[WIP] Gnome Village
Royal Scribe
🖼️ 388 images Mapmaker
I'm working on a Gnome Village and Mike Schley's style seemed well suited for the the whimsical nature of this map.
Normally I'd wait until I had more done before sharing, but I'm kind of tickled by how this part turned out. I decided to have my gnomes invent a gondola that would carry them up to an astronomy observatory. I managed to cobble one together using assets from Munson's Mines (Annual 11, 2017). Works reasonably well - better than the rowboats I toyed with using at one point.
(Related: there's actually a gold mine in Northern California about a mile from the Oregon border called Munson Mine.)
Comments
(Oh, yes, those are Mushroom Cottages in the lower left corner of the first map.)
Excellent!
So these people don't have gnomes to go to as yet then? 😉😁
So, does Big Ears live there, and what about Noddy? LOL
Here's my village mapped.
Forest gnomes in treehouses in the southeastern district, hill or rock gnomes living in burrows on the eastern district, mushroom cottages in the western district. The center island also has a fancier burrow where the druid who helps grow the giant mushrooms for the cottages lives. In the center of the Market Square, there's a clocktower (using clocks from one of the modern symbol sets). A windmill-powered gondola can help spare short-legged gnomes from a steep mountain hike to get to the observatory.
Here are the floorplans for one of the Mushroom Cottages favored by residences in the Bridgeward District on the northwestern side of the river.
The mushroom stem, floors, and walls use some of Mike Schley's sand textures with various sheet effects to give them a fungi feel. You can tell me if it works for you. Lately I've been using DD3 symbols a lot because they fit better with other annuals like Creepy Crypts, Forest Trail, Marine Dungeons, etc. It was fun working on a more whimsical project well suited for Mike's style, where I could do everything with his mapping ecosystem.
Above
This map is 40 x 40 feet in map units, with the mushroom cottages being roughly 20 x 20 feet. (At this size, scales at 1 inch grid = 5 map feet, the whole thing can print on a single sheet of U.S. Letter or A4 paper.) I left the grid on for this view but turned it off for the other ones.
I am imagining, by the way, that these mushrooms are still living despite being carved up inside -- maintained by the botanical arts of the local druid.
Underneath
Here we are, underneath and about to climb the wooden steps that wind around the stem. The steps, you'll notice, wind up counterclockwise. This is contrary to castle design (though even that wasn't universal), where the stairs wound clockwise so that defenders' right sword arms were relatively free, while intruders' arms were somewhat impeded by the center wall. These gnomes weren't exactly thinking about swordfights on their front stairs when they designed their homes.
There's also a cord of wood and a wheelbarrow hiding under the mushroom cap. I cannot figure out why they aren't covered by the shadow, but I don't really mind that.
Floor 1
This floor is the common kitchen/dining/living space for the gnome family. A little cramped, perhaps, but these aren't as luxurious as the treehouse homes on the other side of the river.
Floor 2
The second floor uses curtains to partition two separate sleeping areas. The fireplace is in the common area, so anyone can get up in the middle of the night to stoke the fires. There's also a writing desk in this area if anyone is working late while the rest of the household sleeps (though I guess they could also work downstairs). One sleeping area has a double bed and a dressing table. The other has a single bed with an armoire. Both have pairs of chests peeking out from beneath the beds.
Are they deathcap mushrooms - you know, to ward of thieves
Knowing gnomes, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were psilocybin.
There's also a cord of wood and a wheelbarrow hiding under the mushroom cap. I cannot figure out why they aren't covered by the shadow, but I don't really mind that.
It might be because there's a shadow effect already on the barrow and wood symbols sheet; there doesn't seem to be one on the smaller mushrooms in the shadow nearby, for instance. That may be cancelling the overall mushroom cap shadow, depending on how you've arranged that.
Wyvern is right. Shadow effects do that sometimes. Try adjusting the colour of the shadows on those different sheets, so that they aren't both identical black. Very dark brown, blue or grey might work. You might also have to do the same to the dark glows as well.
Thank you! Always something new to learn. Keeps me on my toes!
Here is the inside of one of the rock gnome burrows (except for the cellars, which I haven't designed yet).
Above
I chose the largest of Mike Schley's halfling burrow symbols. In addition to the shuttered windows around the perimeter of the burrow, there are three more windows a bit up the hill. Those could simply be higher windows on the same level, like skylights. I decided instead to let them be windows of a small second story bedroom.
First Floor
Even though most symbols are immune to many sheet effects, building symbols are an exception to that. That allowed me to cut away the center of the symbol with the COLOR KEY effect. (I suppose I could have just placed all of the other sheets to render on top of the burrow.)
I was going to carve rooms into the hillside, but I didn't have a lot of room to work with. Instead, I drew wooden interior walls. The walls against the inside of the hillside is stone for greater structural support.
There's an entryway foyer, a sitting/living room, a dining room, and a kitchen. Some of the furniture is at 75% of full size to reflect that it's smaller and gnome-sized.
Floor 2
Here's the second floor bedroom.
Basement cellars still to come...
Pretty cool. I like the outer walls.
Here's the basement/cellar.
After descending the stairs from the kitchen, a corridor on the left side leads to two rooms, which could be: (1) a wine cellar and a pantry, or (2) a pantry and a storage room/treasury. Continuing down and around, there's a laundry room on the southern side, with a clothesline down the center (the hot air from the fireplace will dry them in no time). I suppose this room could also be used for bathing. The grate comes from the Prison set of free additions. Love finding new uses for symbols.
This level also has two bedrooms, a cozy bedroom with a single bed and a somewhat larger room with a double. Love this fireplace symbol! The final room is a library/family room/workshop. As you face the fireplace, there's a tapestry on the wall on one side, and a framed portrait on the other. One of the gnomes, a tinker and inventor by either profession or hobby, has set up a little workshop on one side of the room (making use of both alchemical and necromantic symbols). And someone has set up an easel to do some painting -- perhaps the painter of the portrait on the other wall?
Question for the crowd: I wasn't sure if I should include the
rivercreek/stream on this map or not. We're underground. Would the water go this deep? Should I just have dirt cover the whole thing?Ooooh maybe make it really transparent and have some weeds, sticks bones and a few critters.
I like being able to see the river, as it serves as a nice visual connection between the maps, and helps define the limitations of the location. Also, even if the river might not go deep enough to go all the way to floor level in the basement, it still extends clearly into this level.
The river's depth is really up to you; it might be narrower at depth, or possibly incomplete - because there can be deep potholes in river beds, and other irregularities in the river bed's level more generally, things that are unrecognisable from the surface, because of the water maintaining its own level. In my own actual home town, one of the main bridges now is by where there once was an old ford, replaced because just off to one side of the ford is a hole in which a farmer once drowned, with his horse and cart, because it's THAT deep, as one example. Looking at the river today, you can't tell, but that hole in the bed remains.