Map Fu's page

*Yawns and stretches, awoken by Template Fu's gentle snores*

Ahhh, it must be time for Maps soon! I smell fresh scanning in the air!

*Takes his leave to the bathroom to refresh for the reviewing ahead*

Dear contestants, someone has run off through our portal to Golarion with the Top 32 results. To help us track them down, will all 223 confirmed living entrants please submit their maps in the next 20 minutes so we can post them for the new marathon week of moar voting to nominate the top 16.

Now to the batpole brave people!

Congratulations on completing and submitting your map on such a tight time-scale. Very well done, you should take pride in that achievement!

Disclaimer: The review of your entry that follows is from a non-official source, I have no formal part of RPG Superstar, and the review thoughts are mine alone and so should be considered carefully bearing this in mind. You can choose to digest or not each part as it seems of best value to yourself.

I am starting with map reviews this year while I brush up my knowledge of the different item types used for round 1. So let me begin...

Template
Yes, there is one, even for maps - it is the size, the compass rose, scale bars for each part of the map drawn at different scales, a key box describing the map elements, the map name on the map. The clarity of line and text also pays a part on this. Here is how you did...

Name: Straightforward. Simple. Ties into a Golarion island. I know what to expect here.

Size: Full page use with little wasted white space. A clearly main area with pull out focus points, one of which clearly shows varying elevations.

Compass Rose: Present, large and easy to find in the key box. Nice.

Scale Bar: Scale is present - and the scale of the cutaway does seem to marry up pretty well with the overhead view - very well done there (waterfall to orb is 100 feet in both, from orb to pillar in both is 40 feet) - a good attention to detail.

Key: I like that you have pulled out the key into its own box, with clear background. You collected much of the permanent information here, but you could have had the main map scale here as it took me a while to find it on the overhead view and well view.

Golarion Tie-In
Everyone has their take on Golarion, guided by the products and supplements. This therefore is a scoring based on how I felt you had tied the Golarion world to your map, it's flavor, the feel of the map, is it generic or obviously. This is therefore a very personal view and evaluation of your entry and should be considered as such. Onwards my brave contestant...

Ok, Jalmeray is a large island in the Obari Ocean, off the coast of Nex. I did wonder why the garden had become lost, but this is likely part of the background for a module such a map might appear in - I suspect it has something to do with assault on the island by the marid army of the Vudrani.

Using just a place name is kind of tenuous for Golarion tie in, but the theme of the map in this case can be aligned with the area selected. A lot of classic adventure fare was built here over the history of the island, so you have chosen a good, interesting and flavorful location and served a map that very well could fit the theme of that chosen area. Well done.

A good solid tie-in to Golarion inspiring the map.

Possible Areas of Improvement
Again, this is a personal evaluation of what, if anything, I think would improve the map and suggestions on things you could have done differently or added to the map. These are totally personal suggestions, but you might find something useful to consider herein...

OK, I wasn't keen on colouring in the areas around each map with that color, but that's personal color taste.

Overhead main map, are those benches around the fire pit? Top left, is that a table with 3 chairs or some sort of tri-fluted column/chimney.

I found having beds in a pool house a bit odd, I would have expected derelict tools for taking leaves and debris from the pools in winter, that sort of thing (or changing rooms if the pools were meant for swimming). Maybe some sort of controls in here for the fountains too.

I couldn't see how water could get into the sphinx fountain, the others are obvious side spills as the cataract flows along to the falls, but the sphinx feed mechanism isn't obvious, maybe an underground pipe from the lily ponds? Same for central fountain - how do they connect?

I then noticed the garden on the left is overgrown but not the one on the right? Interesting thoughts from this mismatch as a GM, but looking at the overgrowth in the first, it is a radial overgrowth dead centre of the garden and still give the appearance of neatly trimmed hedges. Hmmm, I would have expected more haphazard tendrils from the hedging reaching across the garden towards more sunlight sort of overgrowth.

If the garden has been untended and overgrown like this, I would have expected the orchids to have spread a little and not remain in a straight planeted line. When designing any overgrown area, think about the overgrown gardens you have seen, how the planets have reached into the garden from an original planting, how they all lean towards the light and so on.

One intriguing area for me was the obsidian pyramid. On this map, it is a 25 foot square pyramid, so, is it the top of a larger structure that is buried? What is it's purpose? Is there an entryway somewhere? It feels a bit like a space filler than a conscious design placement. Similarly, a library, secret or not, does seem out of place for a water based encounter area, it just felt out of place to me.

The only other thing I wondered about was the "deep well". Is there water at a certain depth far down the shaft or is it empty and dry? Is there water near the top and it is the water that is deep? When you have a word on your map that is a description of distance in some way, it is a big clue that you need to consider adding a number, something like 200ft maybe. As there is no blue centre, I am assuming it's a dry well.

You fell into the old trap I mention elsewhere with lines, shape of paper size and subconsciously following the grid - everyone is guilty of this to some extent, so its no biggie. Just try to make natural things more natural, rivers go around raised areas, plants do not replant themselves uniformly, and so on. Don't let the page alignment rule your thoughts when designing your maps.

Summary
I summarise my reactions to your submission here, stating if you are a definite vote winner, a potential vote winner or not. I am not "scoring" the entries this year as I always struggle to maintain consistency in scoring, so I am now trying a more "gut instinct" summary. Here goes...

Ok, so we have a three tier area for an encounter, which might include some sort of water hazards or creatures. A map with distinct possibilities for encounter design. You have made my vote short-list. Well done.

Congratulations on completing and submitting your map on such a tight time-scale. Very well done, you should take pride in that achievement!

Disclaimer: The review of your entry that follows is from a non-official source, I have no formal part of RPG Superstar, and the review thoughts are mine alone and so should be considered carefully bearing this in mind. You can choose to digest or not each part as it seems of best value to yourself.

I am starting with map reviews this year while I brush up my knowledge of the different item types used for round 1. So let me begin...

Template
Yes, there is one, even for maps - it is the size, the compass rose, scale bars for each part of the map drawn at different scales, a key box describing the map elements, the map name on the map. The clarity of line and text also pays a part on this. Here is how you did...

Name: Ok, I admit I had to look up what "gyre" was, and I am told "a spiral or vortex". So immediately I look at your map expecting some sort of whirlpool to be present - there is an almost land spiral effect but I would have wanted the water to show similar spiral currents (more on this later).

Size: Full page use with little wasted white space. You tried to utilise to the full the available page space providing lots of potentially interesting environmental impacts on the encounters in the area.

Compass Rose: Bottom right, almost falling off the map - it's just edging on being small enough to be missed, however a professional cartographer would resolve that. The important thing is that it is present.

Scale Bar: Scale is present - easy to find at the bottom of the key box. Nicely done.

Key: I like that you have pulled out the key into its own box, with clear background. Putting the title at the heading of the key, then the elements and finally the scale gives the key a well structured and natural flow. Well done.

Golarion Tie-In
Everyone has their take on Golarion, guided by the products and supplements. This therefore is a scoring based on how I felt you had tied the Golarion world to your map, it's flavour, the feel of the map, is it generic or obviously. This is therefore a very personal view and evaluation of your entry and should be considered as such. Onwards my brave contestant...

Ok, my google, prd and wiki search fu did not help me identify at all who Nanny Pajit is, but Gogpodda is the obvious inspiration for this map.

Summarizing from the Inner Sea World Guide, Gogpodda is a floating island on the Steaming Sea and the larger Arcadian Ocean, formed naturally from flotsam, jetsam, animal carcasses, and seaweed accumulating into an artificial landmass miles wide and dozens of feet thick. This description does raise a few more questions on the map design though (see later).

A good solid tie-in to Golarion clearly inspiring the map. Well done again.

Possible Areas of Improvement
Again, this is a personal evaluation of what, if anything, I think would improve the map and suggestions on things you could have done differently or added to the map. These are totally personal suggestions, but you might find something useful to consider herein...

OK, due to the Gogpodda tie in, I understand the map and it's inspiration - but...

a) Gogpodda floats around in the Arcadian Ocean, a mobile landmass of detrius, so I do wonder if there should be some sort of current in the waters, and that the surface debris that is loose should be shown being drawn along those currents rather than being "around" all sides of the raised masses.

b) Green for the water implies this is an internal zone and not near the head, i.e. stagnant and brackish - BUT - the island is formed of detrius, so to give more feel to the shallows and depths of the water, you could have depicted raised areas just below the surface showing the floor of the water covered area as being yet more debris.

c) If the water is indeed stagnant and nasty, it's unlikely that shrimps would thrive in it, so the color choice did put me off on this map a little. I would have expected there to be some sort of debris, coral and mould on the decking to age the sunken vessel in keeping with the general idea of the island. If it is a more recent sinking, then it is likely the edge of the island is close and the water should not be so stagnant looking.

Speaking of colour choice, the varying shades of green, especially over the sunken wreck kind of merge when you have tired eyes - make the distinction much greater - a much paler green over the deck of the boat would illustrate a lesser depth while the darker green would be deeper water around it. The two shades we have are just too close in my humble opinion.

Zip wires is a cool idea for navigating the area. I liked this, although I did wonder how "modern" zip wired were. It was a gut reaction that made me feel uneasy - but for game purposes, they scream fun. In the end they won over my reservation. My only other concern is that the zip wires should have a direction arrow on them, rather than having to look for relative heights, e.g. the top one falls from the stern at +15 feet to the bow at +10, so that one works nicely. However the bow to hut zip wire has both ends at +10 which makes me question how you zip down that one. The other from stern to hut is like the top on, down from the stern to the hut. I would have expected the zip wires to form a circle for fast travel around the boat and to and from the hut. You could have had the zip wires attached to the hut at the base to allow down from the bow to the hut and increase the pole on top of the hut to +20 feet allowing zipping from the hut to the stern. Then you get the complete zip wire circle.

The above, and this next point, is what I refer to as being dimensionally aware. I now ask you to look at your boat - the deck is 5 feet below the water but the water around it is 100 feet deep. 100 feet should be enough to completely submerge the vessel! It may be it is being supported on a back of debris, but this one did make me wonder if the boat should still be afloat as much as it is. As the location is an island built from debris, my gut tells me that 100 feet is too much - 30-50 feet would have felt better and not raised the question about how the boat remains afloat.

You fell into the old trap I mention elsewhere with lines, shape of paper size and subconsciously following the grid - your boat sank on a perfect east/west line, your north is straight up, the circular spiralling landmasses are almost a square spiral rather than a natural round spiral.

Summary
I summarise my reactions to your submission here, stating if you are a definite vote winner, a potential vote winner or not. I am not "scoring" the entries this year as I always struggle to maintain consistency in scoring, so I am now trying a more "gut instinct" summary. Here goes...

Ok, there were a few gut reactions on this map, but on the whole there is an interesting potential beneath the design flaws I have covered. This has resulted on your map being added to my shortlist for votes rather than my definite vote list. Well done.

Congratulations on completing and submitting your map on such a tight time-scale. Very well done, you should take pride in that achievement!

Disclaimer: The review of your entry that follows is from a non-official source, I have no formal part of RPG Superstar, and the review thoughts are mine alone and so should be considered carefully bearing this in mind. You can choose to digest or not each part as it seems of best value to yourself.

I am starting with map reviews this year while I brush up my knowledge of the different item types used for round 1. So let me begin...

Template
Yes, there is one, even for maps - it is the size, the compass rose, scale bars for each part of the map drawn at different scales, a key box describing the map elements, the map name on the map. The clarity of line and text also pays a part on this. Here is how you did...

Name: A short succinct name immediately identifying the design is an unusual temple (and not a gladiatorial arena).

Size: Full page use with little wasted white space. This map takes me back (being an old grognard) to the style of the map books from Judges Guild - so that's pretty good from an old school perspective.

Compass Rose: We have one, tucked in the corner and not so large as to dominate the map. Good.

Scale Bar: Scale is present - at this scale, I feel that more dungeon dressings are called for, do any of the submerged areas have floating debris or stank, brackish, and stagnant water? Molds and algae growths anywhere? It feels too clean.

Key: Present, a little squashed, weirdly it doesn't show the colors, or give any indication of water depth.

Golarion Tie-In
Everyone has their take on Golarion, guided by the products and supplements. This therefore is a scoring based on how I felt you had tied the Golarion world to your map, it's flavor, the feel of the map, is it generic or obviously. This is therefore a very personal view and evaluation of your entry and should be considered as such. Onwards my brave contestant...

Ok, Mekhum is a Rahadoumi settlement found in the areas south of the Napsune Mountains. Weirdly, this area is in the main very arid, but Mekum is known to have a "drowned ghost" inhabiting a nearby ruined temple - nice link for your map there. Very good tie in to lore.

Possible Areas of Improvement
Again, this is a personal evaluation of what, if anything, I think would improve the map and suggestions on things you could have done differently or added to the map. These are totally personal suggestions, but you might find something useful to consider herein...

OK, my biggest issue with this map, is that without my Golarion knowledge / Google fu, I can't get the full story.

There are areas that make me go "huh?", there is a great sense of an untold or missing history behind this map that is frustrating to me.

My first disjoint with the design was spotting the four tunnels show as flooded at each end with an un-flooded bit in the middle (probably a fill problem with the drawing package).

The biggest thing though is... this is a flooded temple - and ALL of the external areas bar one give the impression they are all below the water line, thus below ground level. If at one time this temple was very well attended (it likely was due to its size and complexity of shape), where are the remains of roads / traffic leading to it - and where would the wagons, horses, carts, tents for visitors be put - would they really run them all into underground areas?

And, being a marsh in an arid land, what happened to make it marsh - I guess the temple was built before the land was marshy but something happened to change the area drastically - and with drastic changes and upheavals of that nature, where are the signs of the event that caused this flooding? I would have expected some of the pillars to have been thrown down by the water's on rush, some of the subterranean rooms to have fallen in with the water pressure, maybe a crack or chasm through the side of the temple walls to indicate the direction the flood came from.

I think it is this lack of detail that most are referring to when they talk of a lack of complete story. The map itself is very functional, allows us to determine rooms, connections, areas for conflict and the like but leaves us without enough history to explain the current situation. My players always look behind the scenes of most encounter areas and they will quickly ascertain there is some untold story here.

The rooms are at times a little on the small side - e.g. at the top is a room above the 15 foot corridor, the room being 15 feet long by 7 and a half feet wide - smaller than my spare single bedroom in my house. Again, this might be okay - say if it were a larder, but I don't have enough "in room" details to help to be sure.

You fell into the old trap I mention elsewhere with lines, shape of paper size and subconsciously following the grid - you have this wonderful circular temple that is then surrounded by rooms that make a square around it. Gah, if only some of those walls and rooms curved with the sides of the temple, it would have broken this up somewhat.

Summary
I summarise my reactions to your submission here, stating if you are a definite vote winner, a potential vote winner or not. I am not "scoring" the entries this year as I always struggle to maintain consistency in scoring, so I am now trying a more "gut instinct" summary. Here goes...

This map appeals to my old school feelings about maps, but in these modern times, they do tell us so much more in story and history. A map is a snapshot in time, but even that snapshot of time would tell us a little more of the history leading up to the current situation. Serviceable, clean, presented well. Short listed for a potential vote.

Well done.

Hi contestants

A few things to consider and ponder on your encounters.

a) Be consistent with dimensionality.

If the text says the area has particular dimensionality, does the scale of the map and the representation of the area on the map match?

If you describe entry/exits by compass, does the compass orientation on the map result in the representation of those entry/exit points match?

b) Houses aren't build on grid lines? Drunken dwarves rarely make perfectly straight corridors...

Consider the style of your map, does everything go old school and follow the graph paper grid lines, or is it a more natural evolution where the grid lines purley illustrate scale and spacing without effect on area orientation?

If your dungeon corridors are in hard rock, they would like follow the rock strata and the softer paths of least resistance. Make things gel coherently with the surrounding environment.

c) Symbols are never obvious to anyone but the drawer!

If you have symbols, numbered locations, points of interest, etc, have a key table that depicts those symbols and what they stand for. These may not appear on a flip mat but are invaluable to an artist rendering your map to that flip mat.

It could include a compass rose purely for the artist who may have to render your descriptions and room content onto a flip mat surface, but if your whole map is a single flip map and the orientation is easy to work out, it's not so important for flip mat maps.

Also include that scale - if you have pull outs of the map at different scales, don't forget to include those scales too! Again, the base map at flip mat scale is scaled for miniatures and gridded in 5 foot squares, so unless your map differs from that, it'snot so important.

d) leave room for combat!

If you have a party of 6, that's 6 occupied squares, if the encounter has an opposing forced of equal medium enemies, that's another 6 squares, so the encounter area where they are met must exceed 12 squares.

If you want to encourage tactics and movement into your encounter, use at least double that, 24 squares.

A 20 x 20 room is 4 squares by 4 squares with 5 foot squares, that's only 16 squares and so is unsuitable for a 12 medium creature encounter - be aware of this sort of space on your encounters.

Also consider the "dungeon dressings", if you have chairs, tables, altars, pillars, things that eat up free space, bear that in mind on your encounter design too.

e)Sound carries, dynamise your encounters

If combat breaks out in an area of your encounter map, what nearby will hear and come to investigate or aid the enemy? Monsters won't sit idly by, they will come and make things difficult for the PCs and at the same time minimize the risks to themselves.

Monsters who have survived any length of time will hunt naturally and use whatever advantages they can get, so not these possibilities too. It may take a round or two for them to react and arrive, just make sure you have covered this eventuality if you need to!

f)What makes your encounter unique/exciting?

Consider your local environment - is the area highly flammable, slippery with snow, running across slippery rooftops, dangers of precipice edges nearby (like falling from a third story balcony or roof top), chance of discovery by a night patrol, etc. The urban environment provides many opportunities to affect the encounter.

Is there anything else heightening the danger, a time limit visually represented in some way, a rescue where someone is sinking fast in the towns river or well, the lower floor of a building is fast ablaze and spreading to the upper floor where the PCs awaken, a running ranged combat where the boat on the river is fast heading to clear and wide waters out of town leaving the PC's helpless behind, catching the culprits in the act just as the guard dogs awaken from the magically induced slumber, etc.

Hope you find these initial gotchas useful, and best of luck with the reveal tonight.

Ok, this is a map review - done in isolation from the encounter, purely to concentrate on visuals.

a) As a flip mat - Looking at other flip mats, every area contains full dungeon dressings, bedrooms are obvious, store rooms full of barrels and crates are obvious. This is probably one of the busiest maps this year. The encounter area is large enough for minitaure play without becoming too cramped for tactical play and movement.

b) Cartographer Instructions The key to the map - although flip mats don't normally show a key, a key is vital for the map to be handed to a cartographer to represent accuately the "dungeon dressings" in each area. You have included a key, but there are quite a few symbols included in the map which aren't in the key - I am guessing the round grey circles are pillars, and are the brown rectangles pews/benches/tables/bookcases?

For assisting the cartographer in rendering this flip mat, you should also have included in your key the numbering and lettering. We cannot assume that the cartographer has access to the encounter text, so the more information you provide, the less chance of delays and questions arising.

c) Appreciation of height and scale. Everything seems good and the scale is consistent and noted. However, when looking at the location, I cannot, from just the map, determine where the encounter area is in relation to the location itself. A ghost image in the location would have solved this.

d) Location or just encounter? A nice location clear showing the surrounding features and environment, and an interesting looking encounter area. You nailed this for me here.

e) Environmental Use This map has great deal of environmental potential - I assume the pipes are smashable and carry something nice and odious, the green shading of the encounter area indicates something special about the encounter, but again is missing from the key, I will assume some sort of slimy water - this introduces the chances for mishap and even grappling with intent to drown, and of course, a great place to spring from and gain surprise against the unwary. There is a great deal of potential in the area for some interesting and memorable play choices. Well done.

Hopefully some food for thought in there.

Good luck in the play tests and the voting going forwards.

Ok, this is a map review - done in isolation from the encounter, purely to concentrate on visuals.

a) As a flip mat - Looking at other flip mats, every area contains full dungeon dressings, bedrooms are obvious, store rooms full of barrels and crates are obvious. What I like with this map design is you have separated the key and the location details out and retained the full flip mat size for your encounter area - the area upon which the flip mat will be used.

b) Cartographer Instructions The key to the map - although flip mats don't normally show a key, a key is vital for the map to be handed to a cartographer to represent accurately the "dungeon dressings" in each area. You have included symbol key and room keys, but there are numerous rooms without a name - the cartographer would need to know how to populate these rooms - especially as the adventuring party would need to traverse them to reach some of the labelled rooms (e.g. on the left side, go through the secret door to the empty unlabeled 10 foot square room, head south through another unlabeled room and then south again to reach room 5.)

I also like that the central area reveals the presence of secret doors by the fact that you cannot get into the square area of the building at all without passing through at least one secret door. When fully exploring the main center area, the map shape will instantly tell the adventuring party to start looking for secret doors.

c) Appreciation of height and scale. Ok, a couch. To me a couch, even an Arabian one, would be long enough to lounge upon. Looking at how many couch symbols there are, the couch looks to be sub 5 feet in size as it fits inside a square. This could be a positional thing only, but the fact that you have lots of adjacent couches each in their own five foot square doesn't feel right to me. I would have expected no more than one couch per 10 feet to allow a reasonable sized couch and room to walk around it, beside it, etc.

The whole map seems a little cramped, we even have small 5 foot rooms in a labelled encounter area that looks suspiciously like an area of cells. Now most cells would be around 10 foot square, 5 foot is too small - you could have gone the five by ten and I wouldn't have mentioned it then.

Your continuity also took a bit of a knock when you have all these lovely circular rooms, circular bar and then a square tank ;) - I would have used a round one :P

d) Location or just encounter? So we have an inn, having a rounded spire vibe making me think or Arabian settings - I loved Al Qadim, so you already have my interest. You have a pull out giving the approach to the encounter building, so location wise, you are fine, I would have liked to have seen a village/town name on that part of the map, just to determine it's setting within Golarion. The location is also quite sparse, for example, are their any trees nearby, or it is just all flat featureless ground? Is the road cobbled, well worn track, dirt path? You get the idea.

Your room names are a tad comedy based, bringing to mind a module, I think WG7, Castle Greyhawk - with a big snail, daft room names and an annoying "helper" called Callum. Shudders at the memory. These names would probably be fine for an April Fool's themed design, but in this case, I think you should have gone with more formal and serious names.

e) Environmental Use This map has great deal of environmental potential - I assume the curtains are really flammable and the glass pipes are smash-able. Lots of couches to get in the way, fall over or leap onto in true swashbuckling posing style.

Hopefully some food for thought in there.

Good luck in the play tests and the voting going forwards.

Ok, this is a map review - done in isolation from the encounter, purely to concentrate on visuals.

a) As a flip mat - Looking at other flip mats, every area contains full dungeon dressings, bedrooms are obvious, store rooms full of barrels and crates are obvious. Every area has been decorated, the graphics used seeming obvious in most cases. I particularly like the contour lines in the water showing the depth changes - a very nice touch. This one feels most like a flip mat because it has only a few areas, so isn't overcrowded. My initial impression is that the areas are large enough to enable tactical movement during combat - something I always look for. Well done.

b) Cartographer Instructions The key to the map - although flip mats don't normally show a key, a key is vital for the map to be handed to a cartographer to represent accuately the "dungeon dressings" in each area. Checking your key, thre are some symbols missing, for example, in the top left room, on the right wall, is that a bench with two candles, or is it an altar of some sort, in the top of the room, we see what looks like a book and a "paper plane?". The tufty grass.bull rushes symbol - this too is not in the key. The cartographer receiving your map shouldn't need to refer to encounter descriptions to render your map professionally, so make sure your index is more comprehensive. Include details of the room make up. Include in your index the lettering as well.

A compass rose is present in the encounter map, good information for the cartographer, but I found the style a little confusing. It could be read that North is to the bottom of the page if you assume that the sharp pointy end is the direction indication. Giving this information to cartographer, you need only an arrow, leave "the fancy" to them.

c) Appreciation of height and scale. You have confirmed the scale, that's good. As I have said previously, you haven't tried to put too much into the flip mat size, resulting in a flip mat designthat suits miniature play very well, and at the same time, has room for tactical movement during encounter combat. You also show a good idea for detil by labelling water depth as well - but missed the trick with the underground section - how far underground is it, how much earth is on top? I do wonder if there is an underground water passage between the deep water of the pool and the naga door - the encounter text will likely confirm this, but if not, it is something you could have added for rich feature coherance.

d) Location or just encounter? So we have a building which looks like a temple with some subterranean living quarters. The map nicely forms a location in that sense, but I am unsure on first glance which part of the map forms the encounter, it feels like the whole map is the encounter. If so, you missed the "and" part of the task. I would have liked to have some indication of where this is in the overall scheme of Golarion, this would let me know the style of building - is it vampire gothic cathedral, romanesque white marble shiny church, or arabian mosque. This information, although not part of a flip mat, would also be useful to the professional cartographer and help them to keep everything in theme with your encounter and location placement.

e) Environmental Use This map screams at me to have some sort of flood trap supplied by the pool, but that's just me being Mr Nasty GM. Strange symbosl on the floor, broken pillars, all sorts of weird and wonderful to distract the PCs before pouncing on them with the encounter. I like this area a lot, mostly because of the space provided for the encounters that could be played on this map.

Hopefully some food for thought in there.

Good luck in the play tests and the voting going forwards.

Ok, this is a map review - done in isolation from the encounter, purely to concentrate on visuals.

a) As a flip mat - Looking at other flip mats, every area contains full dungeon dressings, bedrooms are obvious, store rooms full of barrels and crates are obvious. This map is very busy with 3 key panels, 3 areas, but your job was to convey the necessary information to the cartographer with the skills to make things look glorious, that you have done really well. I wasn't sure what the "spray can" effect surrounding the areas was meant to convey and couldn't find it in the keys.

b) Cartographer Instructions The key to the map - although flip mats don't normally show a key, a key is vital for the map to be handed to a cartographer to represent accuately the "dungeon dressings" in each area. Checking your key, everything drawn is labelled or referenced from the key. I am confident a cartograher can easily transpose this map to a flip map with little need to query or come back to you the designer, noting the one exception above. Nicely done.

A compass rose is present in the encounter map, good information for the cartographer. Interestingly, you have also opted for avoiding the build to grid lines alignment. I kind of like both ways, what you have done here to show that things aren't on ridged build lines counterbalanced with how much easier it is to describe actions when the compass rose does align with the grid. When it's at 45 degrees, that isn't so difficult but the angle you have chosen might cause the odd issue when describing actions to the players - I think it's shallow enough that you can get away with simple north door, etc in playing the map, so no biggie.

c) Appreciation of height and scale. You have confirmed the scale, that's good. I see in the pull out location map the scale increases dramatically. You have marked the A as the Cauldron - so I immediately looked for "Arnem Falls Inn" but couldnt see its position in relation to the Cauldron - until I realised it was B, the labelling missing the word "inn" threw me a curve ball for a few seconds - try to label consistently between different view points.

d) Location or just encounter? Very well done here, with a good pull out detailing the immediate environs, and a placement within Golarion evident and a good detail of the encounter area, it's all here. I did wonder about a lack of windows in the lower floor, I found that quite odd - inns like to advertise how nice they are to stay at, so ground floor windows would be expected. The shape of the upper floor was a surprise too - it doesn't fully cover the lower floor - this makes the map a little more interesting to me, especially with a spiral staircase with no where to go?

e) Environmental Use This map has lots of environment for the GM and players to have fun with, difficult terrain, traps and haunts - lots of fun potential here. I really quite like this one and look forward to the encounter description itself.

Hopefully some food for thought in there.

Good luck in the play tests and the voting going forwards.

Ok, this is a map review - done in isolation from the encounter, purely to concentrate on visuals.

a) As a flip mat - Looking at other flip mats, every area contains full dungeon dressings, bedrooms are obvious, store rooms full of barrels and crates are obvious. Yes, it probably isn't the prettiest map, but your job was to convey the necessary information to the cartographer with the skills to make things look glorious, that you have done really well. Nothing missing from the key symbol wise, with maybe the vast expansive white squares - what sort of ground cover should the cartographer place, shingles, mud, grass. And with the buildings being working buildings, I would have expected to see some well trodden paths between them.

b) Cartographer Instructions The key to the map - although flip mats don't normally show a key, a key is vital for the map to be handed to a cartographer to represent accuately the "dungeon dressings" in each area. Checking your key, everything drawn is labelled or referenced from the key. I am confident a cartograher can easily transpose this map to a flip map with little need to query or come back to you the designer, noting the two exceptions above. Nicely done.

A compass rose is present in the encounter map, good information for the cartographer. You might also have stood back having placed it and thought about the effect of your orientation. Assuming an east-west traversal of Golarion's sun, with your map orientation, the office and storage room windows never get any direct light but get light all day, where as anyone sleeping on the right hand side of area 7 is up for a rude awakening by early morning light through the window and no light in the evenings. Most buildings, even those in the country in the real world consider the sun traversing across the windows to provide all day lighting, so with your map, the windows should in the main, be on the left and right walls, assuming the east-west sun traversal.

c) Appreciation of height and scale. You have confirmed the scale, that's good. But the map on the whole is very squared - including the rubble - this may be queried by the cartographer who might suggest making the rubble less uniform and more natural - uniform rubble is a big red flag warning to any adventuring party that something isn't right. You need to consider how much advance warning you wish to give to the adventurers in your map designs - environment can be a big warning or a subtle introducing flase sense of security.

I also find the placement of the bodies very odd. If a working area of gnomes were attacked, I would have expected them to either flee or defend, such that the dead bodies left behind would all be where the combat took place. For me, therefore, the bodies in the barn make no sense - I think if they had hidden there, they would either be found by the adventuring party or would not be there at all.

d) Location or just encounter? The whole map seems to me to be an encounter map rather than a location. Where is this? What approaches are there to the working camp? Is it on the outskirts of a town or village or deep in the forests? Such information would help the GM adjudicate how the players approach the encounter area.

An experienced party is unlikely to try an office door when there is a readily available window, negating their need to encounter your door trap. Being an office, if it is important enough to trap a door in, then the window should be barred at least. There is also a second door into the office, a party could come in via the storeroom window and into the office - again, if you trap one door in an office, you should make other doors trapped and/or make them one way from the office. This preserves the integrity of the trap part of the encounter. The secret area in the storeroom does also stick out like a sore thumb - try to design rooms such that a hidden wall or panel or secret door isn't quite so obvious.

e) Environmental Use A very open air encounter, this provides options for weather to be brought into play. I also wonder on the size of rubble, and whether they can be used as makeshift thrown weapons, so possibilities there too. A GM has plenty here to work with to add variation to play - for example, if the encounter takes place duiring a severe rain storm, a flash flood could cause some muddy slippery fun for all.

Hopefully some food for thought in there.

Good luck in the play tests and the voting going forwards.

Ok, this is a map review - done in isolation from the encounter, purely to concentrate on visuals.

a) As a flip mat - Looking at other flip mats, every area contains full dungeon dressings, bedrooms are obvious, store rooms full of barrels and crates are obvious. This is achieved very well on this map, nothing missing from the key symbol wise.

b) Cartographer Instructions The key to the map - although flip mats don't normally show a key, a key is vital for the map to be handed to a cartographer to represent accuately the "dungeon dressings" in each area. I notice on the map that the trap has two reference points, one on the end of the drawbridge and one on the drawbridge mechanism. Traps are usually indicated at the trigger point only, so I find myself wondering if there are two traps. Despite this one niggle, I am confident a cartograher can easily transpose this map to a flip map with little need to query or come back to you the designer. Nicely done.

A compass rose is present in the encounter map, and at an angle to the buildings too - not everyone builds to the compass points ;) but at the same time, it makes things more difficult in running an encounter - the GM has to refer to North East, South West etc when describing the encounter areas. I like that you have tried to avoid the "follow the grid lines" mentality, but at the same time I am aware of the effect on the hard working GM.

c) Appreciation of height and scale. You have confirmed the scale, that's good, but unlike other entries, the encounter area isn't given a pull out focus - I cannot tell at first glance if the encounter is taking place over the whole map or in a given room or set of rooms.

Looking to the topmost room, there is debris where a door should be - was it blown in or out? If it rotted in place, there wouldn't be so much debris and the door would likely fall from the hinges to the floor relatively intact, so the debris used indicates to me some sort of force destroying the door into splinters. The splinters wouldnt have fallen in the doorway in this case, they would have blasted away cone like from the point of shatter.

d) Location or just encounter? The whole map seems to me to be an encounter map rather than a location. Where is this? Is it at the sea front or on a river side, does it guard a valley / pass between mountains or just access to a trade route? An inset providing the GM with approach details and the immediate local vicinity would have been useful to provide context for the encounter area. Normally such an inset wouldnt be on a flip mat, but it would also provide context to the cartographer too.

e) Environmental Use Mainly an open air encounter, this provides options for weather to be brought into play. I also wonder what is close to the right hand wall, this information may provide further options. Looking to the "dead body" room at the top again, if the door was shattered by an explosion of some sort, how stable are the walls, ceilings and floor in that room? There are definitely opportunities for the GM to make this encounter really memorable.

Hopefully some food for thought in there.

Good luck in the play tests and the voting going forwards.

Ok, this is a map review - done in isolation from the encounter, purely to concentrate on visuals.

a) As a flip mat - Looking at other flip mats, every are contains full dungeon dressings, bedrooms are obvious, store rooms full of barrels and crates are obvious. This is achieved very well on this map, nothing missing from the key symbol wise.

b) Cartographer Instructions The key to the map - although flip mats don't normally show a key, a key is vital for the map to be handed to a cartographer to represent accurately the "dungeon dressings" in each area. Two keys are present, one for each area, so that the location part of the map can be populated with interesting dungeon dressings by the cartographer.

The only thing that pulls my attention in this section is in the location area B1, the entrance is labelled instead of numbered. For consistency, this could be a number or a symbol in the key, just to keep things nice and tidy.

I am confident a cartographer can easily transpose this map to a flip map with little need to query or come back to you the designer. Nicely done.

A compass rose is present in the encounter map, not usually on a flip mat but useful information for the cartographer. But note it wasn't included across maps or a second in the inset map - if you are going to include the compass rose, put it in such a way that it signifies orientation of all parts of the map, inserts, main section and so forth. As an alternative, You could have ghost imaged the upper location over the black areas of the main map to confirm orientation and overlay of the building above.

c) Appreciation of height and scale. I note that the scales align at the join point - the stairs and door, the door remaining central in both scales and no mismatch in widths - well done.

I notice a labelled a avalanche trap path from a 25 foot hill - this now makes me worry if the stairs are too steep - with the hill having headroom above, that means from floor to ceiling at the highest part is around 35 feet at a guess, but then the ceiling has to be strong enough to support the building built on top, so let's say 20 feet of rock. That's 55 feet of height being dropped in a single flight of stairs - eek! - that is steep! Stairs in a two story house drop around 15 feet in a single story by comparison.

The second part of this avalanche that concerns me, I need to check the encounter - how does the avalanche gain enough momentum to travel approximately double the height is falls in a horizontal direction? Also, avalanches move sideways as well as down, so I think a cone effect is called for if it is an actual avalanche.

d) Location or just encounter? A little light on the location, its a cavern under a building, but there is nothing about the immediate surroundings of the building. This is useful for placement reasons and also to assist a GM in adjudicating any stealthy type approach undertaken by PCs approaching the building.

e) Environmental Use The first thing I find weird is trees managing to grow under ground without light - now it's a magical world, so I'm happy so far. There are interesting opportunities here for combat - bull rushing opponents into squares with holes and the like, plus the PCs entry being hampered by the avalanche and the difficult terrain it would leave in its wake.

Hopefully some food for thought in there.

Good luck in the play tests and the voting going forwards.

Ok, this is a map review - done in isolation from the encounter, purely to concentrate on visuals.

a) As a flip mat - Looking at other flip mats, every area detailed contains full dungeon dressings, bedrooms are obvious, store rooms full of barrels and crates too. Unfortunately, the location aspect of this map is missing such detailing. Now much of this can be provided as part of the formal art for producing the final flip mat using labels detailing what rooms are what, and allowing the artist free reign to populate those areas. Unfortunately, none of the lower area is labelled, making this possible.

b) Cartographer Instructions The key to the map - although flip mats don't normally show a key, a key is vital for the map to be handed to a cartographer to represent accurately the "dungeon dressings" in each area. This key is present but concentrates in the main on the encounter, skipping the location - what are the hedges? Are they hedgerow or trees? The pool in the corner, are they flower beds or some strange green leaf plant (bushes or trees).

Being consistent with labelling is useful and avoids errors in translation to a flip mat - in this case, most of the encounter items are numbered, a short numbered description in the key would be useful to the cartographer - if it is important to your encounter(s), make sure the cartographer cannot misinterpret your needs or require them to need to contact you to query the map.

c) Appreciation of height and scale. No scale is present - as would be found on a flip mat, but including it for confirmation does impart information to the cartographers and artists should they wish to make other representation of the encounters and locations. The standard 5 foot squares indicate 15 to 20 foot sized rooms on the lower floor. Now as this is a manor house, I expected slightly larger rooms than this, but understand the restriction of the target flip mat size. It is something worth bearing in mind though, and being aware of what works as a single flip mat - see the ships flip mats, the ships extend over multiple maps at the larger ship size.

d) Location or just encounter? You have observed location as being the manor house and the encounter is a subset of that - so this does fulfil the requirement to detail encounter and location, but placement of the manor house might have been useful to include - although this also wouldn't be on a flip mat, it does help the cartographer to know the intended manor location to ensure consistency in art, i.e. a manor house in a Gothic realm would look different in styling and color schemes to one set say in an Arabian realm.

e) Environmental Use Nothing immediately jumps out - the whole upper floor is the encounter area but is there anything special other than placed traps, dressings and combatants? This is an area that is likely more alive in the encounter description rather than the flip mat - this is useful in that it makes a flip mat able to be used generically, but on the other hand, isn't so attention grabbing. I'm on the fence on this one.

Hopefully some food for thought in there.

Good luck in the play tests and the voting going forwards.

Time for me to wake up from my annual hiber-*yawn*-*stretch*-nation...

a) I want to see your symbol keys.
b) I want to see you have considered color blind (no red on green or green on red areas.)
c) I want to see scale consistency and scale bars (e.g. if main scale is 1 square = 5 feet, and you pull a room out like a zoom to 1 square = 1 foot, then I would expect the room dimensions to match at both scales, and be at the same orientation with access points in the correct places too.)
d) I want to see which way is north (not necessarily just a straight up the page arrow with all walls built to the compass points - although I also like old school too, so you takes your chances on this one. :p )
e) I want to see (or read in the encounter descriptions), the exact encounter placements if they are crucial to the encounter.
f) I want to see consistency between area numbers/labels and encounter numbers/labels.
g) I don't want to see rooms so small that the encounter participants, plus party, plus room for manoeuvering simply doesn't fit.

There, that should give you all some thoughts and pointers.