(Now Crowdfunding) The Cosmographer’s Atlas: Star to Sea TTRPG Sandbox Settings

The Cosmographer’s Atlas: Star to Sea TTRPG Sandbox Settings

by Cartograpybird

Three cosmic campaign settings for the steampunk DM. A 200+ page treasury of maps, floorplans, events, NPCs, in-world documents & more!

The Cosmographer’s Atlas is a passion project of mine that I’ve designed, first and foremost, as a vessel for your stories. Alongside general worldbuilding information, events, items, NPCs, and playable characters, you’ll also find maps, charts, floorplans, and in-world documents that you can use to add more depth and intrigue to your campaigns. Guide your players towards hidden truths, or strike out in your own direction – the choice is yours! Because of their sandbox nature, these system-neutral settings are compatible with any TTRPG format. The homebrewing DM can weave as many campaigns from these worlds as their imagination allows!

The Atlas was inspired by my love for storytelling. As a professional illustrator, I work daily with authors and TTRPG DMs who are passionate about writing but somewhat at a loss on the illustration front. My work is therefore inherently collaborative: a meeting of creatives who all approach the storytelling process from different angles, with different skillsets, joining to create intricate and engaging worlds. I’ve worked with Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Lerner Publishing Groups, but my favourite clients are self-publishing authors, who are always so excited to tell their own stories.

The Atlas contains three world chapters: Morningstar, The Tides of Europa, and Ever Stranger Wilds. These worlds are a celebration of maximalist beauty, and explore the often treacherous nexus point between humanity, technology, and nature. Morningstar is a gilded, celestial Art Nouveau setting; The Tides of Europa is a steampunk / biopunk homage to Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; and Ever Stranger Wilds is a verdant Edwardian foray into a Gothic past. Their scope and narrative flexibility differ: I’ve endeavored to make this book friendly to both one-shots and shorter campaigns, as well as much longer adventures. More details below!

Each world chapter contains everything a DM needs to bring their stories to life:

🪐 History / Culture / General worldbuilding
🪴 Flora & Fauna
🎂 Events
🗡️ Items
🏫 Locations
👑 NPCs & Playable Characters
📜 Maps, Charts, Floorplans, & Annotated Illustrations
✉️ In-World Documents (event posters, invitations, tickets, illuminated manuscript pages, redacted company documents, journal entries, etcetera)

For easier access to the maps, charts, and in-world documents, a QR code at the beginning of each section will take you to an online archive of the files. You can download & print these files as many times as needed, allowing you to re-use props, print multiples, and/or print them to your desired size.

Suspended in a gentle cloud-caught orbit around the planet Venus, the radiant citystation of Morningstar is the gilded crown of the solar system. Spiraling golden metalwork drips from every surface; ornate glass elevators glide through the station’s seventeen stories; and in the heart of the station, a sunlit park of remarkable size extends its greenery out in every direction. Life here is easy and beautiful, loosely structured by morning strolls and afternoon teas and evening balls. Those who live on Morningstar live slowly, happily, decadently: they’ve taken on the contented tranquility of Venus’s beautiful clouds, which swirl far below the station. But recently, those very clouds are rising to the city – and in those brief foggy hours, when the ornate beauty of the station is obscured and the sunlight is reduced to a distant orange haze, people are going missing.

Down deep beyond the sun, beyond even Jupiter’s view, lies the once-famous subaquatic research station of Europa. Its current state is a mystery – Earth hasn’t been able to restore contact in nearly two decades. Many miles away lies a very different, much more recent settlement. The constructs here have windows that stretch three stories tall, with astonishing views of the biomechanical fauna swimming past; they have expansive indoor gardens, lush and verdant and lit by radiant crystal domes; they have comfort and luxury and possibility; most importantly, they have a plethora of receivers all dialed in to the operator back on Earth. And here you are, in this little blue shuttle with your early-bird settlement ticket, blasting towards your future at nearly six thousand miles an hour. What answers await beneath Europa’s distant ice?

For eons, astronomers noted the craters on the ice moon of Callisto as just that – shallow impacts, dotting the frozen rocky crust of Jupiter’s fourth moon. And they were largely correct. But a recent excursion to collect geological samples stumbled onto a particularly unique ‘crater’ – one that stretched down for miles, far beyond the sunlight, and far beyond the view of the baffled surveyors peering over the perfectly circular rim. An expedition was quickly mounted, and one brave geologist was lowered by rope into the depths, down deep until the air softened and warmed… until a faint green glow broke the darkness… until his feet landed on… ferns?! What he felt in that moment, standing in a verdant clearing with thick forests encircling him, is beyond our knowledge. Why and how this sylvan cavern came to be is far beyond us as well. Really, there is only one thing we do know for certain: we were not the first.

KICKSTARTER EXCLUSIVE: By backing this project, you’ll receive a limited collector’s edition hardcover of The Cosmographer’s Atlas. I’ve aimed to create a truly rich and high-quality book in gratitude for your support: full colour, heavyweight paper, an emerald green bookmark ribbon, and many more little details depending on this Kickstarter’s success!