Oubliette: The Flight of the Bumblebee.

(The Heavier-Than-Air Vessel "The Bumblebee"; Art by Dave Holland.)







I made these hexmaps for the airship in my Oubliette campaign & was charmed by how old school they turned out. The hexes were a bit smaller than I wanted, which I didn't realize till we actually hit the table, but that was no big deal; just made things a little more cramped than I intended, which actually worked out, because it made James say it was "like a submarine" which was the atmosphere I was shooting for. The top is the cockpit, leveraged somewhat downwards, & the quarters for the ship's noble patron & their mount. In this case, that would presumably be Duke Slumberheart, but he ended up sleeping in a hammock in the stables with Rosewater, following the lead of Blue Glory & Herakles Nightmare. Curie slept in the engine room one night but felt guilty & slept with his new mount Fenrir Stormstruck. Chaplin Rush, their pilot, slept in the bunks in the engine room. The roof of the top has plates that can bristle open like scales, & the bottom-most part (marked "G") is the anabaric cannon ("G" for "gun"). Mostly the design is modular, with kitchen elements, tables, hammocks, stowage, all being easy to snap on & snap off. When I brought out the maps I said "I have this weird fussy fear that I'll just end up ruining these with spilled water or coffee" & lo & behold, as soon as I set them down one soaked up a wine ring. S'okay, as mentioned, Leonardo da Vinci's stuff is all covered in wine stains, & I'm exactly like Leo. Almost exactly the same. Katanas & everything. After all, I'm sketching notes & designs about a flying machine, & I'm a frickin' genius. So basically twinsies.