[WIP] Castle Ravenloft 2D Battle Maps REDUX!

[Hervis]

Since that is the room that leads up to the 'Throne' room on level 2 I would recommend some kind of heraldic raven.

Something like this...

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...38cde4bcc8.jpg

[wthrasherb]

@ Falconius, Thanks for the kind words.

@Hervis, I'm not talking about THAT room with the 2 statues and two straight stair cases, but I have been trying to find a good raven image to use in a similar fashion to what you are talking about... Here's the room I'm talking about:



The mosaic I have added here is not necessarily what I'm going with. I needed to post an example of what I'm dealing with in hopes of getting some feedback. As you can see the shape of the room is weird to begin with. Then you have those two sets of stairs mucking up anything that might make a decent mosaic picture/pattern on the floor. That being said, I want to go with some kind of generic pattern. Again, the descriptive text is vague and only indicates that there is a colorful mosaic pattern on the floor here.

The other issue I'm having is the shape of the room and where the mosaic floor starts. I originally did not have it extend into the hallway, but it looked strange. I'm still not sure it looks right. And those stairs right in the middle of the floor... I mean, there's just no way to make them not look weird sitting in the middle of anything I've tried so far, so I'm all ears on this one...

I'm not going to spend TOO much time on this one. It is a detail that can be left to the descriptive text if need be. I don't want to ruin the look of the entire map just to try to poorly represent something visually when the players' imaginations should do the trick

I'm looking for thoughts on how to do a good mosaic pattern in this room (pictured above). I'm not looking for a critique of the pattern I have displayed right now. It is just for representation purposes for now. Thanks in advance!

[Hervis]

I should have remembered that. I tried about 5 different things before I just left the floor like the rest of the castle. If you did want to do something you should try this (I use GIMP not PS so you may need to convert)

Make a threshold (wide line of some sort) between the hallway and the room. This will make the transition less weird.

Fill the area with plasm (Filter -> render -> clouds -> plasma)
Desatuate.
Colorize to whatever hue you like
Filter -> Distort -> Mosaic. Set the tile shape and size that you like.

This will generate a random mosaic pattern instead of a pattern that will be distracting.

Here is a sample of one that I tried for my version. I shrank my room a little bit so it looks a little different, but you will get the idea

[wthrasherb]

@Hervis, I tried something like that previously. I still don't like it... I think I'm just going to leave it alone and people will just have to use their imagination Thanks for the input!

[Falconius]

I like that example you posted actually, except that the tiles are too large. Most historical mosaics were busy with all sorts of stuff and I think that fits imo.

[madcowchef]

I think you've got a good start really. I'd be inclined to do a mosaic that was broken into three spheres, a large one in front of the square stairs and two smaller ones on either side. The mosaic doesn't have to cover the whole floor. It doesn't make sense to have a pattern visible only from a cut away view of a building when the intended viewer would be some actually moving through the building.

[wthrasherb]

Finially I'm finished with these friggin stairs! I'm tired of staring at stairs. ;p

Anyway, here's my progress so far. I'm still not sure about keeping the "mosaic" on the map, but I've left it on this post just to see if more people give me feedback. I'm not going to do MORE work on it at this point. It is only a matter of keeping it or dropping it. The stairs aren't perfect, but they will have to do. Hopefully I can reuse some graphic elements on other levels of the castle and make the process go a little quicker than this level has gone.

Now it is time to start adding a little detail. I'll probably continue with the main stuff like doors and windows next, then columns and statues, and furniture and what not. I'm not going to over do it and junk up the map. I want it to look as close to the text as I can make a 2D battle map look, but I'm not going to force it. I'm starting to ramble... it's time for bed.

Comments and Feedback welcome!

[Bogie]

Great job, that has come out very nice.

[Jacktannery]

I LOVE that mosaic you posted above (Post 42). Really lovely. As for a heraldic raven design, I made a floor with large heraldic raven designs in a map I attach below, see top right round tower. I prefer your mosaic though - it's more fun! But if you want to reuse mine I could root out the original file and send it on.

[wthrasherb]

Thanks folks for the kind words and feeback!

@Jacktannery, I'm glad you like the mosaic. I just redid one this weekend while I was doing a little touch up work on some of the pattern fills and such. I will post an update later today or tomorrow and see what people think of the 2 different mosaics. After that, I'm not fooling with it any more. As for the raven you offered up, thanks! I might want something like that somewhere in this project.

For anyone that may be waiting on these maps for their Curse of Strahd game, I'm sorry I'm so slow... Real Life Adult stuff and all getting in the way all the time Patience

Stay tuned! More coming soon!