A Request for Color Maps

[baez]

First off, I love all the 4e Goodman Games modules so far. They are really great, and I can't wait to run them.

But ...

I was shocked that the PDF versions of the modules don't have color versions of all the maps! I understand that the print versions would be more expensive with full color prints (although I wouldn't mind... ), but the PDFs should certainly have the full color versions, or at least both color and B&W for those that don't want to print color versions.

I use this cool software called PosteRazor (Google it, it's free!) to blow up the battle maps to 1" scale and print them...in color.

Please, please, please start making the color versions of the maps available some how (either in the PDFs, or for download from your website)! You could start now! Right now! You haven't published too many 4e modules yet, so doing the "back catalog" won't take long.

Thanks!

-joe

[Harley Stroh]

Joe,

Welcome, and thanks for the suggestion. You have a good point. More and more gamers are picking up the PDFs for their utility, not just because they are "cheaper versions" than the hard copy.

And now I need to track down PosteRazor. That sounds really useful...

//H

[goodmangames]

That's not a bad idea, but I have this general policy that I never make an electronic version of a product better than what a bricks and mortar store can sell. With me, the best products will always be in print, like poster maps and props and mega-dungeon boxed sets where the full glory can only be achieved by holding the product in your hands at a store. That's just how I roll; I like to support retailers. So if we DO create color maps, it will only be where the printed product has color, in order to enable the PDF to be so.

...which might happen sooner or later, because that's not a bad idea, but it is a lot more expensive, so we'd have to figure some things out first.

[Treebore]

Sell separate map packs. Color or not. I usually buy print, but would love to have just the maps as PDF for my on line gaming. Plus Sellswords of Punjar looked to be full color to me. What DCC's aren't in full color?

[AstroCat]

I would love to be able to buy battle mats for the Punjar adventures, or any DCCs for that matter. I could print them myself or buy them at the store, either way is good with me. Sort of like what WOTC has put in their modules, but even better would be all locations mapped not just a few.

[baez]

Treebore: none of the new DCCs are in full color. Not the print versions, and not the PDF versions. There are a few color pieces in some of the modules, mainly the cover art and a battle map here and there. I don't have all of my DCCs in front of me, but that's how I remember it. The real bummer is that the PDF versions of the modules don't have the battle maps in them at all. Even if the print version had a map, it is missing from the PDF.

Joseph Goodman:

First off, I want to be clear: the Goodman modules are really great. The adventures are much better than what WotC is putting out. And so I want you to know that the criticisms I have are because I care about the products, and I'd like to use them with my group. I'm not much of a participator in Internet discussions, so rest assured I won't be coming here and slamming on things every chance I get.

Anyway after using PosteRazor to print out full-color battle maps from all the WotC modules we've played so far, I just can't put a B&W map down on the table now. And in fact, I haven't purchased "Wyvern Mountain" or "In Search of Adventure" because of the lack of color printables.

Your response is pretty much what I expected, and I can respect that stance. But it does confuse me some. It's obvious that the maps in the current crop of modules were color when they were created, and then converted to B&W for printing. They're obviously created on a computer. So it seems to reason that the color versions of the maps are readily and easily available. So I don't think it would cost you anything (maybe a little time) to bundle up the maps as JPEGs (or whatever) and sell them on RPGNow (or where ever) for a few bucks (or however much you think is a fair price). In this way, everyone that bought the module, whether it be print or PDF, has access to them if they want them.

From a business sense, it seems like you're leaving some money on the table (maybe not much -- depending on demand). And I know you feel strongly about not making the electronic versions "better" than the print, but what do your customers want? Right now, it's just myself and AstroCat that seem to want the color maps, but hopefully it'll be more people soon. The cost of color laser printers is already pretty amazing (hence I bought one, and hence my new *need* for color maps ).

In fact I saw this post on these very boards:

Some Maps from The Adventure Begins

It looks like your customers are going through a whole lot of work to make their own color maps. Sure would be easier if we could just buy 'em! I know I'd rather be gaming than Photoshopping!

Anyway, thanks for letting me blather on, and if any of this offended you, then I'm sorry. That wasn't my objective.

-joe

PS: I'm anxious to get my hands on a hard copy of Blackdirge's Dungeon Denizens! B&W is just fine for a monsters book!

[goodmangames]

The real bummer is that the PDF versions of the modules don't have the battle maps in them at all. Even if the print version had a map, it is missing from the PDF.

One point of clarification: the modules that include battle maps have them in both print and PDF form - specifically DCC #53 and DCC #55. If you purchased the PDF then you should have gotten the battle map. Some sites list it as a separate download.

As far as the maps, believe it or not, all the module maps are produced in B/W, not color. Maps produced in color and then flattened to B/W sometimes don't turn out so well...colors that are visibly different in color but similar in tone end up looking too similar in B/W. I ask all the cartographers to work in B/W when they're working on B/W maps.

I definitely appreciate that people seem to like color battle maps. If there's enough demand, it's something I would consider, provided that both stores and online sites can take advantage of it (e.g., poster maps).

[Treebore]

Maybe if you can package the maps separately you wouldn't be competing with store fronts? I am talking PDF only, not a printed product?

For example put all the maps for Punjar together from the various products into a single PDF to download, colorize them if it isn't too hard, and sell them exclusively as PDF on the internet sites. That way you are not directly competing with the brick stores and can provide us with the PDF versions of the maps we are asking for.

Personally I am fine with B/W too, but in PDF you can offer both versions easily enough, if you even bother to color them..

[dmteacher]

I use this cool software called PosteRazor (Google it, it's free!) to blow up the battle maps to 1" scale and print them...in color.

How do you insure that the map you use with PosteRazor is scaled to 1 inch squares?

Downloaded the program and thought it worked great, but had trouble figuring out how to scale the map.

Thanks
Mike

[torstan]

You need to do a little editing. Open it in an editing program like gimp (also free - you can google it). Use the measuring tool to find out how many pixels there are to a grid. Now go to Image->Scale Image and set the resolution to the correct number of pixels. Also, and this is important for greyscale maps, make sure the image is saved as an rgb image, not a greyscale one. Posterazor does funny things to greyscale images. In gimp, you can do this by going to Image->Mode->RGB.

Now when you open it in posterazor it should load one grid to one inch and you are good to go. Post here if you run into trouble and I'll see if I can help some more.

[dmteacher]

You need to do a little editing. Open it in an editing program like gimp (also free - you can google it). Use the measuring tool to find out how many pixels there are to a grid. Now go to Image->Scale Image and set the resolution to the correct number of pixels. Also, and this is important for greyscale maps, make sure the image is saved as an rgb image, not a greyscale one. Posterazor does funny things to greyscale images. In gimp, you can do this by going to Image->Mode->RGB.

Now when you open it in posterazor it should load one grid to one inch and you are good to go. Post here if you run into trouble and I'll see if I can help some more.

Thanks, I tried this out and ot worked.

[torstan]

Glad to hear it.

[Harley Stroh]

Wow, Torstan, those are great maps!

//H

[Ogrepuppy]

Sell separate map packs.

^ This. ^ In PDF form, in color, separate from the adventure PDFs. Offer the maps for free with a code inside the module to buyers of the dead tree adventures (thus fulfilling your policy of never making an electronic version of a product better than what a bricks and mortar store can sell). Those who buy the PDF versions have to pay a tiny bit more (a dollar or two) to get the "exclusivity" of color maps.

[Ogrepuppy]

Wow, Torstan, those are great maps!

Holy crap! They ARE great maps!

[torstan]

Thanks! That's an effusive welcome

I've ended up freelancing with these maps so some of these are for publications, however a good few are for my own personal campaign. As we're talking about the benefits of digital and paper - I use maptool for my games these days so I know how important it is to get a version of the map without labels at a resolution where a grid spacing is a whole number of pixels. All the maps posted over on my gallery should fit that, and if you want to use one, but can't find the label free version, pm me and l'll see what I can drag off my hard drive.

[Treebore]

Those are good maps. I DLed a couple of them that I'll likely use on Maptools soon.

[torstan]

Glad you like them. These are posted at high resolution. It's probably worth opening them in gimp then using save as... to save as a new jpg. In the dialogue that opens, drop the quality down from 100 and see how the file size drops. For maptool, a quality of 60 should have no noticeable effect on quality, but should give you a large drop in filesize and so result in quicker transfer times between you and players. On the other hand, if you are playing with a projector this is less of an issue.