Director of Narrative
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Dedicated Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9
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I’ve been a fan of your work for a while now, and I want to say that I really appreciate the input into a cartographer’s mind you’ve given to all of us. It was very insightful reading your comments on how authors can improve their map turnovers. Again, thank you for your contributions to the community.
Aye. Thank you for the input, it was extremely enlightening and useful when evaluating the entries. I like the idea of having a professional cartographer on the judging panel next year.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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+1 for enjoying a cartographer's eye on these maps. I've always hand-drawn maps for turnover and they are simple, clean, and to the point but never fancy. I think I've always feared I would clutter up the map and make it less readable for the person who would eventually have to render it. It's interesting to hear you going more the other way, that little details and bits from the writer are nice and helpful in enabling you to flesh out the map and make it visually interesting as well as informative. I'll keep that (and wall thickness) in mind next time I'm mapping an adventure!
Thanks for the comments.
Seconded. Sometimes it takes a specialist.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
aka Tarren Dei
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Thanks Chris.
And don't be a stranger. There have been several threads about cartography that could use your input. Heck, if you ever had the free time to start a "Chris, please give me feedback on my map" in the same vein as the "Clark, please give me feedback on my item" thread, I bet you'd be surprised at how many responses you got.
Christopher West! I just connected the dots on why your name sounded familiar.
Your Map of Mystery "The Cryomancer's Icicle Tower" ended up inspiring the major villains from my last campaign. The overarching storyline was that a council of Illithid hive brains--the Geomancer, Hydromancer, Pyromancer and Cryomancer--basically foresaw that they were going to be destroyed in the distant future. Rather than face extinction, they instead banished themselves to 4 tombs where they could go into stasis and escape their fate (well, technically 3 tombs since the Geo and Hydromancer went insane and fused into the "Mud Sorcerer"). Guess which lair I used for the Cryomancer's tomb?
It's funny but one little map essentially set into motion the ideas behind a four year campaign. I'm a big fan of your work!
Also, thanks for the feedback on the round 4 submissions. Much appreciated.
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Wow, that's awesome! I'm glad to have contributed to such a cool concept. :)
As for the level of detail in an author's sketches: extra detail in the author's map is always welcome right up to the point that it becomes hard to read. I'd rather see too little detail in the sketch than too much, if the detail included isn't easily legible. But if the details in the sketch are clear and don't bog down the map, I say go for it...add as much as you're comfortable with. The finished map will mirror the author's intent more accurately if the author presents his or her sketch in a legible fashion and makes sure all of the relevant info is presented.
While I'm on the subject, there's one thing a lot of authors forget about, but which I love to play with: light sources. If you want your dungeon to have a predominantly torchlit chamber, go ahead and mark the torches simply on the map. Depending on the scale of the map there may or may not be room to showcase that level of detail, but it's great to know where the light sources are if I'm able to go that far. This is especially true of unusual light sources, like glowing fungus, permanent spell effects, and so on. They really make a map come to life.
I never have time to keep up with all of the many fun threads here on Paizo's forums, but I drop in fairly frequently. I'll keep an eye out for threads that might relate to mapmaking.
I'm glad you folks have enjoyed my comments. I wasn't sure if I should post originally because I didn't want to sway voters or come across as a guest judge when I'm not, but I'm pleased that Paizo gave me the thumbs-up to chime in. :)
Add my voice to the chorus of well deserved praise for Chris West.