D&D 5E Tomb of Annihilation maps

[pukunui]

The whole cut and paste thing just ... ugh. I already put way too much time into prepping for these adventures as it is.

When I first started, I gave them the blanked out map. They chose to travel up the River Soshenstar to Mbala. Since it's up on a high plateau, I just photoshopped the maps to open up a big chunk of the middle of the map and then got one of the players to reprint it. They're now heading across the swamp to the Heart and Kir Sabal, so I'll photoshop the maps again to open up more (and it'll be nice and high quality now that Mike's finally allowed to sell).

 

[ccs]

Another option you have is to go for the Gale Force 9 map set coming out soon - it's white hexes on a dry-wipe surface, so you can draw (or whatever) the contents as the players explore. It's £30 I think, but might not be that much more expensive than your intended method.

Just a suggestion.

Thanks, but my aim is to avoid hand drawing the thing.
I don't have the time to do that & my efforts won't look as good as the original artists. I do however have $ & several local print shops.

 

[ccs]

Wouldn't that be a pretty massive printout (like 6 ft. x 8 ft.), and require thousands of hex bases?

I haven't run the #s, but that sounds pretty close. I'm good with that.

As for the hexes? There's 948 (+/- a few if I've miscounted) blank hexes on the players map. That's what I'd be covering.

 

[mvincent]

What happens when they get lost? Wouldn’t the hex they are in look different than the hex they think they are in?

Same as with blank maps: players are aware they are lost, and do not fill in (or reveal) hexes until they are un-lost.

 

[ccs]

Have them draw in what they see in the hex they think they are in. It will be confusing but it should be for them, they are lost. You keep track of what hex they are really in. Does that help?

I just got an idea, inspiration.

Instead of printing the whole dm map and covering the hexes, print out the players map and give them a print out cut out of each hex they hit. That way you can give them the hex they see and they can put it in the hex they think they are in. Plus they could be rearranged as needed when they figure out where they really are.

1) That'd be a lot of work.

Use sticky tack.

Obviously.

 

[darjr]

Same as with blank maps: players are aware they are lost, and do not fill in (or reveal) hexes until they are un-lost.

There will be times they do not know they are lost. What then? I’d have them fill the hex with what they think should be there. Stopping them filling the hex would be a dead giveaway that they were lost.

 

[darjr]

1) That'd be a lot of work.





Obviously.

Yea. Wonder if a automated paper cutter could do it faster. I kinda want one anyway.

And there are times when sticky tack wasn’t the obvious answer.

 

[darjr]

1) That'd be a lot of work.





Obviously.

Yea. Wonder if a automated paper cutter could do it faster. I kinda want one anyway.

And there are times when sticky tack wasn’t the obvious answer.

 

[mvincent]

There will be times they do not know they are lost. What then? I’d have them fill the hex with what they think should be there. Stopping them filling the hex would be a dead giveaway that they were lost.

They will be aware they are lost. They'll see their roll during Navigation, and ToA p.37 says: "Using the poster map, identify the hex in which the party is currently located. Don't share this information with the players if the party is lost; otherwise, show the players the party's location by pointing to the appropriate hex on their map of Chult."

p.38 "While the party is lost, players can't pinpoint the group's location on their map of Chult"

 

[darjr]

That’s what you do. The party will still move into another hex and ask you what’s there. They won’t be in the right one. Are you going to tell them not to move into the new hex? Tell them nothing?

Further down it talks about not revealing their exact location until they are no longer lost, I suppose doing it exactly spelled out works but they will know they are lost. The text also talks about them moving into the next hex while they are lost. I think the intent was for them to not know they are lost, why else would the DM make the roll? If you don’t let them go into a hex they think they are in and describe the hex they actually are in it defeats the whole purpose. Why would the DM roll?