FirstChevalier's page

Aubrey the Malformed wrote:

Some good points about the usability of maps.

I was mentioning something similar in another map-related thread. Namely, the players only get to see what the GM is able to draw on the battlemap. If the map in the adventure is so complex the GM ends up handwaving most of it at the table, the fact that it looks pretty on the page is only relevant to the GM. The other 80% of the gaming group will never see that version of the map.

As Game Masters, of any system, it's our job to render the world to our players. The medium we collective use to do this is unique to each GM. Some GM's are excellent wordsmiths and lay out the backdrop, sights and sounds, and feel of the setting via descriptions. Others are more artistically inclined and give more visual cues. For other GM's and their groups, the hack and slash blood and gore is the thing.

Whatever tools you use and have in your GM bag is distinctly unique though as I said. A canned module must, by definition provide as much useful information packed into as little print space and paper as possible. The flip side to that is a canned module cannot, also by definition, provide everything every GM needs. Well drawn maps allow GM's to add their own little spice based on how they run a game. Take what you need/want and ditch the rest.

Again, my opinion. We welcome yours...

My two cents...

For my hand drawn maps in home campaigns I've always taken elements I liked from other maps and incorporated them into my own. I don't imply here plagiarism in any way. What I mean here is if you like how a map rendered stairs, draw your stairs that way. If their walls are drawn in an eye catching way draw your walls that way. The little details are what make those maps really spring to life.

In Tim's example above notice the little things he took the time to do. The curtain is a wavy line rather than straight, he added lots of little barrels around the walls of his cellar, many of the exterior walls are not just double lines but have interspersed 'character' lines adding more flavor, nearly all items on the floors (tables, chairs, barrels, etc) have shading rather than just boxes, circles and lines. All these aspects are features that pop those maps from just lines on paper to life-like representations needing little or no explanation once the eye takes them in.

That's my (as yet unpublished) opinion. We welcome yours...

Joshua,
I wanted to touch base with you concerning my submission. You moved through a lot of material in a short time which is an impressive feat. I have not seen anything from Paizo, which makes me worried I missed something given the speed you moved through your slush pile. I have additional ideas to submit but if I missed a constructive rejection I don't want to die on the same hill.

I've always assumed no news is good news in the writing world, so if you're still working through things no pressure at all. I simply want to make sure the ether (or a ridiculous spam filter) didn't claim an email and I'm waiting for something already sent. Thanks for your time.
Mark

I did. I hope to clear my submissions inbox soon.

I figured you were deep in the weeds given some of the discussion threads. Thanks for the confirmation.

Joshua,

Just wanted to drop a quick note to make sure you received my submission titled The Magistrate's Murder, which was sent on 1/19/10. I'm not applying pressure for a decision. I just want to make sure it arrived. Thanks.

I beat the bushes for submissions and got a lot of them! I hope to read them and get back to the authors in the next week or so. I'm working on the January scenarios pretty hard this week as well as working on super secret future announcements.

Does this mean the call is closed or are you still accepting submissions? I have a play test scheduled for this Saturday. Thanks.

I have a similar question on this topic. What do we do about play testing if we do not have an active gaming group right now? Are submissions not accepted if they have not been play tested?

Here's the thread where William asked his question...go to thread

I wouldn't have posted my thread if I'd actually read down the page a bit, but I was in a hurry. Sorry for gumming up the forum Joshua.

FirstChevalier wrote:

Josh,

I have completed my first draft of an adventure for PFS play. I have a local group who is willing to play test to find the initial kinks. It occurred to me you might not want me to do this prior to submission. So, I thought I'd ask first. Let me know what your opinion is. Thank you.

I asked the same question. He would like us to play test them, since they play test their own.

Cool. Thanks William.

Josh,
I have completed my first draft of an adventure for PFS play. I have a local group who is willing to play test to find the initial kinks. It occurred to me you might not want me to do this prior to submission. So, I thought I'd ask first. Let me know what your opinion is. Thank you.

I loved the scenario. Beggar’s Pearl is very fun, and does feel very old-school to me. However, without throwing out a spoiler, it’s very ambitious in its scope to be completed in a convention slot. I ran it as a slot zero, then two times at the convention. We tabled the slot zero as a ‘home game’ so it could be completed legitimately. The first convention slot was able to start early and finish late through chance, and ran long by almost fifty minutes. The second convention slot finished ten minutes early, but only because I had learned where I could cut corners and where I had to focus attention.

On the whole it’s a VERY fun mod. I highly recommend the adventure, though my tables commented they were getting tired of mites and blue things for what it’s worth.

I didn't ready your post above this one until *after* I wrote everything in this post (other than this edit)...

No Spoilers, promise...
I've read through the mod and I'm VERY excited. It has a very old-school feel to it (imo), a la AD&D. It also has new-school as well. It looks like it may run long though. I'll be running it tonight and this weekend. I'll post my thoughts after the convention here in Georgia (Catchup Con).

Same here. I purchased this mod and need to prep it for this weekend but it doesn't appear in my download area either. I think they're working through this though.