Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Fallcrest Composite Rough


Not that anyone's clamoring for this, but since it'll take me a while to clean up this drawing I thought I'd post it just in case someone wanted to run a party through in the meantime.

As I pull together the various elements of this Fallcrest drawing, a few thoughts occur:

  • Who the hell is going to climb up and down a flight of stairs 15 stories high just to get their groceries? In the rain? No one, that's who. So I put in an elevator for the Porter's Guild to run.
  • The original map has an awful lot of rubble and tumble-down walls. Now it's true that humans are lazy alcoholics, but it's been 110 years since the Bloodspears rumbled through! Don't you think someone might've organized a clean-up in the intervening decades? I do, so I patched the walls and cannibalized the rubble for more buildings.
  • Marklehay having a personal forest within the confines of the city walls seems a bit odd. I've rerouted the approach to the Keep; the woods are smaller now and may end up just being ornamental.

15 comments:

JohnR said...
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JohnR said...

Hey - I haven't said so, but I've been watching this closely. I'm running a game in the environs right now, and I love your style.

About groceries: There's at least one "general store" operation in both Upper and Lower town.

About rubble and walls: Cleaning up is one thing, but leaving the overgrown ruins of a house alone because nobody cares about what's left is pretty common everywhere, not just in fantasyland.

The Tombwood: It's not so much a "personal forest" as nobody's used the "castle graveyard" in a century, so it's become really well and truly overgrown.

But yeah. I definitely am looking forward to this one being finished.

Superhero Necromancer said...

I've been watching this one too. I love maps like this. If I could draw anything like this, I'd absolutely be doing this kind of map for "The Rainy City," the homebrew setting for my D&D campaign. :-)

I'm looking forward to your updates on your Fallcrest map.

brandykruse said...

JohnR,

Thanks for the kind words and on-target critique!

About rubble: I'm glad you pointed this out -- I'm going to re-include some ruins and decrepit structures in the final.

The Tombwood: I'd pretty much forgotten about the graveyard during my prelims, thanks for reminding me! I'm going to have to push back the Keep to include it... thank god for post-its!

brandykruse said...

Superhero,

The Rainy City! Good name, I like it! Tell us more!

Thanks as always for posting!

Superhero Necromancer said...

Tell us more!Well, I definitely can't resist that invitation! Actually, I haven't written much up on the setting yet, but I have a couple posts about it on my blog.

Here's my "big picture" overall description of The Rainy City.

Here's my first post about some characters from the city (these are only characters who have appeared in play).

I also have a second "personalities" post half written, a few crude maps, some PC sketches that a couple of my players made, and some brief descriptions of the city's major neighborhoods, but I haven't posted any of that stuff yet.

Michael said...

Amazing stuff. I'm totally captivated and I can't wait to see updates to the drawings!

JesterOC said...

Wow, I have DMed some players in fallcrest once. They did not stay long, but if I and they had this as a visible reference, I think they would have thought it to be much more interesting that they did.

This drawing really highlights the more fantastic side of Fallcrest. Great job!

brandykruse said...

Thanks Mike! the Fallcrest revamp is coming .... well I won't say soon, but soon-ish!

Thanks Jester! Yeah, I always feel like players will make their own fun if they can kinda "feel" the place a little bit more. Hope your gang makes it back someday!

Douglas Bowie said...

WOW! This picture (and site) really has some nice resources. Thanx for all your hard work!

If no one is clamoring...well I'll start. Put me down for one "clamoring to see the finished version!"

Thanx,

Doug

brandykruse said...

Thanks Doug! Finished product coming next week!

CaptPoco said...

My mind is blown! This is really some quality work it looks like a professional did it (which I am sure you are or will soon be).

Why are you not a professional illustrator for WOTC?

brandykruse said...

Thanks for the support, CaptPoco! I'm not sure Wizards is into cartoony illustration like I am, but I'm flattered!

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

I love it! It's so much nicer to look at a 3-D image like this than a simple top-down map with icons.

I was looking at your elevator and thinking it would take a tremendous amount of force to raise the loaded platform and then I thought hey, it could be powered by a waterwheel in the water. A lever would either raise and lower the wheel or divert water through a channel to power it to raise the platform!

Also, there should be a way to carry boats over the falls. Maybe something like the platform but with ropes and hooks?

Not that you need to put all that on the map, of course! Thanks for the great work.