Sandbox Update

Just a quick progress image from this map. Finished off all the border areas, and I'm now working on the coast, including where I anticipate placing my "civilized" area.

And here's a cheesy GIF animation of the process, which may or may not work in Blogger's image viewer.

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The Wilds - Pull the Other One

With the current level mostly explored, the party decides to make a trial of the lever room after a final bit of exploration. This eventually results in the party splitting up, so the following is a bit piecemeal in places. It also covers several turns, because there was a fight in the middle of it all.

Progress by Hex

Not much to say about this, just showing forward progress. I changed up how I've been building these a bit. I think the first hex I built out was a little too monotonous, so I'm using a slightly different method now. Before I was treating all unfilled hexes as the large hex terrain. Now I'm placing a single 'best match' hex in the center of the large hex and treating all A1 results (the randomizer hex) as the large hex terrain type. This has led to more variety, while retaining some of the basic feel of the big hexes.

Early Small Hex Work

In progress

It's not exactly a fast process, but that's more because I'm keeping careful labels on everything and flipping between Gimp for mapping and Excel for dice rolling. I've tweaked a couple table entries along the way (and fixed a couple more typos too). I think I want to finish off all the border hexes and then start moving in, so... onward!

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Dungeons in Blue - New Tiles

I've finally finished off the next three tile sets for Dungeons in Blue, Set J, Set K, and Set L. Each of these sets contains nine 100x100-foot full-sized tiles, ready to drop into whatever virtual tabletop you prefer. These sets are also available in a bundle, Triple Pack Four, at a discounted price.

As usual these maps include GM and player versions, plus a full map key, preview image and brief read me. All image files are 100px per five-foot square PNGs. Here are the one-third scale preview images for these new sets:

Happy mapping!

PS - If you're looking for previous product releases, you can find them all tagged here.

Hexing Onward

I had time to do a bit more work on this hex map project, so I picked a large hex to fully map out with smaller hexes. I started on the coast, in one of the mountain hexes, to see how things turned out. Instead of using a random pick I started in the center of the hex and worked my way out from there. Because I was treating unfilled small hexes as the containing big hex's terrain type, the small hexes were fairly homogeneous until I got to the edges and started considering bordering hexes too.

Before

After

As you can see, mountains overwrote most of the original hill terrain, making this a pretty rough coastline. Small patches of woods and a few more open areas along the coast popped out, along with a small wetland on the northwest side. In retrospect I probably should have treated the mountain results as hills, since that was the base terrain for the big hex, but I think this looks fine. I think I'll work through a few more hexes to the south before I focus on my planned settlement hex, either the scrub area or light woods next to that little jag in the coastline.

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Más Hexes

Lest you think I forgot about this hex map project... I haven't. I got side-tracked last week with new PBE Games releases, and then sports-related events. Now it's back to the hex map, and a refinement pass on the previously generated big hexes.

PBE Games - The Litany of Releases

Since last post, I've been busy with new stuff over on DriveThruRPG / RPGNow. Here's an update on the latest PBE Games releases, beginning with several new entries in the Uncommon Ground texture pack series:

• Flecked - A stone surface with flecks of bright material embedded.
• Erosion Control - Rough stone with lighter areas protruding from a darker substrate.
• Petrified Lichen - A stone texture with an irregularly colored surface.
• Worm Rock - A two-color hatching pattern for old-school style maps.

Note there are previews of each texture available on the relevant product page. Looking forward, I have another eight to ten Uncommon Ground textures almost ready to roll, including two more hatching patterns, another wood grain, and more stone too.

Petrified Lichen Preview

On the Dungeons in Blue front, I put out Twisty Tunnels, a geomorph pack of natural caves. This is similar to the Corridors and Intersections pack in that it's primarily passages, intersections, and curves, with very few rooms. As I've been making more use of geomorphs in my own game, I've discovered you need a lot of these connector-style tiles to fit things together. I have a similar package, Tunnel and Cave, in the works, which provides the same sort of passages and intersections, but each tile is also a natural to worked tunnel connection.

Twisty Tunnels Preview

I've also updated the Master List to include the most recent additions to Dungeons in Blue, plus planned additional releases. Look for three more full geomorph packs, plus the associated triple pack in the next week or two.

Lastly, I released One Page #14 - Arctic Features and Hazards which provides twenty locale-based minor encounters ready for use in any fantasy RPG. I have two more of these planned, one for Jungles, and one for Wetlands, which should round out the One Page terrain types nicely. I'll be doing a standard five pack deal for numbers 11-15, and I'm also planning on bundling up all the outdoor features and hazards One Pages into the Great Outdoors Collection.

Worm Rock Preview

OK, so that's about it for the product updates. Thanks as always for reading, and enjoy the weekend!