Monday, July 13, 2015

The Secret of Raven Hill Mine


I haven't been doing much writing or drawing maps over the past couple of weeks.  I guess I needed a break.  I sat down and drew this map on Friday.  I spent a lot of time on the rock details.  And I've been using different shades of color to give the map details a little contrast/depth.

Then on to the writing.  I rarely write an adventure then draw a map.  My artistic skills are not good enough to work in that direction.  I create a map and then rift off of what I see or hear in the map.  Whadda mean hear?  You are asking.  I look at a map and I get something rolling around my head.  I sometimes hear what's going on in any given moment during the adventure.  When I looked at this map I heard shouting from a distance.  Running through an overgrown path to a hillside where I saw three men, two looked to be miners (because for some reason they are still holding onto pick-axes) and another man I recognize as a king's guard.  There is a sign at the end of the path on a crooked wooden plank with Raven Hill Mine printed in sloppy black lettering. 

That's all I knew going in.  The opening scene with the two miners and a guard shouting in pain.  And the name.  I recently purchased a creepy monster tome called Lusus Naturae created by +Rafael Chandler and fantastic art added by +Scrap Princess.  I looked through the PDF because I wanted something creepy.  Raphael has never disappointed in that area.  I came across this one little beauty that I shall not name here.  But it has a special ability to tell the outcome of an event in the future, but at a gruesome cost.  Perfect!

I then slammed my map into Xara and did he fancy numbering and filled in the silhouettes.  I played with a few color schemes and the dark yellow (I'm sure there is a name for it and probably a candle scent, but to me it's dark yellow) seemed to fit. 


The Secret of Raven Hill is on the verge of completion.  I like this adventure because of the consequences could echo for some time. 

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