Dungeons And Dragons Online: Dev Diary by Muttonhead: Stormreach - A City Built on the Backs of Giants

In designing the settings for D&D Online, the first thing we did was ask ourselves: what is Eberron? What is it about the world of Eberron that makes it such an exciting place to be and the perfect setting for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign? To answer this question from a visual standpoint, I had to get my pencils moving. After getting initial direction from my Art Director and the D&D Art Director from Wizards of the Coast, I began sketching out ideas for the main parts of the city with the help of Todd Rueping, one of our other concept artists.

The city of Stormreach was described as a huge frontier-town built amongst the ruins of an ancient society of Giants that had fallen from grace thousands of years ago. To achieve this affect, I decided to take inspiration from things I had observed while living in New York City. New York is constantly being built and rebuilt, so you will often see a newer, modern building built atop or amongst the foundations of older buildings, creating an interesting juxtaposition of architectural styles and giving the city a feeling of being composed of multiple layers.

Read the rest of the dev diary over at DDO.Com and check out the new additions to the concept art gallery.