Fantasy University Floor Plans

[keithcurtis]

I've been doing some more work on the interactive map for my fantasy city of Tallon (http://savageearth.net/tallon.html). One of the things I've posted lately was a set of floorplans for the Hall of Art (http://savageearth.net/tallon.html#Hall%20of%20Art), kind of a University for matters mundane and magical. With a little tweaking (or just re-labeling) it could be dropped into a major fantasy city. Many of the rooms were left blank just so they could be filled in as the plot requires. Just click on the thumbnail images for a bigger view, or click here for just the floorplans:

Floor 1 (http://savageearth.net/Hall-of-Art-Floor_1.gif)
Floor 2 (http://savageearth.net/Hall-of-Art-Floor_2.gif)
Towers (http://savageearth.net/Hall-of-Art-Towers.gif)

Enjoy.

Keith "Mad Mapper" Curtis
http://savageearth.net/SELogoSM.gif

[Cancer]

That's cool!

Where's the restrooms? :)

[Killer Shrike]

Cool!

[Nolgroth]

Blah! Stinking must spread rep around.

Absolutely cool map. That's about all that I can say about it. (Other than I'm jealous of your talent ;)) Great job.

[aylwin13]

Very nice work, Mr. Curtis. I may have to find a way to put that into our supers game. A very old, established university; somewhere in Europe, maybe.

[mvoncannon]

So when are you going to publish this setting?

[Publius]

Very nice, very nice indeed. You sir, are an artist and a gentleman. Thanks for sharing them with us.

[Super Squirrel]

Palon has probably studied in the Tower of the Word. That is so cool to be able to see that much more detail of your world.

[Mightybec]

Where's the Morgue? :)

[Mightybec]

So when are you going to publish this setting?
Right after Khaz opens up his Riven brothel. :yes:

[Curufea]

Right after Khaz opens up his Riven brothel. :yes:
That'd be an interesting mod for Myst II :)

[Super Squirrel]

Right after Khaz opens up his Riven brothel. :yes:
:idjit: :sick:

[Mightybec]

:idjit: :sick:
That was pretty much Keith's reaction too. :D

[Super Squirrel]

That was pretty much Keith's reaction too. :D
Maybe if it was a case of Psyche Riven, but even still...

[Mightybec]

Maybe if it was a case of Psyche Riven, but even still...
I was just thinking that a riven with 10 mouths and orifices would make a ton of money pretty quick. :yes:

[keithcurtis]

Where's the Morgue? :)
Tower of the Way, Lower Crypt, Upper Left Corner.

Keith "I couldn't leave out something like that" Curtis

[Super Squirrel]

Tower of the Way, Lower Crypt, Upper Left Corner.

Keith "I couldn't leave out something like that" Curtis
Keith, you really should consider convincing Steve Long to publish your campaign setting. After all, the timeline lists 3000+ as possibilities are endless.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Very cool, Keith...very cool! :thumbup:

[Nevenall]

That's cool!

Where's the restrooms? :)

"They have the best in open air, vertically fitted orifices, with the finest street level waste disposal system." Or something like that. :)

Very nice maps, Keith. I would rep you if I could.

[keithcurtis]

Where's the restrooms? :)
"They have the best in open air, vertically fitted orifices, with the finest street level waste disposal system." Or something like that. :)
Works for me. Honestly, I usually leave out restrooms on RPG floorplans. It's not realistic, but how many time do we hear about Aragorn or Captain Kirk on the pot? Nothing kills the feel quicker. I imagine the tower rooms could have some subdivision; they're pretty big. Alternatively, a cell on either side of each hallway could be devoted to the bathroom for that section, one on each end. That would be 16 bathrooms per floor, in addition to whatever might exist in the towers. More than enough. Of course, the plumbing would be excellent.


I was just thinking that a riven with 10 mouths and orifices would make a ton of money pretty quick. :yes:
Maybe for you. I'm not putting anything of mine near that. brrr...

Keith "comments and crits welcome" Curtis

[Teflon Billy]

What is the scale for these floorplans? How big are the square towers? What is the footprint for each of those cell rooms (10'x10' or more generous 15'x15')?

TB

[keithcurtis]

The hex grid is Hero standard 1 hex = 2m.
If you cannot see them (they are very tiny) you may need to adjust the contrast of your monitor. Each of the cell rooms is 10' x 10'.

Keith "hexed" Curtis

[Teflon Billy]

The hex grid is Hero standard 1 hex = 2m.
If you cannot see them (they are very tiny) you may need to adjust the contrast of your monitor. Each of the cell rooms is 10' x 10'.

Keith "hexed" CurtisWould you be willing to post a larger resolution version? 2x or 4x would be much easier to make out the details.

Either way, these are some really nice maps, you did a great job.

TB

[Super Squirrel]

If you really must add a bathroom in, you could probably declare they are located between every third floor in the towers or something like that.

[Captain Obvious]

I thought standard practice was to go in a chamberpot and empty it out the window.

[keithcurtis]

By the Prometheans! You'd soil the Serenity Gardens! You must be some kind of West Hill riffraff.

Keith "sniff." Curtis

[keithcurtis]

Would you be willing to post a larger resolution version? 2x or 4x would be much easier to make out the details.

Either way, these are some really nice maps, you did a great job.

TB
Ask and ye shall receive. 200%

Keith "I'll keep these on the Hero site for a week or so" Curtis

[Dr. Anomaly]

Ask and ye shall receive. 200%

Keith "I'll keep these on the Hero site for a week or so" Curtis
Keith, why not upload them to a directory on your website & link them, so they can stay up indefinitely? Or, if you don't have the space to do so, I'd be happy to give them a home for that purpose.

[keithcurtis]

I'll probably put them up permanently. I was just too lazy to fire up my ftp program.

Keith "Thanks, though" Curtis

[susandwyer]

Where's Tira Tower? or Beka Hall? Did you forget that I am the center of your universe?:p

[keithcurtis]

Where's Tira Tower? or Beka Hall? Did you forget that I am the center of your universe?:p
I created the whole dang world for you to play in, O Light of My Life.

me.*

___________________________
*What, I'm going to use my full name plus quotes talking to my wife?

[Dr. Anomaly]

*What, I'm going to use my full name plus quotes talking to my wife?
Why not? After all, you are Mr. Keith "I do all my own sig 'stunts', don't try these at home" Curtis, are you not? ;)

[susandwyer]

I created the whole dang world for you to play in, O Light of My Life.

me.*

___________________________
*What, I'm going to use my full name plus quotes talking to my wife?
Not enough. I want an Umpa Loompa!

[Markdoc]

That's cool!

Where's the restrooms? :)


Outside the building.

Where, outside exactly?

Oh, anywhere....

cheers, Mark

[Citizen Keen]

Keith-

I know you've answered this before, but I can't find the posts. What do you use to illustrate your maps? Photoshop? Illustrator?

[keithcurtis]

In this case, it's entirely in Adobe Illustrator. Usually, its a combinaton of Illustrator and/or PhotoShop.

Keith "iTunes often plays a pivotal role, but for different reasons" Curtis

[keithcurtis]

Here's a profile view of the Hall, along with a few other structures.

Hall of Art
http://savageearth.net/HallProfile.gif

Iron Tower (http://savageearth.net/tallon.html#Iron%20Tower), a prison
http://savageearth.net/IronTower.gif

The Grand Arch (http://savageearth.net/tallon.html#Grand%20Arch)
http://savageearth.net/Arch.gif

Keith "Fantasy Architect" Curtis

[Super Squirrel]

I'll probably put them up permanently. I was just too lazy to fire up my ftp program.

Keith "Thanks, though" Curtis
I so understand you sentiments.

I find it easier to open my webmail, browse the file on my computer, uploaded it the webmail and then save it to a directory than using an FTP program.

[Curufea]

There are alternatives as well - maintain a Wiki on your site, or write your own PHP to handle files.
Something to handle file uploading and so you don't have to bother with rewriting pages to link to the files.

For example - I use a PHP program to generate the index page on my campaign site, I just dump a file there with some metadata, and it sorts it for me. Puts in a last updated date, and labels the most recent with a "new" icon.

[keithcurtis]

Normally, I let GoLive just update the site based on the local folder. Quick, painless, automatic and invisible.
The server I use recently started requiring sftp, which GoLive CS can't do. (CS2 can, but I just recently upgraded and am not going to do so again soon.) So I have to fire up my ftp program to upload all changed files.

Keith "It works" Curtis

[AlHazred]

Here's a profile view of the Hall, along with a few other structures.

Keith "Fantasy Architect" CurtisYou should do something like this city of Cauldron Sketch Map (http://therpgenius.com/Portals/2/DNNDownload/koramado/Cauldron%20Sketch%20Pre-Eruption.9b57101a-7e97-44d8-a7b6-0fa760f2da2d.jpg) (from Dungeon magazine's Shackled City Adventure Path). I think this kind of impressive work really drives home the city's appearance to the players in a way a map can't quite touch.

[keithcurtis]

Thanks, that's a really cool map. I've done a few 3d sketches, but my command of composition while doing perspective is shaky. The closest I have come is the city illustration for Tallon:
http://savageearth.net/tallon.jpg
I have a rough sketch for the Archon's palace I'll see if I can dig up.

Keith "That kind of mapping is real work" Curtis

[keithcurtis]

I like the sequel (http://therpgenius.com/Portals/2/DNNDownload/koramado/Cauldron%20Sketch%20Post-Eruption.84a53993-8ef8-468e-8da7-8d3fb3252c26.jpg) to that map too.
Cool!

Keith "I wondered where all the water drained to" Curtis

[Publius]

Works for me. Honestly, I usually leave out restrooms on RPG floorplans. It's not realistic, but how many time do we hear about Aragorn or Captain Kirk on the pot? Nothing kills the feel quicker. I imagine the tower rooms could have some subdivision; they're pretty big. Alternatively, a cell on either side of each hallway could be devoted to the bathroom for that section, one on each end. That would be 16 bathrooms per floor, in addition to whatever might exist in the towers. More than enough. Of course, the plumbing would be excellent.



Maybe for you. I'm not putting anything of mine near that. brrr...

Keith "comments and crits welcome" CurtisIronically though, we do see restrooms in some scifi (B5 and Firefly), so it isn't entirely devoid either. I'm trying to think of fantasy examples other than Willow, but I'm coming up with zip at the moment.

If you don't put any restrooms in you get flak from some folks, if you do, you get flak from others. Damned if you do... yada yada. Not doing so is therefore fine. My thinking is that it is a design element that has to be taken into consideration because it will sometimes have a radical effect on the rest of the architecture. As most of my maps are intellectual exercises, I place them for that reason alone. I actually err on the other side. If anything, I feel that I place too many restrooms in my maps. My girlfriend says I put more than (male) building designers and less than what there should be, so I guess I am in a happy medium.

Of course, because these are fantasy maps, there are all sorts of other things to consider. A bathroom as we would understand one makes no sense, it is like putting in a telephone nook. The medieval examples of 'restroom equivalents' are relatively disgusting as general alternatives. Also, it is certainly possible that chamberpots and spongebaths are all the rage, because there is some reality to that as well. Think about under stairs (for places with plumbing, using that rising space for something) and notches along thick walls that face cliffsides or something similar.

After all, there are reasons that invaders didn't swim the moat.

[Teflon Billy]

Ironically though, we do see restrooms in some scifi (B5 and Firefly), so it isn't entirely devoid either. I'm trying to think of fantasy examples other than Willow, but I'm coming up with zip at the moment.

If you don't put any restrooms in you get flak from some folks, if you do, you get flak from others. Damned if you do... yada yada. Not doing so is therefore fine. My thinking is that it is a design element that has to be taken into consideration because it will sometimes have a radical effect on the rest of the architecture. As most of my maps are intellectual exercises, I place them for that reason alone. I actually err on the other side. If anything, I feel that I place too many restrooms in my maps. My girlfriend says I put more than (male) building designers and less than what there should be, so I guess I am in a happy medium.

Of course, because these are fantasy maps, there are all sorts of other things to consider. A bathroom as we would understand one makes no sense, it is like putting in a telephone nook. The medieval examples of 'restroom equivalents' are relatively disgusting as general alternatives. Also, it is certainly possible that chamberpots and spongebaths are all the rage, because there is some reality to that as well. Think about under stairs (for places with plumbing, using that rising space for something) and notches along thick walls that face cliffsides or something similar.

After all, there are reasons that invaders didn't swim the moat.Who gives people flack over putting latrines into a fantasy floor plan?

Seriously, it's the absence of latrines that I notice people making comments about far more often.

TB

[Publius]

Who gives people flack over putting latrines into a fantasy floor plan?

Seriously, it's the absence of latrines that I notice people making comments about far more often.

TBGOO boards, some prelim designs I had for a Castle Amber. I've actually been told once here that putting in restrooms was "icky"

I agree that it isn't even, but it has happened.

[Captain Obvious]

But the privy is such a great place for an ambush.

Plus, it makes it easy to dispose of the body.

[Curufea]

You've obviously never played Paranoia ;-p

(the restrooms are always the rooms with the highest levels of computer surveillance. Quite likely because of this reason)

[AlHazred]

Thanks, that's a really cool map. I've done a few 3d sketches, but my command of composition while doing perspective is shaky. The closest I have come is the city illustration for Tallon:
http://savageearth.net/tallon.jpg
I have a rough sketch for the Archon's palace I'll see if I can dig up.

Keith "That kind of mapping is real work" Curtis
That's a beautiful image!

[Curufea]

Reminds me of Google Earth.
Mapping a texture to a 3D surface :)

[Super Squirrel]

But the privy is such a great place for an ambush.

Plus, it makes it easy to dispose of the body.
I had a player once crawl up a cesspit and take out the unsuspecting guards inside to throw open the door long enough to get everyone inside a fort.

[Cancer]

I had a player once crawl up a cesspit and take out the unsuspecting guards inside to throw open the door long enough to get everyone inside a fort.

Our group has a long tradition of trekking through the sewers in order to get to the site of mayhem.

And once, when they were in a part of town that was too new and cheap to have sewers, they posed as the collectors of night soil so they could go to the place they wanted.

[Markdoc]

I had a player once crawl up a cesspit and take out the unsuspecting guards inside to throw open the door long enough to get everyone inside a fort.

And I ran a FH game where the players - trapped and faced by certain death at the hands of a rampaging demon - used a magic wand to turn themselves into crayfish and escape DOWN the toilet :eek:

The lost the wand when they hit the river, and had to spend some time as crayfish trying to retrieve it :D

cheers, Mark

[Cancer]

Thanks, that's a really cool map. I've done a few 3d sketches, but my command of composition while doing perspective is shaky. The closest I have come is the city illustration for Tallon:
http://savageearth.net/tallon.jpg
I have a rough sketch for the Archon's palace I'll see if I can dig up.

Keith "That kind of mapping is real work" Curtis

Not only is that beautiful (as someone else said), it reminds me of Malta's Grand Harbor, which is a site rich with historical context.

[The Mad GM]

For the hallways with dorms, just convert two rooms into one big communal restroom. Also, the L-shaped rooms near the stairs would be good candidates, but you'd need to shift the staff cafeteria over on the ground floor, essentially just squaring off the main cafeteria like it is near the kitchen.

Like all your work, this is very professional.

What's the name of the west door?

[Curufea]

Not only is that beautiful (as someone else said), it reminds me of Malta's Grand Harbor, which is a site rich with historical context.

Hmmm - now I'm wondering how difficult or easy it would be to do a 3D render....

Lots of low poly boxes of various colours is about all you need, as you wouldn't need a great deal of detail - the resolution wouldn't be that large...

The terrain contours implied by the image help too...

[keithcurtis]

Thanks for the Malta reference. I had never seen pictures of the harbor; they've given me some good visual ideas. Previously, the closest thing to how I envisioned the city was Theed, from the SW prequels.http://www.ambertation.de/img/info/theed.jpg

Keith "It's a beautiful model" Curtis

PS. Here's another cool image from Benares, but I'm attaching it as a link, since it's a bit large
Benares (http://www.tropicalisland.de/india/uttar_pradesh/varanasi/pages/VNS%20Varanasi%20or%20Benares%20-%20Ghats%20lining%20the%20holy%20river%20Ganges%20 at%20sunrise%203008x2000.html)

[Nightmask]

Very cool, but I would rename it though. Fantasy University would also be known as Fantasy U, which is ok... the really short version might have someone offended.

My 2 cents and I could be wrong.

[keithcurtis]

Fantasy University is the generic term I used for the post, so that people would know what the heck I'm talking about. It is actually named the Hall of Art.

Keith ":)" Curtis

[Curufea]

Is there a rival Hall of Craft - maintained by guilds?

[keithcurtis]

There are a number of crafthalls, though guilds are closer to unions in structure in Tallon. Some crafts are taught in the Towers of the Word and of Knowledge, but this is probably in conjunction with the Hall. "Art" in this sense refers to any body of knowledge carried out to an advanced degree.

Check out these pages to give the Hall context:
City of Tallon (http://savageearth.net/tallon.html)
Merikian Culture (http://savageearth.net/book.html)

Keith "More than you wanna know" Curtis

[The Mad GM]

Very cool, but I would rename it though. Fantasy University would also be known as Fantasy U, which is ok... the really short version might have someone offended.

My 2 cents and I could be wrong.

I want a Fantasy U hoody.

I can just imagine the mascot.

[Captain Obvious]

I want a Fantasy U hoody.

I can just imagine the mascot.

The FU "Bird"?

[Publius]

The FU "Bird"?The Tucan FU Mascot.