Community Atlas - Forlorn - Bleakness - The Craig dungeons and environs
JimP
🖼️ 280 images Departed Legend - Rest in Peace
A rather bleak area, looks like it rusted centuries ago, and got worse from that. Three small villages and a partially protective tower nearby each. Gardens are typically, a pile of rocks. If you can call that a garden. Not much grows here.
Off to the west is a caldera on an ancient volcano. Some say there is a village in there, even though it is not cool. Not much breeze reaches that village. While those that live in the Discontent Three would prefer much less wind than they get.
Rarely a group of adventurers will show up at one of the villages looking for a place to conquer and find riches. The villagers point to The Craig. Rarely do the adventurers return.
I came up with these dungeon maps originally by using the Watabou random dungeon generator, imported the files into CC3+, and then using them as guides, made the maps.
the environs. 900 pixel jpg
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Comments
I need to map the environs near The Craig, as the dungeons wont all be near each other. One will be further up the foothill.
This is No Ducks One, renamed to Deep Dark. The cave/tunnel numbered 19 goes off, to somewhere... to be explained later.
900 pixel jpg.
This is No Ducks 2, now called 'The Former Cave Inn'. The cave/tunnel 28 goes off somewhere...
900 pixels
This part 3 is still a work in progress. I have changed it from No Duck 3 to The Whispering Waters
I can make adjustments to the other two dungeons, but I think they are mostly complete, well, have to add debris. Cave/tunnel 16, 16A, and 16B go off somewhere... Added a 5 foot wide tunnel to connect rooms 10 and 12. All behind secret doors.
900 pixel jpg.
I like the "goes to somewhere else..." tunnels! I spent years designing dungeons/scenarios that were intended to link with one another by similarly vague pathways, and where the next mapped sequence had a similar group of tunnels going - who knows where! I ended up having to keep a separate written list of all the "blank" routes so I didn't lose track completely...
?
Whispering Waters update.
room 3) two cages. One has a skeleton, and the other a mostly eaten green apple.
room 4) stone golem protecting a chest and a trunk.
5) an arrow of skeletons pointing to a broken bench.
6) 3 skeletons gathered around a pit, with blue flames. What does that mean ? Hydrogen. Don't put out the flames if you have a lantern or torch.
10) a set of broken benches and some skeletons. It looks like something in the 3 urns attacked.
11) the word 'EMPTY' carved on the floor in runes. Bwahahaha ! Doesn't mean anything, but it could.
12) blood splatters on the floor, with a corpse in room 12B with a slightly glowing green feather next to it. Chest on the stones in the water.
13) a water feature. Two stone golems guarding a chest and two trunks.
16) Looks like fungi, or rocks, are marking a path. The wood debris can be easily broken up for firewood or a club. The characters may need that later on.
Tired, so I'll post the 900 pixle jpg and the 2000 in my gallery.
And the same with the original background.
900, etc.
Just a thought Jim, but have you considered resetting the word "EMPTY" in the middle of the floor in Room 11, and maybe reworking it using a fainter Solid fill with a light Bevel Effect, as Remy described for making Floor & Wall Inscriptions on the blog last December?
It seems a little too similar in appearance to the ordinary labelling just at present.
Relatives have taken up much of my time this weekend, I'll have to look it over later in the week.
But I think with a note that it is carved into the floor. And I could put it on its own sheet, with a different color outer glow.
Well, zoomed out to full map size, I cannot see it. So here is the zoomed in version. I used a Solid 10 bmp. I'm attaching the fcw as I have no idea if I did it wrong or not.
900 pixel jpg.
I tried 50 and 20 bmp, but they don't look carved at all.
The principle's fine, Jim, and you've set the whole up OK. Now it just needs tweaking some more.
Try increasing the Bevel size or its strength, and maybe rescaling the letters to be larger. But I agree, at the full map size, it doesn't look great unfortunately. It works better with a more uniform floor fill style - maybe try the Stone Brown Flat or Stone Grey Flat bitmap fill for the room floor instead.
I've done some quick adjustments - variant FCW attached - made the letters larger and moved them to be more central in the room, got rid of that triangle that was filling in the "P", changed the fill to Solid 20, the room floor to Stone Brown Flat, and increased the Bevel strength to 75%. I switched off the Fade, as I'm not sure it does much with small Bevel sizes. It's easier to see the lettering with the map grid off as well. Hopefully, this might give you a few more ideas for what you'd prefer to do with it.
I did a few tests at full map size, but the Bevel needs to be increased to a size that looks terrible close-up to be seen at all at full map level, so I think it has to be up to you as to whether to stick with it, or go for something else. Interesting experiment, regardless.
Thanks @Wyvern . Downloaded and copied text to my computer. Now sure when I'll be able to get to this. Helping relatives.
@Wyvern Here is yours, increased the length to 0.5
full map then closeup. 900 pixel
The Former Cave Inn ( Nobody sees the pun ? )
I'll work on the connecting cave for all the passageways that go off somewhere...
900 pixel jpg, 2000 in gallery
I think Deep Dark map is done. If not, please post what I need to fix.
Maps left to do are: 3 outside maps, and the connecting cave so these three areas can connect via secret door hidden passageways.
Deep Dark 900 pixel, 2000 in gallery.
Glad you're happy with it Jim!
Presumably, the "concealed" "X" in the letter "M" is above where the treasure's buried in that room? ?
Which room on which map ? I may have some text on the wrong sheet.
On my cell.
The "EMPTY" room label I meant Jim - not wholly seriously!
Oh, you were looking at the M from the North by Northwest, instead of South to North. :-)
I decided to move the room numbers out of the rooms. Not a good idea to give the players an idea where their characters are located precisely.
Deep Dark, 900 pixel jpg.
Only had to move one room number slightly on this one.
Now to make a map where those tunnels wander off to.
Here are... The Crawling Caves. Note the two huge spider webs.
900 pixel jpg, 2000 in gallery.
I think this will be it on the Crawling Caves. Giant spiders, floor rifts, 2 straw huts, more rocks, quicksand in a narrow blocked . added.passageway, a couple of areas that could be used for defense added.
900 pixel jpg, 2000 in gallery.
The Craig, local area
900 pixel jpg.
Need to type up details. Post later this week.
I'll be working more on my car on Wednesday, so this will be delayed.
I think there should be more 'stuff' in the environs and approach maps - they look very empty at present.
The one just above ? There is mostly a desert and arid lands. At that scale, hundreds of miles across, not much is going to show up.
I could make the environs map smaller ?
Maybe make the abandoned keep symbols quite a lot larger, so you can see what they are?
Okay, I'll work on that.
Smaller map. Scale is 30 miles instead of 50 miles. Everything is larger. Added some mesas.
900 pixel jpg, 2000 pixel in gallery.
Looks like this will have to go into next week. Working on my car has been a pain. Didn't drop any tools on my feet though.