Dwarven City - Dunderhelm

[rwaluchow]

Hello All,

I thought I would share this map of a dwarven city from my D&D campaign. The rigidly laid out dwarf settlement rests atop the foothills of a large mountain range.

I'm not entirely pleased with my penmanship on this one; it came out a bit rushed. That said, I thought I'd share it and see what people thought.

cheers,

Rwaluchow

[tilt]

looks good - I also like the shield in the corner ... have some rep

[Aval Penworth]

Hi,

The map does have a Dwarven feel to it. Good choice of colours.

I am not sure how to interpret the contour lines though. Do they represent cliffs, steps, gradients or slopes? Or are they decorative only?

[rwaluchow]

Thanks,

the contour lines are supposed to represent a general rise or slope.

[paradox_wanderer]

the contour lines are supposed to represent a general rise or slope.

It's a beautiful map. I can't really pull of the hand drawn look. I would point out that your contours might not be exactly where you want them.

<!-- Excuse me while I get on my soap box.
This is only because I'm a drafter by trade and stare at civil plans all day. Most contours are given in 20foot or 5meter (16.8 something feet) increments. So... Looking at your picture, the citadel is about 40 feet below the eastern wall. I'm guessing that the dwarves would be more than a little miffed if the high ground was NOT their citadel. So... they would probably want to revise the hillside around the area to look more like Figure 1. Essentially they would want to carve out a section of the hillside an make it flat. But that still doesn't completely remove the strategic faux pas with not so far away hillside. Which makes me think, would dwarven architects really be content with their city not being easily defensible? Being the people they are I would think they would want to be in the mountain somewhere (not to mention the booty in the mountain) or on top of the mountains. See Figure2. Elevating the city to a point that the nearest point of similar elevation in the hill side is more than a city's length away would probably be far enough to negate any advantage a trebuchet or catapult would gain by being on higher ground.
<!-- Take it for advice, not criticism.

[Coyotemax]

If it were me, i'd have the second wall set up so the gates were offset from the road, put them along the north and south wall. The settlement looks built for defense (implying there is a real possibility of an attacking force tough enough to be a worry), and if any attackers tried getting through, they'd have a nice easy route to the next gate to batter it down Offsetting the entrances would cause any attacking force to have to work at the next objective, with a lot more opportunity for defenders up on the walls to fire at them while they go through the town looking for the next entry point.

That having been said, it does have a very no-nonsense utilitarian feel to it, very appropriate

[tilt]

thats good advice PW

[rwaluchow]

Thanks guys,

The city was actually planned and developed more as a point of trade between the elves of the low lying forests and the dwarves who live in the mountains. The walls were just erected because they're dwarves who love that sort of thing. Defense for the city comes mostly from the citadels and strongholds of the mountains.

As to the contours, that is excellent advice. I'll definitely keep that in mind for future maps.

[Coyotemax]

Ah. see, if it was designed for trade, then that's a good setup. Easy to get in, easy to get out

Excellent!

[heygutt]

Hi there Rwaluchow!

I like the concept of your trading city very much. I wondered if you could post here or send me the details on the numbered areas on your map. My interest being to see what kind of buildings you have thought of and what commodities it holds.