I just purchased this folio along with War of the River Kings today. Looking through it, I like the maps, but I'm not sure how I'll put them to use when I run the campaign. I probably won't start running the AP for several months while my current campaign runs, but it's always good to think ahead.
So my question, for those of you who have the maps, how do you plan on using them? Will you show them to players or keep them secret? One idea I had was to copy them and cut up the copies into individual hexes, revealing them to the players as they explore them, forming a puzzle so to speak. Another thought was to give the PCs the map with the Narlmarches to use in exploration, and if they wanted the others, they could purchase them (in game of course). I'm trying to find the right balance in the range of not providing enough information and providing too much.
I just framed the map of the Greenbelt and hung it up for game;)
Seriously, given the amount of trade, trapping, and failed colonies in the Stolen Land's past, I didn't feel giving the PCs a heads up on the general layout of the region (the forest is on THIS side of the map, the hills are on THAT side, the rivers are named "blah, blah, blah..." etc) would be at all game-breaking. It's what's currently in the individual areas, and drawing up more detailed maps (for building roads, planning settlements, etc) that the characters are being hired for, after all. Gives the characters with Kn: local & Kn: Geography something to contribute early on.
I have to say, this is my fav. map-pack so far. In general I don't like buying maps I can't share with my players in-game, and none of these would I consider spoilerish.
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So my question, for those of you who have the maps, how do you plan on using them? Will you show them to players or keep them secret?
I love this mapfolio! My plan is to laminate the maps and then cover them in pre-cut paper hexes. When they explore a hex, the paper comes off and the party cartographer can take notes in dry erase marker. It will be a pain to cut out the little paper hexes, but worth it to me for the reveal.
I am also planning to give the party a few 'less professional', hand-drawn maps (no hexes) at the outset along with their charter from the Swordlords. These are intended to represent the old, inaccurate maps of the area that do exist. That way they can have a general idea about some major features (e.g.: "there is an interesting-looking cave somewhere 20-30 miles West-ish from here...I think") but they will still need to explore.
I may actually buy a second folio so that I have maps to frame after the AP for our game room. Still undecided on that.
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I am also planning to give the party a few 'less professional', hand-drawn maps (no hexes) at the outset along with their charter from the Swordlords. These are intended to represent the old, inaccurate maps of the area that do exist. That way they can have a general idea about some major features (e.g.: "there is an interesting-looking cave somewhere 20-30 miles West-ish from here...I think") but they will still need to explore.
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I like this idea. It would allow me to lay out the general region for the players without giving too much detail as well as scale, and yet retain the largely undocumented area that is the Stolen Lands. I like retaining the reveal a hex as you go, but it seems too restrictive, given that as long as you aren't in a forest or swamp, you should still be able to see the general geography (especially mountain ranges) several hexes away on a clear day.
I was thinking of scanning them and using a Fog of War effect for my on line game, maybe even using a semi-transparent layer for the areas around. For my table top group I run on a different day I'm not sure but I would really like to put them to good use.
These maps are definitely awesome.
That said, I think the single most useful of the bunch is the map of Varnhold. A giant area to explore, way too big to do square by square, with a bunch of buildings that need to be drawn out individually, was giving me nightmares about how to run it.
But since the village is pretty big and open and the map is basically spoiler-free, when it gets to that I can just slap down the map and be like "You are here. Start adventurer-ing."
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I like this idea. It would allow me to lay out the general region for the players without giving too much detail as well as scale, and yet retain the largely undocumented area that is the Stolen Lands. I like retaining the reveal a hex as you go, but it seems too restrictive, given that as long as you aren't in a forest or swamp, you should still be able to see the general geography (especially mountain ranges) several hexes away on a clear day.
Darned forums ate my post. Again, but more concise:
I agree that the PCS can have a good idea about adjacent hexes (unless they are in a heavily-wooded area and ground-bound) and a general idea about further hexes. Tall features/landmarks can be seen at a further distance, but not precisely located. I will reward Survival or Knowledge (Geography) checks with more information about a hex before they enter into it.
I am also anticipating that we will be marking some features on the paper covering (like when an NPC gives them a quest or warns them of the dangers ahead), but the paper stays on until the hex is visited or scryed upon.
For Stolen Land my crew is having fun mapping out the unexplored regions, so I blew up a blank hex map (out of the Players's Guide, sans checkboxes). Since they are not kingdom-builders (yet), the cartography is a big focus of the game. Pencil crayons are back baby!
Btw, make sure if you do this they understand there's a payoff to all this drawing. I like to tease them with the fact that this will all be rewarded when they get to kingdom building for "labouring through" the overland travel and exploration.
Once they're into kingdom-building, I'm assuming cartography may lower in importance (they may hire it out to kingdomlings or lose interest), so at that point I could give them the real deal and we can decorate the gaming room with the maps this activity creates.
I love the mystery of unexplored regions on maps tho ("Here There Be Dragons"). I may have to figure out how to obfuscate some details... I like the idea of the "advent calendar" map with peek-a-boo hexes.
I laminated mine which will allow me to draw and write on them as they build up their kingdom.
During book one, I let my players have a couple of different over view maps and then gave them a blank hex sheet for mapping as we went around. That was fun.
We started to run that down in book two -because it became less fun. By book three they had the whole map with features on but not encounter areas, as they had a kingdom, people working for them, spies and political contacts - they needed to understand the basic lay of the land.
Book four has been pretty much the same - except they were aware of some of the encounter areas they needed to visit. They had been to Fort Drelev visiting (between books, as the Ruler courted Tamary Numesti!) and they had already settled out to Wyvernstone Bridge.
Play it by ear - while its fun, get the party to map. When it starts to get boring, let them see as much of the map as you are happy with :)