March 2015 Entry - Karsthaven

[Chick]

Same thing here.

Actually I think that does look better. But I have a thing for slightly desaturated colours.

Then probably everyone else will, too

Thank you both for the suggestion and critique!

[anomiecoalition]

Great map and adventure - I think the colors are OK but have you given any thought to doing a non-white background color? Perhaps a light parchment or a warm earth color?

[Chick]

Great map and adventure - I think the colors are OK but have you given any thought to doing a non-white background color? Perhaps a light parchment or a warm earth color?

Thanks for the idea. I'll give it a try and see what feedback I get.

[Meshon]

Well, I'm positive that I wrote a longish comment on this last night, but I was tired so I may have shut down before I actually clicked post! I'm sure it was real, I never have dreams that specific...

Firstly, the pit looks really good and I'm really happy that you posted some photos too. Those things give me the heebie jeebies. And the side view is a nice touch: "Yep, that goes right down. If you fall in there, that's it." If I was playing in this adventure I would spend a lot of time saying, "I cling desperately to the wall."

I think your decision to colour-code the area descriptions is really cool, it makes the map very useable. I would probably like to see the colours (I think you've used about five?) use a narrower palatte, but then you're running the risk of losing the clarity that the different lables provide. If it isn't too hard to alter I think that using a few different earth tones might be just the ticket. I also think that anomiecoalition's suggestion to try a parchment background is a good one. Of course then you'd have to be extra vigilant that the colour codes were still doing their job.

Now, I'm definitely having trouble with the type. Chancery, isn't it? Full disclosure, I played in a band back in the early 90s and we used that font for our stickers, T-shirts, posters, set-lists, tape covers (yes, tapes, what of it? ), everything. So I've had too much of a good thing. That said, I think you could use it for the area titles and maybe just a simple serif for the descriptions. Chancery is a really ornate font, and also pretty heavy, so maybe something like Adobe Caslon Proor even Junius Modern (I love the Junius fonts, and not just because they have thorn, eth, and yogh). If you have Creative Cloud and access to TypeKit you could look up Brioso Pro. I'm trying it out as body text for a project I'm working on and it kind of straddles the line between a simple paragraph font and an ornate heading typeface. But do take my type advice with a grain of salt. As I said, I have no objectivity when it comes to Chancery and it does provide me with a certain pleasant sense of nostalgia , so I'd still play the adventure even if it was there. Though I can't say my contributions to said adventure would amount to much beyond clinging...

Edit: Oops, forgot to mention that you could double check the leading on your legend especially. All those delightful long tails in Chancery tend to hook on to each other.

This is a really solid map, and a delightful adventure. Thank you for sharing it.

cheers,
Meshon

[Chick]

OK, here it is with a parchment background.

By the way, with the exception of the Introduction/The Dome-Pit/Legend sections (stuff meant for the DM), every color is different.

I'd sure appreciate critique about the background (parchment vs white). I'm not sure if the parchment adds to the visual clutter or not, which is the reason I originally went with a simple white background. I did add a little color to the Dome-pit drawing in the one, because the grey looked too stark next to the parchment.

### Latest WIP ###

[Meshon]

Would it be difficult to change the coloured areas so that they show the parchment texture a little? I think the texture you've chosen is subtle enough that it doesn't add to the busyness, and it softens the contrast just a nice amount. If I look with more care I DO see that the colours are all different. Dome pit looks good with the warmer colour. And not warm like, inviting... that pit. I dunno why I'm so afraid of it.

Meshon

[Chick]

I tried that, but the parchment texture darkens the colors too much. I tried several blending options, with the color on top blending down and with the parchment on top blending down, but nothing was really satisfactory. I tried a lighter parchment, but to keep the colors light and soft, the parchment was too washed out.

[Azélor]

Duplicate the layer and set it to multiply.

[anomiecoalition]

FWIW - I think the subtle parchment color background is a big improvement. I would also suggest changing the background color of the illustration on the bottom right to match the background color of your central illustration (that darker off-white).

Have you thought about adding a slight feathered border to each of the text box colors so that they more naturally flow into the background color. I know the text is really close together - but my thought is that it would make the transitions less stark.

Either way - great job

[Chick]

I thought of one more thing to try .... this one does let the parchment texture show through a little, but I feel like I'm losing all the beautiful color that worked so well ...

### Latest WIP ###


Look back at the earlier versions with more color and see if you really like this one better, or am I going in the wrong direction?