You mean that inner square and indicating it has a rail so you don't just walk off the edge?
I am trying to save a bit of money on an upcoming module by doing some of the cartography myself. I have run into a bit of a snag trying to make a railing/banister for an open area in a bell tower. Below are the multiple levels of the abbey, the connected bell tower, and the two crypt levels.
Dark Abbey
Crypt - Level 1
Crypt - Level 2
The scale on all maps is 1 square = 10' and these are to be GM overview maps in the module. They are meant to be "ink-lite" and there will be far more detailed tactical maps in the module.
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You mean that inner square and indicating it has a rail so you don't just walk off the edge?
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Yup, that's the one (says Open to 4-14).
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This scale isn't my forte but if a solid line means a wall then I'd use a dotted line to indicate that there are, indeed, spaces and leave it at that. Maybe do a tiny thin 1-pixel line but that might just bring back the wall idea.
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Hmm, well not having really thought about it before my first reaction is to create some kind of dotted type line indicating the ability to view through.
I guess if you are really concerned with showing that they can see over, across and down you could create a sort of 3d looking thing where you draw a smaller square in the middle of each level and draw at the lines going down at each corner. At the bottom you have a miniaturized view of 4-14. But to really do this you would probably have to show more levels going down as go up higher. It would start to look like one of those 3d art pieces that seem to go on forever away from you.
My first thought goes sort of like this (you could use whatever shade you wanted, probably best to use the same floor texture you already have going. I guess it could sort of look like pillars but it's pretty tough to indicate a half wall from the top.)
Maybe some of the others have thought more about such a thing than I though so I would wait for more input. This is just off the top of my head.
Edit: Ninja'd by Ascension but I'm happy to be on the same page
“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden
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The architectural standard would be to show solid walls as double lines with grey or hatching between. Railings would be a double line with no shading. Windows would be like railings but with a thin line down the center to mark the glass or transparent aluminum or whatever. The steps of stairs would be marked by thinner lines. A lot of the details would be marked down in the text, like, "is that a half wall or wrought-iron grillework?" I'd probably mark a pipework-style railing as a thin solid line with dots along it.
Architects say a whole lot with line widths...
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Cause your in CC3 I can tell you how I do it.
Make a line thickness approximating about 6 inches in the drawing. Offset it around the open area. The with the CIRCLE tool, set line thickness to 0 and draw a circle that extends past the previous line (this represents the posts/balusters). Copy that and place every 2 feet or so around the perimeter.
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I'd go with filled black circles joined by thin lines.
Sorry to jack the thread just a little bit: Su Liam mentioned standard architectural symbols. My google-fu must be failing me but I can't find anything approaching a comprehensive set of symbols anywhere on the web. It would be great to have that as a resource in the elements sub-forum. Can anyone find any?
Thanks everyone for the comments and info. You've all been a great help.
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