Town/Village - Ft. Lusitern

[Katerek]

This is my next major undertaking - although, I don't know how major it will actually be. Compared to Opal Island, there isn't much here.

Ft. Lusitern is the base of operations for the PCs in the DnD game I am currently running. It sits on the ruin of a far more ancient settlement but is slowly beginning to regrow. Due to a largess of coal deposits in the area it is on a fast track to establishing itself as a center for the coal mining trade. Residents here are a hardy folk; they have to be - the main keep itself rests atop Mt. Lusitern, a 6300+ ft. peak.

So far, all I have is the base contour map featuring the skeletal outlines of my current intentions for the road and a few other odds and ends. Since the peak of the mountain is around 6300 feet or so, each contour line represents roughly 100 feet of elevation.

That's about all I got for now. I don't suspect that there will be too much in the way of C&C from y'all just yet, but whatever you have to offer is - as always - greatly appreciated.

[KeithC]

Based on your last project, I'm really looking forward to this one. Also, I've always been interested in mapping cities on steep inclines. So watching this project unfold will perhaps give me some pointers that will help me in my own projects.

Can't wait.

[Katerek]

The inclines have already given me a few dozen headaches! I spent about 6 hours last night alone just playing with textures and what not. I wanted to achieve something like what I had on Opal Island, but different enough that it wouldn't look carbon copy. This settlement is considerably smaller than Opal Island, so its going to be a completely different beast.

The biggest thing going for it is that it was once a fairly sizable settlement that has gone over to ruin, only recently to become re-settled. Therefore, there is a really big graveyard and more streets than are initially needed for the immediate population.

I am posting another rough draft, so that anyone following along can kind of see where I am going with it. For now, there still isn't a whole lot - but with the new baby keeping me up at nights, I have several hours here and there throughout while she sleeps in my lap to play with it each night.

I am figuring that population wise, this place will need to house around 1000 to 2000 people at the most.

The main keep (marked #1 on the map) is a very basic 4 story affair. I may have ripped off the floorplan for it from Harn - I cannot remember for sure.

Anyway, C&C are welcome and encouraged. Thanks so much!

[RobA]

I wanted to achieve something like what I had on Opal Island, but different enough that it wouldn't look carbon copy.

Don't worry about that! It is a unique style that is transferable to any number of maps. A consistent style is what becomes your signature. (Something I have, so far, failed to achieve)

-Rob A>

[ravells]

My initial comment is that there is a style mismatch between the buildings (really sharp) and the background..not so sharp. I'm curious, what are the little black dots at the end of the roads meant to signify?

I like the way the roads follow the contours.

[Katerek]

The little black dots are place markers for mine entrances - until such time as I figure out how to do them better.

[msa]

That graveyard is going to have serious NECROMANCER PROBLEMS! Move it up on top of the empty hill to the northeast and keep those pesky corpsemongers at bay

I do really like the style of your mountains, and I think this is a very pretty and functional style you are developing here.

[Gandwarf]

My initial comment is that there is a style mismatch between the buildings (really sharp) and the background..not so sharp.

I have to agree with Ravells. For the moment it isn't really jiving for me... however, maybe if you place more buildings it will.

I have never been able to pull of a good city located in the mountains, so I am very interested to see this develop. You are a brave man

[Katerek]

Here is a small update. I haven't done a whole lot to it. I have been mostly trying to figure out how to solve the style difference that a couple of y'all have mentioned. I added a small amount of ground cover here and there and tweaked some textures. For the most part I am not too impressed with how this is going.

But, I am the kind of guy that rises to a challenge so now I am pretty much dedicated to it. I will get some more stuff added soon. My next thing is to do something with the grave yard and add some trees.

There won't be too many more buildings. This map is for my ongoing DnD campaign, and the players just haven't really grown it too much - plus it is never going to be much more than a mining camp really. During this weekend's session they uncovered some more veins under some other peaks nearby, so their focus has shifted somewhat. Their intent is to establish a new town central to the mining camps that will serve as a national distribution point for all of the coal being yanked out of the earth.

I suspect that will be my next map - though I have been itching to update a fairly large port city in the south for sometime - so who knows.

[Katerek]

Okay, this time I offer you a significant update. I want to stop here for a bit and think over more thoroughly how to proceed.

There is alot going on here, and I would GREATLY love any and all feedback that the community has to offer. Of specific note I offer the cemetery area (see earlier posts for specific locations). I am not sure how it is looking - I just don't know what to think about it.

Additionally, I have added various textures and what not to the different tiers - I would also like to hear your take on these. Specifically on the mid-tiers I added (or attempted to rather) boulder fields using the Craquelare (sp?) under the texturizer in PS. I used pretty low settings. The other textures are mashups of the preinstalls that I layered based on tinting and tone of each tier.

With the forested areas I did what I typically do. I drew several different trees at super size and then shrank them down to fit the scale of the map. Then layered them using multiple approaches of a similar technique. The brownish ground cover that you see poking out from beneath the trees in places was done similarly.

Again, any and all C&C are greatly appreciated and enthusiastically encouraged. Thanks!