"FIX THE MAPS YOU FUCKING DING-DONGS" the Community have entreated us.
Well, no, we won't. But we WILL hire someone else to do that for us.
Specifically, underappreciated genius Dirk Leichty, of Silent Titans, Super Blood Harvest and a bunch of other stuff.
Here is a low-res version of Dirks Observatory Map
Which was way too pretty. So here is the map darkened (sorry Dirk!), and with scrap having made additions to it by drawing stuff.
Now comes our in-progress labelling issue. Neither Scrap nor I are good at dicking around with programmes, so we are feeling our way forwards on this one.
Originally I was just going to do it with room numbers and spread numbers. Here is an early, low-res attempt at a colour flip with just numbers showing where everything is;
But almost the ONLY thing every playtester agreed on was that they hated the numbers thing.
So here is a version with Numbers, room names and the word 'spread' inserted.
(You can click this for a high-res jpeg.)
That worked ok but also looked busy and awkward as fuck, so here is the dialled-back version with a red room number, the word 'spread' and then the spread number with a hashmark, and a handful of room and area names.
Again you can click for a higher res version;
Comments welcome but may be ignored as you all always disagree with each other anyway.
blue and teal color scheme is the best color scheme. numbers be damned, but keep it blue.
ReplyDeleteThe last one is how I picture DCO but I think maybe the teal one is how I should picture it.
ReplyDeletelooks amazing.
ReplyDeleteThese look great and Dirk is indeed a genius.
ReplyDeleteHonestly my preference is the 2nd to last, wordy black and white version. I don't think it looks awkward at all and would be the most usable at the table.
I imagine I'd have to flip back to the text less, and just having those one or two words for each room would trigger my memory.
+1 to this.
DeleteThe name of the room is the most important thing to have on a map, beyond even page numbers if you had to choose.
+1
Delete+1
DeleteDCO having its own strata now makes almost too much sense
ReplyDeleteThey are all very pretty, though the names one seems the most useful. Dirk's original is quite sunny isn't it? The teal one feels alien and strange, but less oppressively dark than I imagine the place, it seems like it would have it's own strange light to see by. I think the black and white with names is best.
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of coming off stupid, why is the word spread everywhere?
So the spread numbers don't get confused with the room numbers. There's another options being considered
DeleteAh. Oh, does spread mean like, page# in this instance? lol if so I do feel dumb. Also, if that's the case it doesn't bother me and is quite useful, an entry # is only nice if I know where to find it.
DeleteAlso, is the adamantine serpent not meant to block the throne room? Have I been putting the snake door in the wrong place this whole time!
Ah no the serpent is meant to block the throne room , I'd fucked up adding it to the new map and put it where it current is. Yup spread number is like page number, each being 2 facing pages.
DeleteThe blue one seems better for the referee (but in another color, if possible; not pink, that doesn't look good this time).
ReplyDeleteThe one with the blue lines also seems useful, but the word 'spread' takes a lot of space.
With names!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I don't fully understand why you opt for two parallel numbering systems (by entry, by spread). That feels busy, more than anything else. Consider how modern hotels never go "you're in room 4301, which is on floor 17 in building 2"
Agreed on both counts - room names are super helpful, but I can do without the redundancy of room numbers and spread numbers for each entry.
DeleteI think it's writing out "spread" every time that looks especially cumbersome - might just writing "pg" (even if they aren't technically page numbers) convey the same info?
I'd want something like this, with names and with only one numbering system. We can hopefully figure out which room is which from the labels and the spreads, alternatively we can hopefully find the right spread from the label and a room number.
ReplyDeleteAlso are you gonna work on the other maps as well? I got confused by the dam map too and a little bit by the river map. I'm not the sharpest tool in the proverbial…
yup all maps getting done, but this one is the busiest with all the labeling and so could do with some other opinions on what works for them
DeleteThat makes sense!
DeleteHere is a "room number" version with name labels.
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ReplyDeleteI took a stab at relabeling the map myself. I made everything the same font size and color and tried to make the labels flow with the contours of the map. I also put the page spread numbers in parentheses to make them more distinct.
ReplyDeletehttps://i.imgur.com/m3k0iIr.jpg
I'm curious what the page spreads look like, since you and scrap princess deemed them important enough to reference in the map. In any case, the raw map looks wonderful and I'm excited.
The names seem useful.
ReplyDeleteNumbering seems awkward since I'm not sure what the "spread" refers to.
But dude, seriously- either number every room with it's own number, or give each room its own name + a "spread" (level, focus map?) to help us find it within that section.
You can't have some rooms named, some not, some numbered, some not like we are all expected to know which rooms are so obvious they don't need a name or number. That's dickery.
The maps in the last version made no sense. I haven't run it yet. Why try to reinvent the mapping wheel by "fixing" the one thing wrong with out module with another super complicated, too clever by half mapping system?
Instead of cluttering up the map image, could a single line of text, listing rooms by spread number run across the bottom of the map spread? Easy to reference + de-clutters the map.
ReplyDeleteSo you look at map, find room number easily as there are fewer numbers to look at. Orient room/see clues from image/drawings. If I need to run said room & glance to bottom of page where the appropriate spread is listed.
I like the last two, I don't mind busy maps. This map looks great and makes me consider the space differently!
ReplyDeleteI would entreat you, however, to include a page with a copy of the map without labels or numbers.
I also prefer room names.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd remove "spread" and have the format like in the teal map.
Once you put a legend at the corner of the page explaining that the red number = room number and #white number = spread number there would be no confusion at all to worry about.
I think it looks best with room # and name. Since some of the room names are kind of long, you could probably get away with truncating them; i.e. "Dinosaur Hieroglyphics" becomes "Dinoglyphs"
ReplyDeleteQuite excited for remaster, maps are looking good. Any word on broken fire regime? I know that was supposed to come out along this but there was some fuckery with the publisher.
ReplyDeleteI'm running DCO for my group now and it's fantastic. The new maps look great, any of the annotation styles would work fine. I only request, as others have, that every room be labeled consistently.
ReplyDeleteI never understood why people took such issue with the original maps; sure, they aren't battle map encounter-ready but whatever. I don't mind scaling the rooms.
Now I want to run it again...
ReplyDeletebeautiful stuff
ReplyDeletethis is one of my favorite modules I'm so hyped for the updated version!
Very nice; not too large, if that makes sense. Lot's of depth.
ReplyDelete