Venture-Captain, Michigan—Mt. Pleasant
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Ok, first off, I'm bored tonight, so I figured I'd start a thread.
I've been GM'ing PFS for about 6 months or so, and I've started to collect a decent bunch of maps. I know many that draw their maps carry them in artist/blueprint/document tubes of some sort for transport to/from games, but I wondered how others store their maps between games?
For a while I was stacking them up on an unused desk in our junk room, but they were getting out of hand and looking through them got to be a pain. My wife works in a factory and is able go get these short tubes that their stretch-wrap comes on. They're about 3.5" in diameter and 3.25" long. I took 28 of these, taped them together, and taped them to the top of a box that fit them perfectly. I now have this.
So, how do the rest of you that draw your maps out ahead of time store them?
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Thea: Those Alvin Ice Tubes are expensive. Around... $13-20 each, right? I was thinking of buying a few of these so I could print and assemble maps for GenCon.
Then I printed and assembled the map from #3-19. What a pain! Held together with rubber cement, the printer spat it out in fifteen 8.5" x 11" sheets which I had to trim, then overlap.
Finally when I was done I laid nine 8.5" x 11" sheets of clear acrylic sheets over the surface. Inexpertly, I might add. Next time I'm just going to have it laminated...
Overall, it was about three hours of work for something I used for four hours and may not see action again soon. I wish I was running #3-19 at GenCon. Then I might have a use for this one again sometime in the foreseeable future.
Eric: I use flip mats for most of my dungeons. It's a PITA to draw them, even beforehand—worse if done at the table)—and I usually have to work extra hard because I forgot to erase last week.
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Thea: Those Alvin Ice Tubes are expensive. Around... $13-20 each, right? I was thinking of buying a few of these so I could print and assemble maps for GenCon.
Then I printed and assembled the map from #3-19. What a pain! Held together with rubber cement, the printer spat it out in fifteen 8.5" x 11" sheets which I had to trim, then overlap.
Finally when I was done I laid nine 8.5" x 11" sheets of clear acrylic sheets over the surface. Inexpertly, I might add. Next time I'm just going to have it laminated...
Overall, it was about three hours of work for something I used for four hours and may not see action again soon. I wish I was running #3-19 at GenCon. Then I might have a use for this one again sometime in the foreseeable future.
Eric: I use flip mats for most of my dungeons. It's a PITA to draw them, even beforehand—worse if done at the table)—and I usually have to work extra hard because I forgot to erase last week.
Google is your friend ...
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I just roll them up like a blue print, add a small rubber band and put them in a box on end like you did. Gives me room for more maps in the same space that way. I also add the module number to the outside most sheet so that I can find the map that I want when I am looking. Although if I get too many more I might have to divide them up by year or something to aid in finding the one that I want when I need to reuse a map.
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I use a large artist's portfolio to carry my flip-mats. It's a lot bulkier than having them folded, but I like keeping them flat so minis don't tip over on the creases.
For hand-drawn maps, I usually use the large sheets of 1" graph paper. When not in use, I store them all in a Rubbermaid storage bin designed for wrapping paper. It is flat, so it can be stored under a bed. One trick for storing rolled up maps is to roll it "backwards", with the map image facing out. This makes it much easier to keep the map flat during play, since it wants to roll up toward the table.
I also have several larger plastic tubs that I use for storing my 3D terrain. The only thing that doesn't have a home yet is my model of the ship from King Xeros of Old Azlant. It's made out of Styrofoam, and is almost 4 feet long!
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Store them digitally, and buy a projector. I did, my projector was on the fritz, I busted out my 50+ laminated babies for some "old school" gaming. I have them in an "art student" black vinyl, wide portfolio. http://www.ehow.com/how_5717511_construct-art-portfolio-container.html But now projector is fixed. YMMV.
So, how do the rest of you that draw your maps out ahead of time store them?
Also, when I do use battle mats, it's pre-draw, layer and peel for me. That way I don't have bored players and down time. Of course, with three young boys, pre-drawing time is at a premium. But this method gets rave reviews from players.
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Venture-Captain, Michigan—Mt. Pleasant
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Yeah, I hand draw 90% of my maps, and most if not all of those I've gm'd have really given me great compliments. As a home group, we've discussed all chipping in for a projector, but its a small room, without great ventilation, and it already gets pretty warm in there. I'm not sure that adding a projector would help much. :) Plus, I run in several places, so portability is a big issue for me.
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One alternative I have seen, from one of our locals here in Las Vegas, is he has a projector, and a metal framework that breaks down into a bag sort of like a long duffel bag, and that is fairly portable.
It does take a bit of time and energy to setup.
I think there may be pictures of his setup on the Vegas Gamers' web site.
He abstracts maps, and uses Map Tools, IIRC, to run his scenarios. He also has the players choose icons for their PCs, and uses MapTools built-in fog of war and light source management to make sure each PC can only see what the PC could see from where he is on the map.
That fog of war was actually incredibly useful for my character, last time I played with him, since that cleric channels negative, and that helped define line of effect as well as line of sight.
Then again, I have played online with MapTools, so it wasn't that big a deal for me to understand the interface and what we were seeing...
Some of the many benefits of using a VTT like MapTools with a projector is that it is easy to determine things like line of sight, line of effect, and actual distance for spell caps and ranged attack increments.
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One alternative I have seen, from one of our locals here in Las Vegas, is he has a projector, and a metal framework that breaks down into a bag sort of like a long duffel bag, and that is fairly portable.
To expand on the post, the metal framework I use is a truss that one can order from amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Stage-Stands-Backline-Lighting-Stand/dp/B00119MJM6The duffel bag is mentioned on that page as well:
http://www.amazon.com/Stage-LSB-6500-Lighting-Truss-Carry/dp/B000PGS5M4/ref =pd_bxgy_MI_img_b
To mount the projector, I purchased a book on tying rope knots. I also had to purchase a very long VGA cable to connect the projector to my laptop. Arranging the entire hardware setup does take energy and time; I have tried to rush the construction in the past and I always paid for it by having to start over. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of this setup. Maybe someday someone will take a picture and post somewhere.
To construct the maps, I use a freeware program called 'Tiled'. I created my own tileset that is mostly simple black and white (for high contrast). The tiles I created are very simple: hard corner blocks, rounded corner blocks, and water (hard corner and rounded corner, used blue with wavy lines to differentiate from other blocks).
Once I have constructed the map in Tiled, I export the image file and then import that image file into MapTools. From there I arrange light sources and fog of war.
The other item that took me a while to construct was my image library for icons (pictures that represent the characters). For this I copied the character icons from the 8-Bit NES title Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (NOT Dragon Warrior, as my some of my players have theorized). I then used MSPaint to modify the 8 pixel by 8 pixel images to match the appearance I look for and to match the color scheme. For instance, I may modify an icon to use an axe as opposed to a sword. For color scheme, I use three or four similar colors for the enemy parties of the scenario so that they look 'uniform'. I then used Paint.NET to re-size the images from 8 pixels by 8 pixels to a size that MapTools will not distort as much: 48 pixels by 48 pixels. For NPCs, I use the MapTools TokenTool to import with a red frame. I import the PCs with a blue frame.
The end result is a high-contrast map with easily recognizable icons. I did this because in a convention environment I don't have control of the room lighting, and fine details from a projector can get lost with a lot of light in the room.
It was worth it.
-Perry
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I commonly use my wet erase battle mat to draw out most of my maps as I have commonly in the past found out I was running a game within a week. When I can I draw mine out on 1 inch grid paper and keep them in a mailing tube.
If you want a cost effective way to keep a lot of hand drawn maps organized you can first start by getting this guy
http://www.bcwsupplies.com/products/baseball-bat-display-cases/bat-tube.htm
most game stores can order this as they already go through BCW and the strap you can buy with it is great. You can use this to carry maps to the game. Then to keep the maps stored and separated you can buy mailing tubes for about $2 a piece. Since these are cardboard it is easy to write on to better help you organize.
I am sure we all have several characters with many chronicles and know how far a little organization can go. Do the same with the maps you draw and you are ready to run any mod that comes your way.