Reply With QuoteA few additions to the map overall, with some scrub out front and small canyons under the walkways as they cross the lava. Hopefully I've represented the glow from the lava to give a sense of depth to the viewer?
WIP - Lost Forge of Dumathoin v2
Thanks for the feedback Kacey!
Well the map is making (slow) progress, but I've added in the lava, some wall structure to the Dwarven complex area, and some steps and shadows leading down into the tunnel from the 'mine' area. Still lots to go, with bridges over lava, stairs and structure - along with all the fittings.
The lava for any interested, was a gradient shrinking by 5 pixels from selection, and slowly increasing the colour fill till I ran out of red (then one orange fill), some 10% burlap, marble, granite and forest textures followed by an 8pt Gaussian blur to it all. I then created an additional layer for the highlights with pressure yellow lines (4pt), duplicated this and Gaussian blurred the lower layer for 8pts, and overlayed the top line layer... Oh, and a slight whirlpool effect in the main chamber, as my intent is there is a lava fall into the next level!
See what you think - and as always, feedback appreciated!
Lava Canyons under the bridges.
A few additions to the map overall, with some scrub out front and small canyons under the walkways as they cross the lava. Hopefully I've represented the glow from the lava to give a sense of depth to the viewer?
WIP - Lost Forge of Dumathoin v0.3
Alright, I feel like the map is starting to shape up a bit now! Here's v3, where I'm playing around with forge designs (might end up doing it by line) and the overall map is starting to feel like it's progressing the way I like.
I've kept everything separated so I can pretty much tune anything, so if you are checking it out and have a suggestion, fire away!
Ra.
It really is shaping up. Love the effect you have on the lava, looks good.
The lava looks amazing. Well, actually, it all looks amazing! That is an awesome battle map. I love the abandoned fortress feel - looking forward to seeing what you do with this map, and the map of the lower levels!
A dragon with a penchant for mapmaking
Thanks Dragon and Kacey!
I'm having a good time getting this one sorted. Hopefully i'll get some more time next week to add in the forges and more details.
Stay tuned.
WIP - The Lost Forge of Dumathoin v0.4 (or perhaps not so lost?)
I've added the forges, anvils & hammers, tables (et al), doors, trap & lever, portcullis & lever, stairs, golems, statues, brine and oil barrels, and decided a pit with winch was needed to bring ore up from the lower levels. Thanks to Bogie for some of the elements which would have taken me ages to craft otherwise, and some from scratch (which did take me ages).
The forges took a bit (alright a lot!) of tweaking, and I tried to emulate the forge glow onto the room floor, along with the general ash that a lava forge might produce over time.
Otherwise I think I'm close to Level 1 complete, and as always, feedback is more than welcome!
Ra.
Finished?! 'The Lost Forge of Dumathoin - Level 1'
Well, it's certainly been a learning curve but I think I've finished my first unique battlemap / dungeon - "The Lost Forge of Dumathoin - Level 1".
Quick synopsis:
A mountain lost in time.
A lava flow fuelling the forge forgotten.
A rumour of treasures lost to the ages.
A lurking menace, beware!
Adventure hook: "The forgotten forge has recently been discovered by an evil wizard (aren't they always?!) who's nefarious plan is to use the lava fuelled forges to create golems and lava elementals to wreak havoc on the nearby city which banished him on pain of death. It seems a few previous experiments failed horribly, and his elementals rampaged through the city, killing many innocents and burning a large part of the city to the ground. Since this set-back he's taken up refuge in the hidden Dwarven complex, and along with a few unsavoury characters to deal with more mundane threats, plots his revenge."
I've sort of left it open for the lower levels, but if people like it I'll expand - I was mostly experimenting with GIMP using techniques learned whilst mapping the AoDL (my other thread) and it sort of got out of hand as I was having too much fun.
Let me know what you think?
In the meantime I'll check out how/if/when it should be posted in the finished map thread.
Nice work! I really like the lava and the forges, good work.
I noticed you used my DragonStaff on your map table. Cool! That is a real staff that I hand carved years ago and took pictures of to make the graphic object. I think that may be one of the first times I've seen someone use it in a map.
One minor constructive critique: the doors are to small. Based on a lot of the objects you used, I'm assuming that each square is 5'. If so then the doors are only 1.5 ft wide. No Dwarf would ever squeeze though that.
My Battlemaps Gallery http://www.cartographersguild.com/al...p?albumid=3407
Hey Bogie, glad you like it. I have to say thanks for the objects, it's what I call dedication to the art all your objects are awesomely useful. Didn't realise I'd be the first to use it, but it does sort of look right on the table...Originally Posted by Bogie
And absolutely good point with the doors. To be honest I never even thought of the dimensions of those for some reason? I guess they're more representative than actuals (old school rpg mapping coming out), but when I'm working on level 2 (got side tracked a bit with Bigby's tower) I'll re-map them correctly. They're all layered so easy enough to do!
Ra.
