D&D General Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan complaint

[Paul Farquhar]

It's the same orientation as the original module, which was done that way so the map would fit on the inside cover. But "north at top" is simply not a universal convention. I've recently been walking the Wandle Trail. Get a load of the official map: https://wandlevalleypark.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Wandle-Trail-Map-Interactive.pdf You will need to look very carefully to notice north is to the left.

One point - the original module was not designed to be run with a player's map. The scorecard (not reproduced in the 5e version) actually marks the players down if they spend time trying to make a map.

 

[Hussar]

Don’t get @Hussar* started. There was a heated discussion about Saltmarsh maps

*apologies if I’m misremembering who it was.

Nope that was me and I have been giggling since I read the OP.

Has to be one of the absolute weirdest arguments I ever had on En World. And that's saying something.

 

[John R Davis]

Paizo are terrible for north not being up.
I just don't understand

 

[Lanefan]

Most of that module takes place underground or in the sealed temple, the cardinal directions shouldn't be part of descriptions! It should be left, right, far, close, etc. . .

I'd agree; except using left, right etc. assumes the PCs are approaching from a specific direction, thus are not good for boxed descriptions for rooms or areas with more than one entrance. Cardinal directions are neutral that way - the north wall is the north wall no matter which of the four doors you came into the room through or even if you dug your way in through the ceiling.

I wrote (and am still in process of running) a couple of connected homebrew modules where north is to the right on half the maps to make them fit on the page, and successfully confused the hell out of myself more than once. But, if I put north to the top I'd have to shrink the maps down to useless size, so to the right it stays.

 

[Lanefan]

One of my favorite modules of the early period of TSR's AD&D output. The 5e version is pretty sweet

BUT!

For who knows what reason, the map has North pointing to the left, not up. WHY? WHY? WHY? It's the dumbest thing ever. The box text all refers to the directions correctly - but boy is it confusing as I read the box text out loud, and my players are looking at the map, and culturally, we think of "up" as North.

Dumb, why not just have up be north?

One simple answer, if the map is detachable, is to just flip the map so north is up. Runs aground, however, if there's lots of writing other than just location numbers on the map that you need to read and now it's all sideways, or upside-down.

In the game I play in, the DM has all the directions reversed in his evergreen homebrew setting - you can look at it as either the sun rises in the west and the compass points north, or the sun rises in the east and the compass points south. It's been confusing me for 40 years now...

 

[Bacon Bits]

For who knows what reason, the map has North pointing to the left, not up. WHY? WHY? WHY?

I would guess that the reason is that it was also remade and published for 4e D&D in Dungeon #209, released in December 2012. That was a digital-only release, and to facilitate usage on a widescreen laptop, the digital Dungeon PDFs were formatted in landscape. When the map was used again in Tales from the Yawning Portal, they very likely just reused the same map.

 

[darjr]

I have found that most long adventures go sideways.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I've seen this in other D&D adventure maps, and likewise, I hate it. Most of the time, if I can I just make up north anyway and call it a day.

 

[Mallus]

Drove me crazy, too.

 

[MNblockhead]

Don’t get @Hussar* started. There was a heated discussion about Saltmarsh maps

*apologies if I’m misremembering who it was.

Hey now, I'm here because I remember that debate and am microwaving popcorn in anticipation of this thread devolving into arguments over cartographic practices, artistic license, layout constraints, and practicality needed for gaming. I don't think the OP knows what nest of hornets this thread may have poked.