Dec '18 / Feb '19 Lite Challenge: Descent into the Rune Forge

[Coriolis]

This will be a map in two parts.

Plot: Our heroes have been hired to rescue Gnarus, an elderly kidnapped magician widely respected within the Empire, one of the last apprentices of the fabled alchemist, Faber Artifex. They track him and his captors to the first location, the Temple of Set, where they meet their first determined resistance, some local religious fanatics. Upon defeating those fanatics, they find a narrow passageway that leads to a deeper chamber. Unbeknownst to our heroes, the doorway into this chamber is a magic portal which teleports them to the second location: the Rune Forge.

In violation of every anti-magic law they have, renegade dwarves have re-started the Rune Forge and are in the process of making a powerful new weapon. In this, they are being aided by the legendary Faber Artifex, now so ancient that he constantly depends on magic to continue living. Faber Artifex and the renegade dwarves plan to sacrifice Gnarus and use his soul to power this new weapon. Our Heroes step into a new passageway that feeds into the bottom of the Rune Forge. The Rune Forge itself is a huge, spherical, smooth-walled chamber with a platform jutting out into its middle, akin to Cerebro from the X-Men. Faber Artifex and the dwarves are working on this platform, whilst Gnarus is tied up and slowly bleeding to death in a sacrificial magic circle on the floor 50 feet below. Cue the climactic fight.

I've finished the basic layouts of both dungeon maps, but I'm only posting the first location's map today. I need to find a way of representing the three-dimensionality of this chamber such that it conveys some sense of the chamber's depth and the steepness of its walls.

For the basic effects, I'm using RobA's trusty Dungeon Map Maker. 10 years after he made it, it's still freaking awesome. Once I have a good representation of the Rune Forge complete, I plan on adding some embellishments to it and the Temple of Set.

### Latest WIP ###

[damonjynx]

Nice work so far. One little thing, the large squares are 20ft which means sub-divisions are 4ft. This is highly unusual for gaming maps, if that's the intent, as the majority of RPG's use 5ft squares. If you want to change it, I'd make the large squares 25ft.

[Bogie]

Well done Coriolis. Welcome to the Challenge!

[Coriolis]

Nice work so far. One little thing, the large squares are 20ft which means sub-divisions are 4ft. This is highly unusual for gaming maps, if that's the intent, as the majority of RPG's use 5ft squares. If you want to change it, I'd make the large squares 25ft.

Thanks for the feedback. That's a good point; I'll adjust accordingly.

The spherical chamber is giving me fits. Getting a hemispherical pit to look like it should is not a trivial exercise. Getting the rounded look is the real problem; the edges need to be almost vertical, and then get shallower as I go in. Drawing a sphere and inverting the colors looks terrible. The best I've managed so far is a shallow cone.

Right now, I'm trying to do it as a series of circular beveled and embossed concentric rings. If it works, I'll blend the rings together.

[Coriolis]

Ok, I think I've sorted out the hemisphere issue. Having the walkway and central platform cast shadows helps reinforce the perspective of indentation, and I'm including a side-view to go with it.

Now I need to make the rest of the tunnels.

Attachment 112360

[Coriolis]

Ok, so I've put together a floor plan with the giant spherical chamber. I'm ok with the overall design, but I'm not exactly thrilled with the look/presentation. Outstanding issues:

1. I'm not sure whether I should number or label locations. RPG adventure maps that actually get used in a game shouldn't reveal too much about the location, unless that's some kind of a plot point, or unless it's for the GM/DM's situational awareness.

2. The tunnel that actually goes into (pokes into) the rune forge from the dwarf tunnel complex is functional... barely. It's meant to look like it goes under most of the Rune Forge chamber and comes out in the lower portion. Right now, it looks like a dead end and a hole in a wall.

3. The divider between the main view on the second map and the side view looks like I did it in MS paint. I'm not sure how I should separate the side view from the rest of the map, but I'm pretty sure I can do better than this.

4. The scale of the two maps is different. This is necessary for what I'm putting together; the Rune Forge is 400 feet in diameter, so to make it on the same scale as the top map would not fit with what I'm trying to do.

5. The maps are bare, simple, and soulless. The green part of the top map should have some trees or shrubbery, and the interior is pretty bland. The scale I chose isn't conducive to making details like tables, beds, et cetera, but I'd like to come up with some decorative/thematic elements, at least.

### Latest WIP ###

[damonjynx]

Coming along nicely! And BTW, thanks for the Rep. Helping each other is what this site is all about.

[XCali]

Definitely coming along nicely.

I want to make a remark on one thing. Maybe you should ease up on the shadows around the Antennae(Walkway), they make it seem like they are in the dish(Hollow Orb?) instead of looming over it/in the air like I see you are trying to do. The CAST shadow down in the dish(Hollow Orb) is great, it is just those shadows around the Antennae(Walkway) that breaks the effect, I feel. Hope it make sense, if you are unsure what I mean, be sure to ask.

[Coriolis]

Definitely coming along nicely.

I want to make a remark on one thing. Maybe you should ease up on the shadows around the Antennae(Walkway), they make it seem like they are in the dish(Hollow Orb?) instead of looming over it/in the air like I see you are trying to do. The CAST shadow down in the dish(Hollow Orb) is great, it is just those shadows around the Antennae(Walkway) that breaks the effect, I feel. Hope it make sense, if you are unsure what I mean, be sure to ask.

Excellent point. I kept the dark outline around the walkway to make it stand out more from the floor below, but you're right, it breaks the effect. I'll dial that effect back, and maybe I'll put in a different texture or shading for the walkway to make it more distinct from the floor below. Thanks for the tip!

[Kier]

I don't think I commented on this one yet. But its really well done. I love the sandy, gritty texture throughout the entire map, it flows real well.