The Quick-Start Map Drawing Begins

...and so does it's design.  I've been going section by section trying to both play through how a quickstart tutorial of shards might play and write the actual rulebook text it self.  Its coming along nicely and fingers crossed, i might be able to get it done before Saturday.  I still have a huge amount of work to do, but i will post my progress and excerpts of my writing as I go.

For now i thought i'd show off some of the map elements I've been drawing for the Quickstart area game map.  It's what i'm calling a "Cracked Earth" Map as the very earth in these depictions is falling apart.  Any trees that exist here, are gnarled dead things, and much of the landscape is rock and low to the ground scrub.

Cracked Earth Piece 1 with Dead Tree and Shrub

Here we have the first piece i pulled together tonight.  It took me awhile to develop the technique i wanted to use to draw this.  I started by taking some real life photos of cracked earth from a google search, converted them to black and white and then applied filters to see how they would look as if they were sketched in pencil.  All that was left was to try and replicate what i saw on paper.

I liked how it turned out so i decided to stick with it.

If you want to know the technique i used to draw this, let me know and i'll pull a tutorial together for you.

Cracked Earth Piece 2

The Second Image i drew was more of the same, only with more emphasis on the crumbling of the landscape.  I wanted to depict a similar landscape to the one above, while making it look like the ground was in upheaval.  Massively disturbed land, just like a good number of its inhabitants (See Adversaries Wastrels Expansion in the downloads section).

Cracked Earth Piece 3

The third piece i have to show you tonight, takes elements of the first two and adds an architectural element.  Here, a set of stairs, roughly carved from the landscape, curve down the side of a cliff.  This is an example of the more multi-dimensional art i want to feature more of in my game maps.  Interesting and unique areas to explore and navigate.  Art comes first before the overall level design in this case.

Cracked Earth Piece 4

Above is a bridge section.  I used some of the same techniques I used on the castle wall sections to draw in the wooden planks.  This time the wooden planks are part of a rickety suspension bridge.  Also, it's about this time is when i really start to refine my process of drawing dead trees and roots.


When i have more to post I'll be sure to do so.
Until Next Time,
Tom K.