Iconic Monsters

I came across this list of memorable D&D monsters over at io9.com.  I like their list from the perspective that this collection of monsters "feels" like D&D to me.

I've been trying to think of any others that I would put in a list of top ten monsters that say "D&D" to me.  I would obviously have to delete some from their list to do that, but I don't have the intellectual capacity for that tonight.

Instead, I'll just offer some other monsters that my mind equates with D&D.

I think that the list would have to include sahuagin.  I just love raider shark-men who climb ashore to plunder unprotected coastal villages.

Crab men--just because.

Ixitxachitl.  Evil rays.  I only used them once in an adventure, but I always thought that they were cool.

Remorhaz.  Giant, many-legged, fire worm.  Yes!

Tiamat.  Initially, I was trying to NOT include unique creatures on the list, but the list at io9 included the tarrasque--and rightfully so.

Looking at my monsters above, with the exception of the crabmen (Fiend Folio), they are all Monster Manual monsters.  I find this strange, because I loved the Monster Manual 2.  For the life of me, I can't think of any monsters from the MM2 that come to mind.

Must be old age...

So how about you?  What monsters say "D&D" to you?

Historical vs Modern Maps of US Cities

This page over at the Smithsonian is fantastic if you love city maps.

But is it 'Fantasy', you ask?  I think that you could stretch them to that.

But if like drawing city maps for your fantasy worlds, I think that you will find value there.  Especially if you are interested in how cities change and grow over time.

Deluxe Dungeon Design

So Telecanter, he of the Receding Rules, posted two times in the last several days things that caught my eye.  The most recent was what prompted the title of this post.  He calls it a Maximalist Dungeon, but I think Deluxe is a fair approximation of what he is getting at.  I've thought about just about everything that he mentions in his list at one point or another, but I like the fact that he took the time to put them all in one place--something that I have never done.

The second thing that he posted (actually prior to the above) was a small post that included old house blue prints.  I LOVE looking at floor plans of houses, old or new or anything in between.  I thought that this post was pretty cool.

...

Yeah, so not much posting lately.  I'm still lurking, reading bunches of blogs--just don't have the time to post right now.  Hopefully, that will change sometime soon.

Microsoft Paint

When I drew the maps for Locales, Volume 1, I did so entirely on Microsoft Paint.  Long and painful, but, in its own twisted way, actually enjoyable.

Earlier today, I came across this.  I recommend the video: Eight-and-a-half minutes telling the story of an old man who creates art using Microsoft Paint.

Monsters in Real Life

This flickr site proves that the real world can be just as scary as anything made up in fantasy.

Strange Borders in the Real World

Maps.  I like 'em!

And while this has absolutely NOTHING to do with fantasy mapping, I found it extremely interesting.

City Maps, More City Maps, and STILL MORE City Maps!

If you want to look at a whole bunch of old walled cities, look no further!

This link will take you to a very nice collection of walled city photographs.  The cartographer in me likes the aerial views, but several of the other images are just was striking.

Enjoy!

Elven View of the World (Part 2)

Back in July of last year, I posted a link to a video in a post called An Elven View of the World.

I said back then that, "The Elves in my campaign worlds can occasionally step into states of (what is effectively) suspended animation, for various periods of time.  They typically do this when they are communing with their natural surroundings.  They use this time to rest and separate themselves from the mortal burdens that all of the other races of man around them have to deal with."

I've come across another fantastic video that I think shows again what I meant.  This is how elves can see the world--when they choose to do so.

Map Roundup - 03 March 2013

It's that time again!

Let's go straight to The Iron Tavern for some maps.  A Stonghold on 27 February 2013.  A Basement on 20 February 2013.  A Cave on 11 February 2013.  I like how he is channeling the style of Dyson Logos in these.

If you have any interest in Greyhawk, you can visit Timrod over at Unfrozen caveman dice-chucker and look at these two posts.  Neither are really about the map that is included other than the map is present as an illustration for the post, but that's okay.  The first, of Hommlet (28 February 2013), is actually one of my favorite village maps around.  The second, of a large expanse of Greyhawk (14 February 2013), is a nice regional map.

But if you're going to spend any time at U(f)cd-c, you should check out his posts about the sample dungeon in the 1E DMG.  Here is Part 4 (13 February 2013) of that series of posts, which contains a map.  Moving back in time, here is Part 3 (03 February 2012), Part 2 (23 January 2012), and Part 1 (13 January 2012).

And since I've come this far, I should close this section with two more posts from U(f)cd-c.  The first is about the moathouse (some might say the moathouse) (17 September 2012) and an analysis of the construction of said structure.  Here's a regional map for a post-apocalyptic setting (06 February 2012).

JDJarvis over at Aeons & Augauries is doing a series of Town Geomorphs.  Nifty little idea if you're trying to generate a town on the fly.  Here's six of them, all posted on 02 March 2013: B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, and B6.  Of course, it might be easier just to link to all of his posts labeled geomorphs.  Of that collection, there is one that I feel the need to specifically point out: This large one hour effort.  Fantastic level for a megadungeon in my opinion.

Hopping over to Digital Orc, there have been few map-related posts recently.  A few nice city maps in this post from 02 March 2013.  Here's a post with a very basic map included.  I link to it not necessarily because the map itself is good, but because it has some nice body details in the map (13 February 2013).  Those blood splatters are pretty damn cool!

If one ventures over to Gorgonmilk (one of my favorite blog titles out there, by the way), you would find a really cool side-view map (28 February 2013) of this old well.

Finally, Quag Keep, a blog that I've spent a bit of time looking through.  I'm linking to it because I REALLY dig the map that he uses for his blog header.  I can't be sure, but I think that it was done in Microsoft paint.  Nice.

And that will wrap up this installment.

Map Roundup - 28 Feb 2013

It's been a LONG time since I did a Map Roundup.  But I've seen some things the past few days that absolutely deserved to be mentioned in a post.

Without further ado:

Blue Boxer Rebellion.  What?  CRAZY cool maps.  Go take a look:

31 January 2013.  Really nice city map.  And it comes with a history.

05 February 2013.  Nice interior iso map.  I love the details and the style.

07 February 2013.  Cut-away iso dungeon map.  Fantastic.

11 February 2013: More cut-away iso dungeon maps.  I'm going to get "Welcome to the Plunderdome" for those maps alone.

Now I have to say that I've wandered past Blue Boxer Rebellion in the past.  But I don't remember it being a repository for wonderful maps.  I don't know if something has changed or if it is just me, but rest assured that I'll be popping in over there a whole lot more often now.  I love everything above.

Here are some maps from Fictive Fantasies: 26 February 2013.

So how can you not like a post entitled Demonlord Hex Map?  From People them with Monsters on 27 February 2013.

The Splintered Realm on 27 February 2013.  I've not spent much time on that blog, but there was something about this little map.  I liked it.

For some nice stronghold maps, go take a look at the Hill Cantons and his Pimp Your Own Stonghold Contest (20 February 2013).  I really dig the cut-away Batcave image.  And if your going to be over in the Hill Cantons anyway, you might as well check out this oldie-but-goodie: How to "Awesome Up" Your Fantasy Maps (01 March 2011).  I might have linked to this in the past, but didn't want to spend the time verifying.

I'm going to close this Map Roundup with links to two posts from Oubliette.  These posts are pure greatness, as they combine maps (win), geomorphs (Win), and LEGOs (WIN!).  That pretty much tells you everything that you need to know: 19 February 2013.  27 February 2013.

This was fun to do, so I think that I'll do more Roundups in the near future.