Star Phoenix Revisited

What a difference several years make. When I embarked on the mission to publish my own books eight years ago my skill level was minimal. Most of what I learned during my 15 years at pre-WotC TSR in the 80s and 90s was still there, but much of it no longer matched the self-publishing realities of the 2010s or the kind of work required when operating independently from an established publisher with somewhere near 100 employees. In the distant wake of the Voyage of the Princess Ark that I authored in the 90s for Dragon Magazine, I wanted a series of skyship deck plans to be featured at the World of Calidar's core. At the time, I had no idea what to expect from a Kickstarter, and the price tag of having these maps drafted by professionals seemed well over what I might be able to afford. So, I drafted the maps the best way I could back then. Here's a "before" & "after" snapshot showing what the original maps looked like vs. what I'm doing now.

Before: a simple diagram published in CAL1 "In Stranger Skies" in 2013

After: a work-in-progress rendition of the revised main deck & superstructures

I use a freeware application called PaintNet. Though limited in its graphic abilities, its learning curve is fairly low. It does require a lot of add-ons, and I rely heavily on 3rd party textures and stock art for details. Those took years to accumulate. The result speaks for itself. Here are a few more sneak previews of the final work.

Main Deck, Stern Section

Outlines Layer by Itself

Work files are raster graphics, which presents a challenge when adding colors or textures within line art. To prevent badly pixilated edges resulting from a simple attempt to fill in colors, layered graphics become a must. The complexity of fully detailed renditions often requires 15-20 layers (such as outline layers above color or texture layers, or whatever lies on a table layered above table graphics, which lies above chair elements, carpet graphics come next, and that lies above floor textures, and so on). Add to this any number of temporary layers that get merged with permanent ones during the drafting process. Patience with this is key.

Filled-In Textures Layer

Good luck making corrections later if something doesn't look quite right. Every single layer will need to be looked at. A common mistake is adding something to the wrong layer, and then spending precious time later to find which layer it was put on. This is when the cats perk up at the sound of muttered French swearing as I switch layers off and back on, hoping I didn't mess up something else.

How about some shadows?

The texture for the floor or in this case a ship's wooden deck begs for some thinking as regards how it might blend in with a grid. Some trial and error is to be expected here until the graphics are scaled properly.

Grid vs. Texture Layers

You're getting the idea. Add to this the layers for what should show "above" the walls' texture, such as doors and windows. Way up higher, you'll position layers for map symbols (stairs directions, secret doors, etc.) and labels.

Upping the Ante: the Lower Deck with full details

Here's another view with everything and the kitchen sink. Oh, the joy of making sure stairs connect exactly with those on adjacent decks. I'm a stickler for this, although most players and DMs won't lose sleep over a few pixels. While in game, this won't matter. I made precisely this kind of error in my original diagram of 2013, much to my dismay. It's now fixed in the revised version. Ugh. How embarrassing.

Just for fun, I'm including a screenshot of the hold's forward section. The final work includes two 12"x18" sheets and the digital files rendered at 600 dpi (with and without labels). I'll see if I can include VTT files for use with Roll20 and such; that's new territory for me. Drafting the revised deck plans took exactly 2 weeks, working pretty much full time, using the old map version and the original sketch produced by the cover artist, Ben Wootten. The design was part of the last Kickstarter project I ran, July 2021. Backers receive this as part of their rewards. The deck plans will become available to the public on DriveThru probably before the end of this year. Ideally, I'd like to redo all of the deck plans in CAL1, but this will have to wait until I'm done with the current project. If you have questions, contact me via Facebook or Twitter. Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Happy Flying!

A Gargantuan Beastie for D&D BECMI

While I’m on a roll to show off miscellaneous Calidar stuff in D&D BECMI format and before diving into the subject of demigods, here’s a fun monster few adventurers are likely to encounter in a dungeon. This was taken from CAL1 “In Stranger Skies.” There’s more of this where it wandered from. All of CAL1’s game stats are due to be published soon for Labyrinth Lord (OSR) in the near future as part of CAL1a, the “Conversion Guide to Meryath,” and for the OSRIC system in CAL1b. The material below is published with written permission from the author… oh, that’s me! Never mind.

Ghülean Grön, John Dollar ©2013 Calidar Publishing.

Ghülean Grön™

These creatures are native of Ghüle, the orcs’ alien world. They are colossal, grossly fat, mangy worms partially covered with gray fur except where orcs have bolted armor plates onto them. Orcish standards and the bones of defeated monsters sometimes adorn the beasts. Like those on humpback anglerfish, appendages with glowing lures extend from the top of the gröns’ monstrous heads. Two huge, greenish eyes complete the picture. Gröns vary from the size of small galleys to something large enough to swallow several thousand orcs and their war machines.

Ghülean Grön (CAL1 p. 106)
Pup	AC 3 (head) or AC 5 (body), HD 20**, 100 hp, MV 90’ (30’) levitating only, AT nil, D nil, Save F15; Size Huge (as a small galley)—Dex 3, Int 6, ML 9, AL Neutral, XP 5,975.
Bull	AC 0 (head) or AC 3 (body), HD 80**, 400 hp, MV 120’ (40’) levitating only, AT nil, D nil, Save F20; Size Giant (400ft. length, 80 ft. girth)—Dex 2, Int 7, ML 8, AL Neutral, XP 50,750.
Elder	AC –3 (head) or AC 1 (body), HD 320**, 1,600 hp, MV 150’ (50’) levitating only, AT nil, D nil, Save F25; Size Gargantuan (1,000 ft. length, 200 ft. girth)—Dex 1, Int 8, ML 7, AL Neutral, XP 230,750 (Think you’ll level up already?)
Abilities	Apnea for multiple hours at a time; resistant to outer-space conditions; can open a wormhole twice per day. No internal digestive system; though functional, mouths are vestigial remains predating their ability to drain World Soul energy. Can transport passengers and freight internally. Though they can’t attack individual foes, gröns can ram ships; they automatically hit a vessel in their path, inflicting hull damage equivalent to a quarter their total Hit Dice +10 (thus, a 320 HD grön can inflict 90 points of ramming damage). If damage exceeds half the ship’s hull rating, it is pushed out of the grön’s way.
Capacity	Pup—50-200 orcs and personal gear Bull—300-900 orcs and personal gear Elder—1,000-4,000 orcs and personal gear. Use lower numbers if relevant freight is included (such as war machines, long-term field supplies, booty, captured slaves, etc.)
Defenses	All gröns—cold-based attacks. Spells cast at gröns may fail entirely and, if so, feed/heal them instead, as follows: Pup—10% chance Bull—20% chance Elder—30% chance. Spells absorbed in this manner heal 1d8 hp per spell level, thus a 9th level spell can heal up to 9d8 of the creature’s total hit points. When able to drain World Soul energy, gröns heal combat damage as follows: Pup—2d6+8 hp/day Bull—7d10+10 hp/day Elder—3d%+20 hp/day.

            These beasts can fly, though a bit more slowly than an average skyship, and are unmaneuverable. The largest ones require miles to turn when moving at full speed, or several long minutes if hovering. Gröns can sustain flight in space’s airless void for several hours before suffocating. Once outside a planet’s atmosphere, elder worms use the appendages on their heads to generate wormholes and reach nearby worlds. They appear just outside their destinations’ atmosphere where the wormholes end. Younger gröns travel alongside their parents and through their wormholes. If the appendage is destroyed or cut off, it regrows in one to three Calidaran years. Flying through space is the gröns’ favored way of ridding themselves of vermin and other unsavory creatures dwelling on their skins.

            Gröns are parasites without means of attacking anything, at least intentionally. Their natural life involves nesting in the deepest caverns of a world and feeding upon its natural magic core. This energy is what allows them to fly and control wormholes. When a world is stripped bare of its soul, gröns migrate to another and resume the process. Orcs of Ghüle do not allow this to happen, at least to protect their own world, and therefore keep the number of gröns within safe limits. A great many elder gröns would be needed for a long time to deplete Calidar’s world soul, but they could potentially succeed if allowed to multiply.

            Gröns can live more than a thousand years. They reproduce not more than once per century. Ghülean clans breed them in captivity and use them as troop transports between their world and another they wish to raid. Orcs enter through the beasts’ cavernous mouths and wait inside their bodies, among hollow innards. Pups can hold a few hundred orcs, elder worms up to several thousand. Air supply is limited but sufficient for an hour-long journey through space. Gröns stranded outside a wormhole eventually die, along with their passengers. Ghülean shamans wield spells altering the layout of organs and flesh inside their gröns, which allows them to open a passage into the beasts’ heads. A shaman may stand inside a cranium and commune with the host, sensing all that it sees and feels. This allows the shaman to train the creature from its youngest age and control its flight, including forming wormholes. Gröns are the pride and joy of the orcish clans who raise them, a source of even more delight than tormenting slaves and ripping the wings off flies.

Ghülean Grön ©2013 Calidar Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

D&D® Game and BECMI game mechanics ©1983-1991 TSR, Inc., Wizards of the Coast.

Skyship Revisited

I've continued working on the Peryton of Alfdaín (click here for the top view posted earlier), generating a side view and a cutaway version. It's been an eye opener on the matter of ship design. Let's just say, this is fantasy! I'm more interested in making sure the layout lends itself to D&D-style tactical combat. Here are a few snapshots of the latest draft. There still remains a good amount of work needed, with the rigging in particular. If your browser allows it, click on the images and open them on a separate tab to view them at full resolution.

The biggest challenge for the side view was getting a deer head that matched the one in the top view. I originally drew the head in the top view from a photo I found on the internet. The profile version was beyond my graphic skills, so I relied on Joe Garcia's talents to draft side and front projections. It worked like a charm. I added the colors, texture, and shadows. What do you think?

In the cutaway version, the illusory deer head vanishes to reveal the skyship's cockpit. Since "flight controls" aren't mechanical, the helm doesn't need to be positioned near the ship's rudder. The helm is therefore at the bow for greater visibility, unlike real-world seagoing ships but more like an aeroplane. One of the ship's organic deck weapons lies afore of the helm, pointing out through an opening at the bow (to be drafted later). The door at the cockpit's rear opens onto the main deck. The crew's head and sleeping quarters lie below, on the lower deck. The "L" tag marks the location of ladder rungs on the outer hull, allowing the crew to climb from the main deck to an open section of the lower deck (see side view).

This shows a closeup of the Peryton's midship. The door and windows connect with the lower deck's enclosed section. Ladder rungs lead up to the main deck.

The cutaway version reveals details of the cargo hatch and wooden supports for the masts. Reminder: this is a quad-masted skyship, meaning its masts are positioned in an "X" pattern, with two outrigger masts crossing through the main deck at 45 degrees, and two more below deck protruding through the lower hull at the same angle (definitely NOT seaworthy!) This is completely nuts, but hey, it's fantasy for ya! The four masts connect on the lower deck, blocking the passage. The only way past them is outside, on the main deck (as shown in the top view), or below, in the hold (as shown by the arrow.) 

The difficulty with the ship's stern lies in its rounded shape, which I could only hint at with shades in the side view. The aft castle (A & B) hangs over the lower deck (C) a bit too far, due to a miscalculation on my part when I originally drafted the top views of the various decks. It was too late to fix by the time I drafted the side view. Live and learn... The odd squarish structure at the back of the lower deck is a turret used as officers' heads.

The cutaway view reveals details of the hold (D). I had originally positioned the capstan closest to the bow, but the hold there is too narrow (10' wide or less). So I moved the whole element abaft. Calidar skyships use "air anchors" as airborne moorings. It's a bit odd, but for an airship being anchored astern shouldn't matter too much. If anything, sails can be unfurled with a convenient tailwind when lifting anchor. I'm not entirely satisfied with the capstan mechanism, which probably doesn't work as designed. I think it needs a separate axle for the anchor chain to wrap around. I may fix this later. Fortunately, because the skyship's aft section is so wide, there should be enough room to fit such a system. The hold also possesses a loading bay at its stern, a convenient feature when the vessel is moored at a docking tower.

If you ever wondered how to justify a druid character working on a skyship, fret no longer! I used the forward hold as the space for the vessel's organic "sap" stowage. Elven ships are semi-living structures that can grow deck weapons when needed. Weaponry and ship repair require a certain amount of sap, which is shown here. This spot is a weird, overgrown tangle of sticky, oozing stuff that no one but the ship's "plantmaster" should be messing with. You might have noticed the crew heads on the deck just above, which is part of the ship's onboard fertilizing ecosystem. On the smelly end of things, I now leave you to ponder the ship's design. Hope you enjoyed the preview. The final draft will be part of my present Calidar project, CAL3 "Wings over Alfdaín." 

Skyship: The Peryton of Mythuín

While design for the upcoming Calidar gazetteer, CAL3 Wings over Alfdaín, is proceeding, I felt the need to draft a new skyship. It's been a while since the last time I toyed with deck plans, so now seems as good a time as any other. For sure, this will have something to do with Captain Isledemer's next skyward adventure. This can obviously be retrofitted to Spelljammer without difficulty.

            I cropped the image posted above from a 12”x18” poster rendered at 600 dpi. Click on it and use your browser's enlarge function to see the full-res image. I’ll add armament, individual launches, and other deck details in the final draft. The other decks are positioned to its right and left on the original image, including the lower deck, the hold, and the aft castle (the latter covers the main deck’s stern section in the image above to give a complete “top view”). It’s the reason why parts of the sails are transparent, since they overlap adjacent floor plans.

Gimbal-like device

            The bridge is located at the fore (with a clear canopy, like in a modern airplane), concealed within an illusory deer head. This enchantment is invisible from the bridge. Though it appears like any other skyship helm, the wheel can be tilted forward and back or sideways to maneuver the ship in a 3D environment. Helm “commands” travel through the hull’s mycelium network to a large gimbal-like device located amidships, below deck. Calidar skyships hold enchantments providing lift and a movement bias along their centerlines. The gimbal controls this dweomer’s orientation, forcing the ship’s hull to progressively match its exact alignment. It’s what enables skyships to sail against the wind (like a keel on a sea-going vessel). Without it, skyships would only drift with the prevailing winds. Sails below deck also prevent the vessels from rolling over.

            Elven skyships are partially alive. Sap vesicles fitted inside their holds provide the vessels with their “life blood,” so to speak. Because of this, elven ships need to land when they run low on sap (usually at a giant tree used as docking tower and supply source). This biological feature enables various types of weapons to be grown from the deck when needed. One such device is also located on the bridge, so as to “shoot” out of the figurehead’s mouth. Theoretically, the vessel’s mycelium network enables a single crew posted at any one weapon to operate all of the others simultaneously. Although the image posted above does not show ropes and pulleys, they are nonetheless rigged to the masts, yardarms, and sails. The ship’s latent awareness helps manage the complicated sail arrangement, substantially reducing total crew numbers aboard.

            Many elven skyships feature a “quad-mast” design: two outrigger masts angled 45˚ upward, above the main deck, and two more masts at 45˚ downward, below the hull. The Peryton of Mythuín is a “double quad-masted vessel,” in other words it possesses 8 masts altogether. Her four upper masts are rigged with lateen sails. The other four have a different arrangement, which will become more obvious once I finish drafting her side and front views. If I can manage it, I’ll include one or two cutaway views as well. Those will be available in the CAL3 gazetteer and in separate (printed) poster format.