Thread: April Entry: The Legend of Mata-Gara

Small update, had to get my idea up here so I could claim it, i'm in the middle of the initial map, hand drawn as of now but I gotta head outta town today and don't have time to finish or scan it at the moment...

But the initial map is an actual sword, a sailor's cutlass... one captain in particular whose name I haven't settled on... but the sword is the map... thought I'd keep someone updated to my ever twisted mind ....

I love mapping

Ehh.. the sword thing wasn't working ... but this is the map I have so far

### Latest WIP ###

The tales of the Mata-Gara, a ship that sailed the seas of the Barbarian Islands is legendary. The only ship to sail back from the chaotic Maelstrom where the ancient civilization of the Jömlas once thrived and were destroyed by their own catastrophic magic. It was laden with artifacts and treasure of a previous age, and was soon the target of adventurer and pirate alike. The ship was thought lost at sea ...... until now.

The map passes too the adventurer's hands by whatever means you devise with only one message.... "The key is in the dragon's grasp" ...

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In disgust of my PS skills, I once again turned to my hand drawn maps. It seemed more appropriate anyway. Shuffling through old papers I happened across some printer paper that looked like a scroll... I couldn't resist mapping on this. I used a combination of speedball pens (Hunts 99, 512), Kohinoor .18, .25, .30; Brush pen and a rotring fine art pen. scanned in at 300 dpi and scaled down to approx 70% of its actual size.

Since I haven't really been keeping up with anything on here these past couple weeks, I dunno if we are revealing the secrets of our maps straight up. So i'll hold off until I find out. questions and comments welcome and encouraged.

Here is some hints (txt) and solutions (docx and doc)

### Latest WIP ###

I'm officially intrigued. I can see me spending too much time trying to decipher your code(s?) and not enough finishing my own entry.

Are we allowed to take a guess if we think we've got it?

This one has me stumped! I thought the top lettering was rot 13, but it isn't.

delgondahntelius - I don't have the time to figure out your riddle but I have to say that I really love your map. I really like the handdrawn feel. Beautiful.

Nice one Del!

I'm no good at cryptology so I won't even make the attempt

-Rob A>

Originally Posted by SpamValiant

Are we allowed to take a guess if we think we've got it?

Absolutely! .. what fun is a puzzle if noone gets to make a guess?

Originally Posted by ravells

This one has me stumped! I thought the top lettering was rot 13, but it isn't.

Nope, not ROT 13, I didn't want to make it 'too' simple, but simple (so i thought) enough that it could be figured out in a reasonable amount of time by a group of players... But you were close... you are in the right back yard.

Originally Posted by The Cartographist

delgondahntelius - I don't have the time to figure out your riddle but I have to say that I really love your map. I really like the handdrawn feel. Beautiful.

You can call me Del Thank you, it makes the time spent on a map worth all the more when I hear things like this.

Originally Posted by RobA

Nice one Del! I'm no good at cryptology so I won't even make the attempt

Thanx Rob, I appreciate the encouragement. No worries tho, I too am horrible at cryptology. And would probably hate my DM if he pulled out a map like this one...which is why I enjoy springing these on my players... mwahahaha
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Moderately simple was what I was trying to achieve, but often times when creating a puzzle, the creator knows the answer so it may seem simple. Everything is easy when you know the answer. So I'm hoping I didn't make it too hard.

I will create a txt file with hints and solution so others can attempt to solve it if they wish... I'll try to get that up soon as i'm able Thanks for the map-ego boost... it helps, believe me... and I'm just glad that Handdrawn maps and pen & ink are still admired in a pixelated cgi world.

Del

Finally ... the solution in document and pdf files: