Hey all; I've been working on mapping some of the stuff from the Master of Desert Nomads Series (X4). This particular map is of a Buried Temple Encounter (i've added the Ifar label to fit my own particular story needs).
I had a really hard time trying to get the map to appear as it did in my head. In particular, I'm still not entirely happy with my attempt to depict rooms 4-8 as underground. I also couldn't find an image of broken pillars that I really liked and my attempts to make one were not entirely successful. In any event...any thoughts on how to improve this map are welcomed.
Just one point: I would have put the underground rooms on a seperate map, to make the distinction clearer. And in case the players do something very stupid and parts of the roof come down, this approach would also give me the opportunity to mark the resulting hole in the ground on the above ground level map.
Greebo: Normally, I think it makes more sense to depict different levels on different maps...but in this case, I wanted to see if I could successfully depict multiple levels (i.e. ground level, elevated, subterranean.)
Simon: I've attached a zoomed in version. What I did was create the floor and walls of the underground parts and then multipoly'd everything else to serve as a background sheet. I then placed that background sheet above (below on the list) the floor and wall sheets. The background has an edge fade inner effect, and the wall sheet has a slight bevel.
The walled underground areas don't look as effective as the non-walled areas, and that's because the bevel and shadow extend onto the over ground side which makes them look as if they are above ground. Maybe you could extend whatever if is you did around the non-walled area so it hides the outer edge of the underground walled section?
I agree. I really like the darker shading along the ground-level, outlining the non-walled area. What if you extended that to the walled areas and removed the beveling?
Thanks for the thoughtful suggestions guys. I've incorporated much of it in this new version. Still not super pleased with it, but happy enough to move on.
larger version @ http://drunkennerdery.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/buried-temple-of-ifar-desert-nomads-series/