Industrygothica's "Those Left Behind" [OOC]

[Scotley]

Yeah, excel maps are pretty easy to do. They aren't pretty, but they can be updated pretty fast and converted over to .jpgs easily if needed.

 

[Leif]

That's pretty much what I meant. While it's not an issue with face-to-face games, I've yet to figure out a way to "wing it" with pbp games, which is currently about 100% of my gaming activity. Constantly updating a map and then saving and uploading the current version is a bit tedious; I can't wait to get involved in a few more 4e games so that I can pick up on a few DM tricks to make it less so, and then I'll hopefully be able to run a more productive 4e game without suffering the burnout from constantly keeping up with that garbage.
-IG

Most the 4e DMs I've seen, on-line, seem to be using low-grade maps using Excel. It's not too hard, just odd. Basically, throw some coordinates on the map and do it like playing chess, remotely.

Yeah, excel maps are pretty easy to do. They aren't pretty, but they can be updated pretty fast and converted over to .jpgs easily if needed.

Yeah, for PBP games, I use an Excel map, that Scotley turned me onto, but I do try to update the map every round. I try to just keep the most current map in the thread, but I have them all on my computer. Actually, I often forget to remove the old maps from the ENWorld thread, too.

 

[industrygothica]

I don't mind making maps. I'm actually quite fond of mapmaking, if you've followed any of my cartographer's guild links. What's tedious is the incessant updating and reposting of them. Just yucky.

Have you guys ever used MapTool? That's what I use when I do post a map. It seems like, after the initial map creation, at least, that it'd be tons easier than excel, just because it's a drag and drop thing--and it keeps the stats for you, if you're so inclined to use the feature. Just a thought.

On another note: Just for kicks, I'm considering taking the best parts of this adventure and converting them to 4e (meaning I'll have to come up with a chaos beast), then trimming down the story a bit and shipping it off to WotC for a shot at landing in an issue of Dungeon. What do you think? What would you consider the best parts, the most memorable encounters and such? What story elements should be included or nixed?


-IG

 

[Scott DeWar]

i'll have to read the whole thing to get a full idea, but just off the top of my head would be the druid tree walnuts. that has great potential!

 

[industrygothica]

i'll have to read the whole thing to get a full idea, but just off the top of my head would be the druid tree walnuts. that has great potential!

The dryad walnuts have excellent potential. Unfortunately, I won't be able to use them for publication, as they came from the original "The Hive" adventure, which was an adventure published in Dungeon Magazine a couple of years ago. It was that game, along with the dryad walnuts, that I used as the catalyst for TLB.

 

[Leif]

The dryad walnuts have excellent potential. Unfortunately, I won't be able to use them for publication, as they came from the original "The Hive" adventure, which was an adventure published in Dungeon Magazine a couple of years ago. It was that game, along with the dryad walnuts, that I used as the catalyst for TLB.

If you had a way to contact that other author (think Dungeon would forward a letter to him?), maybe you could get him to give you permission to do a work based on his original story? I know that there's been plenty of original material in your game since then.

 

[Leif]

Have you guys ever used MapTool? That's what I use when I do post a map. It seems like, after the initial map creation, at least, that it'd be tons easier than excel, just because it's a drag and drop thing--and it keeps the stats for you, if you're so inclined to use the feature. Just a thought.

You do have some of the best maps around, IG. There's no doubt about that. But, really, by playing around with Excel, I've learned how to pretty much draw anything I want, and there's plenty of space at the borders for notes of all sorts, too. And, as Scotley has observed, Excel is a progran that comes on most, if not all computers, so it's not like people need special new software to see the maps. That being said, I have toyed with the idea of getting Campaign Cartographer a few times, but I've not done it for some reason.

 

[industrygothica]

If you had a way to contact that other author (think Dungeon would forward a letter to him?), maybe you could get him to give you permission to do a work based on his original story? I know that there's been plenty of original material in your game since then.

I think everything else is original, honestly. I believe the dryad walnuts are the only element I kept. All the locations and characters (white-plume, Loddie, and his daughter, et al) are all original elements that I put into The Hive anyway, just to kickstart things there.

You do have some of the best maps around, IG. There's no doubt about that. But, really, by playing around with Excel, I've learned how to pretty much draw anything I want, and there's plenty of space at the borders for notes of all sorts, too. And, as Scotley has observed, Excel is a progran that comes on most, if not all computers, so it's not like people need special new software to see the maps. That being said, I have toyed with the idea of getting Campaign Cartographer a few times, but I've not done it for some reason.

I'm sure they're not even close to the best, but thanks. I've seen some amazing work with Campaign Cartographer for sure, but also some less-than-stellar pieces, if you know what I mean. I understand that there's a fairly steep learning curve there, but once you hurdle it, you're in the clear. Dungeonforge is freeware, if you want to check that one out.

 

[Leif]

I'm sure they're not even close to the best, but thanks. I've seen some amazing work with Campaign Cartographer for sure, but also some less-than-stellar pieces, if you know what I mean. I understand that there's a fairly steep learning curve there, but once you hurdle it, you're in the clear. Dungeonforge is freeware, if you want to check that one out.

"Dungeonforge"?? Freeware?? Is that what you use?? Scotley? Are you getting this down? I think we need to check this out for that little 'thing' we were talking about.....

 

[industrygothica]

"Dungeonforge"?? Freeware?? Is that what you use?? Scotley? Are you getting this down? I think we need to check this out for that little 'thing' we were talking about.....

No. I use Photoshop to create all my maps, and then MapTools to manipulate the tokens and other data.