D&D 5E Some trouble with world building

[thedutchartist1]

I've decided to start up a new D&D session, and for the first time since I started i'm trying to follow the DM Guide as closely as I can.

However, upon building the world, I came upon a problem.
On the chapter about Mapping your Campaign [pag. 14], It says:

Whichever scale you start with, it's easy to zoom in or

out on your maps. At continent scale, 1 hex represents

the same area as 10 kingdom-scale hexes. Two cities

that are 3 hexes (180 miles) apart on your continent

map would be 30 hexes apart on your kingdom map,

and might define the opposite ends of the region you're

detailing

I'm building my map the other way around; I start with a continent, then work the kingdoms in there, then the provinces etc. But whatever I try in photoshop, I cannot manage to fit 10 hexes in my continent scale, and have two cities which are 3 continent-hexes apart to be 30 kingdom-hexes apart.

I'm probably doing something really wrong, but I'd rather ask around first before restarting.

 

[delericho]

I don't think the DMG guideline really works here - if the two cities are in the centre of their respective continent-hexes then there will be just under 40 kingdom-hexes between them, not 30 - 5ish to get to the edge of the first continent-hex, then 30 for the hexes between, and then a further 5ish to get to the centre of the final continent-hex. (Depending on the sizes of the cities, and there exact placement within their hex, these values may be changed by a bit.)

My big advice here is to treat what the book says as a very rough guideline. Especially if you're using Photoshop and zooming - the tool will handle the distances for you anyway, so why fight it?

 

[pogre]

I'm not sure, but here is a link to some maps you can overlay to see it physically and figure it out:
province, kingdom scale maps

Not a great help, sorry. But maybe if you can sketch it out by hand it will help you visualize the problem better.

 

[thedutchartist1]

That's awesome! This gives me a great visual idea of how to lay down the grids over my map. Thank you so much!

 

[thedutchartist1]

That is some good advice. I'm mainly afraid that if I mess up the hexes, that possible travel will end up being really strange- That they might end up traveling faster or slower on one map then on the other.

But maybe I just need to wing it and adjust wherever needed.

Anyway, your advice is pretty helpful, and now I can keep working on my map. Thanks!

 

[pming]

Hiya!

As [MENTION=29314]Del[/MENTION]richo said, don't sweat it. A "thing" in a hex usually represents the most prominant thing...not necissarily the most pelentiful, and with regards to settlements a settlement could be virtually anywhere in that 'hex' (right at a corner, smack dab in the middle, or anywhere else).

My suggestion is: Don't use a hex or grid. Decide how big you want to print it (in inches). Make the resolution at least half of what your printer will print at (typically its 300 - 600 pixels per inch...so your map should have at least 150px per inch). I have a map of "Darkurthe" (yes, from the RPG Darkurthe Legends) that I made myself. IIRC, it's at 150dpi and printed out (at a photo place) the size was 28" x 32". It still wasn't quite big enough to easily read the city/town names...I need to double it.

Anyway, the non-grid map thing. Draw your own scale on your map AFTER you do a rough outline of your continent. Decide how big you want it to be...that will give you your "Scale: 1 inch = 120 miles" or whatever. I suggest choosing a distance that is easily dividable by 2, so 32, 24, 12 etc...it makes it easier to eye-ball distances and figure out time to travel, imho.

Once you have your grand "continent" map, save it. Any smaller kingdom maps you want all you have to do is copy the layer with your Scale on it, select an area to Crop To..., crop it, then past your Scale layer into this new "Kingdom" map. Save this immediately as a new file! Don't accidentally over-write your Continent map file!

This makes it easy to 'zoom into' or out of any map. The key is to have your own "Scale" layer that will be consistent across all your other campaign overland maps. If you must have a grid, you can make a grid based on the size of your scale distance. But, if you have a 'regular' visual Scale...you won't need it.

^_^

Paul L. Ming