Maps and Exit to Navy with Postscript

 I guess I could have quickly released a Greyhawk module to grab some income, but I was more interested in driving Starstrands to dimensionally create a nexus between game systems, broadening the fantasy. And frankly, this should have been a multi-person job. But Gary put out enough modules to keep me in map money.

So I did the maps for Dungeonlands, Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure, and The Maze of Xaene, which never saw print until Rob sold The Maze of Zayene to Necromancer Games.

Mind you, we were all still trading ideas. For instance, Gary incorporated our ideas into Dungeonlands. I came up with a "Hangman Tree" that flailed PCs with bodies when approaching to loot them; Gary kept the name and gave it his twist, and Rob had a hat with a monster living in it, which most likely inspired the Executioner's Hood. And while uncredited, I wrote the Happy Hunting Ground section of Maze of Xaene/Zayene.

I also explained to Gary that any kid with a transparent sheet of red could photocopy a non-photo blue map. That's why we shifted Mordenkainen's map to a darker, non-non-photo blue. And I changed the grid style to separate it from walls and objects. And while curtains had previously been hand-drawn, I drafted them instead. Effectively, I shifted my maps from hand-drawn to clean lines because maps are a tool best served by clear definition. At least, that was my mindset then.

I'll cover why I chose to join the Navy in another post, but in March of '83 I entered the Navy's delayed entry program with an enlistment date of November 3rd. I moved my mother to Tucson to be with her mothers and sisters. And in the meantime, I took a loan from my father and lived with Jeff Leason in Lake Geneva.

During this time, wanting to encourage Rob and Gary to get started on Greyhawk Castle, I began drafting its maps, which Paul Stormberg's Collector's Trove sold decades later.

Postscript

I'd like to add that I've consciously held back on detailing more about the Blume-Gygax war because it still upsets me strongly, and I just haven't been in a rehashing mood.