Ye Olde Inn

Hello,

I've accumulated a large collection of maps mainly from Heroic Maps (http://www.heroicmaps.com/) or the flip mats from Paizo.com.

I've made a number of "encounters" (my term for short stand alone quests that take place in a single location, usually easy, more relaxed and unconventional to regular dungeon crawl goals). ere's and old style one I made: viewtopic.php?f=37&t=2620

They're not really in a format that I can throw up here for anyone else to make use of - they're scribbled on small black and white thumbnails that I printed out.

I wouldn't mind making them into a format that could be used here, but I'm not sure how to go about it. I can't import them into HeroScribe, I tried making the map in HS (did for one, but in general they are not well adaptable). My second trys involved using scaled down screen grabs of the maps and manually pasting in the needed icons. That was a pain in the ass. I've seen a few posted here, by Teldurn, I think, but am not sure how he did it. I'm guessing by cut and paste.

So two questions: Is there any interest in this? If I know of a way, I don't mind doing them up and posting them.

Then, any ideas on how to make them?

I have a bunch of the Heroic Maps, as well...I've used one or two for quests so far.
I usually use powerpoint...use a screen grab of the map and paste the icons in as
needed, like you did. It is a pain, yes, but I don't know of any other way to do it.

I'd like to see what you've made, if you get around to posting them.

I like any re-creatable map.
I am rather fond of the Dungeon Tiles from Dungeons and Dragons, especially the Master Dungeon Set. With that set there and a few of their add on tile sets and you are set for life.
I have a couple that are still in the wrapper waiting for the right game session.
Anyways, any dungeon can be recreated with them.
Then there are the other tile makers, home printing off of maps posted here on the Inn and my own efforts....more tiles than I will ever use are available. Makes any dungeon idea viable.

Why limit yourself to the basic board?

I'd say any additional quests are good. It would help if you told us where the map came from so we could buy them if we want to use them. Otherwise people could adapt them to whatever maps they have.

clmckay wrote:I wouldn't mind making them into a format that could be used here, but I'm not sure how to go about it. I can't import them into HeroScribe, I tried making the map in HS (did for one, but in general they are not well adaptable).
Then, any ideas on how to make them?

Do you have the All-in-One Icon pack for HeroScribe? If so, did you try to use the HeroQuest Free option for a board? Or semi-modular might work, but in a limited way (26 x 19 squares that is). You could do a very spread out modular quest with several HQ Free or Semi-Modular boards, similar to the Dark Company concept...
And of course there's the different room border sections to put in there as you wish. The only consideration then might be different overlays that are not converted into HeroScribe as of now.

HI All,

thanks for the tips. I've made 1 in Heroscribe using the premade rooms and walls. It worked fair. It's the linked Waterfront tavern map. It has limitations though, can't do the rounded bits (Windows at front) and can't place the appropriate art into the picture. It was workable in tha case of the tavern, but many others are mostly curved passages, etc, which just can't be done up with the icons in the HS packs.

I think I'll try the screen grab bit one more time. I hadn't tried doing it through PowerPoint. See if I can lighten up the background enough that the regular Icons show up well on it.

I'd be highly interested in any quest with a new concept inside apart from just " go in and kill". And I like Heroic maps. So go for it!

I already have quite a few - we play once or twice a week - but it's all on paper, scribbled on a black and white printout of the map that's being used at the time, so it's not really good for public consumption. Since we travel on overland world map, I use the HeroicMaps for "encounters". We tried tons f different quest types as a result, aside from hack and slash, with various levels of success. The challenge is balancing something that's not life and death, so that it's interesting, but not boring. We've had good luck with Easter egg hunt type missions and throwing in some random NPCs that may offer additional side quests or boat rides to far away places, etc. I've a ton of maps, but reuse them as different locations - so the waterfront tavern map isn't one location, but just a tavern layout common in coastal towns, for example.

Well.....I tried a couple more methods of making maps. This is the best I could come up with. I did this one through photoshop. Seems to have resulted in a higher quality output, but still needed the cut/past method. At least with PS it was a slightly smoother cut/past method and I was able to fix some of the fuzziness resulting from the otherways I tried.

So comparing this type of map with the line/vector one in the top post, which is better? It took longer to do it this way - however - setting up that first version map in HeroScribe took forever. I dunno.....maybe this was quicker taking that into account. This is ful color instead of the usual line drawing colors. Do others find that off-putting?


Quest Page


Card


Full-Size Map

I had a thought that would help with the production of these maps. If your base map images are uniformly gridded, you might be able to add them to the Objects.XML file and turn it into an additional map option. Then the icons would line up properly and be high-quality and such.

(Only potential problem: Does this method require the base image to be a vector? If so, that would be problematic. Research ensues!)