Koslac's Crossing

Finally, the end is in sight. I finished off the text editing and final layout this morning. I need to do one more review of content to double-check all the links and bookmarks, but this should be up on DriveThruRPG this week.

And now it's done!

Tome of Names V1 now on DriveThruRPG

As a GM, I hate making up names, so I did something about it. Each Tome of Names volume contains contains over 370 unique names arranged as three language collections, each with its own flavor and sound. Each language collection is subdivided into given names and surnames arranged in a dice-friendly tables to allow easy random name selection. There's a PDF sample available on DriveThruRPG that includes a bunch of example names, so you can see if they're useful to your campaign.

• Here's the Tome of Names - Volume One link

The Crossing - Floors and Doors

About 60% done with colors now. This is a mashed together image showing the upper layer with the lower portion partially opaque below. Still things to do, like shadows and line cleanup, but it's getting there.

And even though I did this just to have something to post, it points out nicely that I have a bunch of void spaces on the upper level that need some fill...

• The final version of this map is now available as Koslac's Crossing on DriveThruRPG.

The Crossing - Colorizing Detail

I've gotten some work done on this, but not as much as I'd like. I'm really not happy with the current state of the doors, and I need to figure out a solution to that. Here's a clipped out piece to show the current level of detail.

I'm not sure wooden doors (at least those wooden doors) are the right choice, and I don't really like the thick black borders. I may end up doing some door panels by hand to get them right. Time to go looking for some new textures...

• The final version of this map is now available as Koslac's Crossing on DriveThruRPG.

The Crossing - Now with More Fort!

Well, what started as a simple underground crossroads has become an exercise in Dwarf paranoia. I'm about three-quarters done with the layout now, here's the revised map with some very quick and dirty floors and backgrounds layered in.

As you can tell, I've added a few arrow slits. "But wait!" you say. "I thought you said there was a central tower overlooking the crossroads." Oh yeah, that:

Now with more murder holes! The gray on the above map corresponds to the visible lower level areas (there are still a few missing bits in that layer).

As I said, this is a quick and dirty fill job on the map. Both these layers are currently built out in Inkscape, and the above images were pulled into Gimp for pattern fills and some color work.

• The final version of this project is now available via DriveThruRPG as Koslac's Crossing.

The Entry - V2

This is a revised version of the map I posted earlier. I've reworked the area around the balconies, rebuilding the shadows, adding a railing, and cleaning up some issues with the floor fill. I also tweaked up the nearby stairs. I think that area looks better now, but I'm not 100% satisfied with it.

As you can see, I've also added a bunch of damage to various floors. This is my first attempt at this sort of thing, and I think they came out OK.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this map, and I think I'll call it done. It's not perfect, but for something that started as a quick test project, I'm fairly happy with the end result.

The Crossing

This is a work-in-progress look at my current mapping project. This is the intersection of four major routes in an underground complex. I'm envisioning it as a high-security area, with temporary warehouses, guard quarters, side-tunnels with arrow slots covering the main passages, and a central fort that covers the actual intersection.

This is a look at how I lay things out in InkScape. As you can see, the colors are nothing like the final map. Instead they're chosen to be easily seen and distinguished from each other. I just dropped a background texture behind the whole thing in Gimp so it's a bit easier to make out. I'm also testing out creating both a 70px / five-foot square, full-color map for roll20, and a pdf-friendly gray-scale map for print. We'll see how that goes. I've been doing most of my test maps in 30x30 five-foot grids, which is a bit confining, at least for me. This is a 60x60 five-foot square map, or 150x150 feet vs. 300x300 feet. A bit more elbow room!

• The final version of this map is now available as Koslac's Crossing on DriveThruRPG.