Undermountain maps - yeck!!

[Vigwyn the Unruly]

I am sorely disappointed in the Undermountain maps.

I mean, seriously, these are just really worse than mediocre. This looks like third-party crap. WotC has access to loads of resources and graphic designers. Usually their production values are very high. Why do these maps look like crap?

I was really, really looking forward to this book, but I think these amateur maps have just changed my mind. I mean, really, why in the hell would they draw Waterdeep with giant crayons sticking out of it? This is just totally subpar.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The maps as released on Maps of the Week rarely look like much and, IME, rarely reflect what the non-free maps look like.

 

[I'm A Banana]

This looks like third-party crap.

...Hey, third-party stuff looks pretty good.

 

[Imruphel]

Third-party crap?

Ed Bourelle of Skeleton Key Games does a lot of the "third-party crap" and I think most people here would agree that he is one of the best mappers in the business.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Heh... I personally believe that there's a "crap bin" which unfortunately has alot of pre-bust third-party products within it.

I think he was refuring to that bin.

 

[blargney the second]

They don't appeal to me either. I'm sure there are others who do like them - to each their own!

 

[Jupp]

The really annoying thing about the map is that the walls overlap the grid. That makes it much harder to instantly get the size of the moon. I understand that this should give a certain level of depht to the map but at the same time it lowers the usability quite a bit. I just hope the real maps are going to be fixed.

 

[Melan]

This looks like third-party crap.

Now isn't that quaint. Take that, Ed Bourelle! :\

 

[Friendless]

Why do these maps look like crap?

The Map-a-Week stuff often looks like crap. To exacerbate matters they publish them at 72dpi so even the non-crap ones can only be used for postage stamps.

 

[Psimancer]

The Map-a-Week stuff often looks like crap. To exacerbate matters they publish them at 72dpi so even the non-crap ones can only be used for postage stamps.

It's not the dpi at which they were published in this case - it's the low resolution at which they were created (due in part to the size of the map) - it shows up every fault.

Virtually no effort has been made with these maps; I'm guessing the two major filters used here were a bevel & a drop shadow.