Thread: Keep on the Shadowfell battlemats

Originally Posted by loydb

The fullsize map is linked, and will print correctly at 120 dpi.

If you need software to chop them up into page-sized pieces, try PosteRazor.

Oh, and don't try to print my composite map—it was resized for screen display and is only 50 dpi, which is not enough for printing. You could conceivably print it at 120, though, and get a sort of mini reference map.

Originally Posted by Midgardsormr

If you need software to chop them up into page-sized pieces, try PosteRazor.

I have heard excellent things about that utility (especially if you are using a Mac)

Note though: MS Paint actually does this too on it's own. Accurate resizing on the other hand takes a bit more thought with MS Paint, but it can still be done.

As long as the image is tagged at the correct dpi, Paint can do it (theoretically—I've never been inclined to actually try it). As far as I know, though, there isn't any way to specify a new print resolution in Paint.

Originally Posted by Midgardsormr

As far as I know, though, there isn't any way to specify a new print resolution in Paint.

Image > Stretch/Skew
(also, the image's current size can be obtain from Image > Attributes > Units=inches)

No, stretch or resize (depending on the version of Paint) cannot change the print resolution. It changes the actual pixel dimensions, which is definitely what you do not want to do, as that always degrades the quality of the image. You can change the print size using the printer driver set to print at something other than 100%, but your results will be unpredictable, as you never know if the printer is going to shrink the image by printing it more densely (obeying the pixel dimensions) or by throwing away pixels (obeying the print resolution).

In short, don't use Paint for this sort of thing unless the image has been properly prepared (which most of these were, by the way. It seems as though there were one or two that weren't specified at the proper dpi.)

Thank you loydb so very much for creating and sharing these wonderful maps. My players just will be getting to the actual keep this weekend, so these battle maps are just what I was looking for.

They print fine in B&W, and I have access to an 11x17 paper printer and a paper cutter, so stitching each section together shouldn't be too bad. I'll just provide the players with the mini-map when they need to backtrack and so on. Or maybe I'll make one of them do the mapping. Or compromise and allow only the player with the highest Dungeoneering skill access to the mini-map. I suppose I'll give them the choice and see how it works out.

The footprints that you created in the first encounter map are perfect! I'm not sure if I hope that one of the players notices them or not (in which case I could point out the clue after-the-fact when they protest "no fair -- how were we to know?").

One of the things (and I have a bunch) that I think is missing from _Keep on the Shadowfell_ was an encounter at the ground level of the Keep. So, I used the _Sinister Woods_ and _Ruins of the Wild_ dungeon tiles to create the ruins of the keep and the tower remnants with decending stairs. And of course there's a few goblins there on lookout...

Other changes that I made to the module (which are not spoilers since they differ from the written module) was to have the note from Irontooth written in Goblin (not Common), which sends them back to town in search of someone who reads Goblin. And who do they find? Ninaran, who helpfully provides an incorrect translation. Unfortunately, part of her incorrect translation contradicts some other information that the players already have, so they know that someone is lying or stupid or wrong. So, they try to find someone else who speaks Goblin, and Nathreem the Prescient tells them that his apprentice, Douven, reads Goblin, and he's out on a archeological dig at the moment. So, that manages to solve the problem of getting the players out to the dig site. I took a bunch of other ideas (such as what is found at the dig site) from someone who did a huge rewrite of the module which you can find at http://www.thealexandrian.net/creati...ll/kots-dm.pdf.

Originally Posted by Midgardsormr

These mats will be seeing some use in my game over the next few weeks. Thanks a lot for making them available!

Since I use MapTool at the table, I did some Photoshop work to combine the entire first level into one image and reduce the resolution to 50 pixels / square.

Here's the composite image, and have some rep!

Great work on the H1 map

Sorry for the crazy necro bump.. but my friends and I are trying to get into D&D and we wanted to use these maps to start out on this campaign. I'm having trouble printing though.. I'm trying to use my schools printer which prints on normal sized 8.5x11 paper. I'm trying to use the postrazor program to cut the images up to print out and then tape them together but I'm unsure of how to go about it. Can I use the image that someone posted that's 50dpi and print that out to scale (1inch squares) instead of printing each one separately? Or do I have to go through all the 120dpi images and print them out one at a time?

Also, on the last page when it asks me absolute size, size in pages, or size in percent I'm not sure if I should change these or leave them.. I wanted to make each square on the image = 1 inch but the way this is set up makes it seem like it'll print bigger than that. (I.E. area 1-1 inside the keep says size in pages 6.9477x5 pages. But if I'm using 8.5x11 inch paper and the squares on the image are 29x27 and I want them 1inch each, then it seems like I should change the size in pages, but I'm not sure how to figure out what to (or choose absolute size,size in percent instead)

I know this is an old thread, but thank you for the maps. My friend lent me the module, but without the attendant maps, so this is a big help.