Settlements of Tal’Dorei

Last updated on August 20, 2023

Updated January 2020
I promise, the Settlements of Tal’Dorei project is not dead. While I completed Drynna and Jorenn Village other factors kept me from continuing. The biggest being Ross McConnell’s work at 2 Minute Tabletop on new assets for settlement maps. I wanted to wait to see what he developed and while they worth the wait, I became deeply invested in an even bigger cartography project, the world of Exandria.

Once I wrap up my world and region maps, I will return to creating settlement maps. Once I do, I’ll make sure to update this post.

Welcome to the Settlements of Tal’Dorei. An ambitious project to create detailed settlement maps for all of Tal’Dorei’s cities, towns, and villages in one, consistent style. I created this project to:

1. Create town & city maps I could use to help me keep things straight while GM’ing my current campaign set in the Critical Role universe.
2. Fill in the gaps left by the Critical Role Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Guide and provide a helpful resource to other GMs running games in Exandria.

Why Settlement Maps?

You do not need a settlement map to run a good game of Dungeons and Dragons. City and town maps are a luxury I find helpful. They help me keep my bearings and make sure my directions are consistent from one session to the next. They also help me point out important landmarks as the party traverses the city.

As you make your way down the wide main thoroughfare through the center of town, you see a large manor with a dull, red roof set back from the road. As the road bends around the high stone wall that encircles the manor, you see a large wooden bridge and hear the sound of rushing water. The tall mast of a ship is visible over the tops of the row houses on the other side.

Description of Drynna as you pass the Sunrise Lodge heading towards the Mooren River Run & docks.

The moment I knew I needed to create my own maps was when I was trying to narrate a chase in Turst Fields. The party split in two and was trying to evade some bad guys. I did my best to narrate both chases at the same time, but it wasn’t easy. The chase was hard enough, running it with only a mental image of a town in my mind just made it harder. I was sketching the path of the two groups in rough terms when I discovered they should have run into each other, but I was describing two very different areas. The players didn’t really notice, but it bugged me so much I knew I had to do something.

My First Attempts

I had already been tracking the development of Wonderdraft and had just seen an example of someone using it with the Medieval Fantasy City Generator to good effect. It wasn’t the prettiest city map, but it got the job done. I quickly managed to create maps for the city of Westruun and the town of Turst Fields and even posted a tutorial to my YouTube channel.

Now that a major plotline in the city is about to be resolved, the party could go just about anywhere. Will they head north to Jorenn Village, east to Stilben, or south to Kymal? As I started to think about creating maps for these new towns & cities, I realize I wanted to map them all.

The Settlements of Tal’Dorei Project is Born

First and foremost, I want to make sure everyone is aware that these maps are not canon. I will do my best to create faithful representations of each settlement, but for many of these towns and cities, there is very little to go on. Of the sixteen settlements, I plan to map, only six have been visited since the stream began. The Critical Role Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Guide will be my primary resource but it does not have much to provide for some of the smaller settlements either.

I am creating these maps primarily for myself and my home game, but I always try to share my work with others. Being a GM is hard and the kindness and generosity of others have made my life easier. I am always looking to “Pay it Forward”, whenever I can. If they’re used at one more table to tell a great story set in Exandria, it’ll all have been worth it.

Settlements

The following settlements are included in the scope of this project and will be the first settlements completed. (I’ll add links to this post as I complete the maps, in case this is how you first learned of them.)

• Bronbog
• Byroden
• Drynna
• Jorenn Village
• Kymal
• Shalesteps
• Stilben
• Turst Fields
• Westruun

Stretch Goal #1 (Emon & Whitestone)

Emon and Whitestone are included in the Critical Role Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Guide but I would like to recreate them in the same style as the other towns.

Stretch Goal #2 (Syngorn & Lyrengorn)

As of right now, there are no good assets that would make good elvish architecture. They will have to be created from scratch to do these cities’ justice.

Stretch Goal #3 (Fort Daxio, Shifting Keep, and Emerald Outpost)

These three quasi-settlements are probably better suited to be battle maps, but I might do both. A high-level settlement map for the surrounding farms and civilian interests with a battle map or tower for the battlements, and/or keep.

Stretch Goal #4 (Kraghammer and the Goblin Cities)

There are some interesting techniques people have shown for underground maps, but I also will need to create some custom assets to do these cities justice.

Eventually, I hope to include the cities and towns of Isslyra, Marquet, and Wildemount, but only time will tell.