Oladahn's first map.

Hi, my first battlemap.

Is this adequate for the purpose?

As a player and DM would you be happy to work with such a map?

I've 'fiddled around' with the map making software (CC3+) previously but never made a whole map specifically for something like Fantasy Grounds.

It's not quite finished, I have to finish building to centre left and add a little more detail.

The roads gave me the most trouble, I used a terrain tool to draw on the map but it looked flat and artificial. I eventually added an inner glow and an ordinary glow and tweaked it till I got a result I was pleased with.

I added a faint grid to the map to assist with adding the grid on the game map.

Basic story behind this is that I'm adapting (and radically altering) the maps that came with an old PC game called Pool of Radiance. I'm keeping the old storyline but adding various quests to make a fuller story and reduce the 'dungeon crawl hack and slash' tendency.

I know there was a module called Ruins of Adventure made which also did this but I'm approaching it slightly differently.

The original PC maps were made on a 16x16 grid with each square seeming to be, at a guess, only being something like 10' by 10' which would obviously make for a very small city district. I'm expanding each square to 100' by 100', adding buildings and terrain and also giving the players (hopefully) interesting quests to do.

These first two squares are the first two of 'The Slums' as you enter from the 'Civilised Area'. The first two quests are to recover the belongings of the brother of one of the city watch and to recover some books and other paraphernalia for the City Council.

As they enter from the bottom right they will be met by arrows fired from the guard tower immediately in front of them to the West. To their right are the old city watch and council officials buildings, latrines, barracks, stables and an old inn.

Good Day Oladahn :)
Looks nice, Thanks for sharing :)
I personally do not like the grid on the map as I never seem to get them to line up :) I prefer to having a square somewhere obvious on the map and just set the grid to that :)

Nice first map, and thanks for sharing too.

Looks like you are open to some critical constructive feedback so here's my opinion, take it for what you paid for it :)

Use a inner fade and blur on your road sheet if you want the edges to be softer. Also check the intersections and have them overlap a bit better, you have a couple corners that don't transition well.

Try two or three sheets for your bushes/trees so give them different length shadows, perhaps a 'Vegetation, Low' and 'Vegetation, High' sheets and change the length of the shadow effects. Also consider how these shadow length compare to your walls or buildings to control the apparent height of the trees (i.e. are the taller or shorter than a single story?)

Also consider the multiple sheets for walls/buildings if they are different height (guard tower) and if you want to go so far for furniture. I didn't check, but make sure you also have a 'Floor, Flat' sheet with no shadow for rugs and such if needed.

Not sure what the wood 'flooring' in on the left side of the map. Going to suggest some effects for it, if I knew what it was :)

Doors can be tricky to distinguish from windows. I personally use open doors, that way they are easy to distinguish as well as you know which way they open. But you can do such with different shadows or glows too. (One technique it to put a white/yellow shadow on windows in the opposite direction of your global sun. Makes it look like sun streaming in.)

As for the grid, I agree, remove it. Then in one of the left corners put an off color 5ft square that can be used to size and align the grid in FG.

And, if you want more CC specific help, you can ask on the ProFantasy forums or the CC Face Book group. Just let them know you are open to advice and critiques, otherwise they will be very polite and not critical at all :)

That is really great. I agree that no grid works better in FG, but a little square 5' x 5' block on the bottom left or something usually works great to add FG grids to the map.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LordEntrails

Nice first map, and thanks for sharing too.

Looks like you are open to some critical constructive feedback so here's my opinion, take it for what you paid for it :)

Use a inner fade and blur on your road sheet if you want the edges to be softer. Also check the intersections and have them overlap a bit better, you have a couple corners that don't transition well.

Try two or three sheets for your bushes/trees so give them different length shadows, perhaps a 'Vegetation, Low' and 'Vegetation, High' sheets and change the length of the shadow effects. Also consider how these shadow length compare to your walls or buildings to control the apparent height of the trees (i.e. are the taller or shorter than a single story?)

Also consider the multiple sheets for walls/buildings if they are different height (guard tower) and if you want to go so far for furniture. I didn't check, but make sure you also have a 'Floor, Flat' sheet with no shadow for rugs and such if needed.

Not sure what the wood 'flooring' in on the left side of the map. Going to suggest some effects for it, if I knew what it was :)

Doors can be tricky to distinguish from windows. I personally use open doors, that way they are easy to distinguish as well as you know which way they open. But you can do such with different shadows or glows too. (One technique it to put a white/yellow shadow on windows in the opposite direction of your global sun. Makes it look like sun streaming in.)

As for the grid, I agree, remove it. Then in one of the left corners put an off color 5ft square that can be used to size and align the grid in FG.

And, if you want more CC specific help, you can ask on the ProFantasy forums or the CC Face Book group. Just let them know you are open to advice and critiques, otherwise they will be very polite and not critical at all :)

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Thanks.

I had tried the inner fade before but it was far too 'aggresive'. I've now changed a few of the numbers and it looks great, thanks for that. It's amazing how, with CC3+ and DD3, when you change a few numbers it really transforms your project. It also hid the problem with the transitions which I'm rather happy about! I was just going to hide them with some weeds and bushes.
I can't remember how to add symbols to different sheets, I'll check it out and give it a bash.

The 'wood flooring' was a work in progress, not yet completed. I've turned it into a derelict store.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Oladahn

Thanks.

I had tried the inner fade before but it was far too 'aggresive'. I've now changed a few of the numbers and it looks great, thanks for that. It's amazing how, with CC3+ and DD3, when you change a few numbers it really transforms your project. It also hid the problem with the transitions which I'm rather happy about! I was just going to hide them with some weeds and bushes.
I can't remember how to add symbols to different sheets, I'll check it out and give it a bash.

The 'wood flooring' was a work in progress, not yet completed. I've turned it into a derelict store.

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Glad it was helpful :) Yes, learning what numbers to use in the effects is a learning curve. Also be aware that the numbers depend on if you use % of window or map units. I always use map units so it looks the same regardless of my window, but, there might be times when you want effects to not scale up as you zoom in.

To move symbols to a different sheet, I right click on the sheets icon over on the left of the window (right column, above mid point). Or when you place the symbol you can change the sheet and disable the option in the symbol dialog. (But I usually just move them after.)

Enjoy, and thanks again for sharing :)

Nice looking map, as others have said it might be better without the grid.