February Entry: the Necromancer's Lair

[Davros01]

A really nice dungeon!! Mine definitely looks like I'm outta my leaque in this competition I'll just have to cling to the hope that theres an underdog movement in the voting nice. very nice dungeon!

[Ascension]

Well remember that we're not the only judges. Sure this starts as a guild-only challenge, and therefore probably the most visually stunning (aka artsy) wins, but if you're submitting yours to the actual sponsored competition then they have different judges and may see things differently, so therefore most functional might win. Who knows, shrug.

[mearrin69]

Does the red 'S' indicate a secret door? If so, what makes it useful? It seems that you can reach all the parts of that area without needing to discover that entrance.

I'd guess it's there for a quick getaway if needed.
M

[Gamerprinter]

Yes, as Mearrin69 says, its for a fast getaway, nothing more. I figure if the Lich or one of his underlings is pursued by the PCs from the previous area (yet to be determined - masoleum and under graveyard, I think), he could getaway and reach the Sanctum Portal before the PCs catch him...

And to Davros - last year when they ran the One Page Dungeon Contest, there was an overall winner, but 15 winners altogether in categories from "Old School", "New School", most eccentic, etc. - I think there were five different categories.

Last year, I couldn't think of a decent dungeon, so whipped out an Aboleth Cave in my photorealistic style and it wasn't even an honorable mention. I know they like Old School, so the closest I can accomodate is hand-drawn style. Since I didn't take it too seriously, last year, it showed. So this year, I am trying harder - further exploring my hand-drawn style.

Also, not sure, since there are several ISO maps in this contest, I don't think ISO is what they want, since last year's contest included a Word Document template which already included a grid and a key box area. This template isn't required this year - I asked. But a top down map is what I am pretty sure they are looking for.

Old School maps are their preference, so Ascensions and several others comply so may have a better chance to win than this map of mine. Oh well, I can't do what doesn't work for me. So I'm sticking with this style.

I believe there are five judges and they each have their own style and opinion.

Don't be afraid, everyone has a chance with the other contest!

GP

[Gamerprinter]

Pretty frustrating, Xara crashed while I was saving this last night and I lost all of it! Luckily, one of the earlier JPGs at 300 dpi was nice and crisp, so I had about 2/3rds intact. Rather than start over, I imported the JPG into Xara, and redid some of what was lost - I changed a few things in the process, and have progressed a bit further. The tiled floor section at the bottom of the map, will be the entrance tunnel, which will serve as a necropolis of sorts with alcoves and attached rooms with various sarcophagi.

I finally detailed the library - working on the lab at the moment. I placed a trap in the hallway at the top, by the Lich's residential area (which I'm still not convinced what I'll do for that - liches don't sleep, so no need for a bed and other ammenties for the living.) I placed what I call the Undying Heart - something from an old Ravenloft adventure. The heart belonged to a giant and is made to unliving flesh. It beats creating pulses of negative energy which causes vile damage in 15' radius, thus anyone near the doors is getting hit. This serves as the last defense before the living enters Lhessadrak's quarters.

Thank God, I didn't have to start completely over, that might have killed this for me. (I really hate to do the same thing twice!)

GP

### Latest WIP ###

[mearrin69]

Wow, that's rotten luck GP but at least you saved most of your work...I'd hate to see a map this pretty go down the drain. Looking great so far.

I totally agree with your comments about the off-site contest. If I wanted to enter that I'd definitely stick with a more old-school flavor and skip the ISO (unless you did it like the old Ravenloft maps) and photo-real stuff. I imagine some sort of clever modernization of the old TSR module maps would tickle the most fancies with the judges of this contest - though I do not know them or their preferences and might be totally off base with that line of thinking.
M

[Gamerprinter]

I thought about doing this a couple days ago, and thought "Naw, that's crazy!", but I intended doing this anyway... which I hope to never do again... I created a complex boneyard - skulls, ribs, rib cages, jaw bones, hips, shoulders, backbones, vertibrae, whole legs, whole arms, bones, bones, bones.

Boy this was lots of work, both the drawing of it, then the color/bevels/shadows - what a pain in the butt. It does look good though.

Just need to add the walls around the boneyard, place walls and columns for the masoleum and the next section (titled: Boneyard) will be complete - I'd say 3/5ths done now??

First image below is the just the boneyard itself, saved as a PNG file (actually I may have not saved it in transparency format, if so I'll reupload later) - so anyone might use it. I plan on using it for any boneyard needs in the future (as I said, I don't want to try this again - ugh!) Next image is the map so far...

Edit: here's a link to the Transparent PNG version of the boneyard - uploaded a non transparent one, I did.

Boneyard transparent PNG file

Enjoy!

GP



### Latest WIP ###

[mearrin69]

Awesome bone pile. Snagged. Have to work that into a tabletop map for my Sunday game.
M

[Gamerprinter]

Almost done! I need to throw in the grid in the Ghoul Tunnel and Boneyard, place all the missing doors, some floor detail in the Ghoul Tunnel and make the Title Block/Legend/Map Key - almost done...

Enjoy!

GP

### Latest WIP ###

[Djekspek]

thats a cool bunch o bones! .. the dungeon itself is getting pretty amazing too