Zak, this is slightly off-topic, but I wonder if you've ever heard of the Kowloon Walled City. It was a "city" built in China roughly the size of an NFL stadium that had a population density of 5 million people per mile. It consisted of buildings built on top of buildings, no central authority, no natural light for the majority of its residents, a yellow haze that filled every structure, and untold miles of jury-rigged electrical wiring. It seemed far too similar to the setting of Gigacrawl, and I figured you should know about it. Here's a link to a documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lby9P3ms11w And here are some photos: http://pythias.tumblr.com/post/18321227959/theastralcity-inspired-by-another-post-here-on
I wish I could get players to map, and to map like that -- hand-drawn, "this is what maps looked like before people really figured them out" type maps.
Some games give some XP for travel and revealing the map, and in a way that makes sense, but it makes for a different sort of campaign, and doesn't really explain why people would get better at punching a dude from seeing (and mapping) the Grand Canyon.
I'm thinking about random world events working out differently (and better) if it's determined that they occur somewhere the players have mapped. I want there be a reason to go somewhere new and unexplored, and have that be a valid, "this is a tough decision" alternative to finding another goblin cave or whatever.
Is that a Monsters & Manuals reference I see? Good taste, Mr. S.
March 2, 2012 at 5:49 PM
It's everything we got so far. (Or at least everything the players know about) (I have my own map I'm not gonna post here where they can see it) The idea is to give a reference point for whatever's going on while also giving the players room to put notes down:
[Image][Image][Image][Image][Image][Image][Image][Image]Some older maps, from whence came this one[Image][Image][Image]
"Connie Drew This Map"
13 Comments -
Can you give us a sense of scale for the big map?
(The three mile "squares" are invisible on the Hakleth map...)
And for the IHIWMA trivia crowd, what was the name of Frankie's character's vampire BF?
March 1, 2012 at 2:16 AM
@biopunk
Hakleth is 26 miles across--though the players' map is distorted like one of those "How New York sees the rest of the world" maps.
it's about 2800 miles from Nephilidia to the realm of the Negatsar in actuality
Frankie's vampire was named Varla.
March 1, 2012 at 2:20 AM
how do you encourage your players to make maps? My players dont seem to want to do anything like that...
:(
March 1, 2012 at 5:15 AM
Now that's a sweet map. Love it when players take that kind of initiative.
March 1, 2012 at 6:46 AM
Oh, I asked her to do it and bribed her with candy--I would;ve done i myself but i was busy.
March 1, 2012 at 7:19 AM
On that last map - why are east and west reversed?
March 1, 2012 at 8:14 AM
it's a mystery
March 1, 2012 at 8:15 AM
I like mysteries!
I was thinking maybe we were looking at the map from below, instead of above - a svirfneblins' eye view or something.
March 1, 2012 at 8:43 AM
Zak, this is slightly off-topic, but I wonder if you've ever heard of the Kowloon Walled City. It was a "city" built in China roughly the size of an NFL stadium that had a population density of 5 million people per mile. It consisted of buildings built on top of buildings, no central authority, no natural light for the majority of its residents, a yellow haze that filled every structure, and untold miles of jury-rigged electrical wiring. It seemed far too similar to the setting of Gigacrawl, and I figured you should know about it. Here's a link to a documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lby9P3ms11w
And here are some photos:
http://pythias.tumblr.com/post/18321227959/theastralcity-inspired-by-another-post-here-on
March 1, 2012 at 12:50 PM
@giordanisti
yeah, someone sent me a diagram of it. It's somewhere in here.
March 1, 2012 at 12:52 PM
I wish I could get players to map, and to map like that -- hand-drawn, "this is what maps looked like before people really figured them out" type maps.
Some games give some XP for travel and revealing the map, and in a way that makes sense, but it makes for a different sort of campaign, and doesn't really explain why people would get better at punching a dude from seeing (and mapping) the Grand Canyon.
I'm thinking about random world events working out differently (and better) if it's determined that they occur somewhere the players have mapped. I want there be a reason to go somewhere new and unexplored, and have that be a valid, "this is a tough decision" alternative to finding another goblin cave or whatever.
March 1, 2012 at 5:05 PM
Zak, make sure to tell Connie that she is the best player ever.
Her map is positively bitchin'
March 1, 2012 at 9:54 PM
Is that a Monsters & Manuals reference I see? Good taste, Mr. S.
March 2, 2012 at 5:49 PM