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Thanks for all the constructive feedback, everyone! I've really enjoyed reading your comments and ideas, and I appreciate all of the kind words about my maps! I'm glad you folks have been enjoying them!
My rough and unscientific tally of opinions listed above shows about 12 comments strongly in favor of connected maps, 2 opposed to them, and about 18 from folks who don't care either way or would like a mix of related and unrelated maps.
That fits with my feeling as well, frankly, so I'll continue to introduce new sets of connected maps from time to time, with some occasional unrelated stand-alone maps for the sake of variety. I'll also make sure that even the related maps can stand on their own and be useful without others in the set.
I'd love to do more two-page spreads, but two pages of art cost more than one, so I'd have to clear that with my Art Director first.
Erik, Lilith: I'll discuss the idea of a collected PDF of the current set of linked maps with the aforementioned Art Director. I think it's a good idea. :)
Fake Healer: What is this grail of which you speak? Surely that is just a collection of boulders beneath the water's surface and not a sacred chalice grasped by the almighty, concealed as part of a fun promotional contest. Ahem. :)
Terrainmonkey, Lilith, etc: a tutorial article isn't out of the question. I've been asked to write one many times, and I'll probably go ahead and do that at some point. I tend to be a bit secretive about some of my techniques, but enough people have figured them out on their own that revealing more about how I work might not be such a bad thing. :)
Phil. L: I've got an outline written up for a backdrop article about the Forsaken Rift, but I think the guys at Dungeon are more interested in the idea of a full-fledged adventure set there, which would naturally include some background material and several new adventure maps. It's on my agenda, but on hold until I finish the adventure I'm currently writing and playtesting with my group. I've become very attached to the Rift and it keeps growing in my imagination as I flesh out new places within it. Oh, and I think you'll be pleased with the upcoming Forsaken Rift-based Map of Mystery: it's one of the three locations you mentioned!
Terrainmonkey: Nice catch on the connection between the Temple of Vecna and the Catacombs! You're the first person who has noticed that, to the best of my knowledge. :) (That's the only such connection I've made between maps for the two magazines.)
Thanks for all of the positive reinforcement, everyone!
You're the best dude!
I've got all of your maps indexed on my Complete DUngeon Index:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=186857
jh
Hi Chris,
I really enjoy your work. I consider your maps some of the best there are in the business.
As per your question, I had not really noticed that they were linked. Therefore, if you do it the same way you have until now... I have absolutely no problem what so ever.
Keep up the great work,
Guillaume
To think Chris actually mentioned my name. Ahhh... Now I can die happy.
I second the motion for the pdf and commend Terrainmonkey on his catch. I was probably drooling too much at the time to notice the connection.
I going to be counting the days until you finally give us an adventure based on the Forsaken Rift Chris. I am also intensely jealous of your players. Regardless of what you may or may not be like as a DM (you're probably great) your player maps must be fantastic. Of course that does beggar a few questions, such as: Are the maps you create for your adventures when you're just running your normal group of the same quality as your published maps? And if not, what do your maps when you DM look like?
Terrainmonkey: Nice catch on the connection between the Temple of Vecna and the Catacombs! You're the first person who has noticed that, to the best of my knowledge. :) (That's the only such connection I've made between maps for the two magazines.)
NOOOOOOOOO!!!! It was my catch, the monkey stole it from me!
Why don't people ever notice me? *sobs*
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Doh! Sorry for the misquote, Talon! I was replying to several posts at once, out of order, and got confused. Congrats on the discovery! :)
Phil. L: Actually, my players probably look at my published work and wonder if it's by the same guy. My hand-drawn dry-erase-markered outlines of rooms and furniture tend to be pretty crude. "This brown rectangle is a desk, and this blue circle is a pool"...etc.
I'll make my map sketches into professional illustrations in the future, but I haven't had time to stay ahead of the group with the mapmaking...and besides, the locations are likely to change based on experience with the playtesting.
Thanks again for the great feedback, folks!
yeah, uhm... i just got the idea from him. i didn't see it first. didn't want to give that impression, sorry.
however it did give me fodder for an upcoming adventure i'm planning on running for one of my 3 groups. thanks!
NOOOOOOOOO!!!! It was my catch, the monkey stole it from me!Why don't people ever notice me? *sobs*
Hate to be different, but I used the Catacombs map to fill out the underground headquarters of the Cult of the Green Lady across the "sparkling" Diamond Lake. Vecna ... Wee Jas ... It's all good.
I have used several of your maps to create on-the-fly adventures and thought it was my imagination that they sort of went together. I was convinced you were reading my campaign notes somehow (quit sneaking into my house and riffling through my disorganized pile of gaming notes) and were one step ahead of me, because the fortress map was exactly what I needed, as was the most recent one.
I think it is a great, generous, thoughtful idea and love the modular nature and ease of use of the maps, connected or otherwise.
I say, keep up the good work and let the individual DM decide wether to use your connected maps together or seperately. You rock!
-S
Actually, what you say doesn't surprise me Chris. Of course, I'm sure at least one of your players at one time has said something along the lines of "why aren't our maps as good as the DRAGON and DUNGEON ones?" (Taking into account the other professionals who help you to bring the maps to the magazines).
I'm a person who absolutely loves to draw maps, and have even drawn maps purely for the enjoyment of doing so. In some ways I sound far more meticulous with my DM maps than you are (James Jacobs actually said one of my maps looked great), but then again I'm not a cartographer. I suppose when you are doing it for a living you can't be bothered being as professional with your other maps.
Keep up the good work.
Mr. West, a request! Please make each individual maps as distinct as possible, so that each has a different flavor, even though they connect.
I voted for unconnected maps because I want to visit as many wild and wonderful places as I can before I die. I accept that the teaming hordes of the great unwashed are against me and prefer connected maps to isolated ones. Nonetheless, please give each map a different charm, atmosphere, hook, horror, or wonder than the others to which it must be fettered. I still want to see all of the splendors of the world unfold, even if those splendors must be confined within smaller geographic areas.
I'd buy a book of the collected maps easy, I don't even run d20 Modern and I bought Critical Locations just becuase it has so many great maps and locations(tend to use if for other settings).
A PDF collection or anything to get all of the maps together would be great...