Tomb of Shaddad (Al-Qadim Encounter)

anomiecoalition

Hey all...This is a reproduction of a map for the Al-Qadim adventure/encounter “The Genie’s Terror” from the City of Bones sourcebook. The basic story is that the PCs are walking along a wadi (dry desert river basin) when a storm comes (sudden storms in the desert often lead to flash floods which temporarily fill the wadis). The storm has washed away some mud in a nearby cliff face to expose a set of steps descending into the earth. They will soon discover that this is the tomb of a powerful Shi’ar and a dozen shadows.

Its a pretty basic map, but should hopefully make for a fun encounter to break up the monotony of trudging through the desert. Overall I'm pretty happy with it, but not entirely sold on the mud texture I used for the wadi (far left) and inside the tomb...I guess I was hoping for it to look a little more "wet"... as always, criticisms and suggestions are welcomed.

full resolution version can be seen here... (http://drunkennerdery.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/tomb-of-shaddad/)

Ralf

The darker texture outside the tomb looks more like mud than the current one, I think. Perhaps try swapping them?

Also, perhaps add a few small puddles of water to the mud?

But in any case, it's another great map!

KenG

This is great, I like your style of using different shades of brown to form the whole map.

Kier

Crisp, clear and clean. Very nice.

Mateus090985

Excelent work. It would be complete, in my opinion, if you put some ornamentation on it. Maybe an shield (or banner) of Shaddad on the uper left corner?

Henrie61

Another great map.
Think the mud texture looks ok.

I second Ralfs idea of a few puddles

anomiecoalition

Thanks for the comments guys. Ralf is absolutely right, that darker texture outside the tomb is actually the original mud texture I downloaded from cgtextures.com. My "mud" that fills the wadi and extends into the tomb has that texture and a water texture over top of it (with a transparency effect). Unfortunately, that combination just washed the whole thing out.
So, I grabbed a new water texture (from cgtextures). I think it looks a little better...I tried doing puddles, but couldn't get it to look right.

Mat's suggestion for ornamentation is a good one and would work really well with this encounter. If they defeat Shaddad (in mummy form) they can grab his sword ("The Cyclone of the Four Quarters") which is a +2 legendary scimitar (+4 against genies). It also inflicts double damage against genies, makes the wielder immune to their magical attacks, and vibrates when genies approach. So...if I could actually draw a sword, it would make a great ornamentation....but I can't so I won't....

Here's the update...re-uploaded this version on my blog....http://drunkennerdery.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/tomb-of-shaddad/

anomiecoalition

After writing my last post, I realized that even though "I" can't draw, lots of other people can....So I grabbed a scimitar from the Dunjinni forums, added some text to it, and plopped it into the map.

Generally, I think that you need to plan to do ornamentation while doing the map...otherwise it looks like an after thought...which I think is the case here...but I leave it for you guys to judge.

Henrie61

Youre right, ornamentation should not be placed after making a map.
But here it still looks pretty cool.
Espcially if you known that the "boss treasure" is a legendary scimitar.

Mateus090985

It looks nice in my opinion. Maybe not 100% organic, but it definitely do not look throwed in.

KenG

I think it looks great, I like the added color to the overall look of the map.

JimP

I think the scimitar, particularly the red jewel, sets off the map and makes it 'pop'.

anomiecoalition

Didn't realize the Scimitar would be such a hit....i've added it to my blog page, so you can see it in full res if you like.

http://drunkennerdery.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/tomb-of-shaddad/