February Entry: Werthers Skull

[Redrobes]

I spent some time thinking about what sort of place to make and I wanted something a little more unusual than an inn. As I mentioned in the synopsis, my party were forever clearing out old places and converting them. The most notable of these was Obsidian Castle which was taken from a picture by a local fantasy artist called Rodney Matthews.

http://www.rodneymatthews.com/gfx/elric5.jpg

Last month I mentioned HeMan and thought that Castle GraySkull might be silly enough or maybe Skeletors Snake Mountain... which led me to think that I remembered that there was another very similar Matthews piece that had this great skull castle in it called Werthers Skull.

http://www.rodneymatthews.com/gfx/elric7.jpg

So this looks like just the place that some evil arch wizard might have made for a home and a medium to high level set of adventurers might hole up. A place that is so remote and barren that no ordinary person would travel to. Perhaps its on another plane of existence where there are a thousand miles of wilderness and desert from every direction.

So I have sketched it out again and tried to figure out what it looks like from the front and put in some levels. I have decided that the skull is the petrified remains of a real skull and that there exists the whole body under the earth. The spiral stairway is a metal framed type that travels down the spinal column going deep into the ground though it has long ago caved in and filled it up from the lowest available level. The party has never tried to excavate it beyond this point.

I'll add some more detail to the levels as a proper map shortly.

[Robbie]

Whoah there!...Thats too awesome! Slow it down a bit...make it less awesome please!!!

Just kidding...seriously though...I like the idea a LOT...very nicely done...especially the possibilities of exploring the entire body of the creature with some excavation by summoned elementals...

I don't however like the squareness of the levels...I would expect the rooms and areas to be a bit more organic...with vaulted and arched ceilings that conform to the "chambers" of the skull and the cavities of the sinuses the rooms occupy. I imagine the structure would naturally conform to those spaces the skull provides...Maybe grab some cross sections or x-rays of some animal skulls and make the rooms similar to the cavities already in place...

Still...I'm inspired by this piece because its soooo unusual.

[thebax2k]

Wow Redrobes! That is a very impressive cross section and I await the level maps that you come up with for it. Great job.

I do agree with Arcana to some extent. If the skull is the site of an Archmage's lair (or former Archmage's lair), it would stand to reason that there would be some extradimensional space or rooms. Let the first few levels conform to the shape of the skull, but as the party descends lower into the dungeon, the levels need not necessarily conform to the outlines of the body. There might be unusual archways (permanently opened two way gates) that serve as the ingress and egress to the extradimensional spaces. To some extent my thinking is influenced by the maps of some of the structures in Ptolus by Monte Cook--the Tower of Shade and the stronghold of the good outsiders have levels that do not conform to the shape of the building they are located in.

Regardless, looks good so far, keep it up.

[ravells]

Definitely....lots of curves and 'bone like' curved columns, arches and pillars - this is looking fantastic!

[Redrobes]

That Whoa effect is what I got with the Obsideon Castle - thats the Matthews effect there not my map.

I agree that maybe I should do some better shaped chambers. My thinking was that originally the skull was solid. Petrified not fossilized. Theres no way in, no door or anything, you have to teleport in. Originally, some wizard would have disintegrated sections out of the solid block and then use some kind of pass through stone. Of course he could have conjured some stone elementals or stone shape so it might not necessarily be so square. A bit easier to map if square but maybe I should put a little more effort into it for such a neat exterior.

Right, so columns, bone structures, blobby shapes with interconnecting spaces. Hmmm. What about a half way between the two. Otherwise its all going to have to be done in 3D which would mean making that skull in 3D first ! Yeah, I reckon theBax has it. I think maybe round at the top, more square but with arches and pillars as you get lower - perhaps sinew type shapes. I'll see what skull sections I can find.

Ok then treat the current map as the outer border and ill round it out a bit when I start mapping. I still like the spiral stairs and the steps up to the top level.

[thebax2k]

One question Redrobes, why would the creator of the skull lair leave no exit/entrance to the outside? Sure he was probably a big, bad, evil guy up to no good, but I would assume (being a paranoid, evil, secretive wizard) his lair was warded against scrying and teleportation from the outside and it would easier for him to have a trapped/ guarded entrance for his minions and flunkeys to come through than leave a hole in his magic defenses. Its another kind of vulnerability in his defenses to be sure, but the lair is in a remote place and the creator would likely have some kind of nasty debuff/trap at the entrance.

Also, although you'll be doing 3d maps for the levels, I'd appreciate it if you could provide 2d overhead renders if you chose. I guess I'm hopelessly oldschool in my map preferences, but I have a future vile necromancer villain for my pcs in mind engaged in Things Man Was Not Meant to Know who would find a skull lair highly useful....

Keep it up, your lair is shaping up to be an evocative and memorable location....