Posted By: goldgraeThat does give me an idea, though. Maybe a transparency could be put to use as an overlay for the tiles. That is, rather than laying down a full printed tile that has been printed with the secret revealed. Might save ink. Although it would only work on relatively light-colored dungeons with dark-colored secrets...
Maybe I could use label sheets and then just stick down the secret once they find it. While it might not work very well for hidden rooms in and of themselves, it could be used for sprung traps, secret doors, etc. Probably a pretty limited application, though.
No reason, of course, that I can't just tell them verbally.
One way to do secrets is to hide every thing else and make a drawing with only the secrets in it. Pack them all together, print them and chop them out as you need them. You can keep the chopped out bits for later use.
Alternatively, make a symbol catalog thumbnail file with real size units, print that, and chop out.
The last of the maps for the Gangs of Wheloon adventure. BTW, we are actually running the adventure this weekend so I'll be able to get pictures of the actual maps in use.
The only suggestion I have with regards to the roads in your picture is that you might want to take advantage of the fact that fractals don't scale with the image: you can zoom in and have the same degree of rough edging as you would at full size- but then when you zoom extents, the much more detailed edging looks far more ragged and organic. It takes longer to set them down, but the results are quite pleasing to the eye. You should be able to use a fill of your choice to get a nice, rough rock-and-dirt feel to it, and then go back in with small plants and the occasional bit of water, or use translucent layers to add ruts and similar things, maybe with some creative use of wall shadows and the like to add depth.
I have duneon floor tiles I made out of manilla envelopes... I'll soon start making them with CC3, etc.
What I have on the game table for the players to see is only what their characters can see in a lantern, or what ever lighting source the game uses.
For D&D, I made a clear contact paper rectangle for a bullseye lanter, or a circle for a torch, and put it between 2 sheets of paper, with an apropriate cut out area so the plastic still shows the map. Marked it off in scale distances for the map sheets in my 3-ring binder. So I can slide along as their characters move, then I place the floor tiles out on the table that show the dungeon area their characters can see.
Okay, as promised some pictures of the actual City Square map being used. The map is actually inside a vinyl sleeve that protects it, and allows us to write on top of it, but also give it a weird reflective surface. For this battle we actually also built some scaffolding where the combat could go in 3 dimensions. All in all the battle was a lot of fun.
Posted By: RalfLooks amazing. I love that scaffolding.
Thanks Ralf, coming from you that means a lot. The scaffolding was fun to build and was a big hit during the adventure. You could climb on it and have a commanding view of the city square (denying the enemy cover). But it was rickety so anyone at the bottom could try to shake you off the top. The other cool thing about the scaffolding is that you could fight on it or below it. 3D combat is a lot of fun.
Keeping up with the RPGA adventures is quite challenging. There are so many maps and so little time. The following maps were all done in about a 4 hour period due to a short deadline. This is a testament to the versatility of CC3. There was only one unfortunate side effect to trying to work so fast. After I printed this to a 36" x 24" poster, my computer ran out of battery and powered down. I had forgotten to save after the last modifications so all I was left with was the beginnings of the earthmote map. Lots of crying ensued... LOL
First up maps for the RPGA adventure "The Rotting Ruins of Galain"
The first map is of an Earthmote. One of those "fantastic terrain" pieces. It consists of two cliff faces overlooking a valley. A suspension bridge crosses from one cliff to the Earthmote, a piece of ground that is suspended in mid air by magical means. Then another suspension bridge crosses the gap from the earthmote to the other cliff. Having a battle on top of the earthmote is tricky, since your opposition will definitely try to dump you off the side. Falling of the side is not a death sentence though, since you only fall to a lower level and not to the valley below. The combat atop the earthmote was a lot of fun.
This next set of maps are for the RPGA adventure Elder Wisdom. They are also part of that 4 hour window to attempt to get maps for an event with a tight deadline.
The first is a wilderness encounter near a ring of standing stones.
Posted By: NeonKnightWOW! Must be ex-pen-sive! to print those all out.
It depends. I try to accomodate several maps on a 24" x 36" area. That way we can print them at Kinko's in black and white for $3.00 a sheet.
When I have to print the color ones we either use an Inkjet Printer or a Color Laser. At that point our costs are really subsumed with all the other printing I normally have to do. So a color printout is about $.06 per page (8.5" x 11") on average. Most of those maps will use at least 4 sheets. So you're looking at about $.25 - $.75 per map depending on size.
We can't do the large color map prints at Kinko's because of cost. I believe they charge $7 per square foot, for the large prints.
Posted By: BidmaronHave you considered making the fcw files available? I'd like to see the techniques you used to make these.
I did consider it, the problem is that most of these are using PNG Symbols that are not from Profantasy and will probably show up with lots of empty areas if you don't have the same file structure as I do. I believe PNG Symbols work somewhat different to vector symbols. I haven't tried it.
Posted By: DkarrI believe PNG Symbols work somewhat different to vector symbols.
They do unfortunately. File structure and symbol distribution can be an issue.
What we really need is a "Pack'n'Go" wizard that takes all non-standard png-files, puts them in a subfolder in the map's directory (and optionally encrypts them as well), and change all the references in the map to point to those copies of the images (using relative paths based on the map location). That would make maps much easier to distribute.
Okay, I've had a long hiatus from mapping. Unfortunate, but sometimes life just gets in the way.
However, a couple of weeks ago I signed up to run a My Realms adventure for character levels 4-7. My Realms adventures, for those that don't know, are adventures that you write yourself, place them within the context of the Forgotten Realms, and play them as part of an RPGA event for the Living Forgotten Realms campaign.
I've been gaming for a very long time, and one of the inspirations for my original games where the descriptions of Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign. In particular the City of the Gods and Temple of the Frog. So as I set forward to create the adventure I decided to give homage to the classics. I created an adventure set in the Temple of the Frog. It took me the better part of a week to organize my thoughts and create the adventure. And if I was going to make this memorable I would need a set piece battle with one of the temple priests. Set piece battles call for awesome maps. So I turned once again to CC3 to build my battlemap. I had very limited time to do this so I could not spend a lot of time creating custom symbols or custom bitmap fills. However, I did take the time to build this as a 3D map, using some FoamCore as a base. Below is the map for the setpiece battle with Rialtan the Cultist Priest. Below that is a picture that one of the players snapped as the battle started.
Map created with CC3 3D diorama for the actual battle (Photo by T. Keck)
Posted By: ArbanaxThese are great maps out of interest how do you make it so that the grid is only small crosses rather than full lines> Ab
I created a "cross" symbol with an origin point at the cross's center. I place the symbol at every grid intersection. They go on the grid sheet and the sheet has certain effects to make the grid less obvious though visible.
Thanks Dkarr, just as an aside in CC2 and Pro you could print out a sheet by selecting the scale 1"=5' is that still the case with CC3 and is that how you printed it to scale?
Yes, the same functionality that existed in CC2 & Pro is still available in CC3. I print to scale and that works perfectly. They have significantly expanded much of the drawing functionality in CC3. That is how you get to see shadows, blur effects, lighting effect all from the base program, without having to do any post-production tweaking.
Once you get sheet effects that you like, you can just save that as a template and then all your maps can easily have the same effects.
A small suggestion for perfectionists: Make the stairs, an actual (1-step) stair, that way you can put the minis on top of it, if the characters are on the stairs).
A small suggestion for perfectionists: Make the stairs, an actual (1-step) stair, that way you can put the minis on top of it, if the characters are on the stairs).
Oh, that's one part of the encounter that is on purpose. The troops above throw a switch and the stairs become a slide. So that the heroes have to climb the wall or scale the slide, making it very difficult to reach the priest and his sacrifice.
Comments
Alternatively, make a symbol catalog thumbnail file with real size units, print that, and chop out.
Temple Underground
I'm hoping to get a few maps made that are frequently used by my players and get them printed poster size.
What I have on the game table for the players to see is only what their characters can see in a lantern, or what ever lighting source the game uses.
For D&D, I made a clear contact paper rectangle for a bullseye lanter, or a circle for a torch, and put it between 2 sheets of paper, with an apropriate cut out area so the plastic still shows the map. Marked it off in scale distances for the map sheets in my 3-ring binder. So I can slide along as their characters move, then I place the floor tiles out on the table that show the dungeon area their characters can see.
Here is the one I made for a 40' torch radiius.
40' radious torch game aid
When I switch to my Movable Type blog sometime this weekend, my word press blog will go away so here is the MT link: 40' radious torch game aid
Note the MT blog wont go live until later. I'll post in 'Cartographic Resources' when I do so.
City Square Battle
First up maps for the RPGA adventure "The Rotting Ruins of Galain"
The first map is of an Earthmote. One of those "fantastic terrain" pieces. It consists of two cliff faces overlooking a valley. A suspension bridge crosses from one cliff to the Earthmote, a piece of ground that is suspended in mid air by magical means. Then another suspension bridge crosses the gap from the earthmote to the other cliff. Having a battle on top of the earthmote is tricky, since your opposition will definitely try to dump you off the side. Falling of the side is not a death sentence though, since you only fall to a lower level and not to the valley below. The combat atop the earthmote was a lot of fun.
Earthmote Bridge
City Street with ruins
Town Hall - Final Battle
The first is a wilderness encounter near a ring of standing stones.
Wilderness Encounter
Ruined Tomb Areas
Ruined Tomb Areas - Continued
Ruined Tomb Areas - Continued
When I have to print the color ones we either use an Inkjet Printer or a Color Laser. At that point our costs are really subsumed with all the other printing I normally have to do. So a color printout is about $.06 per page (8.5" x 11") on average. Most of those maps will use at least 4 sheets. So you're looking at about $.25 - $.75 per map depending on size.
We can't do the large color map prints at Kinko's because of cost. I believe they charge $7 per square foot, for the large prints.
What we really need is a "Pack'n'Go" wizard that takes all non-standard png-files, puts them in a subfolder in the map's directory (and optionally encrypts them as well), and change all the references in the map to point to those copies of the images (using relative paths based on the map location). That would make maps much easier to distribute.
However, a couple of weeks ago I signed up to run a My Realms adventure for character levels 4-7. My Realms adventures, for those that don't know, are adventures that you write yourself, place them within the context of the Forgotten Realms, and play them as part of an RPGA event for the Living Forgotten Realms campaign.
I've been gaming for a very long time, and one of the inspirations for my original games where the descriptions of Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign. In particular the City of the Gods and Temple of the Frog. So as I set forward to create the adventure I decided to give homage to the classics. I created an adventure set in the Temple of the Frog. It took me the better part of a week to organize my thoughts and create the adventure. And if I was going to make this memorable I would need a set piece battle with one of the temple priests. Set piece battles call for awesome maps. So I turned once again to CC3 to build my battlemap. I had very limited time to do this so I could not spend a lot of time creating custom symbols or custom bitmap fills. However, I did take the time to build this as a 3D map, using some FoamCore as a base. Below is the map for the setpiece battle with Rialtan the Cultist Priest. Below that is a picture that one of the players snapped as the battle started.
Map created with CC3
3D diorama for the actual battle (Photo by T. Keck)
Ab
Hope that helps.
Thanks for the prompt reply.
Ab
Yes, the same functionality that existed in CC2 & Pro is still available in CC3. I print to scale and that works perfectly. They have significantly expanded much of the drawing functionality in CC3. That is how you get to see shadows, blur effects, lighting effect all from the base program, without having to do any post-production tweaking.
Once you get sheet effects that you like, you can just save that as a template and then all your maps can easily have the same effects.
A small suggestion for perfectionists: Make the stairs, an actual (1-step) stair, that way you can put the minis on top of it, if the characters are on the stairs).