Creating fantasy RPG maps in a hand-drawn style

The different stages of the map.

I am currently working on a new continent that is an addition to one of my old worlds. This is really some unpretentious worldbuilding specifically aimed for playing D&D 5 without the need for too much fiddling with the game rules. This means that a lot in the world is given and for the most part this comes in the form of old fantasy clichés. As a consequence, the world has a polytheistic pantheon as well as elves, halflings, dwarves, orcs, powerful wizards and honourable paladins.

As can be seen, this is definitely not a world built with originality as the main priority, but convenience of play. I wanted it to be a world where a new player quickly could feel at home and where I could use premade adventures without having to spent days adapting them.

This does not mean that the world is totally void of anything interesting. The cultural and technological level is rather late for a D&D-world, more early Renaissance than High Middle Ages, and when the world "starts" the great war to defeat the evil overlord has recently been fought and won by the good alliance, but at a high price. The world is now in a post-war era where people are happy for the victory, but also mourns the terrible losses and destruction they have suffered. Player characters can be old war veterans scared by their memories, or young ambitious people eager to reconquer the devastated lands and stamp out the remaining evil presence once and for all. Always however a question lingers in peoples' minds, "Was this it, is the dark lord really gone forever?".

Anyway, at the beginning of the specific campaign, I have in mind the player characters will make a sea voyage from the old world to the new continent. It is a long passage and I thought that some interesting things could happen on the ship, but for that, I need a map of the ship. Since the world is set in the early Renaissance a carrack-like ship made sense. These ships ruled the waves in our world during the 15th century and the most famous example is probably Columbus' flagship La Santa María.

Woodcut of La Santa María from Columbus' letter (1493)

When drawing maps for worldbuilding, and specifically for fantasy RPGs, I am very fond of a hand-drawn look. For some reason, the "not perfect" feel of hand-inked maps really appeals to me. Drawing everything by hand, compared to using a computer, can however be very time-consuming. Luckily some shortcuts exist.

My preferred method is to avoid trying to create a totally finished map on paper, but instead draw the basic outlines, as well as all the elements I think I need for the map.

First I sketch everything lightly with a hard pencil (2H - 4H) and then ink over the lines with a Pilot G-TEC pen or a Staedtler pigment liner (with the finest point I can find). I try to draw everything in roughly the same scale, but small variations are not a problem (if the variations are big the final lines will, however, vary in width and look strange when I scale them correctly in the computer).

Almost fully inked drawing.

I then erase any still visible pencil lines and scan the ink drawing in relatively high resolution (at least 600 dpi).

In Photoshop (or Krita) I use levels (or sometimes curves) to turn the paper really white and the ink lines really dark. I erase anything that should not be in the drawing (remaining pencil marks, mistakes and dust marks) from the scan, but I try to not fix too much. It should look hand-drawn after all!

In Photoshop I can then duplicate, mirror, cut, and paste the elements as I please and can relatively quickly build a map, while still maintaining the hand-drawn feel. Remember to change the objects a bit (scale or rotate them very slightly) when you copy them to hide the fact that every detail has not really been drawn individually.

Cut and paste in Photoshop.

If I need a few new lines and do not feel that it is worth scanning a new drawing, a pencil brush in Photoshop can usually do the work without affecting the hand-drawn feel.

When I have finished the basic drawing I merge the line art layers, set the blending mode to multiply and add a nice paper texture as the background. In many cases, this black and white ink drawing are good enough as the end result.

Final ink drawing on paper texture.

Other times I continue and add some colour in a layer between the ink layer and the paper texture to add more interest and clarity. This does take some time though, often more than the rest of the process together. I use various blending modes here, usually "Multiply" and "Screen" and sometimes "Color" as well.
 

Colouring on the computer.

I try to use quite desaturated colours, partly because I like the result and partly so that the map's colour scheme does not compete with the attention of any tokens, miniatures or dry erase markers that are supposed to go on top of it.

Finished coloured map.

The final step is to add some text and numbers for the room descriptions. I also add a square grid at the very top of the layer stack (I make the grid lines thin and lower the opacity of the layer to make it less obtrusive).

Map with grid, text and numbers.