Artist's Commentary: This page finally gives us a dose of every dungeon's most iconic threat, a trap. Scott gave me some interesting perspectives in this one, and we employed some creative use of text and sound effects which we do only for special circumstances. The picture of Serten with his mace (pictured left) was also quite a bear, it took me three tries to get the view just right. And of course, there's the brick and stonework. My hand cramped but it was worth it. Remember that dungeon designers, use flagstones, it makes hiding a pressure plate easy. Looking forward to seeing how the party deals with the current set back. Stay tuned!
It was worth three takes -- you completely nailed that panel.
ReplyDeleteSo in panel 3, when the pit has opened and Tenser is falling, are the two lids of the pit falling in with him, or am I having one of those strange perspective moments again? ;->
ReplyDeleteIf so, the lids of the pit could cause quite a bit of additional damage too, methinks! (I've not had the lids of pits fall in like this before, I don't think---in general I have them hinged one one or two sides, usually).
I also like the Star-Trek-like pit lids closing in panels 4-5, too (and presumably resetting the trap). If the lids fell, there must be a clip of lids on either side, eh? ;)
Lastly, how deep do you envision the pit being----my sense is that it's at least 30' deep but may be significantly more (60'-80' perhaps?), based on the darkness in panels 3-4). Just curious: I love me some pits, as I mentioned in a K&K thread recently, describing my sense of the general progression of pit traps as dungeon level difficulty increases: "open pits at first, then covered pits, then covered pits that close, then pits with spikes, then pits with secret doors at the bottom that lead to other encounters/treasure, then pits with secret doors at the bottom that lead to worse traps"
:D
Allan.
Haha I like your interest in the pit design Allan.
ReplyDeleteI think the pit has to be beyond 30' or that perspective doesn't do the trap any justice. He'd fall in, the pole lantern is used to climb up, move on...
I do like the falling lids part of the pit, mind you this is all Scott's direction here. My guess is the lids fall in first and block what must be something worse like spikes and Tenser cracks his back on the lids which hurt yes but won't leave him impaled either.
The closing lids were fun to draw too. I debated making them flag stoned but opted against it since these doors are meant to be a permanent sealed floor. The trap is a one shot essentially.