Blast from the past there, Jim!

"Them!" (IMDb link) was one of the 1950s nuclear fear monster movies, and I think (as confirmed by Wikipedia - make of that what you will 😉), was the first to feature giant insects as the protagonists. And yes, giant ants can never escape from all of that for those in the movie-know!

A lot of the real-world fold-out maps I've used tend to have the key all across the base margin of the map, often with other items down the sides, or scattered in various other parts on or off the map - often wherever there's some convenient areas of open sea (given they're primarily UK maps I've used in this regard, and the sea's never that far from anywhere here!).

In this case, it seems to me the key is such an essential part of the map, with items that would otherwise have been written directly onto the places themselves, had space and clarity allowed, the lower-central placement is fully justified, and makes the whole drawing look more balanced. Setting the key to the lower right would unbalance the whole composition uncomfortably to my eye.

Looking good!

You may be having a few problems with the classic "jumping text" issue, pushing things out of position too far at different zoom resolutions, or with different bitmap image renders - hence "Grain & Water Storage" in your Second Floor map ends right at the edge of the panel behind the text lines, for instance. This is down to how CC3+ handles text, and is a perennial problem, unfortunately. Beyond exploding the text again (which fixes it in place) - as before, not an ideal solution, as it means it's no longer editable text - you can try to make fuller use of the text placement point (like "Bottom Center", "Mid Left", etc.), as that means the text nearest that chosen point will not move away from where you place it. However, it will move away in the opposite direction (or both, if you pick something like "Mid Center") if it needs to/feels like it, so there's an element of swings and roundabouts here.

The only real solution is to expand things like the coloured background panel behind the numerical key list, so that when you view the map complete on screen, all the text fits in it. Then try scrolling in or out a little, and see if the text still fits inside that area. If it doesn't, adjust the size of the panel again. This should mean that in most cases the text block will look OK both in a normal CC3+ view, and in most whole-map image renders. Most, though not all, sadly, and it can sometimes mean the background panel looks a little too large.

❄️Cool 😁❄️

Yes, CC3+'s text handling isn't great unfortunately, in all sorts of respects, but you do get used to its quirkiness after a while.

Unfortunately, multi-line text entries don't allow anything like as much text as you might wish, so in reality, you're better off getting used to what CC3+ is capable of handling by using its text facilities, rather than getting endlessly irritated and frustrated by what it won't easily let you do, and switching to an alternative text editing mechanic.

One trick I've used a few times is to set up a piece of multi-line text, then copy, paste and edit that for the next text segment. That way, you have a text block already on-screen in multi-line format, which gives you a better idea of how long your text lines can be before you need to switch to the next line down, when typing a paragraph. Doesn't always work easily, as most fonts aren't monospaced (= each character occupies the same amount of horizontal space), so that can cause further problems.

Then there's the whole issue of text not staying where you put it at different viewing and rendering resolutions, which is a whole fresh level of "joy and delight" (not!).

Yes, he did Sue. He also said to remind him if he forgot.

What giant swamp flowers...? 🌼

Did you go for the HPLHS boxed set of props as well? Not a cheap addition if you've already gone halves on the two-inch 40th anniversary boxed set, but it does add to the mix quite nicely (there are a few gaps and oddities among the props, though nothing insurmountable in what I've come across so far; I am a LONG way from going through them all, however!).

I'm just a sucker for boxed sets, I think!

The updated "Shadows" sounds very much in the pattern of "Horror" and "Masks". There are definitely things in some of these older scenarios that benefit from updating, reflecting modern sensibilities and changed attitudes since they were originally written. Plus the expanded features in both have been fascinating to see, so I'd expect an updated Shadows would be equally good (especially as I suspect I know at least one of the people heavily involved in its preparation!).

Not sure I'm quite ready for an updated HPLHS props set to go with Shadows yet though - I haven't got through the props for the 40th anniversary reissue version yet!

So Elric of Pulp Cthulhu now? 😉

A scale-bar is pretty much essential, though north by default can often be assumed as "the top" of a map.

It's easy to think a map like this won't really take that much time until you start it - we've all been there, I suspect!

Worth the effort in the end though, as this looks really good!