It's really great. I particularly like how you did the fence posts and railing. I can't think of anything I'd change or add.

And here's the third and fourth levels of the church. The main part of the church is covered by a dome, but it's all open air from the balconies up. The only portions with stairs going higher than the second floor balconies are the two towers on the southern side.

Level three of the towers has a light source shining through the windows, like mini-lighthouses. I like the look of the brazier on the right, but it didn't quite make sense unless it was on the top floor (where I put bells). Even if it were something like the DND Continual Flame spell, where the magical fire emits light but not heat or smoke, it still doesn't make sense if it engulfs the inner wall of a stairwell that is continuing up. So I did an alternate version on the left side using luminescent crystals.

And then there are great bells on the fourth floor of the towers, which come from Dundjinni Archives.

And here are some of the Mike Schley style:

Let’s climb up to the second landing, where we are standing on the roof of level 12 facing the side of level 13. There are eight entrances, one on either side of the four exterior stairs. The entrances in the northwest and southeast quadrants go straight ahead into level 13, while the entrances on the southwest and northeast quadrants immediately descend down 10-foot side stairs to level 12.

Level 13

No one actually lives in the temple. There are no kitchens or similar facilities. Even so, occasionally people are allowed to spend the night there. High ranking priests may sleep there after a late-night religious rites, or the night before an early morning religious service. Pharaohs sleep there the night before their coronations, and sometimes on other occasions. Level 13 has four bedrooms set up. Towards the center, there are interior stairs ascending to Level 14 and descending to Level 12.

Let’s go up, and then we will make our way back down.

Level 14

This level has three more bedrooms, plus a fourth room with a strange design carved into the floor tiles. (Is it a summoning circle? A teleportation portal?) Stairs in the center ascend to 15 and descend to 13.

Level 15

This level has three treasure chambers, all connected through a central room where guards are stationed. Stairs ascend to Level 16 and descend to Level 14.

Level 16

This level has a large 30x30 foot chapel in the center of the level. Three side rooms are dressing chambers for the priests. They are sparsely furnished, but have chests containing the priests’ vestments.

The chapel is 20 feet high, cutting into Level 17. A crude representation of the sun (looking more like a bullseye target) is painted on the floor in gold leaf. There are no stairs going up, because there is nothing above this level except for the upper half of this chapel. Here’s what it looks like from Level 17:

There is nothing on Level 18. It’s just solid stonework.

Let’s make our way back down to Level 13 and use the interior stairs to descend to Level 12.

Level 1 primarily collects water from storm drains along with leaves and vegetation that might get swept in. Manure from horses on the street and domesticated animals are often shoveled into these storm drains as well. These drain into chutes that flow into Level 2.

Maintenance workers can enter this level through a staircase near the Great Maw that descends to a maintenance room, where a great seat of stone doors allows them to dump refuse into the giant pit. Luminescent crystals on the pit side of these great doors helps keep the Black Pudding from ascending this far. A spiral staircase in this room ascends to the surface and descends to Level 2.

Each intersection that has a stormwater drain also has a manhole that allows maintenance workers to climb down. These storm drains do not connect to one another, and maintenance workers who want to traverse the system will have to continue down ladders to Level 2.

Still to come: I want to work on the labels more, and I may add some of the rocky texture to outline the storm drains. 

Had a little fun with the second Hive monthly released today. The Kheek'zit invaders have made it to the mainland, infecting and destroying the Natlalihuitl Empire's southern cities as they continue to push their way north....

The map is just the highlights of the trip. Here's the full itinerary. Why two weeks at Crater Lake? My extended family has a cabin a few miles outside of the park, so we were visiting family then before finally heading home.

June 9, 1972 — San Francisco, CA

June 9, 1972 — Big Sur

June 10, 1972 — San Simeon

June 10, 1972 — Los Padres National Forest

June 11, 1972 — Los Angeles

June 11, 1972 — Angeles National Forest

June 12, 1972 — Disneyland

June 13, 1972 — San Juan Capistrano

June 13, 1972 — Chula Vista

June 14, 1972 — Winterhaven, CA

June 16, 1972 — Tucson

June 16, 1972 — Chiricahua National Forest

June 20, 1972 — Deming, NM

June 21, 1972 — El Paso

June 22, 1972 — Carlsbed Caverns

June 22, 1972 — Cloudcroft, NM

June 24, 1972 — White Sands National Park

June 24, 1972 — Cibola National Forest

June 25, 1972 — Petrified National Forest

June 25, 1972 — Coconino National Forest

June 27, 1972 — Grand Canyon

June 28, 1972 — Glen Canyon Dam

June 29, 1972 — Manti-Lasal National Forest

June 30, 1972 — Price, Utah

July 3, 1972 — Thru Utah to Colorado

July 3, 1972 — Grand Mesa National Forest, CO

July 4, 1972 — White River National Forest

July 6, 1972 — Shadow Mountain Lake. Through WY to Nebraska

July 7, 1972 — Cadron, Nebraska

July 8, 1972 — Mt. Rushmore

June 9, 1972 — Thru Gilette, WY

June 9, 1972 — Big Horn National Forest

June 9, 1972 — Shoshoni National Forest

July 13, 1972 — Teton National Park

July 16, 1972 — Yellowstone

July 17, 1972 — White Sulpher Springs, MT

July 19, 1972 — Glacier National Park, Canada

July 20, 1972 — Waterton, Canada

July 21, 1972 — Banff National Park

July 23, 1972 — Mt. Baker National - Snoqualmie National Forest. Olympic National Forest

August 2, 1972 — Mt. Ranier

August 2, 1972 — Maple Leaf-Gifford Pinchat Natl Forest

August 3, 1972 — Portland

August 4, 1972 — Salem

August 5, 1972 — Crater Lake

August 17, 2024 — Redwood National Park

August 19, 2024 — San Francisco, CA

OMG, I discovered that if you set three steps across with the center one (moved to front) in varicolor, you can create a carpet runner down the center of your staircase. My grand ballrooms will have the grandest of grand staircases!

I promise not to spam this thread with more discoveries, and will wait until Ralf has a chance to do the Live, but I just couldn't hold back with this one.

I'm pretty new to Campaign Cartographer -- or, rather, I've owned the software for ages but I'm new to actually making maps.

I keep saying I bought the software five years ago, but upon reflection, I think it was around 2016. Eight years ago! I played around a bit with Fractal Terrains, but everything was so intimidating! I had this idea that I could just fiddle around and learn it through trial and error, much like I've learned various desktop publishing and illustration programs and over the years. Didn't work! I didn't grasp the approach of choosing what you want to do and then picking the objects you want to do it to. It was counterintuitive and opposite of the image editing software I've used before, where you select the object and then select what you want to do with it.

I thought I could sit down and read the PDFs and learn that way. Nope! Every time I tried to map something, it looked nothing like the pretty pictures I'd see here. (Pro Tip: Even when you understand that sheet effects exist, you still have to turn sheet effects on to see the pretty effects!)

Finally in mid-2023, I decided to watch one of the tutorials. I started with one of the then-more recent Lives, and that was way too advanced, but it gave me a hint at CC3+'s tremendous power and potential. Then I found Joe Sweeney's tutorials, and everything clicked. His "Parrot Island" tutorial gave me a basic foundation, and then I plowed through the rest of his, and then ProFantasy's more "Intro to CC3"-type tutorials and the brief videos about specific functions and techniques before making my way back to the Live videos.

I was fiddling around with map-making in the second half of 2023, but mostly it was to practice specific techniques rather than design a proper map. I created an account on these forums in December of 2023 and posted my first attempt at a proper map (my Castle on a Cloud) in January of 2024 -- mere months ago!

I still watch the Lives every time there's a new one (and I always, always learn something new). I was watching the old ones in the downtime, but I think I've watched almost every single Live already (a few more than once, especially when there's something I want to attempt that I remember Ralf or Remy demonstrating). I've also watched Jim Sweeney's, Dogtag's, Remy's, and Joachim de Ravenbel's tutorials as well. (I find it quite peaceful and Zen to watch a blank canvas get turned into a work of art in under an hour!)

If the ProFantasy Gods are listening: a future annual that I think could really complement the Marine Dungeons would be a "Jungle Adventures" dungeon. It would provide an opportunity to bring in palm trees and coconuts that could also enhance Marine Dungeons. Maybe some swamp building tools, including tree trunks with the ripples used in Marine Dungeons? Lots of colorful jungle foliage. Maybe some giant mosquitos or other bugs? Alligators or crocodiles? Think of the Indiana Jones-inspired adventures! Golden idols! Whips and fedora hats! Aztec-inspired ruins. Maybe a perfectly round boulder for traps. (The opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite action/adventure opening scene of all time.) Just planting an idea....