the mine in Hofingknall. No one could explain how he had died because there was not a single mark on him. Perhaps it was his heart that could not cope with everything he had seen, or the difficult journey through the mine. Maybe it was that he had seen something so horrible that it sucked the life out of him! Nobody knows. Among his things, a map was found - not that map! I know that for sure, he said, pointing again to Leffe's map. "The map was the last one ever drawn by Bradean Uvring, but it could not be interpreted. No one could understand his warnings and symbols and drawings done so hastily, but they understood that what was down there was dangerous, fatal, and deadly! The city council then decided that the map and all his notes had to be destroyed and that the entrance to the mine should be closed forever. However, the rumor spread in any case, and many fools tried to go down there to find the source of the fountain of youth, which everyone apparently thought was what was down there. They opened the gates and went down to return with the intent to return with wealth, but no one ever came back. "
"What a lucky thing that we have the map then," Leffe exclaimed.
"It's not that map," said the old man angry and banged his fist on the table, "I've told you several times."
Leffe looked downcast but continued to listen.
"To the legend I say: Ha!" He hit the stick in the floor, "ha ha! For how could they know that it was the fountain of youth that was down there if Uvring was found dead and no one could interpret the map? Perhaps it was because Uvring was not dead when he was found, perhaps it was that he told something to someone who made this person more able to interpret the map than others..? Maybe it was that the map was not destroyed when it should have been destroyed..." He paused to make sure he had everyone's full attention, and he did, everyone wanted to know what had happened, they wanted to know what he knew. And that was exactly the way it was! A dwarf named Eorn, the son of Bordur, sat with Uvring where he was found - not dead - while his friend went to get help.
"But Uvring knew he was dying and in his feverish state he told Eorn about the secret of the map, how he should interpret it and what was in the heart of the mountain. Eorn did not destroy the map or the notes, but instead made a copy! In secret, he learned all he could about map drawing and interpretation of symbols. He studied Uvring's earlier maps and with the help of these he drew a new map, as best he could in any case. Many parts are still difficult to interpret because Eorn did not understand them himself, so he left them in the same way as they were in the original.
"But eventually someone discovered that Eorn was making a copy of the map and reported it to the city council. They ordered him to immediately destroy both maps. He destroyed Uvring's original, but had no heart to destroy his own work, he had spent hundreds of hours working on it and was very proud of it. He probably also planned to make the trip there himself one day.
"He kept the map for many years and was very worried that people were looking to take it away from him, so he never came to use it. When he was too old, he gave it to Leofwinus Quickfoot, who was then in the valley, and entrusted him with keeping it safe. "
"And how come you know all this?" The chief asked questioningly.
"I sat with Eorn while he was dying and in his last moment he wanted to lighten his heart and told all this to me." The old man looked around and muttered, "apparently Leofwinus Quickfoot was not very good at keeping it secret."

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## sarawinter

> Are you working with traditional media or digital? Digitally an isometric grid makes life a lot easier. For traditional - well I guess you could draw in the iso guidelines yourself in pencil. Sounds like a bit of a pain though. =P


Do you knor if there is a printable isometric blueprint (just the lines) that I can download and print out?

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## Larb

Just type isometric grid into google and you should get hundreds of results. If you get really stuck I can just make you one - it'll only take a few minutes.

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## sarawinter

> Just type isometric grid into google and you should get hundreds of results. If you get really stuck I can just make you one - it'll only take a few minutes.


Haha. Impatient as i am I made one myself  :Razz: 



Will that do?

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## Larb

Seems perfectly fine to me!

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## sarawinter

> Seems perfectly fine to me!


Thanks!  :Smile:

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## Azélor

Or use gridzzly for the lazy 
http://gridzzly.com

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## sarawinter

> Or use gridzzly for the lazy 
> http://gridzzly.com


Thanks! Seems to be a really cool tool.  :Smile:

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## sarawinter

Second draft, made with an isometric graph as a base:



I'm not entirely happy with it yet. There are some details missing, and it is not 100% true to the story. But I think it looks much better than my first version  :Smile:

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## sarawinter

Applied to watercolor paper...



...and then colored in...

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## damonjynx

Cool map. John S Ross, Cumberland Games, has an excellent product; Hexpaper PRO which is a font that enable you to create all manner of grids, quickly and relatively easily. It also comes with a handy booklet of around 60 very usable grids. It's pretty cheap for what you get and available from Drivethru RPG.

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## sarawinter

> Cool map. John S Ross, Cumberland Games, has an excellent product; Hexpaper PRO which is a font that enable you to create all manner of grids, quickly and relatively easily. It also comes with a handy booklet of around 60 very usable grids. It's pretty cheap for what you get and available from Drivethru RPG.


Cool! Thanks for the tip  :Smile:

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