In my map of Tyr Alomere Township, you'll see a Roman-style villa on the left side of the map. Although I had planned to work on a major city next, I couldn't resist diving into mapping the villa. I was going to hold off on posting anything until I had finished at least one floor of the interior, but I just couldn't wait.

I knew when I placed the villa in the town that when it came time to mapping the villa, I would do so with the Marine Dungeons annual. The structure fills in that annual seem so Roman to me.

So here's the outside, and then we'll zoom in a bit.

At first glance, it looks very similar to what you see on the town map. Since Marine Dungeon's vegetation symbols are primarily stuff you'd see in the water, like kelp and coral (it is a marine dungeon, after all), I continued to use the trees from Forest Trail and Japanese Temple, and other terrain fills from Darklands City. But there are some important changes.

First, the town had bluffs that used Creepy Crypts (because the wizard's tower that I built the town around used Creepy Crypts to make it easier to do the basement areas). When I brought in the villa to my Marine Dungeons map, I wanted replace as many fills as I could with Marine Dungeons ones. So the cliff walls use Marine Dungeon's pebbles fill, and the rocky covering was replaced with a Marine Dungeons rock. Works really well with the special effects that Sue developed for Creepy Crypts!

The building structures continue to use the tile fill from Darklands City, and continue to use the RGB Matrix to redden them in a way that seems more Roman to me. But the water was redone using Marine Dungeon's water techniques, though I had to make some tweaks. And the marble around the fountain and pools also comes from Marine Dungeons, though I tweaked the effects to make them more of a grayish-white.

(The building on the left side is the baths -- many of the fancier Roman estates had their own baths.)

Also, you might have noticed shadows from columns around the courtyard. If I take the roof off, you'll see that I replaced the CC3 columns with the beautiful ones from Marine Dungeons.

And now for the defensive walls surrounding the villa. They had been designed in the town using the beautiful fills from the Beaumaris Castle annual, also used with the wizard's tower, but I replaced them here with the beautiful wall symbols from Marine Dungeons. I love how nicely the window symbols work as crenellations when plopped directly on the walls. I also used the arches from Sinister Sewers to show entrances to the top of the walls from the towers.

I know the paved road going to the gate is a bit off-center, but I decided to keep it consistent with the parent map.

Interiors coming soon!

Tyr Alomere Tower - Floor 5

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Description

This floor is entirely devoted to guest accommodations. The best suite includes a spacious sitting room with a fireplace and a rare upper-story sink with running water, and best of all, a balcony overlooking the river and gardens. The second best doesn’t have a balcony, but does have an extra large window in the sitting and a double window with garden views in the bedroom. Both of these suites are large enough to accommodate an entire adventuring party if they don’t want to split up and some are willing to sleep on couches or the floor. There is also a third, much smaller room without a lounge, as well as a WC and bathing chamber.

1. Balcony Suite

2. Garden View Suite

3. Guest Bedroom

4. WC

5. Bathing Chamber

Tyr Alomere Tower - Floor 4

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Description

Although this floor has a doorway to the exterior stairs, it is generally accessed by a spiral staircase on the northern side of the floor. This is the lowest floor in the tower to have proper windows rather than arrow slits. The main room on this floor is a comfortable lounge equipped with a wet bar, with water piped all the way up, where the wizard can entertain overnight guests. The floor is also equipped with a private chapel, two guest bedrooms, a WC, and a bathing chamber with a fireplace for heating water.

1. Lounge

2. Chapel

3. Guest Bedrooms

4. WC

5. Bathing Chamber

Tyr Alomere Tower - Floor 3

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Description

The tower’s main entrance is actually on the third floor of the tower, guarded by an iron gate and a steel door. It enters into a vestibule equipped with an armoire for guests’ cloaks, and a small WC. This room provides access to a cozy sitting room with a fireplace where the wizard can greet guests, as well as a private lounge where the wizard can have more discrete conversations with select guests. Most of the rooms on this floor do have have windows to the outside, but a circular passageway provides access to seven arrow slits. An interior spiral staircase allows occupants to move throughout the tower without having to return to the exterior stairs.

1. Entryway

2. Vestibule

3. WC

4. Reception Lounge

5. Private Lounge

6. Security Hallway

Tyr Alomere Tower - Floor 2

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Description

The tower’s main dining room dominates this room. It is accessed through a staging room where the tower’s staff can plate dishes before serving them to the wizard’s guests. A small lounge off of this room includes a balcony overlooking the main stairs leading up to the tower, allowing the wizard to greet guests and direct them up to the second landing. Although there is a secure, metal door leading to the exterior stairs, this is primarily used as an emergency exit, and this floor is generally only accessed through the interior spiral staircase. That staircase leads down to the kitchen and up to the tower’s main entryway. This floor does not have proper windows, but arrow slits allow for a little light during the daytime. It is primarily illuminated with torches enchanted with a Continual Flame spell that allows for perpetual heatless, smokeless flames. 

1. Dining Room

2. Lounge

3. Balcony

4. Staging Room

5. WC

6. Emergency Exit