The Haunted Dinosaur Graveyard of Mediogalti Island


Round 2: Create a map

RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32 , Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8 aka moon glum

3 people marked this as a favorite.

The Haunted Dinosaur Graveyard of Mediogalti Island

Cartographer

Good looking map reference upon first glance.

There is a compass rose and a scale present on the map.

Everything is drawn clearly and detailed enough to know what details are important.

Good use of page space, the key is a bit big though.

Seems like a unique location, good organic placement of various features, I like it.

I do recommend this map to progress to round 3

Liberty's Edge Contributor

The Good
"The Haunted Dinosaur Graveyard of Mediogalti Island"? This is clearly attempting to curry favor with the judges! Luckily, I like being curried to...

This map is very clear and well-labelled, with colored areas further clarifying the terrain. I could easily turn this into a final map without further information.

The location is very evocative, and involves things most games love: hauntings and dinosaurs.

The Bad
The map is a little simplistic, with the shapes (especially the treeline) being a little too regular and inorganic.

The key, which wouldn't be needed on the final map, is very big and will leave a large area of empty space on the final map.

My Judgement
Good idea, clearly communicated. I recommend this entry to advance to the next round.

Scarab Sages Modules Overlord

Drawing from my blog on maps, and the rules for the round, I’ll judge the maps on a number of questions.

Is It a Full Page Map?
Mostly, yes. As crystal says the key won't need to be nearly that big, leaving a blank spot on the map.

Does The Map Have A Compass Rose and Scale? Are They Used Well?
Yes. It's a random natural shape, so it doesn't matter where North is, so it might as well be at the top. The scale actually seems a little small, but there's nothing *wrong* with it.

Is The Map A Place I Want To Adventure?
Heck yeah! Dinosaur bone graveyard? The possibilities are endless!

Is the Map Clear?
It sure seems to be. I'm not sure you need three and exactly three kinds of dinosaur skeleton, but an adventure might have good reasons for that. There's no question which is what, Pac-Man jokes aside, and the color has been used to make water, swamp, clearing, and jungle distinct.

Is the Map Detailed?
Not amazingly so, but well enough. I agree with Crystal that the jungle shapes are a bit regular, but that's not a huge issue.

Is the Map Imaginative?
The idea of the location is more creative than the execution, but it certainly stands out more than a series of perfectly square rooms.

This isn't the best map, but it is a good one. I'd have to make adjustments or send it back for the writer to do so before sending it off to a cartographer, but it wouldn't have to be scrapped entirely.

By a thin margin, my final verdict is that I DO recommend this map to advance to Round 3.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I admit it. The Pterosaur Roost made this an easy sell for me. I appreciate a map that takes care to note where the pterosaurs need to go.

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 8 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8 aka John Benbo

Dinosaurs, cool! This is a map that would definitely make for a unique encounter. I would have liked to know what's haunting it (haunts, ghost dinosaurs, awakened dinosaur barbarian vampires)?

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8 aka Jrcmarine

How do you NOT love dinosaurs?! How do you NOT love the possibility of a huge dinosaur haunt?! Although the execution is off, the idea is extremely appealing and that is what counts IMO.

The mapped area isn't a regularly shaped location so I like that and while things are simple that doesn't bother me. I am not an artist either so I don't have a problem with something like this, especially when it is being turned over to someone who is an artist. Everything here is labeled well.

Very nice job. I would be very excited to see a product with this location.

Dark Archive

To me this is way too cluttered. It also makes those with necromancers squeal with delight. Lets put it this way, in an evil campaign myself and friends ran across a linorm skeleton written in the adventure path. The one doing all the undead animating just goes "we are going to make this happen".

It is at least an interesting area choice, but between the clutter of all the bones everywhere in a large area, and not completely sure on how the scale is (size of pond made by an imposing river/huge quicksand areas) not quite in my top.


Not the cleanest work in the running, but the location is provocative, there's a lot of interesting stuff in the area, and I could see this turning into the location for some cool adventures.

I'm really, really hoping the dinosaur ghosts aren't just going to be unmasked as Farmer Johnson and his lizardfolk buddies, who would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids and their dog.

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka Darkjoy

12th map I have seen, on the fence with a 6-7 rank.


BEEP BOOP for more information PLEASE SEE:

Dinosaurs of Golarion, particularly tyrannosaurus and triceratops; pterosaurs of Golarion; and Mediogalti Island, specifically the dinosaur graveyard.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16 , Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8 aka Cyrad

I got really pumped up for this, but the map feels like a let down. Where's the tar pits? The encampment of the Thunderscale who would consider such a place as holy land? There's a lot more that could have been done with a cool concept like this. The graveyard is just a big field with lots of difficult terrain. The most interesting part of the map is crammed in the top left corner.

However, the map is clear and very competently made. I can still picture a short adventure happening here looking for buried treasure.

Champion Voter Season 6, Champion Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Champion Voter Season 9

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

This map is very easy to read and clearly conveys the dinosaur/jungle theme very well. The use of colour and the clear keys and symbols are great at conveying the different locations of a very imaginative creation.

However there are a few things that confuse me. Encounter area A3 is written down twice in very different spots: one in the pool below a water fall and the other in a clearing following a dinosaur trail. I really can't see how those two encounters could be in any way alike. This might just be a mistake, but that is part of what we are looking for here.

Another bit of waste was labelling the lizardfolk ambush with both a number key and a symbol spelling it out. Unnecessary. All-in-all this is a good map with an interesting concept. It didn't strike me enough and I'm not voting for it only because I'm limited to eight entries. If I had a ninth option, I would vote for this entry.

Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

If you're asking me to fight skeleton dinosaurs - or even better, dinosaur ghosts - then I'm on board! This is a map that, for me, has a very strong theme but lackluster execution. It all feels a bit open. I'd like some clearer routes through the graveyard, and more focus on cool locations within. The key takes up way too much space. Overall, it gets my vote for the theme alone.

RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka motteditor

Like others, I love the idea of the location. But that's diminished a little bit by it being somewhere already established in Golarion canon. Still, you're choosing it as a cool place to map, so that shows some good design instincts.

I'm not sure how much new the map brings to this location. It's mostly open and/or dense jungle, which doesn't feel like something I need. But your little touches -- the plateau and the marsh, for example -- add a lot. It's those areas I want to explore.

The other thing I really like actually is the black obelisks. From what I can tell, that's your addition to the area and I'm intrigued by them. I want to know what's the deal with those. They evoke a story to me and make me think my PCs would have to go investigate them and make it through the rest of the location to learn what's going on.

I'm still making decisions, but I think I'm leaning toward voting for this one.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Champion Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka GM_Solspiral

My criteria:
My Map-fu is weak compared to some of these contestants but I shall endeavor to give feedback. I'll be looking at the following:
Challenge: Is this map difficult to execute? Does it in my opinion demonstrate the characteristics of a Superstar designer?
Technique: Did the designer show some skill and consideration in the choices made on the map. Are the words used in the key wise choices that add to the overall utility of the map?
Utility: Can a GM/cartographer make sense of the map and make immediate use of it?
Overall:[b] I'll rate the Map as an A for strong recommends B for weak recommends C on the bubble D for weak rejects F for Do not recommends

Challenge: You swung for the fences with the word dinosaur added to graveyard
Technique: It's a little cartoonish in spots but this is not an art competition, you considered the challenge well. area a8 confuses me
Utility: I would have submitted something like this in style, it's my kind of map..
Overall: B for me as in +A idea and +c execution. I recommend it.


This map definitely appeals to the little kid in me. It would be really fun to fight anyone or anything in a room filled with dinosaur bones. That said tactically speaking there is a lot to be done with this room. You can hide behind bones, could the bones be used as weapons, can you animate any of the skeletons? All these things could be explored in this room. I would definitely like to go adventuring there.

where there is quicksand, I would really like to see tar pits. As someone mentioned above, tar pits are kind of synonymous with dinosaur bones. If you're going to go for a trope, go all the way.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

This map makes me nostalgic for the Isle of Dread.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8 , Dedicated Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Mark D Griffin

My favorite thing: Dinosaur ghosts

Other things I like: The use of color makes it easy to read.

My least favorite thing(s): This was close to being something I could love, but I really need to know what you think A1-A9 should be. Otherwise there isn't enough going on here, you didn't do enough interesting stuff with the region and you wasted a lot of space.

Will I vote for it: It's definitely in my top 16, but not in my top 8 sorry to say. It's probably my 11th pick overall, and another pass could easily put it in my top 8.


Hahaha, I love it. It makes me laugh, but I could see it being a really great adventure. A.

Dedicated Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9

I'm just not feeling this at all. Apart from appealing to the apparent dinosaur (yep, me) and skeleton (yep, me again) crowd there is actually very little intriguing or interesting in this. Owen says the possibilities are endless, but I'm pretty sure I've already run out of non-similar ideas springing to mind, unlike some of the other maps.

In fact it looks incredibly linear and kinda easy to avoid completely. Unless there is a plot item or person in distress or haunt to excise what makes this different from a plethora of burial ground encounters. In fact it is heavily reminiscent of an encounter area in NWN2. Not a particularly good on either.

Very surprised to see so many fans of this - maybe I'm missing something, but obviously whatever it is, it misses me.

[EDIT] - oh and the name feels a little overblown. Obviously points for locating it specifically, but still…[/EDIT]

Marathon Voter Season 8

I'm not a huge fan of dinosaurs, skeletal or otherwise, in Pathfinder, but I have used them occasionally so it's not a huge problem. I just wish the map had something more than Here There Be Dinosaurs going for it. Now it's very Flintstones-esque to me.

There are some good touches. The addition of swamp makes for a good final area, the plateau is also nice and will make for a good miniboss area. And the individual encounters might very well be really cool, but I cannot tell that looking at the map alone. But there should be more. I want rocks, gorges, vegetation, man-eating plants, possibly even a cave for that supposed treasure this place is meant to hide. Though that last one might be behind the waterfall.

Nothing really wrong with this one, it just doesn't grab my imagination like some other maps have. I'll go with weak maybe.

Scarab Sages Modules Overlord

Official Round 2 Note: On Map Resolution

We’ve had some comments on legibility of smaller type on the maps, and the contestants are (by the rules of the contest), not allowed to clarify anything, so I want to make a general statement about maps and resolution.

When we required all contestants to present maps at a specific dpi and size, we did so because in past years we’ve had some issues with maps (for the encounter round) being sent to us in different sizes, resolutions, and dpi, making it difficult to give them all a high-quality presentation for the contest. We found that asking for a higher dpi than we’ll use in the end allowed us to create a standard of presentation that kept all images crisp and clean. For encounter-round maps, this has worked well.

Unfortunately, since this round requires all text be provided on the maps themselves, many contestants used the dpi and size standards we required as the basis for making sure their text is clear, and otherwise tried to keep words as small as possible so as to not clutter their maps. This was done in the (reasonable) belief that the maps should look good at the size we asked for, rather than in any different size we might present on our website. When resized for smaller, high-quality images, this can result in words that aren’t clearly legible.

We’ve made a change to rescale everything to the higher end of maximum image size for uploaded images for all maps that were entered this round. This should allow for better legibility for voters when selecting their favorite maps to advance in the contest. It is our fault that this process was not properly communicated to our contestants, so consider this when adjusting or finalizing your selections.

Obviously, we’ll explain what is going to happen to the images of maps, and how to allow for it, more clearly in future rounds (and future contests). My apologies to any contestant with a map that has suffered as a result of how we handled scaling in this round.

Dark Archive RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8 aka FaxCelestis

http://i.imgur.com/a5XyRag.jpg

Here is how your map appears to a colorblind end user. Thankfully, your use of color is largely in the visible spectrum for a deuteranope, but that may have been luck rather than intention. Since roughly 10% of the populace is colorblind, this is something you need to keep in mind.

Dedicated Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9

Brilliant idea, but as others have said execution could use some work. I am on the fence for this one. Still I hope you advance so I can see more of your creativity in future rounds.

Star Voter Season 8

First off: Congratulations on making Round 2, and the best of luck in the votes!

How I rate these:

Coolness: Do I look at this, and want to use it in a game? Does it provoke wonder or amazement? Does it hold potential for interesting encounters, adventures or roleplay? How much mileage does this map have in it?

Usability: How usable is this for me as a GM (being that GMs are actually the primary audience of most maps)? Is the legend clear and in logical order for play? Does it give me enough information to easily visualize the parts and wax poetic about the varied locations? Does it have the necessary details for me to run with it on the fly, or will it involve a lot of improvisation? Does it have any glaring oddities that stop me mid-breath to go "what the hell is that?!"?

Craftsmanship: Is it clear, legible and containing all the necessary bits and bobs? Does it make good use of the space? Is the scale appropriate for the detail (and visa versa)?

(I suppose you could also call them "Creativity, Functionality and Skill", but I like my terms better :P).

Coolness: C-

  • Positive: Haunts, dinosaurs and boneyards are all fun things to play with.
  • Negative: No haunts in the haunted graveyard. Undead (I think?) dinosaurs, living dinosaurs and lizardmen, yes… but no haunts. Or tar pits. Or changes in elevation that aren't 150ft cliffs. Or mounds of bone that form small hillocks. Why are their random obelisks in the spot-where-dinosaurs-like-to-cark-it?
  • Verdict: C-. There is potential here, but I think it's underutilized as-is.

Usability: D

  • Positive: Encounter areas are noted, key is clear about what symbols represent, and the scale is mostly okay…
  • Negative: This is a big, flat clearing filled with bones… so my players hang back and shoot what moves, right? What does "miscellaneous dinosaur skeletons" mean? ARE the named skeletons creatures or terrain features? That's a lot of water coming in on the NW, where does it go? Why are their pterosaurs nesting around a haunted boneyard? The 'encounter areas' are clustered close enough in an open area that I'd expect 2-3 to be triggered simultaneously (e.g. A5 is a double-move from A3 for most characters). Honestly, I don't think I need an actual map for this area: "You enter a clearing in the jungle, roughly 150ft across and 300ft long. The whole area is strewn with dinosaur bones, and four large black obelisks stand among them. As you look about, you can see some of the skeletons moving." Yep, that largely does it. Also, a body of water 50ft across is a pool or pond, not a lake.
  • Verdict: D. It's cluttered yet empty, and missing too much information for my tastes.

Craftsmanship: D+

  • Positive: It's relatively clear, scale and compass are given and the key specifies both terrain type and features.
  • Negative: The key is easily twice as big as is warranted, and a third of the map itself is largely unused greenery. The use of "bone symbols" as features rather than a terrain type clutters up the map and is confusing; Are these intended to be mounds of bone, or actual unique skeletons of dinosaurs, ready to be animated? If the latter, the author is a complete sadist, and I hope the cartographer has a lot of dinosaur skeleton brushes on hand.
  • Verdict: D+. It's a passable half-map encounter area, but for a full page and the nine encounters suggested there is simply too little to work with.

Overall: D+

RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka Morphemic

Here are my ratings for this map:

First Look: B
Looks interesting, but a bit cluttered.

Interest Level of Location: B
The concept is cool, but mostly just a clearing in the jungle full of bones. The other features are pretty basic.

Tactical Depth: D
Fighting here would just happen in the clearing, I suppose. I guess all the bones are difficult terrain, so the battles would be pretty static.

Adventure Potential: C
Nothing on the map tells me how to use it in an adventure. It wouldn't be much trouble to drop it in though.

Clarity: A
No problems here.

Logic: B
This map works as it is, but I would think that a site as iconic as the dinosaur graveyard would have more to it than a clearing with a pile of bones. I always imagined it as a more complex adventure site.

Overall: B-

RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9

I thought this was a good map with interesting encounter locations. It just missed getting my vote.

Good Luck!

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka theheadkase

I am critiquing this without having read others' first:

Almost half the page is empty jungle.

It looks like you are counting on the fact that these are dinosaurs, and dead/raised dinosaurs, to make this map cool.

It is pretty easy to read but this isn't really that interesting aside from the dinosaurs.

Overall, I'm not so much a fan of this. Because I just don't see anything interesting going on here. Even the obelisks don't spark much interest. Sorry to say this is bottom of the pack for me.

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