Norwind Arms Exchange

This is the second of three posts dealing with the isometrics that I had published in & Magazine issue 9. The first Proudfoot & Archer detailed a "finders" shop, with secret door and upper story with living quarters and closet. I found that I learned alot about drawing in isometrics, including remembering some of the things that I learned in 9th grade technical drawing class. 

Things like making sure the page is well secured to the drawing board, not using a white eraser and letting the dust get under the T-square, all came back to haunt me in that first isometric. It was quite frustrating for me. 

With Norwind Arms Exchange from the same article by Jeff Bowes I was able to accomplish a lot more drawing in less time due to some of the things I either learned or remembered while working on Proudfoot & Archer. 

Norwind Arms took me about nine hours to complete and once I started it with a thumbnail sketch of what I wanted I quickly was able to get the full size isometric down on paper and work my way up the page. 

(Click to Enlarge)

(Open in a new tab for an even larger view)

The article states that the exchange was built against the outer wall of the city/keep and so adding the detailed back wall was fun, including the wooden support columns it added a bit of interesting detail that Proudfoot & Archer was lacking. I admit that it took longer than expected to fill in all of those stones but I think it was worth it in the overall finished product. 

I have to admit I made a mistake on this one at the wrong time, as ink was already put down and so much of the drawing was done that, with the deadline approaching, I wasn't able to re-draw the whole thing. No one has yet pointed it out, but if you look at the 1st level of the tower on the left, the elevation should not be there, and I ended up duplicating it with more detail in the elevation at the top. It sort of has that "see through" feel but it was definitely a mistake in the drawing process. 

This building is so wrought with detail it was difficult deciding what to put in each of the "counting rooms", The doors tended to obscure the rooms quite a bit, and to make it playable I had to get the "walls" in and still allow the DM/GM to be able to use it in game. I varied the type of doors in this building as well, whereas those in Proudfoot were all common doors made of wood, the exchange needed to have a sense of security so, iron bound doors and steel doors were also used. The vault room on the far right is just crammed full of commodities, including jewels hanging from the shelf and a few ledge books. 

I thought it was important to show ledgers in each of the rooms, as well as a coinage tray for counting. The main office near the rear of the building has a separate safe in the cabinet and a set of scales for measuring "raw" commodities. 

I am pretty proud of the elevation in this one as well. With the plaster chipping off of the lathe and the Post and Beam construction showing through. The metal laced windows suggest a very secure building, and the fact that the owner allows men-at-arms from the city/keep to patrol from his rooftop, was a touch that I added close to the end of the drawing. 

I think I am most unhappy with how I decided to render the exchange windows. The bars obscure the detail of the rooms beyond and look like they are floating in space. I am not sure how else I could have shown the fact that the common exchange clerks were protected behind bars, but I did the best I could come up with. 

I hope you like it and are able to use in in your games, I would love to hear about it if you do. 

Thanks for looking and comments are always welcome. 

Update: & Magazine will be publishing "Three Shops" supliment which details Norwind Arms Exchange, Proudfoot & Archer, and Roving Eye Tavern. I posted the cover for the supliment here. 

Del Teigeler gives permission to print, and/or photocopy for personal use the images on this blog post.