Birch Queen's Fair (Kobold Quarterly Open Design)

[Ashenvale]

Here are two maps (or, perhaps, one map and a set of accompanying diagrams) that I did for "The Wrath of the River King," a Feywild adventure published by Wolfgang Baur's (Kobold Quarterly) Open Design. "Wrath" presented D&D 4.0's first major adventure into the Feywild, delving deep into chaotic and often dark depths of Faerie with a rip-roaring 27 encounters in 96 pages.

Wolfgang asked me to map both the Court of the River King himself, and, presented here, The Birch Queen's Fair. Hidden by the magic of the towering mushroom circle that surrounds the secretive fair, only those who can find the Fey Road or Ettin's Gate can enter. Within, one finds a fair the way I wish my local Renaissance Faire truly was. Neil Gaiman, eat your heart out!

Anyone want to buy a new dream? A lost memory? A baby in a cage? Someone else's success? If you can find this market, well, here they sell . . . everything.

The main Birch Queen's Fair map captured my imagination completely. Utterly. Absolutely.

The peripherals map grew out of collaborative effort. Wolfgang needed 4.0-style tactical combat maps for Ettin's Gate and the Vile Gnome's Weapon Shop. I wanted to paint The Hall and Hill of Revels. A lot. Wolfgang (a terrific guy!) accommodated my desires. I also thought the side-view diagram of the Queen's throne and the Fey Road Door would help explain the text. That gave me an excuse to blow up the Feasting Area (complete with seats ranging in scale from sprite to ogre).

Wolfgang accommodated all of my artistic dithering with great good humor and professional grace. Didn't even charge me a lost memory or a baby in a cage (hell, I got paid!), but I got to build out my dream.

Yeah. I'm a big fan of Mr. Baur.

Please tell me what you think of the results!!