From the Archives - Noisome Alleys!

 Plunging back into the archives, it's time to look at some newer maps - Noisome Alleys! Although I have a set of town maps, they are really more focused on the insides of the buildings, so I decided to make some twisting, horrible run-down alley ways for ambushes and chases.

Here we have a corner with such lovely accessories as a pile of reeking rubbish.

You can't have twisting alleys without some twisty bits.

This is the first attempt at a 45 degree adaptor. It took me a while to get all the dimensions right.

A hideous dead end - the sort of place uncouth ruffians lure one for a mugging.

There are more of these, but it would appear that although I drew them up, I didn't scan them all. I'll have to get on to that.

Well, the archive is almost empty, but keep checking in on Monday and Thursday for the last few things...

From the Archives: Coloured Original Dungeon and Example Layout!

 Digging around in the depths, I unearthed some example layouts made using the original dungeon. They didn't seem worth a post on their own, but then I figures I'd share some samples of the coloured version too. There are also a few rooms which I appear to have overlooked first time round, so here they are!

The laundry room. It's designed to have some extra furniture tokens added for the mighty cauldrons and ironing boards etc.

The study I posted before in line drawing. Note the glow from the fire - it makes things more obvious
.

The barracks - one of the first rooms I drew, and somehow overlooked...

Here's the colourised version.

This was lurking in a backup folder - it's a work in progress screen shot from Roll20 showing the complete dungeon layout. The lines drawn in indicate where I need to drawn new passages etc. to make things work.

Here's a screenshot showing the dungeon in action in Roll20. The tokens are made using the Two Minute Tabletop Token Generator tool. It is a thing of great excellence. Those pigs in the cell got out and wandered around the dungeon throughout the rest of the dungeon crawl - which, since it was run during school lunchtimes during lockdown took quite some time...

Ah the joy of colour really bringing out the horrors of Orc toilets...

A mighty chapel. I decided I wanted the floors in some of the high status rooms in a different colour to make them really stand out.

Here's the grand entry with one of the evil eye icons in place.

The feasting hall of the orc king in living colour!

Small guard post in colour...

The orc king's bedroom in colour!

This is a screen shot of the complete dungeon in Roll 20, in full colour!

More in-game shots from Roll20.

Further in game Roll20 shots - the room bottom left has not been discovered yet, and there seem to be some bad guys waiting just off the map to be deployed.

Well, the archive is looking a little emptier, but there's still stuff in there! Check back on Mondays and Thursdays for more archive posts!

From the Archives: Twisting Tunnels of Terror part three - THE LAST ONE!

 Back once again to the dark and dank archives! Let's wrap up the twisting tunnels of terror this time!

This rather sinister chap allows the original dungeon to be connected to the twisting tunnels.

Here it is - the temple of the sinister DUCK CULT! Because of course there's a sinister duck cult. This is the other two-part map I mentioned, and is designed to connect up tot he one below giving a nice big area for a bit of biffo.

Here it is - the dread duck altar!

No, not a bottomless pit. Well, okay, it IS a bottomless pit, but there's more to it. This was designed so that a second piece could be laid on top representing a short bridge which rotates around to connect the four tunnels. The capstan shown in a previous post can be used to power the mechanism.

And here's the bridge itself, complete with it's own capstan so you can turn it while standing on it.

Here's an adaptor to connect to the sewers.

Finally, here's a demo layout made using most of the twisting tunnels maps (I think I made it before the duck temple, which explains why that's missing)

The archives are getting pretty close to empty now, but there are still a few things to share, so don't forget - archive posts on Monday and Thursday!

From the archives: The Original Dungeon part four - THE LAST PART!

 Archive time once more my friends! And this time we're going to wrap up the original dungeon! Let's dive right in!

This is known as the Shaman's Chamber and is designed to team up with the next one.

The Shaman's study - complete with magic circle and cage to keep text subjects! Lots of detail in this one, making it quite fun to draw.

Okay, they can't all be as fun as the shaman's study... A flight of stairs leading down.

It can't be a proper dungeon without a torture chamber can it?

This is known as The Vestry - it's designed to go on the side of the temple map I posted earlier to give the orc priests somewhere for a nice sit down and a cuppa between sacrifices.

Finally, I made a bunch of doors which can be added to maps. Not sure why this one's background is not transparent - I'm sure I had them with transparent backgrounds. Could be a draft or something...?

As above really.

Okay, this one has the transparent backdrop.

A slightly fancier one.

And finally, a door way I made which can be added to any wall so that you can customise rooms further.

Well, that's the whole of the OG dungeon posted - but there's still more stuff in the archives, so keep on coming back on Mondays and Thursdays for the posts!

From the Archives: Twisting Tunnels of Terror part two!

 Here we are again wading through the muck and filth of the archive... And what has come up on the end of our ten-foot pole? The rest of the Twisting Tunnels of Terror!

A little corner... with a tiny narrow tunnel leading to a hidden chamber! Mayhap it contains treasure beyond the imaginings of mortals? Maybe it contains a skull and a rubber duck. Who can say?

This capstan mechanism looks like it might operate something of importance (and indeed it does, but not something I'm posting until next time! This is called 'always leave them wanting more'!)

This was a fun one to draw - it's affectionately known as The Gibbering Mass. It's been used in play only once, and it certainly creeped out the party.

Ever since the cool plastic knight's tomb piece in HeroQuest I've had a thing about putting knights tombs in RPG maps. With knights sculpted on top of course.

Here I decided to make two tunnels on the same map which don't meet up. It allows for a more compact yet still twisting tunnel layout!

This is half of a two-part map which connects the twisting tunnels to an underground lake or river or maybe even the sea. It's also one of two larger rooms made using two pages each which are designed at 6 squares wide to give a much larger area for important battles.

Here's the other end, complete with mysterious crates, presumably smuggled here by sinister forces. There is a reasonably high chance they contain rubber duckies...

A flooded room! You could call it shallow enough to wade through making it difficult terrain or it could be deep enough that swimming is needed... In either way, a nice way of breaking things up.

Look, if you can accept the tentacles and rubber duckies, there's no reason you cannot accept a shark in that pool there.

Ah, a sinister temple immortalised in stone as a shrine to dark and dreadful powers! What more can you want?

Well, the actual temple to those powers I guess. It's coming up soon! Check back on Mondays and Thursdays for more archive posts!