Here are two random encounter maps I made in an afternoon. I can put these out pretty quickly, so its kind of perfect for a sandbox game like the one I’m running. Keeps things fresh, even if they’re not as pretty as something produced professionally.
They’re pretty simple, I just throw them together in gimp. The Gaussian Blur and Stroke Selection tools do a lot of heavy lifting.
For example, the shrubs are just 70-140 pixel wide pencil dabs with the Random Angle dynamics on, then I select them with the magic wand selector and Stroke Selection with a pencil brush. The shadow underneath is just a Gaussian Blur of a copy of the original dabs, but with the original magic wand selection cut out.
I love the “see-through” cacti. Great idea.