Featuring artists Marco Bernardini and Maihope

The forested landscape of the Dalelands hides many adventures and secrets. You might find a cozy village to rest your weary bones or ancient, cursed ruins full of adventure! The two artists featured in this article—Marco Bernardini and Maihope—helped contribute to those stories in Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn, crafting pieces that invite Dungeon Masters and players to immerse themselves in Faerûn’s various locations.

• The Dalelands: Cozy Village to Colossal Adventures
• Myth Drannor: Unearth Ancient Adventures

A Trove of Art and Adventure Awaits

Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn and Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn contain a combined 284 lovingly crafted pieces of new art that are ready to inspire your adventures.

If you want to see more of the contributions made by Maihope and Marco to the Forgotten Realms books, check out the D&D Discord below!

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The Dalelands: Cozy Village to Colossal Adventures

Artist: Maihope

• Open the Full-Res Art

In this stunning vista by Maihope, a contrast of ideals unfolds. The forefront of his painting shows a peaceful Dalelands village, but danger—and adventure—is lurking.

“You begin in a place filled with comfort, people going about their day, riding carriages, tending to farm animals. It’s a place you just don’t want to leave, but you must for some reason,” Maihope describes.

The result is a breathtaking panorama where a pastoral village fades into the looming ruins of Myth Drannor. “It makes you feel like you’re a very small person in a very huge world,” he explains. “Everything beyond is a little bit intimidating. The trees twist and curl, and in the distance, huge ruins of ancient Elvish architecture rise above the horizon.”

Artist: Maihope

Adventure Calls

“I wanted to convey that feeling of home,” Maihope says. “The foliage, the cottages, the clean roads, the forest in the background.” But he adds, “To make the drama pop up, I needed something in contrast to its coziness—a dark, dangerous feeling.”

Danger Awaits

At the edge of town, an Owlbear prowls. And beyond that, mists swirl around ancient ruins. In the far distance, the jaw-dropping expanse of Myth Drannor contributes to the intimidating air.

“Something ominous must pull the adventurers from their cozy village into the ruins. It has to be worth risking the comfort of home for,” Maihope adds.

Visual Cues

D&D is about imagination; the worlds you explore are, for the most part, in the heads of players and the Dungeon Master. Based on the description provided, everyone at the table could have a different image in their mind's eye.

But, as the Dungeon Master, when you can incorporate art as part of your session, it can help immerse everyone in the setting—they can imagine themselves walking down the well-worn trail en route to adventure.

To help players immediately recognize what lies ahead, Maihope places certain visual cues throughout his piece: “You can feel something ominous, but you can’t see it clearly. The ruins are always in shadow or cloaked in mist, never lit directly. Everything normal is bright and open, but the ruins are mysterious.”

Myth Drannor: Unearth Ancient Adventures

Artist: Marco Bernardini

• Open the Full-Res Art

The elven megadungeon of Myth Drannor contains nearly infinite possibilities for adventures. Marco Bernardini, the artist behind the massive Myth Drannor map in Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn, handcrafted every detail so that you can zoom into any area of the map and find a different story to tell.

“As a Dungeon Master first, I always fill my maps with tiny details here and there because I want to involve other DMs and inspire them to create new stories,” says Marco, whose watercolor map of Myth Drannor reveals a city built upon millennia of triumph and ruin.

Every inch of his map is deliberate: “I tried to make every building true to the destination of use. If it was a blacksmith or a guild of bards, you can actually find the tiny insignia outside the location,” he says.

A Fantasy City Grounded in Reality

Artist: Marco Bernardini

Bernardini’s architectural training shines through his approach to fantasy maps. “Coming from Rome, I’m fascinated by cities with layers—Roman foundations beneath medieval and Renaissance structures,” he explains. “I wanted to give that same sense of history and realism to Myth Drannor.”

Dungeon Crawls Galore

For players, Bernardini’s Myth Drannor is a dungeon crawler’s dream. Along with the named locations, Marco has provided visual elements that tell as much of a story as the sourcebook's content.

“The Netherese ruins—the obsidian castle pieces scattered across the city—are surrounded in mist,” explains Marco. “Maybe the shards are spreading some kind of magical blight. Maybe those mists are connected to Shadowfell, and the Plane of Shadow is creeping closer, trying to swallow the city.”

“There’s something eldritch about the place,” he continues, “the grey patches, the drained magic, the lifeless zones. That quiet strangeness sparks curiosity more than a big floating crystal ever could.”

Ready to Forge Your Own Tale?

Maihope’s Dalelands vista and Bernardini’s map of Myth Drannor are as much storytelling tools as the content they emphasize. Used together, they could be the cornerstone of an entire campaign arc in the Forgotten Realms where adventurers must leave the comforts of home and become heroes of legend—whether willingly or having the duty thrust upon them.

Inspiration and storytelling await in Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerûn and Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn, where your character’s next great legend begins!