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Just dropping in to address the issue of the PRD: my team is working as quickly as is possible to get the last two books (Unchained and Occult Adventures) available. With some unforeseeable out of office staff and other internal complications, it's been quite a logistical struggle to progress this as quickly as I'd have liked. Obviously this doesn't resolve the issues some folks are having, but we're well aware that it needs to be available ASAP and are doing what we can.
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Just dropping in to address the issue of the PRD: my team is working as quickly as is possible to get the last two books (Unchained and Occult Adventures) available. With some unforeseeable out of office staff and other internal complications, it's been quite a logistical struggle to progress this as quickly as I'd have liked. Obviously this doesn't resolve the issues some folks are having, but we're well aware that it needs to be available ASAP and are doing what we can.
Thank you, and all the hard work is very much appreciated!
As I mentioned before, I assumed everyone thought the book would be up by now, since scenarios are planned so far in advance. This is the first scenario (that I've prepped at least) that's leaned heavily on a new class without listing all the relevant mechanics, and I wanted to warn others that not having the PRD to point to at the table (for players and/or GMs) could be frustrating if you don't know how something works. I want everyone to have as much fun with this scenario as my table did!
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How have people ran the tactics considering the starting distance? Hypnotic stare requires 30 feet and murderous command is range: close.
I was lucky in that I ran high tier and had multiple PCs arrive thanks to eating the naginata attacks. The party started charging ahead to close the distance, and confusion was the first action thanks to distance. Once the paladin got into range, hypnotic stare kicked in and started debuffing those ridiculous saves. It allowed a murderous command to stick, which was fun. Unfortunately the store was closing, so I couldn't play it all out. None of this really helps in the low tier, where confusion isn't an option.
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How have people ran the tactics considering the starting distance? Hypnotic stare requires 30 feet and murderous command is range: close.I was lucky in that I ran high tier and had multiple PCs arrive thanks to eating the naginata attacks. The party started charging ahead to close the distance, and confusion was the first action thanks to distance. Once the paladin got into range, hypnotic stare kicked in and started debuffing those ridiculous saves. It allowed a murderous command to stick, which was fun. Unfortunately the store was closing, so I couldn't play it all out. None of this really helps in the low tier, where confusion isn't an option.
I had a ranged party, mostly. Didn't have any time to go all out. But that's ok. I've given up prepping for power parties.
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Just sketch out the areas which can be traversed in combat. First floor and Mata's balcony was enough for me. Once the PC's left floor 1, I used the outline as a base for Mata's room. Needed some explaining, but drawing just the bare minimum - barriers, drops, stairs - avoids questions like can this be walked on, how high's dat, can I topple that, etc. After the combat's done, you can move into detailing tables, coffins, pipes and such as what they really are.
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My GM printed out the maps and they looked great, even in black and white (these maps deserved color). Loved the maps in this scenario.
I'm sure you could hand draw everything but you'll be missing so many details, it's kind of missing the point. Combat is the main feature of this scenario and it's a big feature to have a nice battleboard. imho.
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I really should do a blog post about this so I can link to it somewhere...
Basically what you need to do is find some way to perform these steps:
1. Get the image out of the PDF
2. Scale the image appropriately
3. Print the image out on a bunch of sheets of paper
It's a little harder than it should be; Photoshop, for example, doesn't like printing a single image across multiple sheets. And not all of the maps are easy to extract, depending on season and scenario.
My strategy was mostly developed by my wife:
1. Get a good, high-res copy of the image. This is a lot easier on the newer scenarios; prior seasons have some problems. With new scenarios, you can right click, copy, and paste into an image editing application; if you have problems, you can get a specialized image extraction tool, or zoom in in Acrobat and use the screenshot (maybe snapshot?) utility under the Edit menu.
2. Save this copy as a new image. PNG works well as it's lossless; JPG can serve okay if the quality is at maximum.
3. OPTIONAL: edit out secret doors, labels, etc. when appropriate
4. Open up a spreadsheet application, Excel or LibreOffice Calc
5. Set width and height of every column to be about 1 inch; I usually do a little larger, 1.1 inches
6. Import the image from #2 and stretch it until the grid on the map matches the grid you've created on the cells
7. Print!
OPTIONAL
8. Trim off whitespace
9. Laminate sheets
10. Tape together in such a way that the map can be folded up for transport. Packing tape is pretty good for this. Stay away from invisible tape.
The big hack--and also timesaver--is in using the spreadsheet application to print a big image across multiple sheets of paper. It's dumb, but they're way better at that than almost anything else, and it's also a handy way to make sure your image is the right size. An alternate approach would be to convert the image to PDF and then print like that, but I find that takes more time than it saves.
And one final note: if you can print at tabloid size, your life will be way easier.
For me, the total time taken for a Season 7 scenario is between a half-hour and 45 minutes per map, including laminating time. Your mileage may vary. Whether this is worth it to you is entirely up to you. I overprepare for my scenarios, so it's kind of a minor thing for me.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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I'm trying to prep this to run tomorrow and having some problems.
(partially because I haven't had time yet to fully digest Occult Adventures despite owning two copies of the book - this scenario has a LOT of new mechanics if you haven't been running a lot of Occult Adventures yet (and even if you have you have to look up a bunch of abilities that aren't all that common)
** spoiler omitted **
- She is not staggered, that light source is not direct sunlight, considering the location direct sunlight will be pretty hard to get.
- When it comes to the yeti encounter, I would suggest using your best judgement. Some groups (especially those where a significant number of players have not played/survived the preceding scenario) may already have significant problems with the encounter do to the environmental conditions.
- I am really not sure if players are supposed to gain any shared seance boon, the inspiring call is pretty clear (+4 on saves or attack and damage rolls is pretty good), but the shared seance bit isn't.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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I really should do a blog post about this so I can link to it somewhere...
Basically what you need to do is find some way to perform these steps:
1. Get the image out of the PDF
2. Scale the image appropriately
3. Print the image out on a bunch of sheets of paperIt's a little harder than it should be; Photoshop, for example, doesn't like printing a single image across multiple sheets. And not all of the maps are easy to extract, depending on season and scenario.
My strategy was mostly developed by my wife:
1. Get a good, high-res copy of the image. This is a lot easier on the newer scenarios; prior seasons have some problems. With new scenarios, you can right click, copy, and paste into an image editing application; if you have problems, you can get a specialized image extraction tool, or zoom in in Acrobat and use the screenshot (maybe snapshot?) utility under the Edit menu.
2. Save this copy as a new image. PNG works well as it's lossless; JPG can serve okay if the quality is at maximum.
3. OPTIONAL: edit out secret doors, labels, etc. when appropriate
4. Open up a spreadsheet application, Excel or LibreOffice Calc
5. Set width and height of every column to be about 1 inch; I usually do a little larger, 1.1 inches
6. Import the image from #2 and stretch it until the grid on the map matches the grid you've created on the cells
7. Print!OPTIONAL
8. Trim off whitespace
9. Laminate sheets
10. Tape together in such a way that the map can be folded up for transport. Packing tape is pretty good for this. Stay away from invisible tape.The big hack--and also timesaver--is in using the spreadsheet application to print a big image across multiple sheets of paper. It's dumb, but they're way better at that than almost anything else, and it's also a handy way to make sure your image is the right size. An alternate approach would be to convert the image to PDF and then print like that, but I find that takes more time than it saves.
And one final note: if you can print at tabloid size, your...
I think there is an old "how to print maps for PFS" somewhere on the GM board.
Personally I use GIMP, to to adjust the colours, then export it into Inkscape, and finally into PosteRazor to create a printable pdf.
EDIT: Laminating is pretty critical if you want to print foldable maps, I think if have used more than 600 laminating sheets since I started in late August.
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I think there is an old "how to print maps for PFS" somewhere on the GM board.
Personally I use GIMP, to to adjust the colours, then export it into Inkscape, and finally into PosteRazor to create a printable pdf.
EDIT: Laminating is pretty critical if you want to print foldable maps, I think if have used more than 600 laminating sheets since I started in late August.
There it is! Thanks, I had given up on finding the mythical map printing thread before.
Looks like I'm replacing both Inkscape and Posterazor with Calc, but you skip some of the cleanup features in Inkscape if you do things my way. Blah blah blah I should go post on the actual map thread about that.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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- She is not staggered, that light source is not direct sunlight, considering the location direct sunlight will be pretty hard to get.
It doesn't need to be direct sunlight. "Penanggalen Weaknesses Jujanil is staggered when exposed to bright light."
"After the first round, her halo changes area C’s light level to bright, triggering Jujanil’s light sensitivity for as long as Sharaheen remains conscious."
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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The source of the confusion seems to come from the difference between the scenario an the bestiary template.
Weaknesses: A penanggalen gains light sensitivity. In addition, a penanggalen is staggered while outside of her human body and exposed to direct sunlight.
Penanggalen Weaknesses Jujanil is staggered when exposed
to bright light.
Considerung the fact that the sidebaar just mentions
When Sharaheen enters Jujanil’s realm, she begins to glow.
After the first round, her halo changes area C’s light level
to bright, triggering Jujanil’s light sensitivity for as long
as Sharaheen remains conscious.
It does not mention the staggered condition.
Just wrapped up 7-06 & 7-08, reporting in. We had 1 death, same as Kalindlara:
One of our party members got one-shotted by the multi-naginata trap. 53 damage was far too much for him to handle.
For our game, the trap did 48 damage. We were playing low tier and the PC in question was 3rd level. He just couldn't survive. He went from full health to full dead.
Also, the seance boon at the end is very confusing, but I'm not referring to the issue that was cleared up on page 1 of this discussion. Instead, the question is this: how the heck do we apply that 1-time use of the boon? The text is, "If you do not have medium class levels, you can cross this boon of the Chronicle sheet to use the medium's shared sense ability for a legend of your choice." Is interpretation 1 or 2 correct:
- You just get a "seance boon" as listed under the "legends" for the medium class. No action listed, so no action needed to get it, and you just assign it to yourself.
- You actually get to use the shared sense ability as if you actually had it (temporarily). I think this is correct, but this means it has a 1 hour casting time, and your allies can participate.
I suspect the 2nd option is correct even though it makes it better, because it matches closer to the text on the Chronicle sheet, and to sell copies of the Occult Adventures, Paizo probably wants us to get everyone participating so that we all see how cool it is.
Do you agree that it's option #2, we get 1 real use of the shared sense ability, exactly how it normally works?
Sorry for two posts in succession, but I can't edit my prior one. Extra question: on the chronicle sheet, there is this line:
scroll of dispel magic (750 gp)
The problem is that the price is wrong. It should be one of these options:
- scroll of dispel magic (750 gp, CL 10th)
- scroll of dispel magic (375 gp)
- scroll of dispel magic (700 gp, level 4 spell as per druid spell list)
I assume the 1st option was intended since it accurately mirrors the gold cost. However, I also assume that even if we figure out the answer, it doesn't matter, since sheets cannot be corrected. So this is just a dead line now, that no one will use, right?
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I can answer one of my own questions, for anyone else here who is wondering. This issue:
scroll of dispel magic (750 gp)The problem is that the price is wrong. It should be one of these options:
- scroll of dispel magic (750 gp, CL 10th)
- scroll of dispel magic (375 gp)
- scroll of dispel magic (700 gp, level 4 spell as per druid spell list)
The correct answer is option 2. The scroll should not have an increased caster level, nor should it be a druid version. It's just priced wrong.
I know this because it turns out that the high tier items also have a Dispel Magic scroll, and that scroll is set to CL 9. So it's absolutely not the case that the lower tier gets a higher CL item. It's just priced wrong.
As for my other question about the seance boon, I've come to the conclusion that it is indeed a full use of the seance, exactly as it works (so it takes an hour to cast, but your allies can get in on it). Because of this, I've created a document that lists the seances, and I print it onto the back of the chronicle sheets. This way the players have a self-contained solution, AND they don't have to muddle through looking it all up the way I did.
I offer this sheet to all of you, in case you wish to do the same.
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Is there any way that the PCs would notice that Glacial Rose is possessed during the fight? Should they get an automatic sense motive check to notice or is it something that should be deduced from the fact that a yeti is casting spells that he shouldn't know? If it should be noticeable via Sense Motive's Sense Enchantment option, would that be DC 25 or 15?
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Assistant Developer
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Possession doesn't offer an automatic check. However, the PCs don't need to dispel the possession to free Glacial Rose (and get that part of the secondary success condition). Ryuu doesn't stick around in the yeti's body after the PCs knock him out. As long as Glacial Rose survives the fight, the PCs fulfill that condition.
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If a PC has an animal companion granted by a class feature, and that PC took part in part 1 and has the blessing of Malikeen boon, do they need separate saves and protection for their animal companions? From a continuity perspective, it seems that the statuette is a single item given in part 1 that grants a blessing to all those present during its acquisition, which is only split into several boons due to PFS limitations, and it would seem like it should apply to the companions likewise if they were present. However, by RAW it seems like it would not since the companion doesn't get its own separate chronicle unless the note of 'any familiars or animal companions... are subject to the effects below' includes the 'Blessings of Malikeen' effect.
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If a PC has an animal companion granted by a class feature, and that PC took part in part 1 and has the blessing of Malikeen boon, do they need separate saves and protection for their animal companions? From a continuity perspective, it seems that the statuette is a single item given in part 1 that grants a blessing to all those present during its acquisition, which is only split into several boons due to PFS limitations, and it would seem like it should apply to the companions likewise if they were present. However, by RAW it seems like it would not since the companion doesn't get its own separate chronicle unless the note of 'any familiars or animal companions... are subject to the effects below' includes the 'Blessings of Malikeen' effect.
I had this very situation. My GM determined that the boon was for the character, not my AC, so I had to make sure I kept endure elements on her the whole adventure.
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The way I see it is there are the following interpretations:
Narrative - The party received a statuette and all those present were granted the blessing of Malikeen using it as a focus. With the narrative interpretation, if any of the PCs have the boon, one of them pulls out the statuette and all of those where were blessed (including animal companions) get the benefit of it.
RAW #1 - Each PC has a boon that states that the PC themselves gets to benefit from the blessing for the duration of the scenario. In this interpretation, Animal Companions are excluded.
RAW #2 - The 'Up the Mountain' section has a note in the header that states "Any familiars or animal companions that the PCs bring into the mountains are also subject tot he effects below. Included in the effects below is the 'Blessings of Malikeen' effect. While it states 'PCs' in the language, most of the environmental effects also use the same 'PCs' language and a very literal reading of that section would indicate that animal companions would also benefit in this case.
RAI - Beats me! If this were a single scenario I am hard-pressed to imagine that the blessing would exclude the animal companions and it seems as though the issues that cause this question are strictly related to the way that PFS divides up rewards and boons between scenarios, which is a slight unfortunate side-effect to an otherwise clear system.
That's what is currently churning in my head right now.
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For the moment, I think I'll go with allowing it to protect animals and familiars that are granted as part of class features. If one of the developers chimes in and says nope, I'll do what I can to remedy. I can certainly see both interpretations as valid and will currently go with my bias of avoiding shutting down specific class features due to ambiguity or doubt in a rule. Thanks for weighing in!
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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The boon protects one creature. However, if you would prefer to have your animal companion/eidolon/mount/familiar/etc. activate it and gain the benefits rather than your PC, you can.
How does this interact with the FAQ that states companion creatures cannot activate magic items? Does this fall under the clause of continuous use items? Or is the PC activating the item and giving the effect to the companion creature?
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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It doesn't need to be direct sunlight. "Penanggalen Weaknesses Jujanil is staggered when exposed to bright light."
"After the first round, her halo changes area C’s light level to bright, triggering Jujanil’s light sensitivity for as long as Sharaheen remains conscious."
It does:
Weaknesses: A penanggalen gains light sensitivity. In addition, a penanggalen is staggered while outside of her human body and exposed to direct sunlight.From Penanggalen.
Light Sensitivity just dazzles her.
Andrew, the scenario specifically says that Jujanil is staggered in bright light. "Jujanil is staggered when exposed to bright light."
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The boon protects one creature. However, if you would prefer to have your animal companion/eidolon/mount/familiar/etc. activate it and gain the benefits rather than your PC, you can.
Is that by design or simply something that wasn't considered? I ask because if it was simply not thoroughly considered, I'd request that you take familiars/ACs/etc. into consideration the next time there's a boon that prevents or negates a nearly-scenario-long effect. In this case, it didn't seem quite fair to exclude only a few classes/builds from getting the benefits of a boon granted for playing the scenarios in order.
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Assistant Developer
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The boon protects one creature. However, if you would prefer to have your animal companion/eidolon/mount/familiar/etc. activate it and gain the benefits rather than your PC, you can.How does this interact with the FAQ that states companion creatures cannot activate magic items? Does this fall under the clause of continuous use items? Or is the PC activating the item and giving the effect to the companion creature?
This is not intended to interfere with the FAQ. To be more precise, for the case of this boon, we're allowing a PC to activate the item for the benefit of his or her own companion creature (but not for the benefit of other characters).
Venture-Agent, Ohio—Columbus
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How exactly does the Spirits of the Past boon work for a medium? I can't find specific legends anywhere for Sharaheen. Does it boil down to simply being able to channel a legend from any location, and the player gets to make the normal choices for the legend's variable abilities each time he channels it? Or are the choices supposed to be fixed values, similar to a Relic Channeler's legends?
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Assistant Developer
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How exactly does the Spirits of the Past boon work for a medium? I can't find specific legends anywhere for Sharaheen. Does it boil down to simply being able to channel a legend from any location, and the player gets to make the normal choices for the legend's variable abilities each time he channels it? Or are the choices supposed to be fixed values, similar to a Relic Channeler's legends?
The player can make normal choices for that legend's variable abilities each time he channels it.
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I am running this scenario for the 2nd time this coming weekend and would like to clarify a detail from my first run relating to "Sharaheen's Enlightenment" on p.17, round 4 ability.
Inspiring call is a taboo, rather than a seance boon and there is no seance boon mentioned (why is the taboo the only thing granted?). Does the language above mean that Sharaheen used shared seance with Bakten only or with the PCs whom she is accompanying in addition to her past life? Minimally, if it is Bakten only (likely), then Sharaheen might be able to, for example, heal an additional +2 hp on channels (hierophant seance boon, if it applies).
If the "as if shared seance" included the PCs (but inspiring call does not require shared seance with targets in order to function), then each of them might, presumably, be able to select a seance boon that will be active for 1 round (until Sharaheen falls unconscious in round 5).
In either case, the marshal spirit seance boon is to select a boon offered by any of the other legends.
Is the taboo the only thing being granted (since the authors used "as if" language and no actual shared seance occurred, etc.)? Am I misinterpreting how seance boons should work?
If anyone can clarify, that would be helpful. Thanks!
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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In very short, it's like this. Lady Ishigo had an affair with Mata Ryu, resulting in six daughters. Meanwhile Malash-Bakten was being a peacemaker and uniting the elven clans.
Malash dies. Nasty girl Jujanil-Bakten born. She uses Mindwipe and other spells to turn Mata Ryu into a puppet. Lady Ishigo doesn't realize this, and instead thinks Bakten's new incarnation stole her lover's affections.
Jujanil off-stage. New incarnations for Bakten. Lady Ishigo sends her daughters to spy on him and wants to make trouble/take revenge.
Forward to present. In part I it comes to light that modern-day Bakten doesn't remember Jujanil, and lady Ishigo finds out. She realizes she's been wrong all along and been opposing the wrong Bakten. Now she wants to make amends.
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Developer
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I am running this scenario for the 2nd time this coming weekend and would like to clarify a detail from my first run relating to "Sharaheen's Enlightenment" on p.17, round 4 ability.
** spoiler omitted **
Is the taboo the only thing being granted (since the authors used "as if" language and no actual shared seance occurred, etc.)? Am I misinterpreting how seance boons should work?
If anyone can clarify, that would be helpful. Thanks!
Inspiring call allows each PCs to choose to gain a +4 bonus on either saving throws or attack and damage rolls for 1 round. For the seance part, treating the PCs as if they had participated in the shared seance for a marshall spirit grants each PC their choice of the seance boons from Archmage, Champion, Guardian, Hierophant, and Trickster for 24 hours.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I really should do a blog post about this so I can link to it somewhere...
Basically what you need to do is find some way to perform these steps:
1. Get the image out of the PDF
2. Scale the image appropriately
3. Print the image out on a bunch of sheets of paperIt's a little harder than it should be; Photoshop, for example, doesn't like printing a single image across multiple sheets. And not all of the maps are easy to extract, depending on season and scenario.
My strategy was mostly developed by my wife:
1. Get a good, high-res copy of the image. This is a lot easier on the newer scenarios; prior seasons have some problems. With new scenarios, you can right click, copy, and paste into an image editing application; if you have problems, you can get a specialized image extraction tool, or zoom in in Acrobat and use the screenshot (maybe snapshot?) utility under the Edit menu.
2. Save this copy as a new image. PNG works well as it's lossless; JPG can serve okay if the quality is at maximum.
3. OPTIONAL: edit out secret doors, labels, etc. when appropriate
4. Open up a spreadsheet application, Excel or LibreOffice Calc
5. Set width and height of every column to be about 1 inch; I usually do a little larger, 1.1 inches
6. Import the image from #2 and stretch it until the grid on the map matches the grid you've created on the cells
7. Print!OPTIONAL
8. Trim off whitespace
9. Laminate sheets
10. Tape together in such a way that the map can be folded up for transport. Packing tape is pretty good for this. Stay away from invisible tape.The big hack--and also timesaver--is in using the spreadsheet application to print a big image across multiple sheets of paper. It's dumb, but they're way better at that than almost anything else, and it's also a handy way to make sure your image is the right size. An alternate approach would be to convert the image to PDF and then print like that, but I find that takes more time than it saves.
And one final note: if you can print at tabloid size, your...
The technique I use is to paste the image into Powerpoint, turn on the grid, and scale the map squares to it. Once you get the image sized right, you:
1. crop to the edges of the slide2. copy the slide
3. move the cropped image to the edge of the slide
4. repeat