Ran Lithby's Folly Dungeon Map

So these are images of testing out the Dungeon Notebook 008 on Thaddeus's megadungeon Ran Lithby's Folly.  Hopefully with a reliable map record, more progress can be made. (Also I'll need to map out the town of Inkwell that sits next to the dungeon, the next time we play, using the Style VI maps at the beginning of the notebook.)

White Sandbox

 

I am part of an ongoing campaign, where the DM is using the Wilderness Survival Game map as the basis for the world map.  So I thought I would use a style IV map to map it out in 6 Mile hexes.

So this is a map that is gradually being filled in with new locations as they players play the game, and explore the world. 

Why I don't number hexes

So quite a few hex map systems use number hexes, frequently in the format xxyy, where xx is the column, and yy is the row.  I am not a big fan of that for two reasons.

1. It takes up space in every single hex, and further obscures the awesome map-ness.
2. It feels a bit backwards.  Number hexes make sense if you are looking up some common data about a hex, such as if there is a big table that tells you how many ducks can be found in that hex.  Thus there would be an entry for every single hex, many of which would say "No ducks."  But wilderness books don't do that, since that wastes precious page space.  Instead they call out only the hexes that have something interesting in them in the notes.  But now that means the DM is having to look up each hex to see if those numbers match up with something in the booklet.  Hex numbers only make sense if there is something worth saying about every hex.

The approach I am using on the hexbooks is I assume there is about 10-15 interesting locations on any given map.  And so I give a list of numbered blanks on on the map page.  That way the DM or mapper can just write a little number anywhere something interesting is found in the map, and then give it a name.  Someone later using the map can then easily see which hexes have something of interest, and what it is called.  They can then consult the notes for more information.

Nertz.

I just caught a big error on the Style V maps while working on the post below.  (The distance scale was off for that map, so that it looks like the hex is only 3 miles across.)  So contact me if you purchased any of these books prior to now, so I can get you out a replacement:

• Hexbook 001
• Hexbook 002
• Hexbook 005
• Hexbook 006

Anyway it is fixed now, so any books shipped out Nov 12 or later should be fine.  Sorry about that.

Style V Maps

Style 5 maps show a rectangle of 7 miles wide by 6 miles high.  A 6-mile hex is superimposed over the rectangle, to give an idea of the border of the 6 mile hexes in the Type IV map matches up.  This map is quite simular to the Judge's Guild Campaign Hexagon System, with the exception that it is not set to a 5 mile hex area.

Within this area, it is gridded out into 1/4th Mile squares, each about 40 acres in area.  (Each of these more or less corresponds with a USGS 7.5-minute topographic quadrangle map, btw.)  it is a good scale for mapping a forest, swamp, canyon, etc.  A manor or a village would easily fit into one of the 1/4 mile squares on this map.

(The Style IV map is found in Hexbook 001 & Hexbook 002, but Hexbook 005 is almost entirely devoted to this map.)