July 2008 Entry: Kane's Place

[jfrazierjr]

Shaping up to be a very nice map Vry. The one thing that always detracts from the usability of your maps for me, (this is an incredibly small nitpic mind you) is the darkness/built in light sources. Obviously for the challenge this is perfectly fine, but if you were to include the map for use, I would prefer the whole thing to be "properly lit up". Meaning no dark corners and the like. That way I can put in my own light sources or control the light better if someone were to blow out the candles for example. With everything being dark and shadowy when the PC moves into the corner with his torch, there is no way for it to "brighten up".

I would agree. After the challenge, I know I would love to see a copy of this posted up in a cleaned up(for VTT use) form as mentioned by RPMiller and others.

Joe

[Vry]

Changes:
Darkened 1st Floor area visible from 2nd floor.
De-emphasized the floor scuffs and lighting.
Moved the 2nd Floor and Cellar to the right side of the map for left/right readability.
Added an NPC placement key.

The challenge instructions said all objects and tokens should be "already in place" but something just seems wrong about burning tokens onto a map. I got around this rule by including a little key at the bottom right that shows the placement while keeping the map clean and usable. It's also a flimsy excuse to crack out some iso... yay!

### Winner ###

[Vry]

The rest of the tokens needed for the map.

[ravells]

Looking superb, Vry! Are the tokens made from poser figures?

[Vry]

Thanks, and yes, they are.

[torstan]

Now that is looking truly lovely. Good job. The view of the downstairs through the space in floor 2 jars on the iso though. It really needs to be displaced there if you're going to show an iso view.

[RPMiller]

Changes:
Darkened 1st Floor area visible from 2nd floor.
De-emphasized the floor scuffs and lighting.
Moved the 2nd Floor and Cellar to the right side of the map for left/right readability.
Added an NPC placement key.

I really like your changes.

The challenge instructions said all objects and tokens should be "already in place" but something just seems wrong about burning tokens onto a map. I got around this rule by including a little key at the bottom right that shows the placement while keeping the map clean and usable. It's also a flimsy excuse to crack out some iso... yay!

There is actually a reason for having all the objects and tokens in place. The purpose is so that folks can see what a VTT will look like in use and so that everyone is on the same page and not guessing as to whether the tokens should be there to avoid the confusion of the May challenge.

Plus, you can always include the blank map and tokens and objects at the end of the challenge for those of us that will be using your map should you want to share.

[Redstar]

Oh my word! What a fantastic start! You're gonna have to share some of those textures with us when this is over!

Let me second that! Those textures are perfect - just the right grim, just the right shadows. This map is incredible.

[ravells]

Make sure you vote, Redstar!

[RPMiller]

Vry, I had a request to use the winning map in a MapTool demonstration. As it looks like yours is going to win, can you please zip up all your stuff and send it to me, or what would be even better would be if you could run a demo using MapTool since you are more intimately aware of the map, setting and objects, and I believe you are familiar with MapTool already.

Thanks either way you go!