Monday, April 18, 2011

ICE MERP Layout Illustrations from the Lake Town Module

The layouts below were drawn for Iron Crown Enterprise's MERP 2nd Edition module of Laketown.  I drew over 40 illustrations for this module most of which were drawn using AutoCAD.  Most of these were building layouts and were unremarkable aside from the sheer volume of them.  Below is a small selection of some of the more interesting ones.  You will note that most of them are shown with a wood texture type of rendering and also show timber framing members in the walls.  This was per the original writer's rough designs since he wanted to stress the wooden nature of Lake Town which was to be its detriment when Smaug attacked the town in the events detailed in J.R.R. Tolkien's book the Hobbit.

The map for Lake Town is shown below.  It was drawn by hand using ink on vellum.


Map of Lake Town


The Citadel of the Maestas plans below were one of the few buildings in the module that wasn't made of wood and was built on the shore near the town.  The layouts were drawn using AutoCAD and were inspired by my architectural history background with all of the niches, vaults, windows and arches to looks somewhat like a set of European abbey plans.


Citadel of the Maestas First Floor Plan


Citadel of the Maestas Second Floor Plan


The layouts for Vodagar's Tavern below include four floor plans featuring the first floor, a balcony/mezzanine level, a floor for guest accommodations and Vodagar's widow's watch, office and quarters at the top.  It has the potential to provide a great backdrop for all kinds of dockside carousing, wenching, drinking, trouble-making, general role playing and tavern intrigue for a party of adventurers.  These drawings were drawn using AutoCAD and feature the wood structure and wood grain rendering for the furnishings as noted above.


Vodagar's Tavern First Floor Plan


Vodagar's Tavern Second Floor Plan


Vodagar's Tavern 3rd and 4th Floor Plans


The plan for Erranun's Dockside brothel is shown below.  It was drawn using AutoCAD.


Erranun's Brothel


The typical Lake Town merchant ship layout below was drawn by hand using ink on vellum.


Lake Town typical Merchant Vessel


Copyright notice:  All original artwork on this page is displayed for self promotion purposes only and is copyrighted by the original artist, Daniel Cruger.  This artwork may be downloaded and used for personal use only and may not be reproduced for commercial purposes in any way without the express written consent of the owner.

2 comments:

  1. More wonderful maps!

    I've loved Esgarath (Lake Town) ever since I first read The Hobbit, and shortly thereafter ran some adventures using the first ICE version of 'Northern Mirkwood' (now long lost, alas).

    I'll probably use Lake Town (including these superb layouts) in my next fantasy campaign. Even if I don't use Middle-earth (which is most likely), I'll have a 'Lake Town' (or 'Sea Town') in my setting!

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