Spent

This is the last week of the Year of the Dungeon, and good thing, because I feel utterly spent. Keeping up a posting schedule can be exhausting. These are the last few scanned dungeons, then I'm taking a short break from Microdungeons. That doesn't mean I won't be posting, but it won't be on quite the same schedule, at leas though January. The good news is, I've made 6 new microdungeons in the last 3 days! Holidays are good for drawing.

Maedrick's Flying Ship

Probably pretty impressive if you've never seen a flying ship. It kind of handles like a brick though, and it's a little under-armed. The swivel-guns open up some interesting tactical possibilities, however, and the hull is as stout as a hull can be.

October Compilation

The October Microdungeon Compilation hasjust been posted, courtesy of The Fantasy Cartographic. Thanks, Nick!

Spanterhook Thieve's Guild

Merry Christmas!

and Happy Holidays!

Godsfoot

Knock twice.

Joe Bar

One of the complex and difficult things we've had to deal with this year at home is my daughter's transfer from one school to another in mid-year. One of the side-effects of this transfer is that I will be spending a lot less time at Joe Bar, one of Seattle's best coffee shops. This micro was drawn at the Joe Bar.

Josh Angle

Josh Angle, AKA Shag, draws these weird mod tiki landscapes. I've always loved them. I've heard people complain that Shag's work is repetitive and unimaginative, but for me, it's always been on the cutting edge of imagination. The simplicity of his pictures is deceptive, like snapshots in a complicated and subtly menacing story of desire and loss. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Anway, his new stuff is really cool and kind of a departure for him. I like it.

Picture stolen from Hi Fructose

Goblin Housing Development

Still super busy. The art show is tomorrow! I'll post pictures. If you're in Seattle, stop by Cortona Coffee on Saturday between 7 and 9 and you'll probably get fed.

The Year of the Dungeon is Almost Over

Yeah, that's the truth. The Year of the Dungeon is almost over, long live the Dungeon!

So my initial plan was to do this for a year, and that ends on January first. I'm going to keep to that plan. But I'm not ready to shut down the blog. So look for a bit of a gradual format change over the next month. There will stil be dungeons!

The Sinkhole

Lost Breugel Uncovered

"The painting was beautiful, just not admired. Then suddenly, after more than four centuries, it was." Check out this NY Times article about a lost painting by Breugel. This guy is one of the great masters of fantastic art. He made some amazing paintings of the Tower of Bable that you may have seen before. If you like his stuff, check out Jacek Yerka, who paints today using similar techniques. Or, if you want something a little more modern and funky, check out Mattias Adolfsson.

Sealing Fan

The dreaded sealing fan is used to protect shrines and temples of the Ognofont dynasty. Besides their function of circulating cool, dry air through the inner sanctums,sealing fans are sometimes capable of animating and attacking intruders or, if the designers were particularly subtle, descending to block off an area once intruders have passed by to block their exit when they are tired and possibly wounded.

Tyrannosaurus Jungle

About Buying the Dungeons

There's been a spate of people wanting to buy dungeon originals lately, so here's the drill. Many of the dungeons on the blog are for sale.

I've been waffling very hard about selling the dungeons online and for how much. Frankly I've come to the conclusion that the way original art is priced and sold is completely screwy and I'm not into it. There Will be a blog post on that later, you better believe.

So for now I'm selling the originals at $25 each. That's basically a fee to cover my time and effort and shipping. Or else corner me in person when I've got a few minutes to chat and I'll draw you one for free on the spot. I might ask you to buy me coffee.

I've got some cool plans for the new year, which will include things like some nice letterpress editions and reproductions and the like which I'll be able to offer at a nice price point, so if $25 feels steep, hang in there. I've got you covered.

To purchase, email me at tony DOT dowler AT gmail DOT com, or DM @tonydowler on twitter and tell me which dungeon(s) you like. I'll let you know if they're available or not. Unfortunately, the town and wilderness maps aren't currently available at all.

Oh, and the physical details: each dungeon is drawn in pen and ink on 3"x4" cardstock and placed in a 4"x5" matte frame with foamcore backing. Dungeons may have small smudges or pencil marks owing to the process by which they were created.

If you're interested in custom commissions, email me and we'll chat. I offer reasonable rates, but I'm totally jammed with other life commitments until after the holiday season.

Thanksgiving

Yikes! I can't believe I forgot this one! I drew this dungeon last December, meaning to save it for Thanksgiving, but I forgot!

I guess when you get right down to it, I don't have much to say on the topic of Thanksgiving, other than thanks for looking at my dungeons, enjoying them, and giving me a reason to put them out there. Thanks to all the OSR people, game publishers, and art weirdos who keep putting great stuff out on the Net to look at, read, and play. This world is made of awesome.

Gun Thief

Joe McDaldno made a cool game called Gun Thief. I made this dungeon because of that game. That's all.

Google Maps Readability

41 Latitude has an elegant discussion of Google Maps and why it sets the bar for readability. Short form: Google Maps uses a range of subtle techniques to improve the readbility of their maps.

Stafford

The Estates