Star Phoenix Revisited

What a difference several years make. When I embarked on the mission to publish my own books eight years ago my skill level was minimal. Most of what I learned during my 15 years at pre-WotC TSR in the 80s and 90s was still there, but much of it no longer matched the self-publishing realities of the 2010s or the kind of work required when operating independently from an established publisher with somewhere near 100 employees. In the distant wake of the Voyage of the Princess Ark that I authored in the 90s for Dragon Magazine, I wanted a series of skyship deck plans to be featured at the World of Calidar's core. At the time, I had no idea what to expect from a Kickstarter, and the price tag of having these maps drafted by professionals seemed well over what I might be able to afford. So, I drafted the maps the best way I could back then. Here's a "before" & "after" snapshot showing what the original maps looked like vs. what I'm doing now.

Before: a simple diagram published in CAL1 "In Stranger Skies" in 2013

After: a work-in-progress rendition of the revised main deck & superstructures

I use a freeware application called PaintNet. Though limited in its graphic abilities, its learning curve is fairly low. It does require a lot of add-ons, and I rely heavily on 3rd party textures and stock art for details. Those took years to accumulate. The result speaks for itself. Here are a few more sneak previews of the final work.

Main Deck, Stern Section

Outlines Layer by Itself

Work files are raster graphics, which presents a challenge when adding colors or textures within line art. To prevent badly pixilated edges resulting from a simple attempt to fill in colors, layered graphics become a must. The complexity of fully detailed renditions often requires 15-20 layers (such as outline layers above color or texture layers, or whatever lies on a table layered above table graphics, which lies above chair elements, carpet graphics come next, and that lies above floor textures, and so on). Add to this any number of temporary layers that get merged with permanent ones during the drafting process. Patience with this is key.

Filled-In Textures Layer

Good luck making corrections later if something doesn't look quite right. Every single layer will need to be looked at. A common mistake is adding something to the wrong layer, and then spending precious time later to find which layer it was put on. This is when the cats perk up at the sound of muttered French swearing as I switch layers off and back on, hoping I didn't mess up something else.

How about some shadows?

The texture for the floor or in this case a ship's wooden deck begs for some thinking as regards how it might blend in with a grid. Some trial and error is to be expected here until the graphics are scaled properly.

Grid vs. Texture Layers

You're getting the idea. Add to this the layers for what should show "above" the walls' texture, such as doors and windows. Way up higher, you'll position layers for map symbols (stairs directions, secret doors, etc.) and labels.

Upping the Ante: the Lower Deck with full details

Here's another view with everything and the kitchen sink. Oh, the joy of making sure stairs connect exactly with those on adjacent decks. I'm a stickler for this, although most players and DMs won't lose sleep over a few pixels. While in game, this won't matter. I made precisely this kind of error in my original diagram of 2013, much to my dismay. It's now fixed in the revised version. Ugh. How embarrassing.

Just for fun, I'm including a screenshot of the hold's forward section. The final work includes two 12"x18" sheets and the digital files rendered at 600 dpi (with and without labels). I'll see if I can include VTT files for use with Roll20 and such; that's new territory for me. Drafting the revised deck plans took exactly 2 weeks, working pretty much full time, using the old map version and the original sketch produced by the cover artist, Ben Wootten. The design was part of the last Kickstarter project I ran, July 2021. Backers receive this as part of their rewards. The deck plans will become available to the public on DriveThru probably before the end of this year. Ideally, I'd like to redo all of the deck plans in CAL1, but this will have to wait until I'm done with the current project. If you have questions, contact me via Facebook or Twitter. Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Happy Flying!

City Design WIP: Part Three

About two weeks into the process, a more finalized look finally emerges for the bright and beautiful city of Mythuín. As the result of "real life," I spent anywhere from 2 to 9+ hours each day actually working on the map (no weekends for indie publishers, of course), so work hours are indeed piling up. So far, the computer has had no problem handling the growing file size.

For the previous article, click here.

Much of the effort aimed at developing outlying suburbs and natural-looking terrain. At this scale, it was a challenge. After a few scrapped attempts, I happily settled on textures for farmland, woods, and hills.

The image above shows the South Bridge district. The section north of the river isn't finished. The farmland pattern came from an aerial view of fields in England, roughened and slightly blurred. I rendered it in a partially transparent layer over a mottled green-brown texture. Both components are feathered to smoothen out their edges. The process is simple: 1. Select areas on the map, 2. Copy the textures from separate files, 3. Paste to fill the selected areas. Repeat for each layer.

The image above shows the west bank. The step following the placement of farmland addressed small rivers and pathways. A new layer farther down received a mottled brown texture akin to bare dirt. I then traced pathways and riverbeds through the farmland with an eraser tool to reveal the bare dirt on the lower layer. In between those two layers, I drew white lines within the riverbeds, and replaced them with a water texture. When done, the edges of the pathways and the river textures got feathered for a more natural look.

The next image displays parts of the old town, the seaport, and the so-called Tower Hill area. The old town, known as "Old Meru," marks the location of the original Meruín settlement, wedged between a natural cove and a hill. The Meruín are aquatic elves, so their dwelling and street design reflects "fluid" lines. I altered the initial coastline inside the port and added docks and wooden piers. The hill presented a challenge. I scrapped a few attempts before settling on the present look. There are five separate layers, starting with the basic green-brown mottled texture I used for farmland. I tweaked the brightness, contrast, and hue of the first three layers. The last two consist in a brown rocky texture. All these layers were heavily feathered and blended together for the final result.

The Skyport and its warehouses lie on the north side of town. I copied original skyship artwork from earlier projects and rescaled it. This shows how large the city truly is. Most of these skyships are about 30-35 yards long. Ideally I should alter the edges of the river, since its banks are masonry. There ought to be docking features here and there alongside the river. The top of the image also shows a forest texture. It's layered directly on top of farmland, feathered, and rendered partially translucent to better blend it into the image. I also knocked out the grid from the city center, for clarity.

A riverine port and shaft lock are adjacent to the skyport. I had some fun showing rougher waters past the bridge and the waterfall. A shadow hints at the position of the cliff bisecting the entire city. The north bank shows a small suburb at the end of the bridge, a nearby forested stretch, and marshes below the cliff. The edge of the riverine port will be altered to look more like docking facilities. 

Talking about scale: here's a bit more  on the subject. The 1mm = 11 meters indication refers to the scale on the printed map. 100 meters = approx. 110 yards for those of you unfamiliar with the metric system. I also included travel times for characters moving about the city.

That's it for today. Hope you enjoyed the tour!

A Brave New Game World

As my present project moves ahead, time has come to pick a new map style. Before getting into this, here's a bit of background: the third Gazetteer for Calidar focuses on the elves of the Great Caldera. Right from the beginning, it was clear that this book also had to cover the place where elves came from. They did not grow on trees, although the idea crossed my mind. Actually an alien race on the main world, they emerged on a moon gravitating Calidar. After fighting each other and the gnomish wizards who'd created them (!) they eventually sailed across space to land on Calidar, along with their rivals, dwarves and humans who came from their own moons. So yes, there are three moons spinning around Calidar. Very, very loooong story short: the new Gazetteer now has to cover both the elves' realm on Calidar and their moon, Alorea.

Thorfinn Tait pledged his time and talent to render Alorea's map in the same manner as the one he'd produced for Calidar seven years earlier. This does also imply that the next two Gazetteers will each cover a realm on Calidar and its related moon. You can expect lots of maps therefore. I handed Thorfinn the coastal outlines I drafted for Alorea, the general positions of mountains, and the climate zones. From this, Thorfinn generated four topographic roughs, one for each projection style. I posted them here for your perusal.
Which one do you like best?

1. Van Der Grinten

[From Thorfinn Tait:] This is the protection I chose for Calidar itself. Its focus on the central area of the world is perfect for Calidar, as the main Great Caldera region appears front and centre. For Alorea, however, I’m not so sure. The edges of the map look progressively more and more warped, and I’m not sure this fits Alorea’s design so well.

2. Mollweide

[From Thorfinn:] The oval presentation of the world is rather distinctive. This projection is often used for palaeontological maps of the ancient Earth, and as a result ended up being used for the Mystara setting’s world map. For Alorea, it de-emphasises the poles rather nicely, as these are not really regions of interest in this world. However, the outer edges of the map appear rather warped.

3. Robinson


[From Thorfinn:] An old favourite projection dating from the 1960s, Robinson is now slightly out of date, which can be a plus when dealing with fantasy worlds. It does a good job of rendering the mid latitudes without too much warping, while not placing too much emphasis on the poles. It seems like a natural fit for Alorea in many ways.

4. Winkel-Tripel

[From Thorfinn:] A more modern take on the same concept as Robinson, and the similarity is pretty striking. The main difference for our purposes is in the depiction of the poles: Winkel Tripel places more emphasis on these areas. As such, it seems like an inferior choice to Robinson for Alorea.

[Back to me:] You're welcome to vote in the related poll, or to comment about these maps. Now's a good time to let us know what you like or don't like. I posted the poll in Calidar's Facebook group (click here to visit).

D&D: Don't Eat the Purple Lotus

            The so-called purple lotus is a very strange creature. It grows in shallow waters, on ponds, lakes, and slow-moving rivers. Its bloom closes up at dawn and sinks below the surface during the day. When it emerges to take in the light of stars and the moons, the purple lotus is resplendent in its shimmers glowing from indigo to deep violet. Its petals wither and fall off over time for others to replace them, curling up and taking the appearance of a mound of gold coins under the water, around and beneath the plant. Withered petals turn into decaying muck when scooped up. The oddities do not end there.

Golden Lotus Field by Samantha Genier, Deviantart. ©2013 Samantha Genier.

            These flowers grow in large patches of at least 10 plants, each one about 10’ apart from at least two others. They do not grow below ground, unless they can receive moonlight which they need to survive along with nutrients from the ground. All of them connect through a network of roots. Called a prime, one among them is a sentient being able to see and hear through each of the surrounding plants. Their number indicates how intelligent the prime is: min. 9, +1 for every 10 lotuses above the first 10. It takes about ten years for a prime to sharpen its mind by a mere point. With an Int of 10, it can cast druidic spells as a level 2 cleric, +2 experience levels per point of Int above 10). There isn’t a limit to how intelligent a prime can grow, but anything above 18 is extremely rare. Such large patches usually breed another prime that leaves with 10-40 plants to establish its own colony. The chart below summarizes the progression.

Prime Lotus Intelligence
Number of Plants	Intelligence	HD	Spellcasting Level
10	9	1	none
20	10	2	2nd
30	11	3	4th
40	12	4	6th
50	13	5	8th
60	14	6	10th
70	15	7	12th
80	16	8	14th
90	17	9	16rd
100	18	10	18th

            The prime looks like the surrounding plants, unless someone leans over its bloom and observes its pistil, which will reveal a pair of tiny eyes looking back. It can cast its spells through any of the surviving plants. Although it cannot speak, the prime can respond telepathically to visitors able to speak with plants. The prime is also able to produce written material from its leaves, their veins forming a natural script unique to the region. Local monsters with animal intelligence or better have learned to avoid lotus patches.

Purple Lotus: AC 9 (unarmored), HD 1*, 5 hp, MV 30 (10’), AT 1 cloud, D nil, Save F1, Int 1, ML n/a, AL Neutral, Size: S, XP 13.

            Abilities: Cloud of pollen.

Prime Lotus: AC 9 (unarmored), HD 1-10********, 5-50 hp, MV 30 (10’), AT 1 cloud or spell, D nil of by spell, Save F1-10, Int 9-18, ML 7, AL Neutral, Size: S, XP 13-7,000.

            Abilities: Cloud of pollen; spellcasting as a druid (see chart for experience level).

            When disturbed, these plants shoot a cloud of pollen about 30’x30’x30’ large (enough to fill its 10’x10’ space and eight others immediately adjacent). Each lotus can release a new cloud every 3d4 rounds. The pollen acts as a narcotic for anyone failing a saving throw. Each cloud requires a separate roll. Failing the first check results in several penalties: move at 1/3 MV, cannot cast spells, –2 penalty to AC, saves, and attack rolls. With a second failure, victims stand by the closest mound of fake gold and defend their “treasures” against anyone approaching. With a third failure, victims fall unconscious for another 3d4 hours and possibly drown in the shallow water; golden pollen covers their clothes and exposed skins, and takes 3d6 days to come off.

            The prime lotus will cast its spells at anyone or anything threatening its patch. Its intelligence and spellcasting ability drop according to the number of plants killed. If the prime is destroyed, the entire patch withers and dies. If victims are lying unconscious among the plants after the fight ends, the surviving patch will move to another location. A patch can also move at the behest of the prime at MV 30’/Turn (180’/hour or about 1½ mile per day). They pull up their roots and use either the prevailing westward wind or the water’s weak downstream current.

            Purple lotus patches are more common on far eastern coastal lands which possess many rivers, streams, and lakes. In their own way, they are akin to human clans and are able to communicate by discarding one of their own to carry a message to another patch. The prime can cast a create water spell variant maintaining a safe depth for its patch to survive a drought, or raising the surface of an enclosed body of water. The spell lasts for 24 hours and raises the surface level about 1” per hour (2’ per day). The area affected must be no more than 90’ across plus 10’ per HD, otherwise reduce the speed at which the water rises accordingly.

Black Lotus: Far more uncommon than the purple lotus is one that is undead. Those patches have fallen prey to a water hag, a horrid creature that corrupted and cursed them to guard its lair’s entrance below the surface. It is perhaps the only extant case of an undead creature able to cast druidic spells.

            The hag awaits in deeper, darker waters, dragging into her lair victims falling unconscious. Back lotus pollen is poisonous to exposed skin, inflicting 1d4 hp of unhealable damage per day (no save). Magical or natural healing may resume after the pollen wears off. Those who die of this poison rise 1d4+4 hours later as wights. A cleric can Turn a black lotus patch as an undead corresponding to its prime’s HD. The Turn attempt requires a score high enough to result in the destruction of the undead, in which case the entire patch is destroyed. Black lotuses are generally found in bayous, swamps, or waterlogged moors.

Source: The map was cropped and altered from the revised climate chart by Thorfinn Tait, available as a poster map on DTRPG ©2019 Bruce A. Heard. The purple lotuses as fantasy creatures constitute original content ©2020 Bruce A. Heard.

D&D: The Horror Below

            The Teekal were native fellfolk who turned into jellyfish-like wraiths. Eons earlier, these stone-age nomads dwelled along Grand Valley of Khargandal’s southern shores. They dabbled with dark magic Ghülean raiders left behind for them to unearth. While the Teekal learned much in the necromantic arts, their newfound knowledge slowly transformed them into their present form: translucent and devoid of bones, fundamentally evil, undead, and craving the vitality of the living. Their arid homeland and the scorching light of the tropics drove them to seek the cool dimness of the deep, claiming the Teekal Seaway as their new realm. Save for parietal art hinting at the fellfolk’s sinister fate, little remains of their past existence on land. They are now irretrievably beholden to alien gods of Ghüle whose emissary they await. 

Skull Jellyfish by Manzanedo ©2020 Manzanedo

            Those intruding upon the seaway’s depths will probably encounter the Teekal’s marauders first. These are soulless constructs indistinguishable from large jellyfish. They occasionally foray into nearby seas, in search of prey near the shores of the Taslan Peninsula and the Island of Mareas. They usually attack small boats at night. Their purpose is to fetch what their makers covet the most: the souls and memories of the living. With their long tentacles, they ensnare their quarry and paralyze them. While kept alive and fully conscious by means only necromancers can fathom, their heads are cut off and their bodies discarded. All flesh other than eyes and brain matter is digested, after which the skulls and their contents are sucked into the marauders’ translucent innards and taken back to their makers.

            The Teekal upper bodies appear humanoid, while their lower halves looks more like bell-shaped cnidarians, with whorls of writhing tentacles where legs ought to be. With one such tentacle, one may pierce through a captured head and burrow into its brain in order to examine its owner’s past life. The process may last many days of sheer pain and horror for the victim, as the inquisitor sifts through items of interest and dwells with unholy relish upon emotional moments defining one’s entire life. All memories are meticulously observed, organized, and mentally marked for future use.

            Should captives offer little of interest, their flesh is sucked out and their souls devoured. Marauders regurgitate the bones and return to their previous duties. The others remain in a great hall made from hollowed out skulls, in alcoves where marauders and their captives are kept alive. By then, most victims have gone utterly mad from terror and despair, but such isn’t the Teekal’s concern. Their intent is to preserve all the information they gathered and turn it over to the Ghülean emissary, should it ever show up.

Marauder: Body AC 9/tentacles AC 6, HD 4**, 15 hp +1/tentacle, MV 30 (10’), AT 1d4+1 tentacles, D 1d4 each, Save F8, Int 0, ML 12, AL Chaotic, Size: M, XP 175.

            Abilities: Invisible from more than 30’ unless holding a skull. Paralysis as a ghoul. It fights with up to 5 of its fifteen 30’ long tentacles each round. Each hit requires a saving throw. The marauder wraps 1d4+4 tentacles around a paralyzed victim and floats away, fending off any pursuers with 1d4+1 of its remaining tentacles. Unless rescue takes place, the victim’s head is sucked in and extraneous flesh and hair melted off within the next 3 combat rounds +1 per experience level or HD of the victim. Death occurs if the disembodied head is taken from the marauder or if the creature is slain.

            Each tentacle requires at least 1 hp damage to cut off. They are immune to blunt and piercing/stabbing weapons, except for their magical bonuses, if any. The marauder’s bell-shaped body incurs half damage from slashing and blunt weapons except for their magical bonuses. It suffers normal damage from piercing/stabbing* weapons and magical attacks (* includes most swords if their owners clearly announce they are stabbing only). The creature uses tentacles with which it performs attacks to keep these foes away from its body. It receives a +2 bonus to hit foes ignoring tentacle attacks in order to reach its body. Tentacles can strike foes up to 30’ away. Inflicting 15 hp of damage to the body kills the creature. Marauders suffer an immediate Morale Check with a –2 penalty during each round of exposure to sunlight.

Jellyfish Mermaid by Castaguer
© 2015 - 2020 Castaguer93

Teekal*: Body AC 7/tentacles AC 4, HD 7*****, 32 hp +6/tentacle, MV 60 (20’), AT 4 tentacles or 1 spear or 1 spell, D tentacles and spear 1d6 each or by spell, Save F10, Int 10+2d4, ML 7, AL Chaotic, Size: S (fellfolk body size), XP 2,450.

            Abilities: Spellcasting as level 6 clerics—spell levels I-II x2 each, level III x1. Same general abilities as the marauder (they do not carry their foes' skulls). Teekals attack with all four of their 20’ long main tentacles; they require 6 hp damage to sever although they regenerate within a day. Their bodies can withstand up to 32 hp.
            They possess two arms as part of their torsos, although their hands and fingers are worm like. Some may wield a long spear whose head was coated with poison. The toxin is discharged with the first successful attack, liquefying the foe’s internal organs for 6d6 damage (save for half).
            Teekal speak a more sophisticated version of their old language, which other creatures in the region may understand (such as the Hanāi published earlier). They developed a written form, and can produce magical items.

Samaz Symbol

An Unexpected Guest: A sea god of Caldwen, Samaz is in fact a renegade who fled his alien masters in the Ghülean dimension. Powerful in his own right, he rose as a deity, hiding his true origins and watching for portents of his former overlords coming into Calidar’s universe. He’s found the Teekal and knows their purpose. Working surreptitiously from the shadows, he endeavors to manipulate their race, occasionally posing as a Ghülean emissary when the Teekal commune for their spells, hopefully to divert them from their evil quest. Some may already be under his sway. Ghülean gods have not detected his influence so far. Nonetheless, Samaz posted aquatic servants of his at narrow straits outside the Teekal Seeway and the Sea of Daor. Their objective is to slay marauders attempting to cross through, and launch an invasion should a Ghülean emissary show up. These forces often rely on beguiled sharks, swordfish, sea turtles, which are natural jellyfish predators.

Source: The map was cropped and altered from the revised climate chart by Thorfinn Tait, available as a poster map on DTRPG ©2019 Bruce A. Heard. Ghüle was introduced in Calidar’s CAL1 In Stranger Skies, page 55. Ghüle and Samaz were developed in CC1 Beyond the Skies, pages 102 and 245. The marauder and the Teekal as fantasy creatures constitute original content ©2020 Bruce A. Heard.

D&D: Eyes in the Mist

Here is someone not to be monkeyed with, offered here with D&D BECMI game stats. The inspiration is directly grounded in the Mystic character class. Feel free to transplant/ape into a game world other than Calidar, using correct abilities for a fighting monk, as appropriate to your chosen game mechanics. Definitely a chimp off the old block.

Old Ape by Yang Qi ©2014-2020 Yang Qi

Hanāi: AC 3 (unarmored), HD 3****, 15 hp, MV 170’ (60’)/150’ (50’) in trees, AT 1, D 1d6+1 barehanded or by weapon, Save My4, Str 8+, Dex 13+, Con 8+, Int 8+, Wis 13+, Cha –1 penalty vs. other races, ML 9, AL Varies, Size: M (5½-6 ft. tall,) XP 95.

            Abilities: As a level 4 mystic (see RC pp. 29-31), including improved AC, MV, AT, Dmg (can hit foe requiring +1 magic), fighter combat options, acrobatics, thief skills, and special class powers (awareness and heal self). Racial abilities include shape-changing and clairvoyance. Shape-Changing: x1 daily; human-like only; cannot imitate a specific individual’s facial traits but can easily pass off as someone of another race with approximately the same size (human, elf, half-elf, half-orc if available in the chosen game world). The Hanāi can return to its native form at any time, forcibly upon death or if subject to a dispel magic. Clairvoyance: x1 daily; similar to a clairvoyance spell.
            The Hanāi incurs the same restrictions as standard mystics (as regards armor and protective magical devices). It uses its feet (with opposable thumbs) and its prehensile tail to help move quickly through the forest canopy.

            Many centuries ago, the Hanāi possessed a large realm that had emerged during a period of weakness in the Dread Lands. Alas, a Ghülean epidemic nearly wiped them out. Legends tell of some who fled as far as the great mountains of southern Omfall, growing thick white fur to survive. Others wandered deep below ground or to the Kalataazi Desert and were never heard of again. Over time, scattered groups returned to the ruins of their abandoned realm in the Taslan Peninsula, careful not to anger the spirits of nature which had reasserted their dominion upon this land. Elders learned the rituals to appease spirits of nature in order to gather what people needed to live.
            Their villages today consist of bamboo-built abodes dangling from very large tree branches, interconnected with rope bridges. Invasive vegetation has overtaken ancient stone-built stupas and prangs—tall, spire-shaped, heavily adorned shrines. Those still standing have been cleared of debris and wild growth on the inside and below ground save for the largest roots. The forest canopy hides much of those ruins from above.

            Fragments of paved roads, once-royal stairways, bridges, and statues blend in with the rain forest. It is said that the Hanāi possess a bond with primates. Elders and adventurers of their kind know how to communicate with apes, monkeys, and other simian creatures who often serve as spies and watch over Hanāi tombs.

Source: The map was cropped and altered from the revised climate chart by Thorfinn Tait, available as a poster map on DTRPG. Ghüle is an alien world; source material is located in CC1 "Beyond the Skies," pp. 244-245. As a fantasy creature and its realm, the Hanāi is original content developed for the author's blog ©2020 Bruce A. Heard.

Seven Poster Maps

I completed a YouTube presentation video of the seven poster maps for use with the upcoming Calidar gazetteer CAL2 "On Wings of Darkness," due for public release late June/early July 2019 at DTRPG.

CAL2 "On Wings of Darkness" is part of the #Calidar fantasy game world. All seven poster maps are shown in this video: 

1. The players' map of Caldwen (stylized hexes), 
2. The game masters' topographic version of the same,
3. The Valley of Arafor near the capital city,
4. The Upper District of the flying city,
5. The Middle District,
6. The Lower District,
7. Port Arcana slums at ground level beneath the flying city or Arcanial, great capital of the wizards of Caldwen.

The core gazetteer is due for release at the same time, along with its players' Guide, PG2 "A Players' Guide to Caldwen." An adventure book is in the works, with an expected completion date circa Christmas 2019.

EDIT -- I found out that the blog's version of the video is blurred when enlarged to fullscreen scale. The original on YouTube is much sharper.

Of Map Design

It's been a while now since I started drafting floor plans and skyship deck maps for Calidar. Looking back several years, I shudder at my earlier efforts, but then everyone has to start somewhere and learn the tools of the trade, right? Though I wouldn't compare my work to truly professional endeavors, I'm going to show some of the steps I go through to create floor plans these days. Hopefully, this might give some ideas on how to proceed, or spark a discussion from which I might learn new useful bits.

People have been asking me what software I use. Though the answer seems easy, it is misleading. I use Paint.net, a freeware application that's been growing over the past several years. I gave up on Photoshop way back after being overwhelmed by its complexity. Since then, I got used to Paint.Net and remain leery of the learning curve to switch to Photoshop or anything else. There are specialized "dungeon" mapping programs out there. I found them either too limited or in some cases unmanageable. I know people out there will disagree with me on this, but that's just my opinion.

That being said, the answer above hardly covers the subject. In order to draft the sort of floor plans I've been coming up with lately, there are two other key components: years of hands-on user experience, plus lots of stock art and background textures purchased from specialized sites. I rely mostly on Dreamstime as a source of illos and graphic textures. Costwise, over the years, this does add up. Another factor is the amount of time needed to draft a snazzy map. The one I'll talk about in this article took me about 3 days (more than full time), from concept doodles to final corrections, and this does not include "stocking the dungeon"  (adding furniture and other details aside from doors and windows). From a technical aspect, the final document includes 20-30 layers showing the various elements of the map. I usually work at 300 or 600 dpi resolution. Oh yes, and a fast computer with lots of memory will also help prevent long waits for every step of the way.

The first step is the concept work. Basically, grab a sheet of paper and sketch out a very rough layout. As you can see on the adjacent shot, lots of things cross my mind as I throw in various shapes, erase others, and append new details. One generally leads to another, and pretty soon, space on that sheet comes at a premium. Of course, I could think of lots of things to include. Just to make sure I wasn't missing anything important, I turned to social media and probed the friendly hive mind there for other ideas. And, whoa... I got lots more. So, thank you everyone for your help. I promptly turned around and made a complete list of what had come up on social media, and split all these entries according to which floor each should be located on. That's just so I don't forget anything, since the entire project is likely to take weeks, from the dungeon level to the tippity-top of the highest tower. Occasionally and well after the brain-storming has effectively ended, someone surreptitiously adds an idea I can't possibly resist including somewhere, somehow... Click on the adjacent shot to get a closer look.

Now the "real" work begins. I find it easier to draw simple lines to render the general ideas depicted on the hand-drawn sketch. Many corrections and redesigns occur at this stage. (You can trust me when I say there will be many more, kicking yourself repeatedly for not having foreseen them earlier; those will require a lot more work). That's already five layers--from front to back: 1. page frame which isn't shown here, 2. labels, 3. outlines, 4. grid, 5. white background. The page frame is to make sure nothing sticks out in the margins which may be chopped off during printing; this won't matter if you are designing a map for yourself. That's when you realize everything needs to be recentered, including the grid, something that you complete very, very carefully, right down to the single pixel, as an error at this stage will be tough and time consuming to fix later. Patience is a virtue here.

Simple lines may be okay for your personal use. For something a bit more involved, the lines need to be turned into something that actually looks like walls. For this, the original line art needs to be thickened. Depending on the application, this may be a trivial issue. On Paint.Net, this entails adding extra outlines to the original drawing, which takes just a few seconds.

The game plan is to eventually add a black edge around the white outline, but before this can be done correctly, the walls need spaces added for doors and windows. The easiest way I found to make sure these spaces are all exactly the same sizes involves a temporary layer on which I cut/paste blue blocks. Once done, it's easy to select all the blue elements, move down to the white outlines layer, and hit delete.

Once done, remove the layer with the blue blocks, since it's of no further use. Then add the black edges to the white outlines (1). I'm assuming most graphic programs can switch off white, which leaves just the black lines (2). That's a useful trick, because now I can select the inside of the black lines, move down to a new layer (3), and paste/fill the selected space with a stone texture of some kind.

 And there you have it: walls that looks like walls. Many more steps will follow, such as adding windows, doors, and wall shadows (do the latter on a separate layer, because otherwise corrections at a later time will become problematic). Fancy tiles come next to cover the indoor floors, plus ground textures outside the buildings. With a bit of testing, resize the tiles so they match the original grid exactly. Move up the tiles layer "above" the grid, so as to mask it within indoors areas. The original grid can still be seen outside the building. I often hide the grid beneath trees.

I like to erase wall shadows where windows are likely letting light in. A gray layer can be inserted above indoor areas to darken the rooms; then, erase the part of the gray layer in the general vicinity of these windows, which enhances the impression of light. Set the eraser at its maximum softness so the effect is barely perceptible. The result shows in this near final version of the floor plan (see just above).

Stairs can be pretty snarly. The first challenge is to scale them correctly, assuming each step measures 7"-8" high -- therefore, figure approx. how many steps are needed to reach the next floor. The other problem is their width: on the map above, normal steps are intended to be about a foot across, and thus they look tiny (1 grid square = 10ft.) Yes, I can be OCD about this kind of detail. Each step in the stairs at the bottom of the map, by the open terrace, would therefore be several feet across, producing a very gentle rise.

Compare with the stairways straddling the courtyard (rising at a 35- to 45-degree angle). In a modern house, stairs might require around 18 steps to reach the next floor -- in a palace, there could be twice as many, especially if the angle of the stairs is more gentle. There are various ways to represent stairs. Most folks will stylize them and not worry one bit about accuracy. After all, what's really needed in a game is just the information that "there be stairs here, up or down." I place an arrow showing which way is up. Being detail oriented, I also place shadows to help visualize the steps. It's actually pretty easy. I just recopy onto another layer the lines marking the edges of the stairs, shift them just a tad, and then blur these lines so they look like shadows; reducing the layer's opacity a bit can help here. A gradient darkening the bottom of the stairs is another useful tool.

I guess I'm done rambling along. Hope you found something useful. Have a nice weekend!