March 2013, Challenge Entry: The Jester's Tomb

[Bogie]

The only really bright colors are the ones on the 2 checkerboards. I agree that they are bright, but there is a reason. One set is supposed to represent the colors of the rainbow and the other is Fire & Ice. I'll try toning them down a bit and see if it still works.

[Bogie]

I darkened the bright checkerboards, it does look better and still works for the puzzles. Thanks.

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JT3a_bg.jpg

Maybe I'll try darkening the hallways also.

[- Max -]

You're welcome. Hurt the eyes less now

[anomiecoalition]

This looks like its going to be super fun to play/DM.

Re: All the pretty colors - I often find myself in a similar predicament trying to balance floor tile choices for each room independently and then assessing the overall look of the map. On the one hand, one would assume that just any of us would pick out a floor for the rooms in our own homes independent of what we have going on in the rest of the house - so too would the architects of dungeons. And sometimes you just want a tile for one room that clashes with everything else yo have going on in the house. On the other hand, its cheaper and easier to buy in bulk and have multiple rooms with the same tile (even more true in a fantasy world.) And - it ends up looking better for the overall map when all the tile colors/designs are similar to each other. Doing battle-maps in this realistic style makes this balance all the more difficult to attain.

Overall - I think it looks great and that you've achieved that balance for the most part. The only thing that throws me off a bit is the blue and pink tiles in the bottom rooms. But - if the story calls for it, then the story calls for it...and these are just silly musings from someone who makes maps in a similar style and has been heavily influenced by your work in particular....

[Bogie]

I've been playing with the checkerboard tiles ( and a lot of the other ones also ). I found a couple that represent Fire & Ice better.
Let me know what you think of these:

jt5.jpg

JT4.jpg

[Bogie]

This is pretty much the final map, though I am open to suggestions and there is plenty of time to make changes.

I will be writing up all the room descriptions with all the tricks and puzzles explained. There are over 30 rooms and
about 20 tricks or puzzles.

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JestersTomb_bg.jpg

I should also Thank Jaxilon for his excellent Joker's Sceptre, it was perfect for the entrance to this map so I had to use it!

[- Max -]

I would feel bad to be lost in this donjon Nice job!

[Jaxilon]

Hah Bogie, I was looking this over from the thumbnails and said, "Hey! That's me!" Well, sorta anyway, I'm not actually a skeleton yet although I use it for my avatar image.

This is a cool map Bogie.

I want to enter this month but I've been swamped once again, this time with an emergency bathroom remodel (4 days of demo and construction in every waking hour until collapsing into bed after the midnight hour). It's not textured yet but then the relatives arrived. So another week slips past without being able to draw anything. At least the bathroom looks great.

[Bogie]

Trying a little darker moodier look by adding heavier shadows.

Hoping to get the room details written up in time, but I am also trying to get my taxes done. Darn real life!

### Latest WIP ###
JestersTomb3a_bg.jpg

[Larb]

I think it looks better with the heavier shadows. As well as adding more atmosphere it makes the walls look more defined.