Archives

Tiny fictional play castle blueprints of a sort – for Patreon

Oct10

Okay, so I was playing around with a roleplay with Cal and Cynara decided to build herself a castle. Well, a play castle, this is ~8×8 with a tower; it’s a shed-sized castle. But once I’d been thinking about it, I decided I wanted to map it.  Well, chart it. 

Stained glass would be prettier than that, but Excel has its limits. 

And yes, that says “Secret Exit #1,” because Cynara always puts in back doors.  Even when you can jump off the roof into the moat if you have to.

The tower would probably be rounded, now that I think of it. 

Anyway!  Floor plans. And then I fixed the first floor – well, the throne. 

And then I did the back

And then check out this:

https://tootplanet.space/@InspectorCaracal/908740

and especially this:

https://tootplanet.space/@InspectorCaracal/909088

Cal made the castle in Minecraft!!!

…Now I need to write some stories of characters in and around this little castle.

Want more?

Map Poll!

May23

As mentioned here, I want to map more things. So…

(Note: Yeah, I borked up “One of the museums in the Dragons Next Door ‘verseMore of the Things Unspoken map?” It was meant to replace the first half with the second half.)

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1327844.html. You can comment here or there. comment count unavailable

Weekend with Project Expansion

Jan9

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsI want to talk about project expansion.

You know, when you think you’re going to knit something and realize first you need to ball the yarn and find your needles (and lock the cat in the bathroom) and figure out this pattern and oh hey it’s bedtime.

Or you’re just going to put the trim on the door but it turns out the threshold and the inner frame need repairing and the door strike is a mess and… wait, where did the weekend go?

Or if you’re going to put the new trim up, you really ought to put a new coat of paint on the room and replace the light and insulate the ceiling and… oh. It’s November? Oops.

Or you just want to do a small test book to remember bookbinding, but wouldn’t it be awesome if there was a brand-new story in there and, hey, maybe it could be like those he said/she said flip-the-book-over YA romances, and do I need cover art and maybe I need to drive 2 hours to Syracuse for the nearest Dick Blick and while I’m there I should look at bathroom wall panels and a new chaise lounge and maybe go to Dinosaur BBQ… Maybe that’ll get done this spring.

You might get the feeling that I have a lot of experience with this concept. 😀

This weekend, I thought, “Hey, I should make an image for Patreon, to thank new patrons.”

“Hey, I’m not great at art, but I’ve been practicing these banner designs. I could do something with that…”

“…over a map! Not just any map, a newmap!”

“…Where are the split peas?”

“Well, if I’m going to all this trouble — hey, I need a new brown pen — I should really practice my lettering, or find something nice to trace, because my handwriting isn’t great.”

“So, I have a map, what’s this world about, anyway?”

…300 words of worldbuilding later, I have a new setting, a map outline (with scale!) and, uh, I need to do some practice lettering.

*cough*

…and figure out what to do about this world.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1227957.html. You can comment here or there. comment count unavailable

Friday 5(ish) Minute Map & Sketch – Addergoole’s Village

Jun24

In the setting of Addergoole, beyond the school, there is a little Village, described variously as “out of a Normal Rockwell painting,” “Small Town USA”, and “far too quaint.” It leads out to residential areas, where some people – parents, former students, staff – live, and where lady Maureen’s creche for, to be frank, unwanted children live.

I did a very sketchy elevation of the outside-facing part of the Addergoole-school part a couple weeks ago:

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And then today, while in training with a bit of time, I did a bit of “five-minute” mapping of the Village itself and a sketch of part of it.


It is based in part on my memories of Spencerport, NY, Brockport, NY, Canandaigua, NY, and other nearby towns.

P.S. The library says “Falk Memorial Library.”
P.P.S. Click to embiggen.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1129851.html. You can comment here or there. comment count unavailable

Rin & Girey’s Campsite, Updated

May14

The Cartographers’ Guild does a monthly Lite Mapping Challenge, so I took my Five-Minute Map sketch and … made it better.

Not perfect, but better.

And then I had a small panic attack, and then I submitted it.

It’s one of Rin & Girey’s campsites, early in the story.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1105755.html. You can comment here or there. comment count unavailable

Friday’s Five-Minute Map (give or take): Edally Academy

May9

This is a rough top-down view of Edally Academy, done by tracing dimes (see this tweet) because I don’t keep a compass at work.

I’m really enjoying #FridayFiveMinuteMap, and I encourage everyone to join in!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1102970.html. You can comment here or there. comment count unavailable

#Fridayfiveminutemap – Same world, different era!

Apr22

Folchir's Fort.jpg

While I was looking up maps, I encountered the premise of “friday 5-minute maps.” And, while nobody had been active on any of the tags in a while, I thought it looked fun.

So here’s my first idea: Folchir’s Fort.

This stands (loosely) where on my big map project there is a red star – ‘cept it’s been long enough (approx 1500-2000 years ago) that the river has moved. The bigger houses are meant to be almost longhouse style: communal big buildings thrown up quickly, because shelter was needed.

(I gotta say, some of the maps in the Google Plus community are amazing for 5 minutes!)

Now taking suggestions for the next few fridays worth of maps.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1094303.html. You can comment here or there.