D&D General Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan complaint

[Laurefindel]

Isn't that the feng shui rule?

#1 rule

 

[Sword of Spirit]

When I ran it (and the party actually arrived inside by a portal--so had no idea of the directions), it was with a map in Roll20. I think what I did was just say that we will pretend that up on the map is north for purposes of communication. When they emerged to where they could see the sun (and so they weren't in it worrying about communication), they could mentally reorient it as a footnote.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I was looking at a book of old city maps, and in the middle ages a lot of maps were orientated with the top being East - I guess compasses weren't very popular back then and the rising sun was an easier landmark to orient to.

It had more to do with the (imagined) direction of Jerusalem.

 

[Dioltach]

It had more to do with the (imagined) direction of Jerusalem.

The same way that churches are oriented towards the east too. At least here in Europe.

 

[Lanefan]

When I ran it (and the party actually arrived inside by a portal--so had no idea of the directions), it was with a map in Roll20. I think what I did was just say that we will pretend that up on the map is north for purposes of communication. When they emerged to where they could see the sun (and so they weren't in it worrying about communication), they could mentally reorient it as a footnote.

I do the same; if they're blipped in to somewhere we just assign an arbitrary "north" until-unless knowledge of actual north over-rides it. That said, lodestones are relatively common and cheap in my setting and are useful gear for adventurers to have, so it doesn't usually take long for them to figure out which way is north.

When they come in from outside they in theory already know which way north is; and in any case I expect them to be mapping.

 

[el-remmen]

When I ran it the party fell into a shaft fleeing a tyrannosaurus rex worshiped as a benevolent god by a community of vegepygmies, who being made of plant matter, were of no interest to the carnivore. The last thing they saw as they plummeted into the dark, was crowds of the plant-people who lived outside the ziggurat-like temple cheering from the sidelines.

 

[MNblockhead]

I talked with some people from other nations. Most remember their Geography books having their nation in the center.

Obligatory XKCD call out:

 

[cranberry]

I agree with the OP. I hate it when maps are made with North pointing anywhere except up.

 

[Umbran]

As long as I was told, in Australia, they are over, not under

Antarctica would like a word...

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

When I look at camping maps, there's usually a compass that indicates North. It's not always the top of the map, which is fine by me as long it keeps me from getting lost in the woods.

 

[Atomoctba]

I remember that when I was young there was a Geography exam that displayed a map and then asked questions like "the river is east of the town", etc. The catch is that north was not up. And no compass rose either. We used just the numbers for latitude and longitude impress at the lines to now to which direction the map was pointing. Perhaps that is obvious and automatic for some people, but for me, I needed some mental conscient manipulation to understand what was going.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

So I looked at the AD&D version (included in the Spoiler) and in that map, North is Up. But it was also spread out across three 8.5x11" (roughly A4) pages in 3 vertical oriented pages.

When they decided they were going to put this into Yawning Portal, my guess is someone at WotC figured out they could fit it all onto two 8.5x11" pages if they connected it all into one map going long-way across the two pages and rotating it 90°. But that also meant they needed to preserve the North orientation in relation to the rooms. So thus was born the North to the left issue I (and everyone) am experiencing. See 2nd map in full color in Spoiler.

I will also note that the WotC version they forgot to label which rooms were "Second Tier"; but that's not actually impactful nor important to the adventurers since it's not really mentioned in the box text.

Mystery solved, annoyance unresolved...

Spoiler

 

[Lanefan]

@Eyes of Nine - your pictures very clearly point to the other huge complaint I'd have with the newer map over the original: the original is detached from the module, meaning I can read the words and look at the map without having to flip pages all the time.

Detached cardstock maps for the win, every time!

 

[Tonguez]

living in the southern hemisphere, with a mountain to the south of town I always orient my self South and then East to the rising sun. I can work out North and west from there. walking home at night I’d orient myself by Orion, which I knew to be West

 

[Paul Farquhar]

living in the southern hemisphere, with a mountain to the south of town I always orient my self South and then East to the rising sun. I can work out North and west from there. walking home at night I’d orient myself by Orion, which I knew to be West

Lucky you. Living on the edge of London, I haven't seen the stars for about 20 years!

But, living in the northern hemisphere, pre-London, I used Polaris to orientate myself. Which is another reason for putting north at the top of a map.

 

[Voadam]