WIP - Caves of Chaos variation

[DrunkenEwok]

I've been a longtime lurker/dabbler, and this is my first effort that I've felt worthy to post.

The D&D Next Playtest got me thinking about CoC and KotB again. I was going to download a battlemap for Maptool, but couldn't find one that fit my needs. With a plethora of free time, and a battlemap tutorial from torstan, I started working on a Frankenstein-ian CoC hybrid from all the maps I could find.

The results, produced in Gimp, are below. Any feedback/suggestions would be appreciated - sometimes I wonder if I went too subtle with some effects. These are also significantly reduced from the original - I managed to keep it at 50px/inch (5' sq) for an 8000x8000 original - tried to go 100px, but my computer choked. I cut it to 1/4 size for web posting, but could probably host (on my own server) a full-res version if there's interest.

I'm particularly interested if anyone can point me at a good technique to do sloping corridors... I haven't found one yet, and I'm not really sure how I would do it...

I've still got lots to finish:

• Stairs
• Water
• Valley greenery
• Doors? (may leave that to the VTT)
• Interior decorating
• Level 3, KotB, Regional, and any other maps, assuming my free time and passion hold up

Also - I'm not 100% sure about the copyright implications of using map layouts (original B2 Keep on the Borderlands, Hackmaster's Little Keep on the Borderlands, and 0one's Caves of Chaos maps) as a basis for a mostly original work. I think it falls well within the derivative works clause of fair use, but if I'm wrong, feel free to delete this post.