Vampire's Castle

So I've been playing around with DD3 while I anxiously await opening up my copy of CD3 on Christmas morning.

This is a map of a vampire's castle loosely based on the castle map found in WotC's Heroes of Horror. I created the floor from an image I found at Will's Hand Made Dungeon Floorplans. I really like the way the muddy, trampled grass turned out around the castle - I did a lot of experimenting (which I'm chalking up as time well spent) with the various sheet effects in combination to get it to look right. I'm not sure I'm done with this map yet - it still needs something. I'd also like to swap out the tree symbols with some more realistic pine trees. I plan on eventually using this for a True20 Hammer Horror style campaign.

VCON.jpg

Here's what the image looks like with CC3's powerful sheet effects turned off:

VCOFF.jpg

Comments

  • MonsenMonsen Administrator 🖼️ 81 images Cartographer
    Looking great.

    A nice showcase of some of the things you can accomplish using effects. The non-effects one looks plain and boring in comparison.
  • Yeah, very nice effects. I agree the terrain around the castle is the best part. I'm still learning CC3 and blending different terrain types is my weakest technique. I look forward to viewing more of your maps. I also like the functional aesthetic of it. It is clear that this is a map meant to be played on.
  • DkarrDkarr Traveler
    Looks great. Very well done.

    Care to share how you achieved some of the effects?
  • jaerdaphjaerdaph Traveler
    edited December 2008
    Thanks, Dkarr!

    Here's how I set up the effects for the trampled mud: First off, this is a DD3 map with a size of 125 ft x 125 ft.
    The "mud" is a smooth poly using the Dirt Brown 4 bitmap fill style default that comes with DD3. The smooth poly is on the Outside sheet above the Background sheet where the grass bitmap fill is drawn (there are no effects applied to that sheet). Here are the effects and setting I added to the Outside sheet:
    Blur: Blur Radius = 1
    Edge Fade: Distance = 1, Invert Colors = 0, Opacity (%) = 40
    Edge Fade, Inner: Edge Width = 1, Inner Opacity = 90, Outer Opacity = 0
    Transparency: Opacity (%) = 60.

    The grass is a bitmap fill I created in the drawing with the bitmap below (I can't remember where I originally found this - let me know if anyone recognizes it so I can credit the creator). If you want to use it in a DD3 map as a user defined bitmap fill style, select Tile to Fill, check Scaled, and set both width and height to 50.0.
  • Here's the bitmap fill mentioned above.

    grass_ground2.png
  • Here's a new version of the map. The trees are Pine symbols from the CSUAC collection.

    vc001.jpg
  • DkarrDkarr Traveler
    Great instructions Jaerdaph. I see that your new layout also includes some "water stains". This looks really cool. Well done. What fill (texture) are you using for the cracked tiles?
  • jaerdaphjaerdaph Traveler
    edited December 2008
    The water stains are another bitmap fill style included with DD3 - the name escapes me but it's one of the stagnant Water styles. It's on the Water sheet with a simple Transparency effect.

    Here's a link to the floor tile - I converted it to PNG for use with DD3. http://freespace.virgin.net/william.meddis/floorplans/lrgrm.htm When I set up the user defined bitmap fill style, I selected Tile to Fill, Scaled, and set both width and height to 30.0. That's assuming one square equals 5 ft on the tile, the d20 standard.
  • Oh, a quick note about the Edge Fade. I learned something interesting in the CC3 user's manual about Edge Fade - unlike Edge Fade (Inner), it only works on solid color objects, not bitmaps, so technically it isn't doing anything in my map. If I turn it off, however, it makes the muddy area look different (and not as nice). Weird, but I assume it has something to do with the opacity setting.
  • 1 month later
  • I tried using the cracked tile image that you linked to, but it has a nastly black edge to it that shows up whenever I use it to fill. Did you photoshop the edge out of that image?
  • Posted By: aubaineI tried using the cracked tile image that you linked to, but it has a nastly black edge to it that shows up whenever I use it to fill. Did you photoshop the edge out of that image?
    Come to think of it, I probably did have to trim that image to get it to tile. I'll grab that tonight at home and post the file here tomorrow.
  • jaerdaphjaerdaph Traveler
    edited February 2009
    Here's the image I trimmed from the original. I'm posting it here for personal, noncommercial use only and the copyright is held exclusively by Will Meddis of Will's Hand Made Dungeon Floor Plans: http://freespace.virgin.net/william.meddis/floorplans/index.htm

    largeroom.png
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