*** March/April Lite Challenge Voting: Dwarf Fortress ***

[torstan]

The time has come to cast a vote for the best map of a dwarf fortress. This month's lite challenge was very broad. The remit was just to create any home fit for a dwarf.

The thumbs for this month's entries can be found here:

March/April Thumbnails

Note that the entry by Greason Wolfe has been withdrawn.

Please vote for one (1) entry. The poll will end in 5 days (5pm EST April 20th).

Please remember to rep any entry that you vote for, and any entry that you feel deserves it.

[Djekspek]

hmmm, hard choice again... Really great maps you guys made... they all have something special..
Jax: Most creative concept for sure, hope the axe on the bow can do the icebreaking job
Xyll: Most realistic looking, yeah and great texture too. but could use some more detail in my opinion
Map Vandal: Awesome how you captured the old-school look 'n feel. Simple yet effective
Euio: I like the handdrawn style and great special effects.. most arty piece of the lot and I like it a lot but not the most mappy piece (looks who's talking ;P)
Tilt: Layout as I expect them Dwarves to dig through the mountains. So layout perfect but overal look and feel is a lilltle less then the others
Greyson Wolfe: Nice start but too bad your employer doesnt appreciate your mapmaking talent so you couldn't finish it

... hmm where's the ASCII-art entry????

anyway ... in the end I voted for Map Vandal, but Kudos to all who entered! cheers!

[Rythal]

took me quite a while to decide, but in the end I went for Jaxilon's floating fortress for having a nice use of colour. grats to all!

[tilt]

hammering the nail in my own coffin I vote for Map Vandal - I really like the look of the map - reminds me of the maps from the olden days ... thought all the maps had something good though, and I'm sorry not to see GW's map finished ... but I hope he'll keep working on it as I plan to do on my own
Good contest all

[Jaxilon]

Well I like them all as well, even though I did one myself

Xyll: I thought had just the best textures and if it had more detail with that type of perfection it would have blow us away.
Map Vandal: I like the look of this and as a map I think it is the most polished of them all however, to me it's not "Fortressy" enough (even though the rules are not hard core in the lite challenge - look at me, I tried to make a floating fort, hehe). Love the look though.
Tilt: This one reminds me of old school games I played and is a nice way to have multi levels shown. I would love to see the whole system if you ever do the rest.
Euio: Enjoyed the hand drawn look and how it details a hidden fortress location. When you got into it and read the writing it was great. I could totally see this as a handout to start an adventure. Would have gotten more votes I think, if it had been easier to read. Might have to get a spy with better penmanship next time.

In the end I voted for Euio's Tribute because I don't like to vote for myself and I got the more out of it than the others.

PS. GW-Sorry you have to withdraw I was watching to see what you were going to do next. I hope you can finish it.

[Etory]

I hesitated between Jaxilon's map and Map Vandal's map.Bbut I find the idea of aquatic fortress more interesting even if I do not see the dwarves on the sea (or then maybe in a sea of beer) ...

[Map Vandal]

I really liked all the entries this month but ended up voting for tilt. I love a good dungeon and especially one that has multiple overlapping levels.

[Greason Wolfe]

Oh, I'll continue to work on mine, however, it will be changing from a dwarf fortress to a "lost" temple beneath a mountain. As for my vote, it wasn't easy (again). I liked all the maps, even though it appears that Xyll got caught in a situation similar to my own and was unable to finish. But the important part was trying in the first place, so it's still a good thing.

Euio - I agree with DJ about this map. I loved the presentation, the artsiness of it and the effects, but it wasn't quite "mappy" enough for me.
Tilt and Map Vandal - Great "dungeon" type maps that would probably fit well in any campaign. Very "mappy."
Jaxilon - This isn't the first time I've heard of dwarfs going to the sea, in fact, for one campaign I ran way back in the day, I developed a sea-faring sub-race of dwarfs who were master shipwrights. Add to that the fact that Denis McKiernan (Mithgar series) deals with a group of dwarfs manning "the sleekest and fastest sailing ship of Mithgar" and I just had to press that button. Thus, my vote is for Jaxilon's map even though, perhaps, it wasn't quite as "mappy" as it could have been.

GW

[Ramah]

I'll throw my vote in for this to show support for the mapmakers but I really feel underqualified for this as I have little to no experience with rpg's so I'm not sure what makes a good map in that respect. I guess they don't have to to be rpg maps but as most seem to be it would be best if they had utility in that respect.
Anyway, from my limited experience I'm going to vote for Map Vandal's map. Purely because it looks good, I like the style and it looks like it fits the brief. I liked all the others too, especially Jaxilon's, which it was the main contender against Vandal for me, and Euio's, although I'd like to have seen more work on that. It looks like a preliminary sketch for something very special, albeit a very nice sketch.

[ravells]

I voted for Jax, imaginative work and beautifully executed (minor type: the plural of cannon is cannon). Great work everyone! It was a hard choice and the maps were all so very different to each other.