Maps

[Groovy]

A bit late, but I've decided to post the maps that I've used or am still going to use for playtesting. Here is the first one. It's also available here.

It is the only map I've tried that wasn't structured into fragments. This has its advantages, but is too tedious for the tabletop setting.

[Groovy]

This was a disaster of a map, with narrow passages making it very difficult to overcome neutral creatures. It was also the map that introduced map fragments, in this case 5x5.

[Groovy]

I've already posted this earlier in the thread, but I'm adding it here for completeness.

The map worked reasonably well, except for the tedious resource collection. It introduced 4x4 map fragments, which were unsuitable due to not being symmetrical.

[Groovy]

A small map that limits the creature level to 2 and was designed for quick games. It introduced 3x3 map fragments, which I'll probably stick with.

At this point, I got lazy with the single map image because I was using it only to guide the map layout. The printable maps were actually MS Powerpoint files
with each map fragment being a separate image file, and text added in Powerpoint. So I started with a grassland-only overall map and added other terrain and structures on top of it.

[Groovy]

The map that we used extensively during December 2014 holidays. It introduced markets and workshops, but the game design wasn't quite ready for them. Mercenary camps worked well, though.

[Groovy]

A brand new map that I'm hoping to start using by the end of February 2015. It introduces megaliths. It is also the first four-player map. I just need to finalise the unit lineups for the core factions (Homestead, Barbarian, Alpine, Sylvan) before I can use it.

[Panda Tar]

Why you said it was tedious? Lack of other Adventure Map objects you mean?

[Groovy]

I've described two things as tedious. I take it that you are talking about the first one, where I said that using a map without fragments was tedious? The challenge was having lots of individual tiles to keep neatly arranged into a map, which was more difficult and time-consuming than with clusters of tiles (map fragments), and had to be done much more frequently - every time one of them was turned over, and often when a unit moved as well. I thought the feeling of exploration was superior with individual tiles than with map fragments. It just wasn't enough to compensate for the tediousness of keeping the map together.

[Groovy]

I wonder whether irregular-shaped map fragments would be better? They could follow the lay of the land and have the name of the region on their back. This could make the map much more atmospheric than the regular 3x3 map fragments that I'm using now. Hmm...

[Panda Tar]

Well, zoning maps can be rather useful, I think, and perhaps even funnier than regular 3x3 revelation, however each map would have different zoning and layout. I don't know how much work would be doing that.

[Groovy]

What is a zoning map?

[Panda Tar]

Oh, awaken already?

Hm, let me find an example:


Each colour is a zone. Then, when playing, if you went to explore a zone, all zone would be revealed. The size of it would vary, not only considering 3x3. Maybe making zones with multiples of that 3x3 modules? It's just an idea. It's bound to have some issues.

[Groovy]

Oh, that. I thought a zoning map in the fantasy context was something special.

That's basically the idea that I've had, but with geographically defined zones taking the place of artificial ones from your map. I'll design my seventh map along these lines and see how it works.

[Panda Tar]

Yeah, that's what I tried to show. A valley, surrounded by mountains, can be a whole zone, a riverside until the next bridge etc. I hope it works.

[Groovy]

The obvious question is what to do about the asymmetrical shape of the map fragments - the problem of the 4x4 map fragments, now on steroids.

[Panda Tar]

At first, it would be by making 1x1 fragments instead of 3x3. Talk about hard work.

[Panda Tar]

Heroes 4 card game map.

[Groovy]

You'll have to give me more info than that, Panda. Even that H4 map seems to be made from pretty big tile clusters.

By the way, how well does that game play? I've read a few reviews, but didn't get a clear picture of it.

[Panda Tar]

Hm, I think the best way to get the idea of the game is by buying it. ^^ I think you can find it in that same website, no? boardgamegeek.com I also don't know any specifics.

The size of the tiles there feel like having around 2 cm in diameter. You think that's too big? There's an entire map behind it, as it seems, you you just start plugging smaller ones next to the other.

Mazhin posted this linkin the Council.

[Groovy]

I'm not really keen on buying it. Partly because the reviews weren't all that kind to it, and partly because it is a collectible card game. From what I've read, it plays very differently from Heroic because of the card factor (Heroic uses cards purely for information).

I used tile size of 3.5 cm in diameter up to map 3, and 4.5 cm from map 4. 4.5 cm is probably too big, but I find it handy for prototyping because it's easy to see everything. Also, Heroic tiles need to be able to contain a unit token and several counters (faction, quantity, unit/race), so I wouldn't want to make them much smaller. H4 was heavily criticised in the reviews for using tiles that were too small.

The irregularly shaped tile clusters that can be arranged in multiple combinations look pretty cool. I'll have to try that. How do they implement the unexplored terrain shroud, though?