40 - Dreamscape Tower and Market District [Dark Infinity]

[DarkInfinity]

### Latest WIP ###


Like most of my work this will eventually be done in pencil... yeah I'm crazy... I may try and clean it up in paint.net and give it a transparent background or something, but trust me it will work out. I think... at least I have a plan to make it work (and get everything to line up)

Anyway, Points of interest:
Dreamscape Tower - This is where those magicians of Adobe, Gimp, etc. Work their magic to produce some of the most realistically gorgeous maps.

The road was even moved for the construction of this tower, everything had to be in perfect alignment for these fine mages to work their magic. (I'm toying with the idea of having some of the old path still show...)

Around the tower is the richer part of town, the businessmen and aristocrats in their luxurious homes. And a town hall.

Outside of that will be some less than luxurious areas, smaller homes, maybe a blacksmith, some warehouses, a tavern or 3... maybe some farms... still working out the details there.

Around the Intersections of the roads will be the markets. Selling the finest trinkets and magical items this side of district 1.

Down at the bottom of the cliffs will be the outcasts from the towers, they turned to the dark arts. And as fate would have it, they are in a perfect place to claim some, will say lost treasures and other things that have come over the waterfall from district 44.

On the northern side of the falls, there is a cliff-side road, path more likely, It's shorter than going around district 39 (I think that is what's up there I will double check), but a little more treacherous. I'm wondering if that should have a large stone stairway leading back up the cliff, or a rope ladder... we shall see what develops.

I need to do something sinister with the pool there too. It needs a good name, and backstory, mostly about all the stuff coming from section 44...(Sorry Diamond, your setup over there played perfectly into my plans over here.)


Neighbors

39 - Engineering & Power District (Snodsy)

41 - The Old Cartographers' Guild Hall and Administrative Quarter [Robbie]

43 - The Laug Inn and the Ree Members [WarliN]

44 - The Precincts of the Dead [Diamond]

49 - The Botanical Gardens [Zhar2]

[Tonnichiwa]

Looks like this one is going to be a lot of work for you but it definitely looks fun! I like the stuff coming over the waterfall idea and the necromancers just waiting to get their hands on floating body parts.

[DarkInfinity]

To my neighbors that share roads:
Thoughts on Roads? I am assuming dirt roads, coming from J.Edward's suggestion they should be about 4 squares wide (roughly 20' enough for two passing wagons).

• Should we go halvesies? each take a lane?
• Dirt roads with wagon wheel ruts?
• I'm thinking at least one of these might be somewhat tree lined (I'm looking at you Snodsy) with the underground river there plenty of water for trees, just a thought.

As far as the lake, I think I'm going with Pandora's Pool. I like the alliteration and tying into the idea of the Dreamscape Tower being where the Cartographer mages do their magic I imagine many tears are shed into that lake and many failed projects cast into it, and adding in the evil down below, and the runoff from The Precincts of the Dead, and the scary cliff-side road I think it is fitting. But I'm still open to suggestions.

[DarkInfinity]

Had some time
Playing around with some ideas for the market districts those are supposed to be different size and shape tent type things in a crowded market (maybe they should be smaller?)

And some farms, we need some wheat and barley right?
That triangle one is supposed to be a stable for horses and a place to run them around a little. with kind of a fence with fence posts... it was the best I could come up with at the time.

[snodsy]

Nice start Dark - like the story line. You have lots to work around, nice job!

I'm your neighbor on the south side of the Lake (mostly just the shoreline, but I control the outflow of the lake into a subterranean river.) Looking forward to your naming of the Lake, I'll take my lead somewhat from that. I'll be putting in a Bridge/Dam at that outflow junction. So I guess I might be dealing with those outcasts from the Dark Arts landing on my shores! I'll maybe have to put in some precautions. I'll be posting my initial outline later this week (District 39). Thanks for the start and I'll be watching closely

[DarkInfinity]

Nice start Dark - like the story line. You have lots to work around, nice job!

I'm your neighbor on the south side of the Lake (mostly just the shoreline, but I control the outflow of the lake into a subterranean river.) Looking forward to your naming of the Lake, I'll take my lead somewhat from that. I'll be putting in a Bridge/Dam at that outflow junction. So I guess I might be dealing with those outcasts from the Dark Arts landing on my shores! I'll maybe have to put in some precautions.

Howdy neighbor, Yeah good luck with the run off, by the time it gets to you, after Diamond's guys toss what they don't want, and my guys take what they want, there is going to be slim pickens, probably a lot of little fingers and little toes. Why do we always get extra's of those. What are they doing over there in 44?

[Straf]

They take all the arms and legs to pay for the real estate up in the more central areas.

[Abu Lafia]

Great idea for your district DarkInfinity! I'm wondering what stories the "Adobe and Gimp Magicians" would tell each other about their "fallen brothers and sisters"... "you know, once she was an aspiring and skillfull fantasy cartographer, but now she's doing her maps solely with Inkarnate(tm) ... what a shame!"

[DarkInfinity]

Here is where I have set my bar... for better or worse...

Apparently you can get a simple image like this printed out as a 'blueprint' at office max for about $1.79...


I have a roll of paper (which conveniently matches the width of the blueprint paper 18") and it is just thin enough to see some of the darker lines. So I have my outline and roads marked off.

I'll do some more planning in paint.net before I get too carried away on the paper. But, in case anyone was wondering about the scale I am planning on working with...



It's kind of nerve racking and exciting all at the same time. I did say I was going big or going home right?

Depending on how this turn out, this may go on my wall...

[DarkInfinity]

Ok so this is a smaller scale picture just to do a layout. I'm not touching the bigger final paper till I have this all laid out.

I need to center the tower on the old road so it doesn't end up over the edge of the cliff. and I need the center part of that tower a little larger.

I thought I would do a steep, but still a little slope coming from the tower side cliff (so I can show the cave entrance and it is quite the drop.)

Between the path near 49 there is going to be a shear drop to the water level so I just need to workout with Zarh2 how he want's to do the drop to that mid level.
I'm planning on stairs for now going back into 49 and up to 43 by the waterfall.

I think I need to make the fenced ritzy part of town a little bigger, maybe all the way to that central statue. But I like my main web of roads to get through the town although they need to be thinner.

Any other thoughts so far.
Also once I get to a larger scale I'm hitting up some of your threads for ideas on how to draw houses


### Latest WIP ###