Kevin's Watch

Eeek! Sorry, Nathan! I never could read maps!

yep, same as Murrin's what the heck is that supposed to be anyway? From some game?

It's from Rome: Total war. The current state of our campaign map. In his one he's the big red one covering most of Europe and in mine I'm the big one covering most of Europe. If you watch closely you'll see that the maps change as time goes by...

I'd put mine up, were it not merely a bit of blue covering Sicily, some of North Africa and currently getting its ass kicked in Greece. Damn armoured hoplites

I found some more pics of Burg Rapottenstein.

www.dickemauern.de/rappott/biclam.htm

It doesn't seem big enough to be Orison though.

It's difficult to find photos of the inner areas, but if anyone wants to see/ is able to read the ground-plan(?), here it is: www.dickemauern.de/rappott/grclam.htm

Nathan,
My TMOHD edition has the Whelan cover, that's why I pictured it differently I guess. But we don't have to agree on one version anyway. Let the games continue.

Myste,
For some reason Orison (or Whelans cover art) reminded me a little of Neuschwanstein, Ludwig's most famous castle. Maybe because it seems equally chaotic. But it has become too 'disneyfied' and well-known to be Orison, I think. (I am biased because I was made to go there as a kid.)
images.google.de/images?q=neuschwanstei ... ogle-Suche

That's the cover I had in mind, Nathan.



(for some reason the link to SRD's homepage didn't work, so this is what my edition looks like)

I've been to Neuschwanstein, too, and it just struck me as too pretty. Sleeping Beauty, yes; Master Eremis, no. It is picturesque, though. One of the few places on earth that looks exactly the same in real life as it does on postcards. I just feel like it's a little too delicate. It'd never stand up to Kragen's catapults.

Hey Myste - did you see anything on your vacation that looks more like Orison to you?

Alas, no--though I did go to a restaurant that could have been Esmerel: low and rambling and a little dark, with a very impressive wine cellar....

And the cathedrals in both Trier and Strasbourg were hugely impressive spaces with certain details that might be appropriate to Orison, but the buildings themselves don't quite fit. I'm having pictures developed today, so maybe I'll post some of them soon.

Warwick castle is too regular looking for me. The castle is described as looking as though it started out on a plan, with willynilly irregular type additions. Also, I always pictured it as having a big open courtyard in the middle.

Carcassonne's irregularity looks right to me, but it's bigger than I imagined.

i have to agree in part with malone, i always pictured it somewhat like carcossonne, though more built up and more irregular

Myste wrote:If you've read the "Strongest Female Character" thread, you'll know that I'm all for Carcassonne, but some folks think differently. Share! Share!

Funny, I saw the topic and entered the thread planning to list Carcassone, and I see that is already the first suggestion...

Though in reality, I think Orison is much more dense than Carcassone, though I cannot think of a city which matches exactly what I have in mind - Carcassone was simply the closest - with maybe Avignon being a close second, especially the old papal palace being a pretty significant structure.

Aother suggestions are Vence and the fortress at Antibes - both in France

Torrent wrote:That's "Burg Rapottenstein" in Austria. What do you think?

Well, that one is hitting it pretty close on the nail

Yes, looks quite a bit like what I imagine Orison to look like-just on a, somewhat, flatter surface

Yes! Cut down some of the trees--make the approach to Orison clear to make room for Kragen's seige, and that's pretty good!

I still stand by Carcasonne, but I agree with Vector--it should be denser. And maybe there should be some Mad-King-Ludwig-esque towers here and there. I see a Photoshop project in the works, if only I could grab some time!

The architectural style is exactly how I imagined Orison, though I see it as one big rectangular building with slilghtly larger towers at the corners and a big courtyard in the middle.

I just realized my old web address has gone offline, and the pix in my earlier post were no longer visible. I have adjusted the URLs, and they should be visible again soon!

IrrationalSanity wrote:I just realized my old web address has gone offline, and the pix in my earlier post were no longer visible. I have adjusted the URLs, and they should be visible again soon!

Nice, but somehow I don't see that accomodating the complexity and population of Orison.

I think the "Burg Rapottenstein" is closest to what I pictured. Same general color and architectural style. The snow helps, too.

~Foamy~

Hmm, yes, Burg Rapottenstein is pretty close, too.