Terror in Tosasth

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Solomoriah
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Re: Terror in Tosasth

Post by Solomoriah »

I have to say, I must have dropped the ball somehow here. I'm probably doing too many things at one time. I do really feel bad for whoever ends up doing extra work because of my mistake.
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leon
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Re: Terror in Tosasth

Post by leon »

Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal. I'll keep on top of coordinating who's doing what from here on out.
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Solomoriah
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Re: Terror in Tosasth

Post by Solomoriah »

FYI I don't see a notice from Al here, but a 21.3 version just appeared in the Projects folder and Dropbox says he put it there.

EDIT: Delayed notice, apparently it dropped into the folder on Saturday.
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leon
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Re: Terror in Tosasth

Post by leon »

I took it to mean that 21.3 has the edits but all of those edits were listed in the comments, too. Next version is 23 which will be based on 22 with all feedback from Al as provided in comments.
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leon
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Re: Terror in Tosasth

Post by leon »

Release 23 is attached to the top post. It's now open for edits.

I worked through all of Al's edits. I kept notes about what I did, attached in case they are interesting.

I did a deep scrub of numbers and units so that the text never uses primes to abbreviate feet (e.g. 10') outside of monster blocks. Going a little bit farther than the official style guide, I put down these style rules:

a) never use unit abbreviations in boxed text.
b) always write out numbers in words in boxed text.
c) consider context when numbers and units appear in other narrative text.
d) use prime marks for feet and inches in monster blocks, including the summary of monster abilities.
e) never provide precise room dimensions in boxed text.

Within the part of the monster blocks that describe mechanics, I want to keep the text terse, including fragments that start with a number (e.g. "-4 AB/-2 AC if blind fighting.").

I'm sure there are still random issues I'm just not seeing. I found many cases where I could make boxed text or I needed to rewrite notes into full sentences. Aside from what might turn up, there's one issue we need to fix with the maps. Many of them are scaled up far too large. For example, consider level 4 of Strange Extrusion.
Screenshot from 2023-04-04 17-20-19.png
Screenshot from 2023-04-04 17-20-19.png (241.13 KiB) Viewed 399 times
A square on a map should be the same size on every map. I had it set up this way originally, but I guess my mistake was that the map images were too big and scaled down in the doc. Maybe it's easiest if every map image is 2400px wide (ie 8 inches at 300 dpi) with white space on the left and right? Maybe smaller parts should be combined into single images? I believe every level of Strange Extrusion fits on one page if done this way.
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JugglinDan
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Re: Terror in Tosasth

Post by JugglinDan »

I'm able to do a proofread of this using R23. Will add notes to this post if I find anything. Won't be starting for a few days, so please let me know if things are not ready or if you don't need my help on this one.
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Re: Terror in Tosasth

Post by leon »

Go for it!
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Re: Terror in Tosasth

Post by leon »

I'd like some feedback on this map replacement for Elab Jarr. The 3D map would remain.

Technical question for Chris: how well would this map work on a single page? It's 6.75"x9.00" at 300dpi, or 2025px x 2700px. The squares are 6 to an inch.

From a usability perspective...
a) Should I blank out the grid outside of rooms?
b) Do the labels like "To 9" make sense? Instead, I could use matching pairs of "Stair A".
c) Are the abstract shapes in Rooms 4, 9 and 10 understandable as a pool, a chasm and hole in the floor?
d) Around Area 21, is this understandable as a log over a chasm?

Thanks!
elab-jar-300dpi.png
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JugglinDan
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Re: Terror in Tosasth

Post by JugglinDan »

I can't comment on the printing questions.
leon wrote: Sat Apr 08, 2023 5:12 pm b) Do the labels like "To 9" make sense? Instead, I could use matching pairs of "Stair A".
They make sense to me.
leon wrote: Sat Apr 08, 2023 5:12 pm c) Are the abstract shapes in Rooms 4, 9 and 10 understandable as a pool, a chasm and hole in the floor?
Sorry, no. 4 makes me think of an altar or rug. 9 looks like a hole in the floor, and 10 looks like a larger pool of water. Here's the key I try to use (I have a laminated copy for reference when drawing on my battlemat). I have no idea if the software you are using supports anything similar though.
leon wrote: Sat Apr 08, 2023 5:12 pm d) Around Area 21, is this understandable as a log over a chasm?
It looks like a tunnel or pipe through the walls. I think the cross-hatching texture of the solid walls needs to change to indicate a chasm.

I'm not an artist by any means though.
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JugglinDan
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Re: Terror in Tosasth

Post by JugglinDan »

I forgot to say that perhaps you could annotate features with a letter, then have a legend on the same page. E.G.: a - pool of water, b - hole in floor, 20' deep.

Or a full key showing all the symbols and their meaning on a separate page somewhere. Is there a standard Basic Fantasy symbology that's common across modules? I think the original of the symbology I linked in the last post is the one on page B58 of Moldvay Basic Rules. Something like that with the symbols common to the mapping software that's used around here. sorry I forget the name as I mostly draw by hand for my group, or use Dungeon Scrawl (but I'm not sure about the print quality or licence for that).
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