A while back, I saw a stack of index cards with a grid on one side and blank on the other. I have a thing for office supplies as well as for gaming, so I couldn’t pass these up. They sat in a drawer for a while, but I recently started taking them out to doodle a little map and description when I’m feeling creatively stuck. It unclogs the circuits and gets my brain working again. Below are pictures of a couple of cards I’ve done. The maps are pretty rough, but that’s okay; the idea is to get something on paper without worrying about how it looks.
The top picture has a overhead map and an elevation picture. The back of the card reads:
The square temple sits facing a rocky escarpment of the often stormy sea. Tall, fluted columns rise from the 10′ tall foundation to hold the peaked roof. Bas relief sculptures around the foundation show ships battling storms and sea monsters. Inside, the huge statue of the deity stands, looking out over the sea beyond the cliff. The image is impossibly tall, reaching toward a ceiling that does not exist except as a view of a storming sky. It must be an illusion, but feels and sounds real. A mosaic of a storm rages on the wall behind the statue. Water falls down the two inner walls into pools, the cascades obscuring ancient prayers inscribed on the walls.
Yes, this all fit on the back of one card. I can write fairly small.
The back of the other card is just a list of the rooms:
Deep Gnome Mine features …
Natural cave with living quarters
Waterfall from somewhere above, with a river that goes far underground.
Smelting room with water and mine access
Workshop with forges
Storeroom
Leader’s room with secret access
Shrine
RPG Wandering 