Rough Cut - Beacon Harbour

 I inserted my new longboat like houses and roughed out the walls. The tower evolved a bit but I like it. 

Not bad for a quick map in Worldographer. What I do not like is the sharp lines around the cobbles and dirt areas. I'll have to fix that. I also have an issue where the edges of the boat houses are too light. It gives them a "glow" that I don't like. 

The area has morphed into something living from such a simple pencil drawing. Oddly, I noticed that I accidentally changed the name from Banner Harbour to Beacon Harbour. I kind of like the new name. 

Bit Off More Than I Can Chew - Beacon Harbor

As mentioned before, I wanted to do a map of The Fortress at Titan's Gate. 

I selected this tiny part to get started in Worldographer. I figured each square was 10 feet across. These structures are massive.

And then found I didn't have the right icons. Plus, the icons available don't seem to match the style. Well, Worldographer has standards to make your own icons. So off we go to painting with GNU Image Manipulation Program. 

This is one of those viking type longboat houses. I only need one because the software will let me rotate and scale as needed. It's rough, but coming along. 

#TBT Post - Top Posts

It's a best of post for Throwback Thursday. 

My top book review post is for the Moldy Unicorn by Nate Treme. I love that little book. 

For my own products, The Hex Pack was number one. It's such a simple product, but it is adaptable to everything from B/X to Traveller. 

My top D&D post is a semi-tie. The best D&D post is a link to Benjamin Connell’s 3.5 D&D sheet. It's not my content yet it's a top contender for search results every month. I have no idea why it is that popular, even if it's my favorite character sheet. 

As far as my own D&D content goes, the top posts goes to a surprise contender: First Born, Unicorn. This post makes the AD&D Unicorn a playable character. It worked very nicely when my wife ran the character through a dungeon. It might not be for anyone, but it just goes to show you how adaptable D&D rules are in general and specifically AD&D. 

I think I need five. So let's have a bit of science fiction. For some reason my review of WotC's Star Wars game outpaces all other sci-fi posts. 

But I already did a book review. So, let's look at the next most popular post. That is Starship Deck Plans for Antelope Alternates for Star Smuggler. That also surprises me because I think it was one of my weaker designs. 

Antelope Variants - Casual Deckplans

 Before coming up with the Zephyr variant for Star Smuggler, I tried a couple designs. These rules are somewhat related to Traveller, Snapshot or Striker as they darn near follow the design principals. Where as these games have tons of fuel to jump, Star Smuggler has a magic McGuffin called a Hypercharge. Ships are limited in range by the six charges they carry. 

This version is shorter than the Zephyr type and has half as much crew space. The bays are arranged differently, giving 4 40 CU bays. I would think it would make a nice causal carrier or carrier escort ship. That block of cargo space could also be a barracks or brig. 

Since I was already going small, this one is even smaller, eliminating the medical area, the weapons vault and both guns. It seems to be a pure hauler. It's bays are also divided into 3 40 CU sections. 

This version is a single gunned hauler. It's huge, those areas near the rear could be more storage space. 

I am not sure where I was going with this design. The center cargo bay has been given over to some sort of controls. Perhaps it is a lab, an advanced scanner station or controls to direct other ships. It has a single turret and a medical bay. The back of the ship has some odd equipment fittings for unknown purposes. 

This is the largest Zephyr type ship, with 4 bays, the massive crew space, vaults and medical. 

And of course for comparison is the actual Antelope II named the Zephyr. I probably should have made the rectangular cargo hold 60 CU as it is slightly bigger than the boat bay but smaller than the main cargo hold. 

The Fortress of Titan's Gate

I'm stuck doing laundry tonight, so I sketched out another inside out fortress.

Sorry, I took the picture in my car. 

A couple of thoughts formed this structure. There is a breech to another demonic dimension at the bottom of the ravine. The walls were built over time to make the location defensible. In the center of the ravine is a ziggarat held by the defenders. Immediately to the east of the ziggarat is The Ironwood, the largest living thing in the battlezone. 

Other areas are named:

Ophidian Contagion,

The Seige,

Vermin Sill, 

Axis of Tears,

The Retort, 

Razor Rock,

The Well of Life,

Mantle of the Soul,

The Pale Plain,

The Peril,

Fool's Stand,

Sanctuary Point, 

The Kinds, 

Downer,

The Titan's Gate,

Jen's Barracks,

Banner Harbour,

Bacon Row,

Pride's Spire,

The Court of the Dead, 

Legion Furrow,

And Minstrels Hall. 

This month I'll be making mini maps and telling stories about these places. I hope you join me.