Maps

This is a draft map that Mysie is working on for the project ...

I'll continue working on a more finished piece - there's quite a bit left to be desired on this one. . .but it is progressing.

I'll say

Wow. This is great. You’ve really captured the feeling of an underground
city. I think the stalagmites work well to give a sense of depth.

I really like the mauve filler you’ve used on the unused parts. I don’t
know if this is done by choice until you find something better but I really
like its look now. I don’t think it has to be detailed rocky ground or grass
or whatever. This filler looks great within the black walls.

I like the separate section in the lower left although I think that both
stalagmites should be leaning in the same direction. The view now
insinuates that that point in the map is the center.

The title is great the way you have it over the purple writing. Although I
might make the purple writing more evident.

I showed it to my 15-year-old son who is knowledgeable on all things
Drow and we took it apart piece by piece. So please take all this with a
grain of salt. Some stuff you can’t use and some you won’t agree with.
Not a problem.

My son’s main point was that this map was not of a Drow city. (Note that
I have a number of Drow maps around that I purposely didn’t look at so
that I wouldn’t be influenced by them. ) He said it was just a human city
underground.

In the Drizzt books, the Drow were divided into Houses. And the houses
eached lived in walled-in sections of the city. Each House is always
worried about being attacked by another House (usually lower on the
social ladder so they could climb higher) so walls are involved and
defense. I picture them as a large central house and many small
buildings within the compound.

I also picture the major Houses (compounds) being on the cave wall for
better protection from their enemies (i.e. everyone). I sort of see them
as being separate from each other as opposed to being clumped
together. Maybe some of the minor Houses would be situated close to
their preferred House.

Also, I see the stalagmites being important to the major Houses because
you would use them as part of your building or compound. The biggger
the stalagmites, the more prestige. And don’t forget there should be a
central large stalagmite that is used to designate the ‘day’ from ‘night’.
What you have in the center is good and there probably should NOT be
any buildings around it.

If you do isolate the compounds against the cave walls, I think it would be
nice to use some cliffs for elevation so that some are looking over the
city. Right now the town is pretty much flat.

And even in a city with compounds, there is still a sort of downtown a
large collection of buildings. These would be developed around the
marketplace (important according to my son and missing on your map).

I really like some of the odd structures you’ve got on the map. I don’t
know what they are and don’t need to know. They add to the flavor and
give areas to be developed. They have a nice effect.

Some of the stalagmites have weird structures on them with silver rails
(?) leading out of them. Not sure what these are. A taste of Ebberron?
Doesn’t feel right but you might have a reason for them. Some of them
go from one elevation to another. Not sure I would have anything on top
of the stalagmites. Hmmm...

Menzobarenzan has the three central schools: fighters, clerics and
wizards. Each has an isolated place on the outskirts of the town. Not
sure if this applies to all Drow cities or just the biggest.

Are the green lines fences? Or boundaries of some kind? Political? Not
sure by looking at the map.

Spiders. The map is missing spider shaped buildings. Spiders. Lots of
spiders. Cathedrals shaped like spiders. Spiders. Or eight sided
buildings. Spiders.

I love the crevasse. I might even make it bigger and more prominent. It
adds to the feeling of depth and the city being underground.

I like the texture of the water in the river but the lake doesn’t feel right.
Also I don’t get a feeling for the directional flow of the water.

The road size if way off in relation to the buildings.

Some grazing room for a herd of some-name-I-forgot?

Anyways, that’s my 3 cents worth. I love what you’ve done so far and
the direction you’re taking it.

Bil

Thanks for the feedback Bil! I know pretty much nothing about the Drow and you have some great feedback there.

Mark - could you by chance pass some of Bil's comments back to Stuart to see what he want's as far as the city layout? - Pretty much everything Bill has mentioned, I can implement, with the single exception of cliffs for elevation - that I would need someone elses help on. . . . if that is where Stuart wants this to go. Those type of changes are also extensive as far as the layout time goes - the houses are hand drawn - so if I redo the city layout it'll be another month or two. I don't mind - That's pretty much up to you guys - so I'll wait on further direction.

Bil could you expound on the "day night" stalagmite comment. I'm not sure I understand what's going on - are there visual representations of daytime and nightime in geographic locations?

How would you go about designating a marketplace? I did have a few spots I thought appropriate for that - mostly just open spaces within the city, but maybe there is a better way to represent that?

The silver rails were the bridges that Stuart asked for. I don't know his view on the houses on top of the stalagmights, but we'll find out before we progress. I may also have to work on a bevel that doesn't look quite so metallic.

The green lines are walls around the slums that I hadn't pulled up yet, I've already done some more work on those and the lake. Neither of which were I pleased with. So it's good to know we're seeing some of the same things. (Also there are the annoying white dots etc.)

There are a few eight-sided structures, but there could be more, and there aren't any spider shaped buildings. I'm just now connecting all of this stuff. The Drow in Eberron aren't cave dwellers, and the only other setting I'm familiar with is Scarred Lands which I'm not even sure if it has Drow. So the feedback here has been immensely helpful.

Thanks Bil (and son) I really appreciate all of this - if Stuart doesn't want some of the changes (I have no idea what his campaign is like) we can always make a second map that is more "Menzoberanzan-like". At least I'm figureing out ways to produce Dave West style maps easier now. LOL

Micah,

Actually, you are compleley correct in pointing out that my comments
pertain to the Forgotten Realms Drow. There's nothing to say that this
is what is required. So maybe there is little similarities. (I'd hate to
be the cause of an two-month delay!) It will be interesting to see how
Stuart replies.

I see the market place a being just an outdoor space where people set up
the stalls and this could just be an open space. But then I see the
buildings starting in a roughly circular pattern around the streets and
expanding in layers. I don't see it being any different than a normal
marketplace.

The central stalagmite (or was it an artificial column) is used to track the
time of day. If I remember correctly, the head of the wizards college
casts his spell (heat?) at midnight each night. The stalagmite heats up
completely by noon, then starts to cool off until midnight when it is
completely cool. This gives everyone an idea of the time by looking at it
and all houses are attuned to the column.

My son just said that his thinks it is an obsidian obelisk that turns around
but uses a similar heat reaction. I guess the idea is that there is a central
timepiece that is visible everywhere to track time.

Hope this helps.

Yes that clarifies things a lot. I like a lot of the ideas, we'll see where it all heads and what Stuart envisions, circular patterns do make a lot of sense, and it would be cool to have a glowing stalagmight in the middle of the city.

Excellent comments Bil

There's only one point I disagree on. I also read all the Forgotten Realms Drow novels (or R. Salvatore novels LOL). There are also slums in Drow cities, but there are usually inhabited by the lower folk ... Orcs, Ogres, Goblins, etc. Some low Drow live there and have some kind of business (they are of course always higher on the social ladder than the non-Drow).

I'll forward all comments to Stuart.

Mark, Good point about the slums/ghettos for the lower castes/huminoids.

Micah, If you do a 'circular' market place, how about eight roads leading out of it. A nice rough spider effect. Just an idea.

Bil