Map 6 of 26: Mission Abort!

Originally I planned to post a map that would showcase a bit of gaming nostalgia from years past. Unfortunately, this map is taking a ton of time to clean up and finish. So hopefully that "classic" map I promised will be up for viewing in the next few weeks. In the meantime I give you a map designed by a "psychotic moron".

Back on 04/03/2010, I was discussing my personal opinions of the character selection (or the lack thereof) from Brave & the Bold on a thread title "**SPOILER ALERT** Brave and the Bold" over at HCRealms. I broke the set figures down on a rating scale from 1 thru 5 where generally 3 thru 5 are positive categories and only one category is overtly negative. Here's a quote from that thread.

"1- Characters or concepts I dislike so much that if I had a time machine I'd go back in time and kill the creator's parents (Remakes or New ****)

020 – Damian Wayne

042 – Robin

045 - The Wizard Shazam (I won't forgive DC for messing up the Marvel Family)"

http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4630333&highlight=inertia#post4630333

In a 04/11/2010 thread titled "Disgusted" created by HCRealms member mjts , mjts ranted:

"Some moron actually said that there were three characters in this set he disliked so much that if he had a time machine he would go back and kill the parents of the creators. I am not sure if he was talking about the creators of the sculpts, the dials or the comic book characters, but what was more surprising to me was that this psychotic was not immediately banned." http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=273843

Now OK, I'll give you that my category label is a little extreme but I intensely hate the concept of Damien Wayne. For the people out there that like this character. I'm glad they got two versions of him.

However, Batman has been known for his willpower for years. Knock him unconscious and try to take off the cowl... blam!... you're electrocuted. The man carries anti-shark repellant in his utility belt. That's prepared. This guy even carries around a piece of kryptonite just in case his buddy goes loco. That's even more prepared. He's slept with a billion women for seventy years and never conceived a child. Cripes, Hugh Hefner couldn't even do that.

Yet somehow Talia got a hold of some Bat-seed. Are you telling me there isn't some Bat-defertilization spray in that tool belt? You've got to be kidding me.

So it got me thinking, in the vast tapestry of comics, how could Batman stop this? Clearly he'd use the Atom to shrink down and stop the conception or maybe since he's a billionaire pay someone to shrink down and permanently set up shop in his sack who leaps into action in the event of an unexpected release. I like the idea of Batman joining forces with Rip Hunter and the Atom to go back in time to get inside Talia and stop Damien Wayne from being conceived. Once there, they're surprised to find hordes of League Elite and Man-Bat Assassins guarding her eggs. So with that fight in mind, a new map was born.


Now of course this map isn't exclusively Talia, so we can use it to stop any of the ridiculous offspring comicbookdom has forced on us over the years. From Connor Hawke to Hulkling no contrived legacy character is safe.

Before anyone asks... yes, this is an indoor map. This map was difficult for me as it was the first time I had to hand design all the shading effects. No one on the various RPG map sites had ever designed the necessary uterine shadows needed to create the internal area of this map. This map also has a ton of blocking terrain to help define where the "cavern" walls would be.

The debate has also finally been won; giant sperm flow is hindering terrain. Late last night, a fellow judge and I were discussing the merits of making sperm flow water terrain but in the end I felt at that scale the sperm would be too large to be wet. Also before any microbiologists reading this jump down my throat, I understand that the sperm, eggs and background are way out of scale to each other. However I needed to get all three elements in the map and feel the scale offense is nowhere near as bad as some of the scale liberties mainstream companies have taken on their maps such as the giant computers on that bank map.

Anyway, thanks for reading this moron's psychotic ramblings and I'll see you in a few weeks.

Map 5 of 26: Warrior Island

One of the major reasons I wanted to get into map-making was that I felt dramatically limited by the types of maps that mainstream companies were producing. I've also been an avid comic book reader and my personal collection stretches back now well into the Golden Age of comics. The fun part about comic books is that the locales can be fantastic: Atlantis with Namor or Aquaman, fiery Apokolips, underground caverns or ancient Greek islands. The dull part of current gaming for me is that the vast majority of the maps produced have been in Anytown, USA.

I also wanted to toy around with map dynamics not yet explored by mainstream companies. Sometimes I'll start working on a map and think "Why does elevated terrain always needs a way to it?" This is seen in the Martian Clock Map. Conceptually, that clockwork structure is floating. So why should a non-flier be able to get up there automatically? Mainstream companies have the obligation to create a balanced playing field as the makers of the game and shepherds of the gaming experience. I don't have that hindrance. I have the luxury of designing playing fields that are not shackled with the burden of being balanced for both players.

And that brings me to my next map, Warrior Island. With Brave & the Bold having so many island-hailing warriors in it, I felt this next map was appropriate to complete. It's been sitting half-finished on my hard drive for easily two years and I felt it was time to finally clean this one up.



With this map, I wanted a map that gave a stronger advantage to one side (the island defenders) than the other (the offshore attackers). Here the defenders have quickest access to the elevated and blocking terrain. The attackers are saddled with nothing to obstruct any line of fire to them and start off with a movement penalty for being in the water. There is only one measly square of hindering terrain, the idea behind this is that it gives the defenders home field advantage as the attackers have no place to hide from the island natives.

Of course, I have to now shell out the cash to get to Kinkos and print this baby up. Hopefully by the weekend I will have my 600 point Amazon army taking on Darkseid and his parademons.

Next week, we'll revisit an old classic.

Martian Balls!

Many of you may have seen this blog and my thread dedicated to my personal custom map challenge over in the Custom Maps forums.

 

I want to thank everyone who has supported me here, at HCRealms, and on the Dundjinni web site.

Map 3 of 26: The Blue Atoll

Oof... I am getting seriously behind on the maps. At this point, I should be on Map 4 by Friday and here I am just releasing Map 3. I'm blaming this delay on Rollinsolo at HCRealms who threw out this challenge.

"If you are accepting ideas, I have always wanted a fully water map with scattered islands, each island being no more than 3x3. Good luck with your project and tell your family it's for a great cause."

I was intrigued at how I could accomplish this map as very little of it could be generated with Dundjinni and most aspects would need to be finished post in Paint Shop Pro. I decided to throw progress to the wind and give Rollinsolo's idea a whirl. So what would have been Map 3, a nearly completed shoreline map of Themyscira has been pushed back to Map 4 and hopefully will be previewed by the weekend.

This was a challenge for me getting the water to hit the rock and look at least slightly representative of what it should look like. I'm no artist and chunks of this map were virgin territory for me. Hopefully this passes everyone's expectation with a grade of a high C or better.

Oh... I liked the name the Blue Atoll. Reminded me of naked Brooke Shields and helped get me thru some of its inherent tediousness. I am completely aware this map is not an actual atoll. I'm being a rebel.

Map 2 of 26!: WWII Invasion

Map 2 of 26!: WWII Invasion!

Let me preface this whole post by stating that I love my eldest brother dearly. He also collects gaming miniatures and is a huge history buff. This is how a recent conversation with him went down:

Me: Pete, I'm making a WWII map.

Pete: Yeah

Me: It's going to be black & white


Pete: Why's that?

Me: Because it's in the past, duh...

Pete just laughs at me.

I've wanted to do a Normandy-esque WWII map for a while. I like the idea of Cap and Bucky putting the beat down on Red Skull or the JSA and Sgt. Rock going toe-to-toe with Per Degaton. For me, this map had to be black & white. It's what makes it WWII to me.

I also wanted to invoke the feel of an old movie reel. You may notice I've darkened the black & white effects around the perimeter of the map to give it that old box camera photo feel.

As goofy as it is, I love the "Allies Storm Axis Beach" across the side with the 48-star flag.

Map 1 of 26!: The Lost Jungle!

Map 1 of 26!: The Savage Land... err... umm... The Lost Jungle! Phew, I was just nearly grazed by a Cease and Desist!

A fellow realmser challenged me to do a Savage Land map. I always liked the idea of a hidden dinosaur jungle nestled in a secret Antarctic valley so I jumped at the challenge.
For me this map needed a few things to symbolize what I envision when I think of this location. I needed the elevated ice plains, I needed jungle, and I needed dinosaurs... lots of dinosaurs.

The dinosaurs added some gaming challenges. What kind of terrain are dinosaurs: hindering, blocking? I hate blocking terrain that shouldn't be blocking like the tank on the airbase map. In the end I liked the idea of clumps of jungle with dinosaurs hidden inside and just roping a green line around the whole mess. I still wanted an unobstructed dinosaur on the map and so I went with a quick hindering carcass.

Remember, I'm no artist and there are a lot of artistic concepts that are long outside my abilities. The transition from elevated ice shelf to lowland jungle for me was difficult to achieve. The mechanics of the game only provide two types of terrain that allows a grounded figure to traverse between elevations: steps and ladders. I tried to pull off a convincing natural rock staircase up the cliff and didn't like the way it looked. Ultimately, I opted for the rope ladder. I assumed one of the mutates left it there!

Also... I need to do a quick shout out to the gangs at the Dundjinni forums and RPGMapshare who basically provided me everything I needed to get my feet off the ground.

Finally... my personal modding challenge.

For the longest time, I have been considering challenging myself to a personal modding challenge. Originally the concept I was batting around was doing a 52 week challenge where each week I would complete one custom miniature mod from one of the books I read from that Wednesday's new releases. Logistically it became a problem for me to acquire the parts I would need for each week's challenge in under a week. Laziness crept in and the project never got off the ground. I am also about 18 issues behind in most of the books I'm reading!

I've also been toying around with custom maps for the past two years and slowly have been teaching myself the in's and out's of various programs like Dundjinni, Paint Shop Pro, Google Sketch Up and Daz. I have dozens of maps half started. So it seemed logical for me to start to complete my custom maps.

The fuel that really started the fire burning was the Secret Santa exchange I was participating in over at HCRealms. I wanted my first printed map to be my Secret Santa gift. It's recipient loved it and it was well received by the gang at my venue. This was a map of a Nativity scene for Christmas. All the positive compliments I received have really motivated me to push myself further.

So here is my personal challenge... 52 weeks... 26 completed maps. The goal is for me to produce one map every other week. When you consider that my career, family life, new home and responsibilities judging at my local venue all will take time out of my week; one map every two weeks seems daunting to me.

Also at this point, I do not plan to release any of these maps for sale or mass distribution. Especially given the fact that I'd like to challenge myself to make some very specific comic locales. The cost to print a 24x36 map at Kinkos is $44, so actual production of these maps will be limited for my personal use.

So, wish me luck... god speed... and carpe mappum.

Merry Christmas!

Well, it's December 21st and hopefully about right now my Secret Santa recipient over at HCRealms is opening his gift! This was a real labor of love as his gift is the first map that I have ever created that I've printed. I read my Secret Santa buddy was a youth pastor and I thought a Nativity scene map would be perfect. I whipped this up over a rainy weekend and Fitch at my local comic shop had it printed and laminated. I was so happy with the results! Hopefully I'll figure out how I will make this map available to the public! Merry Christmas everyone!

Handful of Heroes - Sabretooth

I'm been a big fan of Sabretooth since back in his cool Iron Fist days. He's a bad ass who knows how to look bad ass sporting a fur collar. We don't have the pimped out version of Sabretooth in miniature form so this figure is a welcome addition. It's hard to see all the detail on this translucent figure, so I'll need to prime him to see what exactly I have to work with. His fingers are very stubby and rounded at the ends so I am considered cutting off his hands and swapping them with the hands from the Ultimates Sabretooth.

Handful of Heroes - Spider-Man

When you have hands that big it's easy to climb walls, play basketball and get dates with girls prone to believing urban legends. What this figure lacks is details pronounced enough to survive the painting process. Good luck painting this figure.