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Royal Scribe

Royal Scribe

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Royal Scribe
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Birthday
February 5, 1968
Location
San Francisco, California
Real Name
Kevin
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Mapmaker
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Latest Images

  • [WIP] Rise of the Crone-Mother

    Here's the interior of the lower levels of the Frostmaidens' Cradle caverns. Starting to work now on the final lair, the volcanic Womb of Ashes.


    LoopysueRickoMonsenRyan Thomas
  • Numbering/Labeling Conventions thread

    In a different thread, @Ricko was asking for advice on how mappers approach adding numeric labels on a map:

    @Ricko : Sorry to change the subject of the original thread, but I'd like to consult with you (or anyone else), who knows more about these topics than I do, if there's any suggestion or order for diagramming the numbers on a map. Example: From top to bottom, clockwise or counterclockwise, etc.

    I thought I would add my two cents in a new thread for the topic, to make the discussion easier to find later.

    I am certainly no expert on the matter, but when I am labeling things, I try to think of how it would be presented in a purchased campaign supplement. I try to make it flow in the order the party would be traveling, starting with #1 at the entrance and flowing from there to where they'd go next.

    Of course, the party may have choices on which direction to go, so there may not be an obvious answer for what comes next after they enter. I just pick one direction and try to label things as contiguously as possible, clustering the numbering as best I can. So it's not necessarily clockwise, or left to right, or up or down -- it's just the route the way things the adventurers may go.

    With cities and towns, it can vary. Sometimes I pick a road or city gate where the party may enter the city and then flow from there. Other times, I may start in a central area like a market square or town hall as the starting point. My numbering also clusters (like, every shop around a town square gets numbered before moving to the next area), and go neighborhood by neighborhood.

    For overland maps...to be honest, I've never numbered overland maps. I've only used text labels, where it isn't the same issue.

    I'd love to hear other people's ideas for how they approach.

    Ricko
  • [WIP] Rise of the Crone-Mother

    Started to work on the underground interiors, including experimenting with creating places for the captives, who are encased in ice.

    For those prisons, I experimented with putting the frozen water fill on a sheet with a variety of sheet effects, including beveling and a transparency effect. Unfortunately, the lighter frozen water fill has a bit of a transparency acne problem.

    But that problem seems to disappear with the darker water, which also has a stronger contrast with the floor, so I'll just go with that.


    QuentenRickoRalfRyan ThomasLoopysue
  • [WIP] Rise of the Crone-Mother

    Here's the above-ground areas of the Frostmaidens' Cradle, lair of the alpine hags. The underground areas will make use of the Ice Caverns annual.


    RalfLoopysueQuentenRyan ThomasRickoMapjunkie
  • [WIP] Rise of the Crone-Mother

    I also drew in shadows beneath the elevated huts so that I could create battlemaps with the houses hidden, for combat underneath the houses. (They're supposed to be about 10 feet off the ground.) I was going to use tree stumps as the poles supporting the houses, but the Marine Dungeons columns were right there and I do love them -- and there are versions that conveniently already have the ripple effect added for the huts that overhang the water..


    QuentenMonsenTravellerLoopysueRickoRyan ThomasGlitch