D and D Doodle

Map Monday

2011-04-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

Another toner cartridge killer, the lonely village of Nenlast on the Eastern Shores of Lake Nen. The values got away from me on this one, and it's not keyed, but it'll do for now.

Anyone watch Game of Thrones last night? The show itself was pretty good (although I wonder if anyone who hasn't read the books would follow it) but the titles were ass-kickingly great!

Lower City Burns

2011-03-13T22:00:00.001-07:00

Goblins got into the lower city and made a huge mess.

Thursday Doodle

2010-09-29T22:30:00.001-07:00

Map Monday

2010-09-27T10:39:00.001-07:00

A pair of cool locales for a blisteringly hot Monday.

Thursday Doodle

2010-09-09T22:47:00.000-07:00

More OwlBear! Yeah!

Map Monday

2010-09-07T10:01:00.001-07:00

Rough sketch of the village of Nenlast.

Linkage:D&D Babies

2010-09-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

I'm not at all on time to this party, but allow me to recirculate these D&D babies over at Sewgumi. The cuteness, it burns!

Map Monday

2010-08-30T09:16:00.001-07:00

Doodle maps! My head was drifting around Sci-Fi land this week, although these are probably vague enough to stand in for just about any set.

Map Monday

2010-08-22T22:02:00.001-07:00

Experimental doodles: What's Beneath the Crypt? and the Lucky Gnome.

Thursday Doodle

2010-08-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

Several people at Gencon thought the OwlBear would make a good cartoon character so I thought I'd try it out. Results were mixed.

Map Monday

2010-08-16T23:20:00.001-07:00

This'll be it for Dwarftown for awhile. I may try and rework it with a white border since all this black is hell on printers, but I wanna get back aboveground for a few maps.

Thursday Doodle

2010-08-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

Huge thank-yous to everyone who visited the OwlBear booth at GenCon! As much fun as it was to sell t-shirts and drawings, the best thing was meeting everyone! Gamer people really are the nicest, coolest, and creative-est people! Special thanks to Kurt, Dave, John, and Mrs. Doodle without whom this con couldn't have happened.

Map Monday

2010-07-26T08:09:00.001-07:00

From time to time I do little sketches like this for work. This one didn't get used, so maybe some of you can do something with it.

Suit Up!

2010-07-20T21:11:00.001-07:00

D&D Doodle is selling stuff! Come visit our new site -- The OwlBear -- to check out our latest offerings (t-shirts for starters) and stop by The OwlBear Store to pick up a gaming shirt or two, just in time for GenCon!

Map Monday

2010-05-17T05:57:00.001-07:00

Back to basics. Here's a generic small town you should be able to plug in anywhere. I tried to make it printer friendly with a nice wide border for keying purposes.

Update: I got rid of that annoying border and, above, a version with little red lines for your keying convenience.

Map Monday

2010-05-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

A quick and dirty hex map of all the non-hidden places along the Road to Fallcrest, as per Oliver's suggestion.

Whuppin' out this map has got me thinking about the role of the map. It occurs to me there are three map types in D&D: the DM's map -- the one with the goodies only the DM will see -- the players' map -- the one they're putatively drawing while trudging along -- and the prop -- an actual map on actual paper handed to actual people in order to spice up the game.

Having had that thought, I had another map-related thought; none of these blog maps are useful as D&D maps. I mean, clearly they ain't player maps so rule that out. Neither are they props; a prop, imho, is something more archaic, like a pirate's treasure map. Inky. Frayed at the edges. X-marks-the-spot kind of thing. Can any of them be considered DM maps? Mmmmaybe. I mean, quite a few of them have 'eyes only' info, but that's not sufficient for a DM map, really. A DM map needs also to be on a grid/hex in order to convey information to the players in a measurable, standardized way in addition to reavealing all the hidden goodies.

If anything, these maps are akin to development art for movies or video games. Art used for insipiration, but not meant to be actually used in the telling of the story. Which is fine, but I'd also like to make some useful stuff. Maybe blueprint-like DM maps presented along with the corresponding papyrus scroll or message tied to an arrow, that sort of thing. If you, dear reader, have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Thursday Doodle

2010-04-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

My reworked Maurice Nobel rip-off for an Art Order challenge. Feast of Souls!

Map Monday

2010-04-11T23:45:00.001-07:00

Just out of the Vale, the rivergoer meets Rushbottle, a hobbit village built entirely around fording the Rushbottle Rapids.

For this map, the goal was trying to incorporate the hex grid, painting, and a sense of topography. It's tough! Camp Ozbrog is supposed to be up on a hilltop, but without sky to frame things, its all comes down to the rendering.

Map Monday

2010-04-05T20:57:00.001-07:00

Super fast Monday map of the Nentir winding it's way out of the Vale.

Map Monday

2010-03-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

So here's the full-size version; it's a biggun, so Blogger may not like this...

BTW, ©2010 Wizards of the Coast LLC

Keep on the Chaos Scar

2010-03-23T08:39:00.000-07:00

So this dropped...
"...on the narrow edge between civilization and the hungry dark..."

It's The Keep on the Chaos Scar by Craig Spearing, the latest adventure in Dungeon #176! Head on over to the WotC D&D site to check out the whole shebang. Thanks to Jon Schindehette for what was a totally mellow and fun assignment.

The Road to Fallcrest II

2010-03-11T14:22:00.000-08:00

DM's version. No peeking!

The Road to Fallcrest

2010-03-08T08:23:00.001-08:00

DM's version.
Player's version.

The little sign on the right says "Thunderspire". End to end, this section of the King's Road would be about a day's walk.

How Big is the Nentir?

2010-02-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

Redlock Sets Out

2010-02-08T09:58:00.001-08:00

As a Public Service

2010-01-12T10:29:00.000-08:00

Nentir Inn Second Floor

2009-12-22T10:02:00.000-08:00

Lonely Tower Redux

2009-12-16T13:27:00.001-08:00

I've made some additional notes to the popular Lonely Tower map. Thanks and a tip o' the tam o' shanter to loyal reader Dave L!

Nentir Insides

2009-12-10T15:31:00.000-08:00

The first floor of Nentir Inn along with the kitchen.

Nentir Inn Curb Appeal

2009-12-04T13:40:00.000-08:00

A by-request sketch of the Nentir Inn. I'll polish it up when I get a little more free time.

Doodle Family Fails Save vs. the Crud

2009-12-01T09:35:00.001-08:00

First Daddy Doodle and Baby Doodle were sick and now Missus Doodle has a cold too! Bleh.

Dwarftown?

2009-11-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

I've been wrestling with Dwarftown looking too "above-ground", the details feeling to Greco-Roman and not other-worldly enough. But I'm liking this more rough-hewn style. The final version should look something like this.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...

2009-11-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

... it's going rather slow! Dwarftown, that is. But rest assured, the surly contractors of fantasyland are making progress.

Headin' Down South

2009-10-28T12:35:00.001-07:00

I've found three little bits of copy regarding the larger world and the Nentir Vale's place in it:

"A broad borderland region."
"The Nentir Vale is a northern land..." and
"(Harken Forest) separates the Nentir Vale from the more populous coastal towns of the south."

Sticking the Vale up along the northern border of the kingdom takes care of the first two points. Making the rest of this Nerath Empire remnant into a bastardization of southern England satisfies the third point as well a my current preoccupation with Bernard Cornwell's King Arthur books.

But please let me know if you've any better published sources for expanding the map, won't you? I'm working entirely from the DMG and H1.

Update: Misspelled "capital". D'oh!

Latest update: I got to thinking about Colmarr's comment that the Hammerfast trade route needed somewhere to go. It occurred to me if the Vale were on one side of a hellaciously vast mountain range, it would explain why people on the other side would refer to the mountains as something else beside "Dawnforge". Plus, a safe route through such rugged terrain really would be an asset worth guarding with a fortress. Thanks Colmarr! =)

Welcome!

2009-10-22T08:02:00.001-07:00

This blog got some crazy number of visitors yesterday, so I just wanted to say -- Welcome to my blog of unnecessary maps, comics, and dried-out marker doodles! More goodies coming soon!

Fallcrest Revised

2009-10-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

I've revised the original Fallcrest map into a players' version.

http://dandddoodles.blogspot.com/2009/07/fallcrest-rough-iii.html

Down, Down, Down

2009-10-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

Just for fun times, here is Dwarftown in progress. It may take a while to finish this, but you can see where I'm going; namely, underground.

Hey Dwarftown!

2009-09-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

The old map was looking slightly flat so I threw in some good ol' 3-point perspective. Not to be confused with Hammerfast though, nuh-uh. This is a map of Dwarftown; a largish, dwarven city which also lies along the Dawnforge Mountains' trade route. Coincidence? Yes.

Hammerfast Rough

2009-09-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

I know these colors are getting pretty pukey, but it's a fair representation of what's left in my marker box =(

Too Many Toldamores

2009-09-08T08:23:00.001-07:00

Long, long ago I promised our DM a portrait of his alter-ego, Toldamore of the Terrific Tongue. Here's a brief description from the Tongue himself:

I envision (Toldamore) as a charismatic young male human with long wavy black hair. He has a lute, but his main musical power comes from his magnificent singing voice. He primarily uses his bardic powers to boost and inspire his adventuring party... he uses a sling that throws jingle bells in tune to his song. He wears slightly showy fabrics and colors, perhaps including a flamboyant hat with a feather.

A fairly awesome character, and one who saved our True Dungeon party two or three times at GenCon.

I Am Insulted

2009-09-03T16:19:00.001-07:00

You dare suggest I do nothing but draw pictures of elves and fairylands all day? Preposterous! Some days I do nothing but drawings of eldritch horrors and academics tormented by eldritch horrors and then post them here.

Have You Seen Me?

2009-08-31T16:38:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine had a whole army -- well, perhaps more of a squadron -- of orc minis when we were in second grade. I can't seem to find hide nor hair of them on the internets. Does anyone have a clue where they came from? I say they were orcs (because my friend painted white hand and lidless eye badges on their shields) but they may have officially been 'goblins', 'kobolds', or even miniatures not specifically for D&D.

The most memorable detail was their faces weren't pig-shaped but instead were more tiki-like (as I've tried to recall above). They were cool. Any ideas?

Mermahuataur?

2009-08-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/preshaa/3847027500/sizes/l/

Hammerfast Roughs

2009-08-27T16:41:00.000-07:00

So here's me trying to figure out how best to map Hammerfast. I have this vision of a great big ol' dwarven front porch I can't shake, so I'm going with it.

I'm focusing on two descriptions from the DM's guide; "A dwarven hold cut from the rock of a deep vale in the Dawnforge Mountains" and "The Trade Road runs through the citadel gates and continues eastward." If you know of any supplementary Hammerfast material out there, clue me in, won't you?

Gen-Con doodles

2009-08-25T10:25:00.001-07:00

Didn't do many doodles in Indy .... I was having too much fun!

The Patron Saint of Gen-Con, wearing the Helm of Shame

Mutants and Masterminds attack the GM!

2009 Dune Tournament Champion!

Patrick Rothfuss autographed by Patrick Rothfuss; coincidence?

Rothfuss' opening act.

Bartholomew the Bald.

The Demon of Overpriced Games followed me wherever I went...

See y'all next year!

Fallcrest Map

2009-07-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

Herewith two versions of Fallcrest; one for players, one for dm's.

More Otus Gems

2009-06-09T07:37:00.001-07:00

This time, four from The World of Greyhawk Gazetteer and one from The Rogues Gallery.

As I've said elsewhere, Otus' work is so appealing because his characters actually look vulnerable, as if they're seconds away from being skewered or digested (if they're not already). Check out that poor schmuck with an arrow through his visor in the second image!

Of course, his line work -- always first rate -- is on parade in these pieces. The firestorm in particular is a festival of chevrons, crosshatching, and contours... how does he do it?

10th Level Shaman

2009-05-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

What is your business in these lands, stranger?

Fallcrest Composite Rough

2009-05-26T16:10:00.001-07:00

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.

Fallcrest -- the Lower City

2009-05-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

Swimmin' pools, movie stars.

Fallcrest Rough

2009-05-19T17:11:00.001-07:00

Here's a rough sketch of the Northeast neighborhood of Fallcrest. Big houses, lovely waterfall, mysterious caverns.

My Appendix N

2009-05-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

A meme is going around the Grognards like the flu: Appendix N. The original Appendix N was Gary Gygax's list of inspirational books -- Conan, Lovecraft, etc. (here's a fun link: robertsongames fantasy booklist).

Instead of books, my Appendix N is a list of albums we were listening to while spending countless hours playing games in the basement.

Postcard from Harkenwold

2009-05-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

A map of the half-dozen villages that make up Harkenwold. It's about, oh, 7 miles from Devil's Bridge to Stockmer Keep along the the road. Beware goblins down 'round Pea Ridge!

Fallcrest Rough

2009-05-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

It's map time! The northwest quad of Fallcrest, in rough form.

Doodly Doodles

2009-04-30T08:58:00.001-07:00

Sometimes refining a doodle just kills the personality. Here are the raw doodles of the last two Roosters; a paranoid thief and a hillbilly serial killer.

And for good measure, a new Makrun look.

The Lonely Tower

2009-04-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

Since the Lonely Tower has proven surprisingly popular, I thought I’d post the ideas I had while designing this dungeon.

Mechanically, the way the dungeon functions is this: everything starts off inanimate. Rooms 8 and 9 are hermetically sealed (and, should the players be skillful enough to notice, are the only rooms with airtight doors and no windows) and filled with a nefarious gas. If the party moves into the Chamber of Horrors (8) without shutting the doors behind them as they go, the gas will move into the rest of the prison, animating whatever various corpses and skeletons it comes across. I don’t think opening the Salon (9) would wreck as much havoc, since the gas is probably lighter than air and therefore couldn’t access the rest of the prison.

That’s about it, except to mention there’s a skeleton under the dock (11). This skeleton has a key which unlocks the ‘backdoor’ hatch (10).

The little story I made up about the place goes like this:

A while ago – after Fallcrest burned and/or after the fall of the Empire – there was a political purge, a not uncommon pattern. The lonely tower was where the Inquisition prisoners were incarcerated, tortured, and usually executed.

Eventually, some especially frisky ne’er-do-wells got into some dark stuff and set up a salon within the prison itself! With the aid of some magical runes and slapdash alchemy, they constructed an infernal device which would refine the agonies of the condemned into a recreational drug. Prisoners below would be tortured and the hedonists above would be able to toke off the distilled, etherized suffering of the condemned.

Everything was fine until everything went wrong and now, 90 years later or so, we have this chamber of horrors waiting for our heroes.

Fallcrest's own, dilapidated Gitmo. From a previous administration.

A Random Encounter

2009-04-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

Rungo Halfmoon, his cousins Bosco and Bolo Halfmoon, and their hired toughie Bargie Leadloch, hit the King's Road hoping to expand the franchise to Winterhaven.

Dave Arneson, 1947-2009

2009-04-09T15:04:00.000-07:00

From the Arneson Family.

Arneson's Wikipedia bio.

Mapping the Nentir Vale

2009-04-03T09:29:00.001-07:00

I only know a few things about the Nentir Vale, geographically speaking.

The Nentir Vale is a "northern land".
The "Vale" is situated between two mountain ranges; the Stonemarch and the Dawnforge.
The falls at Fallcrest indicate an elevation change.
Don't order the "mutton" at the Fiveleague House.
South of Fallcrest are the Witchlight Fens. We also know that the towns beyond the southern edge of the map are "coastal towns". To me, these are indications that South is "down".

I'm imagining the Vale as a "saddle" between the two mountain ranges with a major elevation drop clearly defined by the White River in the southeast.

So what can we conclude?

Harkenwold isn't really in the "vale" proper.
The Woodsinger Elves of the Harken Forest, being at a higher elevation, may have a tactical advantage over the Daggerburg Goblins.
The Kingsroad must really be quite lovely, what with the view and all.
Winterhaven is in the ass-end of nowhere.

Winterhaven take 4

2009-04-02T10:10:00.001-07:00

Here is probably the final Winterhaven map. If you look closely, that's Valthrun smoking a pipe on his porch.

Some doodles

2009-03-23T17:30:00.001-07:00

A few studies of Makrun, young Halfling warlock, and a few of the nice folks he meets.

Otus' Deities

2009-03-18T08:35:00.001-07:00

Here are a few scans of Erol Otus' Deities and Demigods work from the 1980 edition.

Otus illustrated the entire Cthulhu Mythos chapter, but also did lots of other spots thoughout the book.

Some of his best work in my opinion. Of course, Otis' headliner is the full-color wraparound cover illustration. Unfortunately my copy is too beat-up to yeild a worthy scan.

Thunderspire

2009-03-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

Another fairly redundant map, this time of the Thunderspire neighborhood. Nothing you won't find in the DM guide. Not to scale, not to be used for navigation.

The Genius of Erol Otus

2009-03-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

Here are a few scans I took from an old Module, S3, featuring the work of Erol Otus. Otus' lush and atmospheric illustrations were the most evocative of the TSR regulars. Creepy, haunting, buttery renderings without any of the oiled bodybuilders and top-heavy bimbos which populate almost all other fantasy art. Just perfect. WotC could use a man like him today.

This is the best of what I have on hand but hopefully I'll remember to bring in the Cthulhu edition of Dieties & Demigods next week.

Update: in the fifteen minutes since this post, I did a quick google search and found this - the Erol Otus gallery

New Foot

2009-03-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

Thair Coalstriker hooked up Jonas with a new iron kicker! Add some shoulder candy -- a Hammer of Resounding -- and it's turning into a fine week for the ol' boy.

Broken Leg

2009-03-10T09:01:00.001-07:00

Still looking for someone to fix poor ol' Jonas' broken foot. Any suggestions?

Winterhaven take 3

2009-03-10T08:56:00.001-07:00

Here's the Winterhaven in-progress sketch. Still super-rough, but I've tried to make the density reflect the listed population, added 'suburbs' outside the walls, and reconnected Padraig's manor to the town proper.

Doodle Dump

2009-03-06T08:51:00.001-08:00

A couple takes on the Tower of Waiting (number 1 on the Fallcrest map).

The Southern section of Fallcrest, from Kings Gate up to the marketplace.

Nentir Inn, nest of villainy.

Blue Moon Alehouse, with beergarden!

Completely Unnecessary

2009-02-25T12:18:00.000-08:00

Quick sketch of Fallcrest with a little elevation tossed in. I did this without the key, so I'm sure there are some things mis-drawn.

Jonas, Intrepid Explorer

2009-01-28T08:18:00.000-08:00

After Jonas received a broken ankle from the hobgobbos on the second level of the Shadowfell, the party crafted him a splint out of their magical flying broom. Things went downhill from there...

According to Beytak, "Through Jim's leadership, Jonas was able to fly last night; straight into the ground, face first."

Jim.... leadership....?

Winterhaven map

2009-01-24T20:33:00.001-08:00

Here's a work-in-progress map of Winterhaven. Thought an isometric-y view would be more useful.

Color Beytak

2008-12-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

Here's my long neglected PS painting of Beytak. I think I just got off on the wrong foot with this one, but Tony - the blog's only follower - shamed me into posting it, so here it be!

Winterhaven take 2

2008-11-21T09:05:00.001-08:00

Noodled around with this sketch. Winterhaven seems like too dinky a burg to have such an imposing stone wall.

Winterhaven sketch

2008-11-20T17:20:00.000-08:00

Marker sketch of Winterhaven. The official map in Keep On the Shadowfell bugged me so I thought I'd redo it.

Beytak?

2008-11-18T08:18:00.001-08:00

I wanted to do a Photoshop painting of this character, but that was a little ambitious. Instead, here's a post-it doodle of Beytak, Eladrin warlord.

Doodle Blog

2008-10-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

I can't play in John's campaign, so instead I doodle.