Photoshop: H3 Pyramid of Shadows Tactical Maps

[Zeus]

Because I can no longer stand playing 4E D&D through FGII with low-res scanned maps, I now reproduce (as close as I can) the tactical maps for 4E adventures.

All images are produced in Photoshop using home brew textures and effects, all maps have all DM key symbols removed and are sized for a grid scale of 50px = 5 feet.

This is a WiP project so not all the maps have been completed (yet), however as I make them I'll upload and post here. Each one takes between 30-60 mins depending on complexity and how many re-usable elements are in place so hopefully the project should be completed inside the next 3-4 weeks (subject to available time).

Whilst these maps replicate the encounter maps for H3, I guess you could apply them to other scenarios. Feel free to use for your own games if you like them.

Level 1 - Encounters P1-P5

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4614738496_a47869ec3d_t.jpg (https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4614738496_cf58dc1f86_o.jpg) https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3536/4614738658_3edbdc221a_t.jpg (https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3536/4614738658_2b07be3061_o.jpg) https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4614121579_cfe0f1a6b6_t.jpg (https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4614121579_0483f597a4_o.jpg) https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4010/4614738420_131e907de6_t.jpg (https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4010/4614738420_02baef51fa_o.jpg) https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4614738746_d303d4afb8_t.jpg (https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4614738746_cb11c8a4ae_o.jpg)

Level 1 - Encounters C1-C5

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3325/4624762028_7644d4e3e0_t.jpg (https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3325/4624762028_49c690c310_o.jpg) https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3307/4614743956_771152308c_t.jpg (https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3307/4614743956_47f2d48214_o.jpg) https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4616508515_1cc988a443_t.jpg (https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4616508515_d2feac3e6c_o.jpg) https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/4624162643_fffaeb721e_t.jpg (https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/4624162643_7eef24b77f_o.jpg) https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3391/4624158391_868afa6248_t.jpg (https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3391/4624158391_83bb7f3ba7_o.jpg)

[Oberoten]

Very useful. I will happily grab these. Would you want to host them on the Wiki maybe?

- Obe

[Zeus]

Sure, although I am not familiar with the uploading features of the Wiki. If your happy to add them, feel free to go ahead.

[dm-crazy]

good job man! :)

[Oberoten]

I will be adding them at once. :)

- Obe

[Oberoten]

https://oberoten.dyndns.org/fgwiki/index.php/Maps,_Tokens_and_Other_Resources

- Obe

[GunnarGreybeard]

Because I can no longer stand playing 4E D&D through FGII with low-res scanned maps, I now reproduce (as close as I can) the tactical maps for 4E adventures. Between these images and the other stuff you have done you are getting me close to giving 4e another try. ;)

[tdewitt274]

Just tossing it out there, but would you be interested in doing a Video Tutorial on how to create these?

I think there would be people that are intersted to learn how.

Thanks for the images!

[Blue Haven]

Good Job!! amazing skills you got ;)

[Izumneth]

For those that would like to follow your lead and create hi-res maps of our own, do you have any general advice?

Is a fanatic devotion to the Cartographer's Guild forums sufficient? :)

[Oberoten]

I'll second that... If you'd be willing to make tutorials on how to make maps like that I think we'd all sit down and listen.

- Obe

[Zeus]

Thanks for the nice comments. I promised a while back that I would share my approach to 4E map making and I will get to it, I've just had a lot on recently. :o

I also need to find a decent video capture solution for Vista that will record in at least 1440x900 and is preferably free, so please recommend any if you've successfully used one. The reason for the high resolution requirement is to ensure the video captures a good proportion of my extended desktop, which is 2880x900.

As for tips and knowledge sharing, feel free to ask if there's something specific you would like to know. In the interim and until I can get some video tutorials, I can reveal the following:


I use lots of layers, each map has typically 10 or more depending upon complexity and I make use of masking so that I can make easy corrections to my maps without having to redraw everything each time.
Grid, walls, dungeon floor tiles, dirt, grassland, water, lava, slime, hedges, trees, shrubbery and garbage are all made from patterns (some textured) with layered effects. Each sits on its own layer and has a mask for hiding/revealing areas of the image. e.g. if I mask a region of my dungeon floor tile layer, lower layers such as water are exposed. If I unmask the Trees layer with a blob shaped brush, it reveals a tree.
All my textures, patterns, brushes, color swatches, effects and shapes are stored as Presets allowing me to switch back n forth very easily, quickly and more importantly consistently.
I use a common set of textures but I apply different hue/saturation adjustments to alter the color and different fill and transparency rates to create variations e.g. making the walls look different to the stone ground.
I use Normal, Overlay, Screen and Color Burn blending modes on some layers to help keep the map coloring clean and natural looking.
I use a black filled layer and a white filled layer, again both masked, to create shadows and highlights. This adds depth and makes a flat pattern take on a texture.
I sometimes use a 0% filled object (transparent) with a black outer glow effect to create the perception of depth where none exists. e.g. a raised stone plinth and stairs.
I maintain three versions of each image: the raw map image (.psd), the final map image (.psd) and the final map (.jpg). The first is what's used to create the map, the second uses a composite flattened output from the first layered onto a burnt scroll background and feathered to fade the edges. The second image also adds in labels and the compass. The third is the final output file usually scaled to 1:1.


That's all for now. ;)

Oh and I only had time for one more map this evening, Encounter C3 The Black Meadow is up. See first post.

[Zeus]

Added the last of the C Encounter maps. See #1 post.

[dm-crazy]

ty for amazing job.. :)

[Zeus]

Your welcome. :)

Level 1 - Encounters G1-G3 (WiP)

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4625147485_98eb6b4e1d_t.jpg (https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4625147485_b0fd0e0ce6_o.jpg) https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4626503788_3d707f1bd5_t.jpg (https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4626503788_57b2d1e7c0_o.jpg) https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3139/4626160265_cb6102e2cc_t.jpg (https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3139/4626160265_1c3a8a5aa3_o.jpg)

[dm-crazy]

well, your maps much more beaty than WotC originals... ;)

[Xorn]

I also need to find a decent video capture solution for Vista that will record in at least 1440x900 and is preferably free, so please recommend any if you've successfully used one. The reason for the high resolution requirement is to ensure the video captures a good proportion of my extended desktop, which is 2880x900.

DrZeuss,

I think I can help you out with this. I'm discovering some neat tricks I can do with my Livestream desktop capture client (which is free). Let me fiddle with it tonight to make sure it can do what you need, and I'll update this thread if it works. Even if that doesn't, there are some other solutions you can use, but the Livestream client is the best video capture I've used outside of Camtasia Studio (that's what I did my videos with).

Xorn

EDIT:
Never having been the patient sort, I remotely connected to my home computer from work and tested it. I captured my 1680x1050 desktop @ 1280x800, 12 FPS, 3000 kbps, and it turned out beautiful. You could even capture at 16:10 proportions the size of your PS window and it won't even shrink the output. Anyway, PM me and let me know if you'd like some help getting it set up.

Here's a 1440x900 sample of my FG2 window: FG2 Test Capture (https://www.eugee.info/downloads/fg2test.flv) (You need a FLV player to view it.)

[Zeus]

Xorn, I dropped you a PM.

I have the Procaster client installed and running and I have figured out the basic controls for getting a stream going but I can't quite figure out how to stream the entire desktop (across both screens). Right now if I start a stream I get my primary monitor, if I check the Start capture of 2nd monitor option under Desktop I only get the secondary screen.

How do I get both screens up and streaming?

Aside from that, this looks like a very useful tool, thanks for pointing it out to me.

EDIT: OK I think I figured out why perhaps its not letting me capture both screens, I have a MS Lifecam VX6000 and the max resolution its offering in Settings is 1280x1024, guess thats what is constraining Livestream?

[Xorn]

Hmmm. No, I doubt you're going to be able to record more than one monitor. Only option I can think of would be to set up your dual monitors in a span setting (so it's treated as one screen).

Capturing that large of a source is probably going to bottom your system out though. Procaster is it's own capture source, it's literally grabbing the desktop. You could try VHScreenCap, it places a watermark but I know it will capture any dimensions. I'm not sure how big of an output it allows though. The major bonus of Procaster is it will kick out up to 1600x1200 for the *output*, which is rare.

My biggest advice would be to constrain yourself to one monitor for the tutorial. I play FG2 spanned over 3360x1050, but when I do the tutorial videos it's set to 1024x768 so that I can get a very clear image while restricting file size.

To really use your whole screen you need an auto-zoom function like Camtasia Studio has, that will zoom to the active parts of the screen.

[Zeus]

UPDATE

OK, so after a long break I managed to get back to some mapping over the holidays. :D

I've received quite a few requests for the remaining encounter areas for level 1 so here they are in a single map image. Enjoy!

Note: this is a 65% reduction of the master PSD (in an effort to keep the file size sensible). Let me know if alternative sizes are required. Also, if anyone wants a grid less version, just shout. Peace.

https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5050/5318573592_03cf7202d0.jpg (https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5050/5318573592_68169b44ec_o.jpg)

[Tokuriku]

Simply Amazing!

If this is not your job, you could seriously live off this hobby/passion!

[Blue Haven]

I hope you don´t stop here ;)

[Zeus]

Simply Amazing!

If this is not your job, you could seriously live off this hobby/passion!

Many thanks.


I hope you don´t stop here ;)

;) Just finishing Level 2, 1 encounter to go and then I'll make a start on Level 3. I'll post them up once there ready along with my intepretation of the initial forest clearing encounter (the one with no map included).

[Blue Haven]

Eh eh eh good good...;)

[Zeus]

Here's Level 2. :)

https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5081/5330637541_f035d238e4_z.jpg (https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5081/5330637541_bb32bb1520_o.jpg)

Mods - Can someone please move this thread to the Armory, I think that would be a better home. Thanks.

[Doc_Waldo]

I'm not meaning to be greedy, but Zeuss, did you ever put together a video on how you did the maps? Even after seeing the photoshop file, I would still love to see how you do the maps.

[Zeus]

No not yet, its still on the wish list. Several challenges to overcome first.


I have to find a decent desktop recording system for my mac that supports 2560x1440 - if anyone knows of one, please let me know :)
Find the time in between the coding, mapping, running my own games and other community driven projects - so much to do and so little time ...
Overcome the fear of ridicule and embarrassment of my limey brit accent - this is why all my videos to date have been in silence :rolleyes:


I also need to determine how many videos will be required, I doubt I could get the whole process covered in one video, well not unless I use something like stop motion to speed up the process. I'm thinking it maybe better to break it down into several smaller subject areas? When I get setup, maybe even post up a weekly tutorial. We'll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, I'll do my best to describe the process in posts. Was there something specific you were after or just a general overview of the steps taken?

[Robbo]

Map making is one of those things that can make or break a Fantasy Grounds dungeon master. This is especially true in 4E due to its reliance on board-game-like mechanics.

Fantasy Grounds puts a lot of pressure on the map maker. The maps must be able to accept a grid (32 px, 50 px, etc). The map must fit the size of the encounter in a way that accommodates an array of monitor sizes. Every encounter tends to take place on a new area, which means there has to be a constant source of new maps (or rooms on a large map). If it is a map made for other DMs, then it is nice to have an additional copy with markers for where the monsters start, etc.

I've investigated a number of different services, apps, and programs. I don't have photoshop, but I'm sure I'd be lost in trying to quickly create maps if I did. I have Campaign Cartographer with the Dungeon Designer, and while powerful, it takes me far too long to create useable maps. I've used Tiamat the Tile Mapper with some success but the tiles grow repetitive and cost (a small amount of) money for using the tiles. I've bought and used the wildly overpriced Battle Map iPad app, which is by far the slickest and easiest of what I've tried, but it doesn't export to useable files, has a very small selection of tiles and doesn't have any walls (ugh!).

I've also bought one of the map packs for FG from the 0one. I was turned off by the immense size of the map (the Burning Temple one) and haven't looked at it in 10 months since I first got it. Perhaps I should give it another look, as I'm guessing I could make one tremendous dungeon out of it.

I don't know exactly how to put it into words, but Fantasy Ground maps need a certain sensitivity to the medium (computer monitors) to be useable.

[Griogre]

I mildly disagree with you, Robbo. My experience is that players will be happy with just about any map - most player just wanna play! :) I even think a case can be made that simple line maps can be more immersive since they cause the player to use his imagination more.

It does put a lot of pressure on the DM if you feel compelled to do production quality maps. My feelings are quite a bit different on the medium, for a non commercial module I don't worry about the appearance, I'm more interested in file size. I feel the absolute most important thing is the map be a fast and easy transfer. :D Nothing kills a session faster than someone *not* being able to get the map. :p

[drahkar]

I agree with you completely Griogre. The expectations for a Production quality, commercial map/Module is not the same as a community developed one. 90% of my table top games are done on a grid map using erasable dry ink markers to draw line maps.

While I agree that maps are extremely helpful in a scene, its been my experience that people play to get the story and community interaction out. To create a character and see what comes of it. While the commercial and production quality items are without a doubt awesome, they certainly aren't a deal breaker for a good session.

[Robbo]

I mildly disagree with you, Robbo. My experience is that players will be happy with just about any map - most player just wanna play! :) I even think a case can be made that simple line maps can be more immersive since they cause the player to use his imagination more.

It does put a lot of pressure on the DM if you feel compelled to do production quality maps. My feelings are quite a bit different on the medium, for a non commercial module I don't worry about the appearance, I'm more interested in file size. I feel the absolute most important thing is the map be a fast and easy transfer. :D Nothing kills a session faster than someone *not* being able to get the map. :p

I hadn't even thought of file size! That's another consideration for the map maker*.

You and drahkar make a good point that I am putting a lot of pressure on myself to provide good quality maps to my players when they might be happy with far less. In my regular table top games I rarely do more than miniatures on my chessex battle map (a more wrinkled and curling beast you have never seen). It might be a bias I have towards games on the computer needing to reach a certain graphical standard, just because that's what I've been playing the last 20 years, and computer games get better looking every year.

Recently I've been teaching my brother and I how to play Savage Worlds on Fantasy Grounds, and after each session (which has been short and frustrating for various reasons), we fire up World of Warcraft to do a little quick leveling. I find myself admiring the beautiful vistas of Don Murogh for a few seconds before we start actually playing, and then I realize that I'm just hitting tab, pressing '1' and then '3', and then hitting tab for the next target, until I've killed all 10 woozles before piloting my way back to the question mark. And then I realize how much I love and appreciate Fantasy Grounds, and wonder why the heck more people and companies aren't interested in real roleplaying online.

Now I'm not saying I want Blizzard quality maps (ok, sure, I would love it), but I'd love to have a regular supply of maps that were half as good as Doctor Zeuss's beautiful creations to use with our living, breathing games. In the meantime I'll keep searching for a decent solution.



*And it reminded me of another factor: split levels. I remember the first encounter in the War of the Burning Sky takes place in a tavern, in which EugeneZ (a hero of mine) had helpfully included a map for both the first and second floor. Of course my players rushed to the second floor immediately when combat commenced (don't ask me why), but as soon as I moved a token from one map to the other, the session went into crash mode. I believe this is something that was fixed in a later version, but I've never had the guts to check.

[Doc_Waldo]

I sit on Robbo's sit on this topic of nice maps and I agree it is a person thing. I work very hard to create nice maps, I make them high resolution and I use higher resolution tokens. I like to zoom in and see the details on the tokens, and I like to see nice detail on the maps. Yes it does take longer and one of the frustrating things about FGII is that each person does not have the ability to zoom in on the map, so I as the DM must accommodate all the different size screens (although after I do my initial set up I can then zoom until my hear is content until I share again). But the detail I suspect is more for me than the players.

I recently played with a group where the map was fine, nothing special, but token detail wasn't the focus and being a player I couldn't control the zoom in so I had to stand from afar most of the time looking at my token (like an ant on the ground). To the DM it wasn't a large priority to get the detail of the tokens or map--I didn't nor do I think the other players worry to much about it because the game was wonderful-- I learned that I might be worrying way to much about getting a perfect map and perfect tokens.

In the end I have decided to try and play a happy medium. The fact is, I really enjoy trying to make a perfect map and looking for the perfect token and images to create tokens from, but if I am rushed for time, I just have to convince myself that take screen shots of the maps from different mods, i.e. a dungeon mag pdf, increasing the size and doing a little cloning to remove stuff must do, and most likely I will be the only one who cares that the maps are not perfect.

I have photoshop, GIMP, CC3/DD3, and am always looking for a way to make a better map, I suspect that will never change....that's really part of the fun for me, but at least I now understand that I may be an exception to the rule and not the norm.

[Zeus]

I agree with a lot of the views posted here suffice to say, mapping is a very subjective component of modern day rpgs. I remember when I first started gaming that most published modules came with a simple plain blue/black on white set of gridded maps. As we would progress through a dungeon the DM would begin every encounter area with descriptions like "You stand before a 15' x 20' room, on the north wall is a single door ... ".

There is more emphasis on mapping today, with modules including hand drawn, textured and very detailed maps. For 4E the emphasis on the use of minis and battlemaps for handling movement and combat further drives a compulsion for better maps. As a consequence the flavour descriptions for encounters has been watered down to be less mechanical and more colourful. Mainly because, as they say, a picture paints a thousand words.

I'd say it should be a choice for the DM and subject to how much time and effort he/she wants to invest in their game. There is nothing wrong with using simple line drawings but as an art enthusiast I much prefer to use pretty maps in my games, my players also appreciate it as they can better visualise the environments than through text descriptions alone. I should also say that I only apply effort to re-drawing Wizards published module maps for those maps that are so poor in quality or resolution that to use them in FGII would be a pain in the wotsits.

Again, its a matter of circumstance and opinion but I would rather use a 2-3 large sized maps in a game than using smaller encounter based tactical maps and having to constantly move tokens from one to another. The HQ versions of the Level 1 and 2 maps above are approx 4.5 and 3MB respectively. Transfer time to my players averaged at about a minute per player. I guess your pipe to the interweb (especially your upload bandwidth) is the limiting factor for consideration. I'm lucky and have fat bandwidth to most of my players (50Mb down/6Mb up) so transfer time is rarely a problem.

For those of you who want to make fairly good battlemaps in quick time, you might be interested to check out PyMapper (https://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/dungeon_tiles/files/PyMapper/) over at the D&D Dungeon Tile yahoo group (https://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/dungeon_tiles/). Its a community developed evolution of Rai's older Tile Mapper utility and is available for Windows/Mac and Linux.

[devinnight]

just sat down and read this post and looked at the maps.
Nice job, they look great and it's awesome that you shared all of it with the community.
Is there anything you can't do?
-D

[Zeus]

Thats very kind of you to say so devin, coming from a such a talented artist as your good self I'm very flattered.

I really enjoy D&D, FGII and the great community here so its a pleasure to help out. My only regret is not having more time to do more.

[ddavison]

I just wanted to comment that you guys only see the public things that DrZeuss does for FG. He consistently contributes and shares new ideas, graphical support and more directly with MoonWizard and me.

[Tokuriku]

DrZeuss

What you need to record on a Mac is definitely:
ScreenFlow (https://www.telestream.net/screen-flow/overview.htm)
The Demo version works like the original but with a watermark... who cares!

[Zeus]

DrZeuss

What you need to record on a Mac is definitely:
ScreenFlow (https://www.telestream.net/screen-flow/overview.htm)
The Demo version works like the original but with a watermark... who cares!

Thanks Kenshin, I'll take a look.

[Zeus]

Here's Level 3 ... ;)

https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5090/5347564476_467342afe9.jpg (https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5090/5347564476_58e661460f_o.jpg)

[Blue Haven]

Will you work on more maps and maybe some random encounters maps...? that would be awesome!! ;)

[Zeus]

Will you work on more maps and maybe some random encounters maps...? that would be awesome!! ;)

Yes planning to, once the current adventure is underway and once I have had a chance to finish off some coding projects.

For random encounters, post up suggestions as to what would be useful and I'll see what I can do.

[Blue Haven]

:) wow so great! but first i want to ask you...do you feel comfortable making future maps (Warhammer 40K and things like that)...? if so maybe you could make fantasy and future type maps...
Road Encounters
Rest places in forest
Caves or some lairs (small ones)
Forest trails with some nasty ambushs
What do you think...? i used to make maps too but right now i don´t have time and i´m a little rusty with DJ to work something good...

[Zeus]

:) wow so great! but first i want to ask you...do you feel comfortable making future maps (Warhammer 40K and things like that)...? if so maybe you could make fantasy and future type maps...
Road Encounters
Rest places in forest
Caves or some lairs (small ones)
Forest trails with some nasty ambushs
What do you think...? i used to make maps too but right now i don´t have time and i´m a little rusty with DJ to work something good...

I feel more than comfy doing other genre styles of maps however as I only do this on the side (not professionally) I tend to work and share assets that I use in my own games, which are mainly fantasy D&D based. Having said that I am looking at Gamma World with some interest so you may see the odd GW themed maps moving forward.

As for the random encounter maps, they don't sound too taxing, so yes, why not. I am working on a forest clearing map right now so that will be one of the first to get posted up.

[Blue Haven]

Thank you so much friend :) and i was thinking if i have some time maybe we can work together on this :) i use DJ but you could pick my maps and change them the way you know best and voila...Magic maps...what do you think...? i guess i have some maps i have to look on my other computers...

[Zeus]

Thank you so much friend :) and i was thinking if i have some time maybe we can work together on this :) i use DJ but you could pick my maps and change them the way you know best and voila...Magic maps...what do you think...? i guess i have some maps i have to look on my other computers...

Sure, I don't mind collaborating.

[Blue Haven]

Cool :) as soon as i find some of the maps or made more i will send them to you and then you do your magic ;)

[Blue Haven]

Err...i´m having some problems because i can´t find where did i put the files that i used on the maps and as i use DJ if the files are not there the picture exported will appear with a lot of question marks...damn...can you work only with pictures...? like you see mine and do a remake or something...? just till i find the files in this sea of terabytes of mine lol sound like a song...

[Zeus]

Can do, as long as as I have a basic idea of the layout. I have a pretty good eye and most of the reverse engineering I do on a day to day basis for a my job has given me good practice at working backwards from a finished piece.

[Blue Haven]

Oki i will send you at least 2 maps as soon as possible :)

[Zeus]

Here's my interpretation of the initial encounter area for H3 - The Clearing in the Forest. Its not included in the official module. Enjoy!

https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5165/5365178040_2fa89c636f.jpg (https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5165/5365178040_3d22ffe0cf_o.jpg)

[Blue Haven]

You take mapping to another level...(Mad Tv) lol
;)

[Blue Haven]

Can do, as long as as I have a basic idea of the layout. I have a pretty good eye and most of the reverse engineering I do on a day to day basis for a my job has given me good practice at working backwards from a finished piece.


Did you get my messages...?

[Blue Haven]

I finally found the raw images taken from DJ of the maps lol but each one of them has 17MB lol...

[Blue Haven]

WoW have you seen the new maps for Gamma 4e that went out...?

[Zeus]

WoW have you seen the new maps for Gamma 4e that went out...?


Which ones, these maps (https://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4map/20110210)?

[Blue Haven]

YES! some of them are amazing eh eh i have them all eh eh nice...

[Ferrin]

Stumbled across this, very nice if your still looking for a versatile program to record your tutorial try OBS. It allows you to capture windows, desktops, and applications as you need to and supports dual monitor recording. Get the multiplatform version, classic would be limited for you needs.

https://obsproject.com/

[David32780]

Wow Zeus

These maps are amazing! Great job!

[Xorn]

Holy thread necro, Batman!

[sdickes396]

Wow Zeus

These maps are amazing! Great job!

I am a newbie -- Where can I find/download these maps?

[Zacchaeus]

I am a newbie -- Where can I find/download these maps?

Just click on the maps in the post(s) and then right click on them and 'Save As'.

And welcome to Fantasy Grounds and to the community.