Saga Mackenzie

@sagamack

Fantasy Cartographer, Illustrator and writer. Crit award nominee 2024, ENNIE Award Nominee & Winner (Gold - Uncaged: Goddesses) (she/her). , Discord sagamack Tags: #cartography

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Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· 18d

oh shit! W H SMiths (I refuse to use that other name) added some super handy ttrpg map and encounter making refill pads. ...I mean I assume that's what they're for. I can't think of any other reason they would exist. 😅

A pair of paper refill pads from the shop WH Smiths. They're A4 in two different types. One has a verticle hexgrid marked out, with space along the top and side for additional details. The other is the same but with a traditional square grid.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jul 11

Tiny map! 😱 hand painted with acrylics. (still technically not quite finished but it's as far as I got this afternoon).

my fingers holding up a small dungeon map filled with various stone tombs, painted on to a standard sized playing card. It's painted exclusively with blues and yellows (the latter for various bits of torchlight through the complex). It's hand painted with regular acrylic and some of my miniature paints.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jun 17

Beneath the Rising. Hmm...interesting enough story but the pacing is permanently set to "break-neck" without any pause to take a breath, and the two lead characters communicate entirely in capital-B "Banter" 99% of the time. Weirdly lacking in threat for a cosmic horror end of the world story, too.

The cover of the book "Beneath the Rising" by Premee Mohamed. It's a stark white cover with a black patterned swirl surrounding the title text, into which two silhouetted faces can be seen. The swirl is not entirely unlike the alien language used in the movie "Arrival" which does make me slightly suspicious of where the designer got the idea...

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jun 15

Illustrator/Cartographer here! Mostly I do maps for all sorts of stuff, including the recent new version of Night City for Cyberpunk Red, as well as the upcoming DIE metadungeon book! email : pyxistyx2013@gmail.com. 😄 smackfolio.wordpress.com

A pseudo-3d city map showing a mountain-locked city choked by snow, built up in separated concentric rings. Reflected light from various warming towers melt enough of the snow amongst the gathered structures to create a livable space that can be farmed. On both sides the city is flanked by impassable rocky mountaintops. A map key on the right proclaims this to be 'Lichtberg'

A top down battlemap showing a sample of a typical city street, flanked by buildings with rooftops of various heights. It's night, and the streetlamps that line the street on either side glow orange. A side alley is filled with garbage cans and detritus.

A clean, easy to read map of Night City for the cyberpunk RPG. It has a digital aspect to make it look like the map that would appear on a holographic display or vehicle navigation guide. The background is a dark blue, with main streets marked out in stark yellow, and smaller streets getting gradually more blue and faded the narrower and less major they get. The ocean is marked out in a computerised style gridded form and is mostly pale turquoise with a slight ambient glow about it.

A more contemporary map/collge showing two different maps (a top down topographical view and a side-on cutaway) of Pendle Hill in England. The maps are full colour and mark out key locations in the adventure. Surrounding it are real photograps of the region, modified to look like vintage 1920s pictures, and the background is made to look like a wooden table to give the impression these are all artifacts that have been spread out across a surface.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jun 3

The absolute state of this alt-slop text. Go home Adobe, you're drunk.

a photograph of a page from the new revised Odyssey of the Dragonlords book showing the images of a couple of major NPCs - a dwarf forgemaster and armoured human king with a battle axe hoisted over one shoulder. The focus though is on the generative AI alt-text popping up on screen, describing the dwarf character as "A woman in a gold dress". Below is a line stating that this incredibly descriptive passage was generated by AI, as if that wasn't already obvious.

a photograph of a page from the new revised Odyssey of the Dragonlords book showing the images of a bronze dragon poised on a rock looking out of frame, while their dragonlord rider stands weapon ready at their feet. The horrible GEN-AI caption for this one reads "A dragon is standing in front of a sword". Masterful and evocative use of the English langauge, Adobe.

The last photo shows a double-page image from one of the new odyssey books, showing the bronze statue guarding the docks of Mytros, animating and about to throw a massive spear at the gargantuan shambling titan that is emerging from the waves, built from a writhing mass of grasping hands. The Caption on THIS image reads "A man with a sword standing on a rocky beach". Very economic with its descriptors is Adobe Acrobat.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· May 6

So what with losing all my original files for my @fightingfantasy.bsky.social maps in the laptopocalypse of '26, I thought why not star revamping them. And THEN I thought why not make, like, a poster/worksheet thing with unique 'achievements' for replayability...? 🤔

A poster size map for The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. The central section is a full map of the dungeon complete with boxes for entering page reference numbers. The dungeon itself is the interior of a mountain split down the middle with an underground river. At the top, a separate parchent 'boxout' contains the infamous maze of zagor, a difficult 'dungeon within a dungeon'.

To the left of the map is a list of achievements to try to complete to aid replayability of the book. There's also a small list of 'unique deaths' and bad ends to try to hit. On the right is some space for a person to record four attempts to progress through the book, complete with character name, statistics and somewhere to enter how much gold they finished with, and what their characters fate is.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Mar 17

Got my lovely print copies of For Small Creatures Such as We by @annablackwell.bsky.social Very nice, very nice! Included are a handful of Star sector maps by yours truly that look super cool in print form! 😁

The single page expansion map for the Guide to Fauna expansion. This is also split into rows and columns of hexes, separated by playing card symbols. Several small planet or space station illustrations are scattered across the map, and the whole thing is separated into sectors of varying danger, from green to red.

A single page expansion sector map for the 'Love and Lust' expansion to Small Creatures Such as We. This is also split into rows and columns of hexes, separated by playing card symbols. Several small planet or space station illustrations are scattered across the map, and the whole thing is separated into sectors of varying danger, from green to red.

The double-spread sector map from the main book. It's a starfield split into hexagons sorted in rows and columns by playing card type (ace through to King) Several small planet or space station illustrations are scattered across the map, and the whole thing is separated into sectors of varying danger, from green to red.

My hand holding up the cover of the main book. The title "For Small Creatures Such as We - Solo and Co-op sci-fi roleplaying" is large white text over a starfield and planet background, with a sun rising just behind the planet.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Feb 6

I remember this being a real Nightmare to paint! (*sad trombone noise*)

me holding a painted miniature of a Nightmare - a jet black spectral hell horse with a flaming fire mane and hooves, leaping over a pair of crumbling gravestones. There is a raven sitting on its back for extra evil portent.

front view of the Nightmare miniature - a jet black spectral hell horse with a flaming fire mane and hooves, leaping over a pair of crumbling gravestones. The hooves are casting fire light back on to the grave marker with a little environmental lighting effect.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jan 30

I don't remember what this thing's called but I just think he's neat. Also bonus Kraken.

photograph of a squid like kraken with a wide open maw full of teeth. It's skin is turquoise blue with red suckers in the exposed undersides of each tentacle and around the flesh of the maw. A cluster of bright green eyes are hidden within the mass.

Rear view of this wolf-dragon hybrid, showing black and red shading on its tail, plus a better view of the overgrown grassy base with it's ruined church window.

Some sort of wolf-dragon hybrid, a winged creature with the head and mane of a wolf. it's perched atop a shattered church or cathedral window, it's maw wide open mid snarl. A previous attacker has thrust a discarded sword into its back, but the creature shows no sign of it slowing them down.

A different view of this wolf-dragon hybrid, long longue lolling out of its mouth. You can get a better view at this angle of the two dragon-like horns sticking out of hits wolfish head. it's fur is a fiery orange-red, darkening to a wine colour the more into the leathery wings you get.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jan 27

I felt the need to tackle some sort of "2026" challenge this year, so I made one up for myself. 12 vault ruins for Coriolis: The Great Dark, 1 per month. First up is January: The Saltstrain. To get the full thing (alpha unedited or tested) join me on patreon! www.patreon.com/posts/12-del...

A colourful starfield cover with a purplish red nebula and some sort of rot or corruption creeping in from the right hand side. The Builder run for "life" is superimposed in the background. The title is : "12 Delves - twelve months, twelve delves for coriolis: the great dark. January's delve is called 'The Saltstrain'.

Side view monochromatic map of the Saltstrain Builder Ruin. Maps for Coriolis: The Great dark are side view images of connecting rooms and passages, with a numbered and lettered grid to track descent. As well as the usual markers (including which areas of the vault are infested with blight the strongest) there is a surface marker showing where a water level has dropped over several years. The entire thing has a yellowish-green tinge making it look like an old monitor readout.

A sample two page spread from the alpha version of the delve, showing off unique hazards the players will find there in a D66 table, as well as a "setting the mood" box and the start of the unique encounter locations.

The style of both pages are clean white backgrounds with light green-grey headers and page effects to match the sort of design that exists in the core rulebook, without copying it directly.

The player facing view of the vault is the same side-view map as before, except it's blurred and obscured, so the players only see the uppermost areas. Below the clear rooms the tunnels and rooms are smudged and indistinct. This version of the map has a coppery red/dark brown feel with scanlines suggesting its the result of some sort of echo scan of the ruin.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jan 21

been a long time since i've actually posted a MAP, so here's a commission for a home game that I just finished up!

A hand drawn digital art city map showing the city of tidefall - a circular city sitting next to the sea and split into two circular tiers and four districts, representing different phases of the moon. The more lavish interior circle holds all the government buildings while most of the outer ring is the common areas. to the northeast on the shoreline is the rich folks area with a lot of standalone manors, and east of the city wall is farmland. The northern half of the outer ring on the shoreline holds the docklands.

The border of the map includes banners with symbols representing the six factions in the setting - phases of the moon, palace, whale, rose and Kopesh. The lower half of the border has the titleof the map in the middle and illustrations of the cities main sea goddess rising out of the surf in a flowing blue-purple gown, and aside representation of some buildings from the city.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Dec 27

Due to bit of a xmas mixup, I've ended up with TWO (2) boxes of Steamforged Epic Encounters - Symbaroum minis to paint! :O The more the merrier i say! It's actually fun trying to stick to a colour scheme that compliments the book art. The cleric of Prios especially turned out pretty good.

The rear of a goblin miniature from the epic encounters Symbaroum box set. The goblin is painted in muted greens and browns, with a black top knot hairstyle and a grasping a staff made from a gnarled length of tree root.

The front view of a goblin miniature from the epic encounters Symbaroum box set. The goblin is painted in muted greens and browns, with a black top knot hairstyle and a grasping a staff made from a gnarled length of tree root. The front view also shows the unique look of symbaroum goblins, with less of the exaggerated "pointy nose" features they usually have. As well as the greens and browns, there's a splash of orange in the beaded necklace they wear around their neck.

Rear view of the painted cleric of Prios player character miniature , showing the details of the flowing russet or orange/red robes with a yellow or non-metallic 'gold' trim, belt, etc, matching the colour of the gold tipped staff, emblazoned with the seal of Prios the sungod. While colourful, I've deliberately tried to keep the colours more muted and matching those displayed in the imagery for Prios clerics in the core symbaroum book.

Front view of the painted cleric of Prios player character miniature for Symbaroum. The figure is robed in russet/orange-red colour with yellow-non metallic gold detailing. In one hand the hooded figure clasps an open book of prayers with a wax seal, and in the other they are raising up a staff tipped with the sunburst design of the sigil of Prios, the sun god.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Dec 20

Everyone check out Suffer on Prime! It's a super micro budget feminist fantasy movie made with a 6 person team during covid restrictions and for, like, $30k. They do an excellent job! Also i made a map for it which is WILD that *I* now have a movie credit 😅 www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/det...

A photo taken of the credit scroll on the film 'Suffer'. My name, Saga Mackenzie, appears credited as cartographer.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Dec 6

This day, I detailed a double-duet of dangerous diminutive Duergar!

photograph of four Duergar - grey skinned deep dwarves - miniatures on my messy work desk. Their leader is in back, painted with frosty armour and twin magical axes but is mostly hidden beneath a wolf-like helm. To his left is a duergar miner, shirtless with a pickaxe in one hand and a lump of rock under his other arm. The rock is glowing green with some sort of mineral. Down and right is a Deep dwarf berserker with fire axes and a punky hairstyle, and lastly to her right is a hooded and robed deep dwarf cleric, clutching some sort of green stone hand (maybe made from the same mineral mined by the miner?) and about to cast a spell from an outstretched hand.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Dec 5

You're danged right it's unavailable! Privacy settings working as intended! 😤

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Nov 25

HECK. The PDF was pretty enough but having the actual book in my hands...glorious. @stoutstoat.co.uk this is quite the thing of beauty! Can't wait to sit down and give it a proper read.

Colourful cover of a large softback book titled "Carved in Stone - A Storyteller's Guide to the Picts" There is a painting of travelling picts with their livestock moving through a forest beside a fast flowing river, with a waterfall in the background. The rest of the cover is covered in pictish knot carvings.

A sample interior page from the book showing a full page stylised map of Scotland as it would have been around the time of the picts, along with part of Ireland and northern england. The chapter is titled "Pictland"

A sample page from the Cuisine section, with large colourful and delicious looking illustrations of some of the soups, stews and other food dishes that would likely have been commonplace among the picts. This fills up over 2/3 of the page and spreads across into the next one, with descriptions sorted by seasons in the remaining space.

A double page spread from the Artwork section of the book showing detailed sepia toned pen and ink drawings of stone carving fragments covered in pictish designs and symbology, with separate areas where individual symbols have been isolated with explanations as to their potential meanings.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Oct 24

Was reorganising my shelves the other week which naturally led to me giving my Fighting Fantasy books pride of place WHICH LED, naturally, to me feeling the urge to work on a revision/revamped version of a previous Firetop Mountain map I made. So....I did that. I will probably do more! 🤷‍♀️

A map of the gamebook "warlock of Firetop mountain" showing all the rooms and connecting corridors that can be explored without any specific details to avoid spoiling anything. The border is colourful and decorative, showing an image of the warlock himself, and the red dragon that guards his hideout, curling around the edge of the map and blowing smoke to form part of the border. A decorative rose compass is top right next to a cutaway map of the 'maze of zagor' one of the more confusing and difficult sections of the book. Scattered across the entire map are the six important keys you can discover during the adventure. Finding the correct three will open the chest of treasures at the end of the book, and all of them are places roughly close to where they are found while playing the game.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Oct 21

My new crow friend (courtesy of The Crooked Moon and @avantris.bsky.social ) now sits behind me, silently looking down in angry judgement at my inability to complete Act 1 of Silksong... 😓

A very grumpy little crow plushy looking down on me and my laptop in silent judgement, perched on the top row of my TTRPG bookcase. (This section is mostly Free League games and stuff like City of Mist). There's also a very flat looking Ludo from Labyrinth plush with a somewhat disconcerted expression, none too sure about his new neighbour.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jun 22

A little experiment outside my comfort zone - tried a lil' diorama in a picture frame! I don't think it turned out too badly for a first attempt. Definitely want to try to do some more of these.

The finished diorama sitting on my studio shelf. It's contained within a small shiny black picture frame with a thick simple border about half an inch wide. Full size it's about the size of an a5 piece of paper. The frame is deep and contains a small diorama depicting a ferocious minotaur emerging from some kind of labyrinth. The greek letters for "DEATH" are inscribed in blood above the entrance and surrounded by bloody hand prints. The labyrinth entrance is a flat 2d surface painted with a simple perspective trick for a 3d effect, although it's mostly obscured by the miniature. The minotaur is standing on a rocky base surrounded by grass, rubble and mushrooms as well as a discarded shield, painted with the symbol of a stylised Minoan Labrys.

A close up of the same diorama in more artificial light so you can see the details up close, otherwise it's the same as the previous image content-wise.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jun 13

My brain was having absolutely NO TRUCK with the idea of doing proper constructive work today, so it's been me and Ba'Lor here for the duration. Just a wing, his two weapon arm choices and some random bits and bobs to go!

photograph against a white background showing my hand holding up Ba'Lor, an almost complete miniature (not really mini though) of a large demon lord with flesh-tone skin and bony extrusions and tail, and ragged red-black wing membranes. He's still missing one wing and his hand weapon choices which are still work in progress.

Front view of the demon lord miniature held up against a white background. in the front view you can see a little bit of the painted lava i've attempted on the base, as well as an environmental orange glow that i've tried to apply to the volcanic rock on which the demon lord is posed.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jun 11

it has, admittedly, been A LONG TIME since I've done any logo work but I do have a background in web design and visual communication so I'd be willing to take a crack at it! (even though these days the closest I get is usually character sheets) smackfolio.wordpress.com

An image showing three different character sheets made as a fan requested project for the Apothecaria solo game. The left sheet contains character details, including a graphical image of a wand with custom parts. The second is a patient records sheet detailing the disease they have and what you need to cure them, and the third is for potions, with space for four different potions represented by illustrations and space for the details which you fill out by hand. they are all black and white line drawn.

A patch I made for the game For Small Creatures Such As We. Designed in photoshop and illustrator then converted into a stitched patch. It depicts the arms of a tentacle creature and a human in a space suit grasping each other in solidarity, surrounded by a starscape.

A poster I made as an honours degree project - a stylised selection of icons representing the items you should include in a vehicle safety kit, including things like a medical kit, phone charger, flares, warning triangle, pressure gauge, etc. The design is a simple three colour thing, with shades of dark grey, yellow and red.

Character sheet designed for the Eldritch Sands 5e sourcebook. It's mostly the classic D&D style sheet but reorganised into a circular design to resemble the HUD of an armoured suit, with the main stats in the centre, fanning outwards to skills and then to tertiary things like HP, Armour class, saving throws, space for skills, etc.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jun 5

there's...quite a lot to the 'Caves' package. Though admittedly most of it is terrain and scatter pieces, rather than character minis. Looking forward to getting stuck into this lot properly.

a box containing a whole lot of packaged miniatures from the Dungeons and Laser's 'Caves' crowdfunding project. Mostly these are various cavern terrain pieces, but there is a lot of stretch goal scatter terrain and miniatures included.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jun 5

more minis, including the first of the...rather hefty 'Caves' package I just received from Archon! Two more mimics from the Animal Companion pack, and the Dwarf Queen from Cave's Strech goals (who i've painted up as the main mastermind villain in my Keys from the Golden Vault campaign)

A painted miniature depicting a dwarven noble wearing blue and purple robes adorned with silvery jewellery and a silver crown. She is clutching an elaborate scroll in one hand, while another sits propped up on a stack of books.

A classic treasure chest mimic, revealing itself with a large purple tongue, slimy innards and protruding teeth.

rear view of a strongbox or safe mimic. From the rear it looks like a regular looking vault box with a combination lock and wheel, painted in a non-metallic blue-grey and gold.

From the front the strong box is clearly a monster. A long purple tongue erupts from the container, surrounded by pointed teeth. It also propels itself along on several protruding tentacles.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jun 4

also on the hunt for more commissions once again. If you need maps, character sheets or anything inbetween, drop me a PM or email saga.mackenzie.art@gmail.com and we can work something out!

a non-official character sheet made for a fan of the game Apothecaria. It has spaces for tracking the year as it progresses around the border of the sheet, as well as for customising your witch with a wand, spaces for tools and equipment, upgrades and spare reagents.

a 3d map of a mountain city called lichtberg. separated into distinct circular walled districts, the snow around the city is kept at bay by a series of powerful reflective mirrors that direct sunlight into each location, leaving room for farmland and civilisation to thrive.

A 2d top down topographical map of a fictional loch in the highlands of scotland, surrounded by a small village made up of a dozen or so scattered houses and farmsteads, with the ruins of a castle looking down over the loch and village from on high. The region is named Auchenschuil.

A 2d top down map of a sunken city, held within a dome that protects it from the sea beyond. The city is arranged like a cogwheel with branches in all major compass directions. It appears that the dome has shrunk over time, as the city continues past the magical barrier into abandoned and flooded ruins beyond.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jun 3

First post-UKGE mini painted. An absolutely normal vending machine. (From the 'Animal Companions' pack from Archon's Dungeons & Lasers range).

A photo of a painted vending machine miniature with a red front casing. It's glass window is shattered, revealing tiny cans of Irn Bru, Pepsi, Coke and Red Bull. There is a massive purple tongue growing out of the collecting hatch, betraying that this is actually a hungry mimic in disguise!

The rear of the vending machine is bright blue, apart from the heat coils that have been painted a hot looking orange.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Jun 2

I'd like to say I got away from UKGE without straining the ol' credit card over-much. I'd LIKE to say that. Buuuuuut....

A pile of goodies purchased at UK Games Expo 2025. Including : Daggerheart, Heart, Golf Quest, an expansion for the solo game Dead Air, An expansion for the solo game Delve called Biomes, two packs of character cards for COLOSTLE, and a whole bunch of miniatures to paint. My favourite being the 24 weird and wonderful animal companions.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Apr 26

good luck! I can quit any time I want!

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Apr 23

Been a rough week for multiple reasons, but putting the most unpleasant aside, I am once again in need of commissions! Anyone in need of cartography of all types, or maybe a character sheet or two, please feel free to get in touch here or email saga.mackenzie.art@gmail.com for a quote!

A map of the various outer planes of the D&D world, after a vecna related apocalyptic event has struck. Five of the worlds are now void and open to space, while the rest are all either on fire or otherwise have distinctive appearances.

A sample page from a custom non-official Apothecaria character sheet, with illustrated line drawings of potions that can be coloured in, with plenty of space for recording potion details.

A colour map of the Sylvark Bloom - a dryad-style spelljammer ship made from several magically twisted trees, complete with sheltering canopys and tangled roots. The bottom half of the image is a 3d illustration of the ship, while the upper half has the four decks laid out in 2d.

One of the Night Markets from Cyberpunk Red's Black Chrome Book. This one is the interior of an old computer parts shop with tables of retro electronics. A back room has a hacker setup style of computer desk and a grotty little side apartment.

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Apr 22

Genuine question - I had someone suggest this idea to me earlier and was wondering: would there be any interest in a cartography colouring book? That you can both colour for fun, AND use as a functional game tool? (or, just use as B&W print friendly maps)? Possible space-themed sample attached. 🤔

A black and white line drawing of the Sylvark Bloom - a spelljammer type fantasy space craft shaped out of several trees, with sheltered canopies and dangling roots around each deck. There is both a 3d illustration of the full ship, and several 2d deck plans for each level.

A black and white line drawing of a horrible lump of floating space flesh, with a central 3d illustration and several small 2d map sections surrounding it. A few small separate lumps float around filling up some of the white space. The title is : Delve into the Diabolical Sloughed Flesh!

Saga Mackenzie@sagamack· Apr 22

As much as I lack the enthusiasm right now, the show must go on - I've uploaded the second of my VTT sector map packs to Itch. This time there's 40 space station icons, and a few little extras included. Grab it for a 50% discount for the first week. sagaillustrates.itch.io/modular-map-...