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Aren't new products normally announced in groups of four months?
Generally, yes. however, they tend to emerge on here in dribs and drabs as Vic gets a chance to up load them. The two remaining Serpent's Skull products (this and AP 42) probably went up first as the AP will start hitting peoples My Downloads at the beginning of the week, so they want all of the prodcts up.
Creative Director
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If it's going to be three large maps, does that mean that they will be the size of the Inner Sea Reigon map from the campaign setting?
Nope.
At this point, we're planning on this one to have three 8-panel maps, each of the 3 maps being of a different key outdoor location in the AP.
The upcoming Inner Sea map is a single 32 panel map, although since we can't print on paper that big or fold it right, it's split up into four separate 8 panel maps that can be put together like a puzzle.
So basically, the Inner Sea map is going to be 4 times the size of the maps in the Serpent's Skull map folio.
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I didn't mind the map folios at all before the way you all were doing them.
Have to say though I reallly like these new map sets if the Kingmaker one is the way they are going to be.
Thought the folks who didn't like them before where crazy. Now I have to say thank you for complaining the way you all were because I LOVE the new map folios.
If that makes since.
Sean
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If it's going to be three large maps, does that mean that they will be the size of the Inner Sea Reigon map from the campaign setting?Nope.
At this point, we're planning on this one to have three 8-panel maps, each of the 3 maps being of a different key outdoor location in the AP.
The upcoming Inner Sea map is a single 32 panel map, although since we can't print on paper that big or fold it right, it's split up into four separate 8 panel maps that can be put together like a puzzle.
So basically, the Inner Sea map is going to be 4 times the size of the maps in the Serpent's Skull map folio.
Sorry, I meant the one in the old CS. Thus the misspelling!
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Creative Director
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So will you be releasing info about new products one at a time now, or did you just want to finish serpents skull products asap?
We'll normally keep to the standard product announcement schedule we've been on; once every 4 months or so. But now and then we'll announce stuff between that time. Which is more or less kind of the way we've been doing product announcements all along.
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I didn't mind the map folios at all before the way you all were doing them.
Have to say though I reallly like these new map sets if the Kingmaker one is the way they are going to be.
Thought the folks who didn't like them before where crazy. Now I have to say thank you for complaining the way you all were because I LOVE the new map folios.
If that makes since.
Sean
I was one of the complainers, and I am VERY pleased that the Kingmaker Map Folio wasn't a one shot deal. I've been on the fence about continuing this particular subscription for awhile, but I'm staying on as long as I can afford it now. (I just hope that I can for awhile...)
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Chief Technical Officer
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So will you be releasing info about new products one at a time now, or did you just want to finish serpents skull products asap?We'll normally keep to the standard product announcement schedule we've been on; once every 4 months or so. But now and then we'll announce stuff between that time. Which is more or less kind of the way we've been doing product announcements all along.
Actually, that's a bit up in the air now. Previously, our announcements were driven by the book trade's catalog solicitation schedule, which happened three times a year. They're now apparently moving to a monthly schedule, so we only had to add products for January in the last batch.
However, our own catalog will be released at Gen Con, and it covers (more or less) through next June, so we'll probably be putting up Feb-June 2011 products in the coming week... and then in about five months, we'll probably go to a monthly announcement schedule for until our next catalog.
Maybe.
I've been glancing over the product release schedule. If I am reading it correctly, it seems that the map folio for an Adventure Path comes out pretty late in the sequence (around #5 of 6???). It would be super cool to have the maps at the start of the sequence, so they can be used in play. I'd almost buy the sequence and then play after it is all out, just to get the maps.
In my dream world, the maps would be structured so that I could show at least one to the players during episode #1 of the AP. If items need to be added to the map, I could do this by a) drawing on it or on a transparency that I place over it, b) a map "update" would be available online as part of the PDF of the AP, or maybe something I can photocopy or remove from the AP printed version.
Just thinking aloud.
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Creative Director
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I've been glancing over the product release schedule. If I am reading it correctly, it seems that the map folio for an Adventure Path comes out pretty late in the sequence (around #5 of 6???). It would be super cool to have the maps at the start of the sequence, so they can be used in play. I'd almost buy the sequence and then play after it is all out, just to get the maps.
In my dream world, the maps would be structured so that I could show at least one to the players during episode #1 of the AP. If items need to be added to the map, I could do this by a) drawing on it or on a transparency that I place over it, b) a map "update" would be available online as part of the PDF of the AP, or maybe something I can photocopy or remove from the AP printed version.
Just thinking aloud.
It certainly WOULD be nice to get the map folios out at the start of an AP... but it's not possible. There's a very good reason we release the map folios to coincide with the release of the last adventure—that's when the last maps are actually done! We create all the maps for an AP as we go, with each author and cartographer working to create the maps for an adventure one at a time. There's thus a six month gap between when the first adventure's maps are done and the last adventure's are done.
We simply can't do earlier releases of the map folios because the maps themselves don't all exist until the AP is done.
These maps won't have the labels but they are not out still. If you have the pdf, you can use a program called "Some PDF Image Extractor", it give you all the images from the pdf without labels on them. Other than that, no.
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Chief Technical Officer
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I find that if I right click on the map and select it then copy it to a new PDF it comes across without the labels. I have no idea why this works but it does. Then if I want a bigger map for the wall I take that to Kinko's and have them put it on vinyl. I have several maps I have done this with.
Essentially, the image is one object, and the text is separate, so when you select the image with the object tool, you get only the image. You can then copy it and paste it into pretty much any app that works with images, not just other PDFs. (Adobe removed the ability to extract images in Adobe Reader 9, so keep your copy of Reader 8 around!)
(Adobe removed the ability to extract images in Adobe Reader 9, so keep your copy of Reader 8 around!)
Aha! That explains why I can pull the image out on my laptop, but not the desktop!
Gotta watch out for them.
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Chief Technical Officer
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You guys expect this Early,Mid or Late Jan? Would like this as soon as possible and currently my Subscription for Jan is not coming until Late Jan so I may request this earlier if it comes out earlier then that.
You can always check our current estimates on that sort of thing on the Product Schedule page. (Right now, we're expecting *all* of the January releases to go out at the end of the month.)
I apologize if this question has already been answered.
Will the printed maps have the location numbers?
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Chief Technical Officer
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I apologize if this question has already been answered.
Will the printed maps have the location numbers?
These aren't small location maps like the old Map Folios—these are large area poster maps. The only text on them is the scale, the compass rose, and the name of the area the map is depicting.
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These aren't small location maps like the old Map Folios—these are large area poster maps. The only text on them is the scale, the compass rose, and the name of the area the map is depicting.I apologize if this question has already been answered.
Will the printed maps have the location numbers?
Just a little disappointed about that, was hoping for the map of the trail they follow from Racing to Ruin, The map is messed up on the PDF of the AP and I can't select it, Was counting on this folio for an unmarked version of it since I can't make one from the PDF.
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Chief Technical Officer
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Just a little disappointed about that, was hoping for the map of the trail they follow from Racing to Ruin, The map is messed up on the PDF of the AP and I can't select it, Was counting on this folio for an unmarked version of it since I can't make one from the PDF.These aren't small location maps like the old Map Folios—these are large area poster maps. The only text on them is the scale, the compass rose, and the name of the area the map is depicting.I apologize if this question has already been answered.
Will the printed maps have the location numbers?
Hmm. Actually, Adobe is treating it as a background, which means that you can select it by ctrl-clicking (Windows) or option-clicking (Mac)... but you probably won't find that especially helpful, as you'll end up with the entire map of the Inner Sea, of which only a tiny part is shown on the page, and you'll need to find and crop the correct part of it yourself. I'll see if I can't get that fixed...
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Hmm. Actually, Adobe is treating it as a background, which means that you can select it by ctrl-clicking (Windows) or option-clicking (Mac)... but you probably won't find that especially helpful, as you'll end up with the entire map of the Inner Sea, of which only a tiny part is shown on the page, and you'll need to find and crop the correct part of it yourself. I'll see if I can't get that fixed...
that would be cool, thanks
Does anyone know when this will be available for purchase in Europe i.e. Germany? I preordered this via amazon but they can't tell me when it will ship...
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Does anyone know when this will be available for purchase in Europe i.e. Germany? I preordered this via amazon but they can't tell me when it will ship...The official release date is Wednesday... but we have no insight into (or control over) Amazon's own release dates.
Right now amazon is saying:
"Available for Pre-order. This item will be released on July 12, 2011."
Any idea why so long?
I want the small maps of dungeons and encounters from the adventure. I got a lot of use out of them before. I could use them to keep from flipping back and forth through Pathfinder volumes, and I sometimes gave them to players so they could see the outline of an area. The new format is nowhere near as enticing to me. I would ideally like the small maps and poster maps. All of the maps from an adventure path. That is worth twice the price to me, but I expect I am inexplicably in a minority.
I want the small maps of dungeons and encounters from the adventure. I got a lot of use out of them before. I could use them to keep from flipping back and forth through Pathfinder volumes, and I sometimes gave them to players so they could see the outline of an area. The new format is nowhere near as enticing to me. I would ideally like the small maps and poster maps. All of the maps from an adventure path. That is worth twice the price to me, but I expect I am inexplicably in a minority.
I agree with you. I'll get much less to almost no use out of the new format. I used the old sets as locations in my homebrew campaign. I really don't have a use for large area maps or city maps.
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I really don't get much use out of the new format, I liked the old format, but the problem was when you marked them they became useless, and it was only a choice selection of Maps.
I really think you guys just need to just bite the bullet on this one and put out a more useful expensive product, trying to keep this a low price is reducing the usefulness of them.
Click the link in a few hours, I guess.
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Nope.
At this point, we're planning on this one to have three 8-panel maps, each of the 3 maps being of a different key outdoor location in the AP.
The upcoming Inner Sea map is a single 32 panel map, although since we can't print on paper that big or fold it right, it's split up into four separate 8 panel maps that can be put together like a puzzle.
So basically, the Inner Sea map is going to be 4 times the size of the maps in the Serpent's Skull map folio.
I've never bought a map folio before so I'm wondering. Are these maps to scale so I can use them as we play through the even without having to draw it out or are they just a collection of pictures that I still have to draw out by hand on a battle map?
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Creative Director
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The maps are not battle maps. They're larger scale maps that depict things like entire islands or cities or regions.
Older map folios reprinted dungeon-type maps from the adventures at the same scale that they appeared in print.
I did the math at one point to determine how much it'd cost to do all of the maps in an typical adventure path at battle map scale, and it ended up being something close to 500 pages or so. And we'd have to charge WELL over a hundred bucks for a single AP's battle maps as a result (since a page of map costs a LOT more than a page of text).
The maps are not battle maps. They're larger scale maps that depict things like entire islands or cities or regions.
Older map folios reprinted dungeon-type maps from the adventures at the same scale that they appeared in print.
I did the math at one point to determine how much it'd cost to do all of the maps in an typical adventure path at battle map scale, and it ended up being something close to 500 pages or so. And we'd have to charge WELL over a hundred bucks for a single AP's battle maps as a result (since a page of map costs a LOT more than a page of text).
Have you looked into providing half a dozen 'key sites' rather than all-or-nothing? (Kind of a dumb question, since I'm sure you have - I more meant could you say something about it...) It's always seemed to me that the only area WoTC come close to rivalling Paizo in adventures is in the provision of battlemaps. Granted theirs are much poorer quality than the flipmats you produce - on wafer thin, easily torn paper and so forth, but nonetheless it seems surprising that they can so regularly include a handful of battlemaps with most of their modules but that it isn't doable for Paizo.
Personally, I'd value a product with half a dozen of the iconic settings from the current AP (Maybe two posters - one with two large maps, one with four smaller areas). Clearly the map folios have a much greater variance when it comes to player-support and what's expected (I was a big fan of the old, unpopular ones) but if you were looking to experiment for one of the upcoming folios I'd like to suggest trying the inclusion of a couple of (non-flip mat) battlemaps together with a couple of regional or city maps.
I know you are making a concerted effort to tie in the Gamemastery products with the current AP which is also appreciated. I'd still love to get another half-dozen battle maps if it could be made to work for you.
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Creative Director
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I have indeed considered doing "key sites" as battle maps... but even then that's kinda tricky. Not all "key sites" fit well on a four-panel poster, nor are all "key sites" all equally interesting as battle maps. Furthermore, a battlemap can only really be used once, whereas something like a poster map of a city or island or large region might remain relevant for an entire adventure or even multiple adventures. And then, finally, we already do flip maps and map packs for battle mat stuff; we don't really want to compete against ourselves there.
I have indeed considered doing "key sites" as battle maps... but even then that's kinda tricky. Not all "key sites" fit well on a four-panel poster, nor are all "key sites" all equally interesting as battle maps. Furthermore, a battlemap can only really be used once, whereas something like a poster map of a city or island or large region might remain relevant for an entire adventure or even multiple adventures. And then, finally, we already do flip maps and map packs for battle mat stuff; we don't really want to compete against ourselves there.
Good points, as usual. I guess I can't imagine someone deciding to not buy a generic flipmat on the grounds that there's a couple of non-erasable and less generic paper maps in a map folio. It's not my job to know what people want, of course. I guess I'd just hope that if you find yourselves scratching your heads for regional maps to include in an upcoming folio, you might consider experimenting with including "the crypt" or the emperor's garden and see how it goes down.
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I have indeed considered doing "key sites" as battle maps... but even then that's kinda tricky. Not all "key sites" fit well on a four-panel poster, nor are all "key sites" all equally interesting as battle maps. Furthermore, a battlemap can only really be used once, whereas something like a poster map of a city or island or large region might remain relevant for an entire adventure or even multiple adventures. And then, finally, we already do flip maps and map packs for battle mat stuff; we don't really want to compete against ourselves there.Good points, as usual. I guess I can't imagine someone deciding to not buy a generic flipmat on the grounds that there's a couple of non-erasable and less generic paper maps in a map folio. It's not my job to know what people want, of course. I guess I'd just hope that if you find yourselves scratching your heads for regional maps to include in an upcoming folio, you might consider experimenting with including "the crypt" or the emperor's garden and see how it goes down.
It's not a question of generics, it's the specific ones that they tend to use the images of for locales - for example, I'd never have bought my Flip Mat Theater if it hadn't been in the Sixfold Trial.
It's not a question of generics, it's the specific ones that they tend to use the images of for locales - for example, I'd never have bought my Flip Mat Theater if it hadn't been in the Sixfold Trial.I have indeed considered doing "key sites" as battle maps... but even then that's kinda tricky. Not all "key sites" fit well on a four-panel poster, nor are all "key sites" all equally interesting as battle maps. Furthermore, a battlemap can only really be used once, whereas something like a poster map of a city or island or large region might remain relevant for an entire adventure or even multiple adventures. And then, finally, we already do flip maps and map packs for battle mat stuff; we don't really want to compete against ourselves there.Good points, as usual. I guess I can't imagine someone deciding to not buy a generic flipmat on the grounds that there's a couple of non-erasable and less generic paper maps in a map folio. It's not my job to know what people want, of course. I guess I'd just hope that if you find yourselves scratching your heads for regional maps to include in an upcoming folio, you might consider experimenting with including "the crypt" or the emperor's garden and see how it goes down.
Sure, but would you be less likely to buy it if there was also a map folio with half a dozen (non theatre) locations?
I think if they are worried about competing with themselves it would be the generic flip mats that would suffer, not those already geared towards the aps.
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It's not a question of generics, it's the specific ones that they tend to use the images of for locales - for example, I'd never have bought my Flip Mat Theater if it hadn't been in the Sixfold Trial.I have indeed considered doing "key sites" as battle maps... but even then that's kinda tricky. Not all "key sites" fit well on a four-panel poster, nor are all "key sites" all equally interesting as battle maps. Furthermore, a battlemap can only really be used once, whereas something like a poster map of a city or island or large region might remain relevant for an entire adventure or even multiple adventures. And then, finally, we already do flip maps and map packs for battle mat stuff; we don't really want to compete against ourselves there.Good points, as usual. I guess I can't imagine someone deciding to not buy a generic flipmat on the grounds that there's a couple of non-erasable and less generic paper maps in a map folio. It's not my job to know what people want, of course. I guess I'd just hope that if you find yourselves scratching your heads for regional maps to include in an upcoming folio, you might consider experimenting with including "the crypt" or the emperor's garden and see how it goes down.Sure, but would you be less likely to buy it if there was also a map folio with half a dozen (non theatre) locations?
I think if they are worried about competing with themselves it would be the generic flip mats that would suffer, not those already geared towards the aps.
If it had been part of a map pack, then no I wouldn't have bought the Theater map seperately