In general, I really don't pay a whole lot of attention the maps myself. To me, the story and actual encounters are far more important. The elements of the maps that I tend to pay more attention to are the tactical elements (i.e. lava rift here, trap there, and high ground over yonder). That being said, I do absolutely see where a good map can be inspiring. I am not a particularly big fan of KotS for instance, but I love both the final encounter map and the Irontooth map (the latter perhaps because my DM made the drop off at the waterfall significant enough that my wizard had a lot of fun with it).
Unfortunately, I didn't get into D&D until just before 3.0 came out, so I cannot attest to the quality of the maps in the aforementioned modules. However, I do see how they can inspire a DM as much as an artifact, or even just a short article (like the "runepriest" article this month) could. As someone who has primarily DM'd during my D&D career, I will often find inspiration in seemingly random places.
I do believe that theres a good argument to be made for including DTs in the adventure maps. Obviously, it helps to sell those products as well as assist the DMs that use them. DT maps that are ugly, uninspiring, etc., can be redrawn as needed by those who don't use DTs. Despite this though, I also think it makes sense to have adventures with new maps as they can absolutely help inspire DMs (whether its inspiring an adventure based on that map, or simply giving DMs their own ideas for a map). In an ideal world, their adventures would have both elements in them (i.e. some adventures are DT based while others are unique maps). Naturally, there is no way that WotC can keep everyone happy all the time. However, I do think that they can at least try to make most of us happy some to most of the time.
As the important artwork in an adventure, I absolutely agree that maps and pictures of the adventure location (town, wilderness, etc.) are far more important than NPC pictures. My players are far more likely to get use out of a map of the town when figuring out how far it is to the warehouse district (or even to get a feel for the overall size of the town) than they will from a picture of Bram Ironfell. Don't get me wrong, I liked the pic of Bram in Lost Mines of Karak, but my describing him as a very well-dressed dwarf gets the message across whereas the map of the Elsir Vale is far more effective than simply saying "It will take you X days to get to Overlook".
As for Bark at the Moon itself, I've only really read the background and synopsis so far but it definitely seems promising. I personally love me a good game of intrigue which there certainly is promise for based on the little bit I read. Of course, others should hopefully have more info on the actual execution.
Unfortunately, I didn't get into D&D until just before 3.0 came out, so I cannot attest to the quality of the maps in the aforementioned modules. However, I do see how they can inspire a DM as much as an artifact, or even just a short article (like the "runepriest" article this month) could. As someone who has primarily DM'd during my D&D career, I will often find inspiration in seemingly random places.
I do believe that theres a good argument to be made for including DTs in the adventure maps. Obviously, it helps to sell those products as well as assist the DMs that use them. DT maps that are ugly, uninspiring, etc., can be redrawn as needed by those who don't use DTs. Despite this though, I also think it makes sense to have adventures with new maps as they can absolutely help inspire DMs (whether its inspiring an adventure based on that map, or simply giving DMs their own ideas for a map). In an ideal world, their adventures would have both elements in them (i.e. some adventures are DT based while others are unique maps). Naturally, there is no way that WotC can keep everyone happy all the time. However, I do think that they can at least try to make most of us happy some to most of the time.
As the important artwork in an adventure, I absolutely agree that maps and pictures of the adventure location (town, wilderness, etc.) are far more important than NPC pictures. My players are far more likely to get use out of a map of the town when figuring out how far it is to the warehouse district (or even to get a feel for the overall size of the town) than they will from a picture of Bram Ironfell. Don't get me wrong, I liked the pic of Bram in Lost Mines of Karak, but my describing him as a very well-dressed dwarf gets the message across whereas the map of the Elsir Vale is far more effective than simply saying "It will take you X days to get to Overlook".
As for Bark at the Moon itself, I've only really read the background and synopsis so far but it definitely seems promising. I personally love me a good game of intrigue which there certainly is promise for based on the little bit I read. Of course, others should hopefully have more info on the actual execution.
