Phystus

This is a continuation of the previous post about map size. It turns out blog size is important too, and the full post exceeded the allowable size, so I had to split it. You can see part one here...

Map Area

The other factor that influences the size of a map file is the size of the area your map covers. You’ve probably already figured out that, if all other factors are equal, a map that’s 50 squares on a side is four times as large as one that’s 25 squares on a side. So how big do you need a map to be?

Clearly, the map needs to be big enough to depict the encounter area. When that’s a wizard’s tower, or a small house, that may be a fairly small area. A dungeon level might be quite a bit bigger, but at least you know the map won’t have to be bigger than the dungeon. But what if the encounter area is outdoors? You obviously can’t make a battle map of the entire kingdom, but how big is big enough?

In my opinion the map has to be big enough that it doesn’t provide an artificial restriction on the player’s choices. For example, one of the characters in my campaign is a ranger with the Far Shot feat, which means that short range for him, using a composite longbow, is 165 feet (33 squares), instead of the normal 110 feet (22 squares). That should let him out-range his opponents, giving him an advantage. If the distance from the edge of the map to the nearest enemy is less than 23 squares, the advantage of the Far Shot feat has been negated. Now, I may not need to let him use that advantage every battle, but to me it would feel unfair if he didn’t get to take advantage of it once in awhile.

Finding the Balance Point

Clearly, the desire to keep the image file size small is at odds with both the desire to map a large area, and the desire to produce photo-realistic maps. Every GM will need to find their own balance of these factors, but I do have a few suggestions to help you out.

First, ask yourself if any of your players is on a slow or dodgy internet connection. If so, you’re going to have to lean heavily toward small files. Remember that if just one player can’t see the map, the combat is going to grind to a halt for everybody until they can.

Second, ask yourself if the characters in your campaign benefit from a big map. If your wizard specializes in summoning and nobody uses ranged weapons much it may not be important to have a big map since the battle can’t be properly joined until they get close to the enemy. On the other hand, if the party weapons specialist gets a new sniper rifle, throw him a bone and put him on a big map where he can use that rifle to good advantage. We want our players to get invested in their characters, but to do that there has to be a promise of a dividend.

Finally, ask yourself how important it is to you and your group to have a pretty map. Not everyone has the same standards for this, but you need to know what yours are.

Once you have answered these questions you can start balancing the factors. If you need small files that cover large areas, you can sacrifice stunning visuals. If you need the eye candy but you don’t need to depict large areas you can indulge your artistic side with only a slight nod to file size. If you’re playing a face-to-face game with FG on a big TV, you can go as wild as you’d like with file size knowing you don’t have to worry about file transmission problems.

My Choice

I have pretty well settled on a scale of 30 pixels to the square, and a map size (for outdoor maps, at least) of 90 squares to the side, for a 2700x2700 pixel map. Indoor maps depend on the size of the structure of course, but I keep the 30 pixel per square scale. A couple of my players live in rural areas with less than spectacular internet speeds, and another player insists on using wifi, so I keep file size under a megabyte when possible (almost all the time). My players have never lamented the lack of artistry in my maps (at least to my face), but they are quite willing to complain bitterly about a slow download, so I’m totally willing to sacrifice detail and color depth to keep the file small. As a bonus, it takes less time to draw the map since I don’t include so much detail, and I can use my prep time to improve other aspects of the adventure, which the players may appreciate more.

Whew! That went a bit long, and I apologize for that, but hopefully someone will find it useful. The sad thing is, I still haven’t said all I think I need to say about mapping. So next time around I’ll discuss how mapping has changed in the 35+ years I have been gaming.

Thanks for reading!