15 - [Inner] The Ward of Erahum [Mouse]

[Azélor]

I've also been thinking quite a bit about the pros and cons of dictating too much of the history in any one area. If others are going to map buildings or underground parts to this map, then I won't be doing them any favours by dictating the story for them, or unwittingly setting a scene they cannot use.

What does everyone else think about this?

I don't see a problem there, it's your section and it's always good to add flavor.

I'm not sure I understand the modifications you made on the last version. To me, the slopes on the previous one looked better. It could be like a ramp, or maybe it was shaped by people giving it sharp angles.

[Mouse]

I don't see a problem there, it's your section and it's always good to add flavor.

I'm not sure I understand the modifications you made on the last version. To me, the slopes on the previous one looked better. It could be like a ramp, or maybe it was shaped by people giving it sharp angles.

Thanks Azelor

I think I was having a bit of a wobble in self confidence back there. Nothing worse than a flavourless map! I feel a story coming on, but its still in the unfurling stage - like a slowly clearing mist in the valleys. The local population will be at least 90% humanoid, which I think roughly represents the Guild membership - give or take the odd dragon or mouse

I'm still a bit torn about the relief of the last map. Now I've been reconsidering again and again I think the problem isn't so much with the initial slope you prefer, but with the fact that the hospital mesa is so block-like right next to it like that. Maybe I shouldn't be worrying about the slope I had, but about adding a similar slope to the hospital rock. The hills I've got here on the original plan drawn by John aren't actually as tall as the ones in the area to the north, and even they aren't exactly mountains, so I will probably go back a couple of steps to that slope and also slope the eastern side of the hospital rock. The road can then come up the slope to the hospital from the city (which would be more practical than boring all the way up through that smaller mesa to the south in order to get to the top level of the hospital.

In fact the hospital would be more interesting as a building of many terraces pouring down that slope in a series of waves

Thanks - you've helped a lot by prodding my thinking processes into forward action again. Couldn't see it at the time, but now I look back I can see that I was stuck in a little eddy of side thoughts. Good job I save all my different versions separately

[Mouse]

There may be a longish delay of a fortnight or so after the next couple of days, since I will be caring for a relative who is due to have an operation on Friday. So don't go thinking I've abandoned you all. I just won't have much time to draw stuff

But I will be watching!

[Mouse]

Last update for a while

I've sorted out the relief and rerouted some of the inner roads (in fact its a bit of a maze now, considering I've got a road that's supposed to go right across the area).

C&C welcome - as usual

### Latest WIP ###

[kacey]

I think the cliffs look great Mouse, it's interesting to see how you're mixing gimp, and CC3 together, and after seeing this I've been rethinking my own cliffs. I like all the little details in the rocks, and the shadows are really nice.

[Mouse]

Thanks Kacey, but truth be known - where I changed the blocky two level style to include a rippled slope, I've actually been trying to emulate yours! LOL!

I suppose we will meet somewhere in the middle at this rate

Your move

[kacey]

That's too funny because I was trying to make different levels in mine, it just didn't work out. I'll definitely be looking to this for inspiration when I get around to detailing my cliffs.

[Mouse]

You're going to laugh at this, I know, but you remember that little problem I was having with trying to draw ISO mountains and ending up with more of a landscape than anything?

Well, I discovered it was just as difficult trying to draw top down cliffs. Once you get your eye in on the rockwork and start to see it a fraction of a second before drawing it in, its really quite difficult to keep drawing the vertical cracks perpendicular to the ridge line like your supposed to - like the poles in a bar fence. They seem to have this strange tendency to start drooping downwards towards the bottom edge of the map - just like you would want to draw them on an ISO mountain range!

It might just be me and my very strange brain that does this, but I have a feeling that I'm not the only one (if all the things I've read about shading and detailing top down hills and mountains is anything to go by), so beware the drooping 'vertical' crack lines, and you'll be fine

[Mouse]

The other thing that might help (for anyone trying to get the stone texture right) is if I upload the actual texture I used in the background, which has a very subtle 3D roughness to it (one of my better ones I think). I used this texture as the base and painted all the cliff details in 3 layers of overlay shading, and one layer of colour blend mode on top of it:

[snodsy]

Wow, missed this one, those cliffs are incredible!!! love the overpasses and bridges. You broke a typographic rule though - never overly kern lowercase letter . Looking forward to seeing this finished.