What do people think? Should the 50 words be 'just the facts' or written with style and feeling? "make my day"
They should be a little bit of both, obviously. Sometimes you need to say "the pit is 60 feet deep" but there's no reason you can't also hint that it connects to Nar-Voth.
Convey what you need to convey and if 50 words is enough to do that with style too, well thats pretty good!
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I'm thinking it's kind of like how the room is described when the PCs walk into it:
The scent of aged manure dangles throughout the atmosphere of this ramshackle stable. Skeletal remains of horses and rats rest among the rotted hay that litters the floor. It is not delicious. Yuck!
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I'm still hoping for someone to write a short witty dialog between the iconics as they explore the location, as seen in the chapter front pages of Paizo hardcovers. But I'm afraid that is not what you are supposed to do.
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Make it both evocative and informative.
Give some background and interesting details. Only include things that are useful for the GM or interesting for the players.
Don't repeat anything that is obvious just by looking at the map.
Make every word count.
Show the map to your pit crew and ask them to "walk through" it, describing what they see while and what they do as they move from area to area. Their questions and comments reveal any weaknesses and interesting bits they want to know more about. Consider answering their questions in the text if you can't answer them by making your map better.
I don't know if that helps, but that's what I would do if I were a contestant.
I feel that the fifty words are a text that you would submit to the developer, not to publish, given the suggestions for its use: the entry may include up to 50 words of explanation not presented on the map itself. This may be used to explain symbols and shading (to increase map clarity by not presenting that information on the map), to describe background about the location presented, or suggest a specific encounter that may take place at the location.
Explanations of shading don't sound like the stuff that pops off the shelf to me. I don't think anything says you can't use the 50 words to write an eye-popping sales pitch for the map, but I'll still vote for a good map with a work-product-style explanation.
50 words doesn't go very far.
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I feel that the fifty words are a text that you would submit to the developer, not to publish...
I think you're reading too much into it. In real life, it's very unlikely that a developer asks you to submit just a map, without an adventure or encounter. As far as I can tell, the 50 words are for the judges and voters, and I believe the main reason Paizo changed the round 2 rules to include the 50-word description was that fans requested it.
I feel that the fifty words are a text that you would submit to the developer, not to publish...I think you're reading too much into it. In real life, it's very unlikely that a developer asks you to submit just a map, without an adventure or encounter. As far as I can tell, the 50 words are for the judges and voters, and I believe the main reason Paizo changed the round 2 rules to include the 50-word description was that fans requested it.
Sorry, I had meant to say cartographer, not developer, but your point is well taken. So not developer, and not to publish, but to sell the map to the voting public.
Which means we now have to decide upon our own magic ratio between style and substance. Flashy style can use up words and as Tom Forkbeard says, 50 words does not go far.
My own blurb consists of two sentences on the history of the locale, followed by one sentence on its current state and potential habitation. I chose to give it a provocative opening, but most of it is just bare-bones "this is what it is" without a lot of extra adjectives. There just isn't room to wax too eloquent.
And just to put things in context, that last paragraph of mine was 58 words. Cut off the unnecessary last sentence, and it would just squeak in.
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Concise and awesome. :)
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Concise and awesome. :)
Concisome.
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There just isn't room to wax too eloquent.
If I make it to top 32, THIS is where I think I'm going to have trouble. I'll need to curb my tendency to be specific and wordy. (Even my Round 1 entry was more than 275 words, but I felt every word was necessary.)
*Deep breaths*
It's like writing an abstract, difficult but it can be done.
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Seeing last season's maps, I feel most technical items should be on the map itself. While the 50 words should make us want to dive in. A brilliant intro and a great map makes it Superstar IMO ;-)
I agree completely.
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Sorry, I had meant to say cartographer, not developer, but your point is well taken. So not developer, and not to publish, but to sell the map to the voting public.
Well, that's how I see it, anyway. If the judges disagree or have any advice on what kind of things they'll be looking at, I hope they'll chime in. *hint hint*
Speaking of art notes (which is what you or the dev sends to a cartographer in a real project), I don't think that's quite what the 50 words is intended for, though there are some similarities.
This part is something you would probably include in art notes: "This may be used to explain symbols and shading (to increase map clarity by not presenting that information on the map)", whereas this part is something you probably would not "to describe background about the location presented, or suggest a specific encounter that may take place at the location" unless it somehow helps the cartographer visualize the location.
So really, the short answer is we can use the 50 words for whatever we want, and how we choose to use them can be a window into ourselves as designers - what we consider to be important enough to include is just another dynamic of the entry as a whole.
I imagined the 50 words would read like the back cover of a novel. A little bit teaser, a little bit informative. But I could be way off.
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As one of your judges for round 2 (and as a cartographer), the kind of thing I would expect to see in your text description includes (but is not limited to):
- Thematic details: Is it an overgrown mess? Dirty? Shiny and Chrome? Blood spatters? Any glowy bits?
- Major topographical elements: toppled statues, pillars of rock, trees, rivers.
- Environment: Desert dirt is different than forest dirt.
The technical details (elevation indicators, scale, secret doors, windows, trap doors) do not need to be in the text description.
One of the other things I will be looking at on the map is: how fun will this be to run an encounter in, both as a GM and as a player? Are there fun variations in terrain that I can use as choke points? Ambush sites? Is all just a flat expanse? Can I use elevation to my advantage? Is the rogue going to be able to sneak attack somebody here? Will I long for the days of bouncing lightning bolts?
Okay, maybe not that last two, but you get the idea. If the battlemap comes out, I want it to be fun and memorable for both sides of the table.