[SPOILERS] Mike Schley's PRINCES OF THE APOCALYPSE Maps: Take 2!

Mike Schley's maps for Princes of the Apocalypse, which were previously released and then unreleased, have now been rereleased. Mike is the cartographer from the adventure, which is out today in preferred stores, and you can purchase prints of each of the maps directly from him. He has posted 13 maps in total, including regional, village, and interior maps of various locations. Click on any below for his gallery and store and, if you can, pick up a print to support the artist!

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[Nebulous]

Yep. Not having grid-based play be the default for this edition has freed them up to make huge encounter areas again. I love how massive some of these areas are. And the maps are just so gorgeous!

I did Wave Echo Cave from Mike at 10 foot scale and it was amazing. I got over 12 hours of gameplay from that map alone. The players loved it and I loved it too, but the difficulty in printing in color and cutting and taping all of that together....I'd pay to have it done for me. Even at 10' scale, not 5' battle scale.

 

[Nebulous]

Some of these areas are pretty big. You'd need a really big table. Or the floor. Or you could cut them up into pieces.

We have all that. The maps take up the whole dining room table. We love it. I've used minis for years now and it fits into my style of gaming, so intricate maps, even if they're not the 4e "required" are still fun for us.

Edit - see my last blog entry. That map does not have defined squares and it worked very well. I just drew in on erase board whatever we needed. if necessary.

 

[pukunui]

We have all that. The maps take up the whole dining room table. We love it. I've used minis for years now and it fits into my style of gaming, so intricate maps, even if they're not the 4e "required" are still fun for us.

Edit - see my last blog entry. That map does not have defined squares and it worked very well. I just drew in on erase board whatever we needed. if necessary.

Oh, I wasn't saying you shouldn't do it. Just that some of those maps would be (impressively) huge. Too huge for any of the tables I play at, sadly. It would be cool to see some of them printed out at full scale, though.

 

[Nebulous]

Oh, I wasn't saying you shouldn't do it. Just that some of those maps would be (impressively) huge. Too huge for any of the tables I play at, sadly. It would be cool to see some of them printed out at full scale, though.

They ARE amazing. The time and effort it takes to print and arrange them is astronomical. The details in the maps tell a story and spurn ideas from both the players and DM. I can't understate how often this has changed the course of play. And I'm not even meaning detailed 5' battle map scale.

 

[Astroid]

I love the maps and I bet my players would get a lot of joy from them aswell. But how do I use them? I am a new DM and I'm worried about showing areas that have not yet been discovered by the players. Masking everything with sheets of paper taped to the map (laminated, printed in color on A3 paper) possibly?

 

[doctorhook]

I've become a big fan of Mike Schley's cartography. In contrast, I had thought Jared Blando's work in Hoard of the Dragon Queen was too bland and too impractical, but to Blando's credit, I realized that his digital prints were much more attractive than the washed-out purple printed in HotDQ. Still, Mike Schley is the standard for me now.

 

[travathian]

I wish there was a way to buy a map pack of these preprinted into battlemaps. I'd easily pay another $40 or $50 for that.

Have you checked with a local print shop? Obviously a one-off printing is going to be more expensive than mass production, but they may have a price point that works for you.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

I love how these maps - and what we know of the full adventure from the abridged D&D Encounters version - is that they scream ELEMENTAL EVIL in a way that the original only did in terms of its name.

 

[Brian Michaluk]

bought some maps myself now these are very excellent. Looks like CC3 work I would love the sources as I use that mapping software too

 

[S_Dalsgaard]

bought some maps myself now these are very excellent. Looks like CC3 work I would love the sources as I use that mapping software too

Schley uses Photoshop to make his maps, but he has made a symbol set for CC3 (https://secure.profantasy.com/products/ss4.asp#&panel1-1).