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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 5399494" data-attributes="member: 1210">Neither. Though once in a while I'll print a map out for use if I'm running a canned module (I'm running the 4e ToH stuff and scanned and printed the maps at mini scale, for instance). Mostly, I just feel that a good map is a very basic part of an adventure. I like it as much as, if not more than, I like a page's worth of art. A good map can be inspiring. The maps in Ravenloft (I6) were amazing, for instance, and they added a lot to my enjoyment of the module as a dm. Likewise, the maps in the Gates of Firestorm Peak are creepy and evocative. Very cool.Now look at any one of the maps in that adventure and tell me it is inspiring. I dare you to keep a straight face while you do it.And as near as I can tell, the art budget on the adventure in question didn't go towards handouts, but to the handful of illustrations scattered in the adventure- there's the "page 1" illo of two dudes fighting (somewhere around 1/2 page size), a small pic on pg 4 that shows a little atmosphere shot of the village (I guess) that is a bit over 1/6 page, a similar sized pic of an npc on pg 5, another npc on pg 10, yet another on pg. 11, and tons of crappy maps. As compared to old issues of Dungeon, both print and electronic, which had comparable numbers of pictures and good maps.My gripe is that this is yet another area where DDI's quality has declined. Is it so hard to recreate cool map areas with Dungeon Tiles? If so, does that speak to the quality of the maps as cool maps or to the quality of tiles as a cool map-replicating product? If map quality must be "dumbed down" to meet the available tiles, I'm afraid that is a huge strike against DDI adventures for me.</blockquote>

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