This is the other post I made on reddit today, this time on r/Twoshirts.

The Tale of Twoshirts happens within the city of Akri, on the coast of the Grimecian Empire.

I created this map in Inkarnate. It was originally for my D&D campaign (see my origin story post over on r/TheTaleofTwoshirts for more about that). I renamed and moved a few things for Twoshirts, but the city itself appeared there first. The description in the book – as Twoshirts and Angie stand on the Upstairs and look down over the city – is nearly a cut-and-paste from the description I gave the players in the campaign.

The main feature of the city is that it’s split into three levels. Akri is on the shores of the Abysmal Sea, which is a crater formed by a massive arcane explosion. On the crater rim, one of the ensuing landslides separated the three levels of what would eventually become the city of Akri: the high, surrounding plateau, a crescent-shaped middle level, and a small bit of land that became the wharves and docks.

Given that as a narrative starting point, I went to Inkarnate, and started dropping in assets. This image is the result, and I learned a lot once I started naming things and identifying important locations.

For example:

The gates: some are obvious, but Northgate plays on the fact that I’m from Seattle, and Northgate is both a neighborhood and a large mall (unsurprisingly, at the north end of the city).

The stairs & neighborhoods: the city is bifurcated by the road between the main gate and the docks, and I thought it would be a bit silly if they simply named the sections the Up, the Down, the Left, and the Right. Given this, naming the upper stairs the Upstairs, and the lower stairs the Downstairs, seemed the next obvious choice. I mean, if Seattle can name a northern neighborhood Northgate, and another neighborhood named Southcenter (guess where?), then why not?

The university and environs: starting with the Wizard’s Tower at the easternmost point (to observe the newly-formed sea), things grew organically from there. The research wizards constructed houses that became the Wizard’s Warren, then a few university buildings, then one library, and then a few more, followed by fraternity housing for all those annoying students, who definitely needed all-night greasy spoons like the Pie and Piper.

The Royal Boathouse: if there’s a small secluded place where someone can buy waterfront property, then a rich guy’s gonna do it. It’s called the Royal Boathouse for pretense, not due to ownership.

The Iron Peanut Ship Repair & Construction Company: Late in campaign 1, the (now-high-level) players wanted to buy a boat. I needed a place for them to buy it. I don’t know why or how I came up with this name, but it’s perfect for a whimsical cozy fantasy, and so it moved to Akri in this world.

Akri was fun to make back in the D&D campaign, and knowing what I knew about it, it was the ideal place for Twoshirts and Boggle to start their adventure together.