DCC #35: Gazetteer of the Known Realms

Post by **Harley Stroh** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:56 pm

Frank,

Those are fantastic. You have some lucky players.

//H

frank5471uk · Post by **frank5471uk** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:34 am

Harley Stroh wrote:Frank,

Those are fantastic. You have some lucky players.

//H

Thanks Harley

BTW, whilst I have the attention of one of the authors of DCC35, can I draw your attention to one unanswered question from above (plus a new one)

1) The gazeteer states :-

"Officially known as Sirael Citadel, the prison island of Crieste is better known as the Isle of Many Graves, or simply the Graves. ........ In the years since its creation, Sireal Citadel has grown to encompass the entire island."

However, a quick peruse of the map of the Northlands shows that the island in question is an unnamed island (part of "The Wreckers" group) that has a city "The Graves" marked on it is the only habitat. The unnamed island is at least 100 miles long, so is unlikely to be filled up by Sireal Citadel.

Is this a map error ? Is it simply a scale thing ? Is there something obvious that I am missing ?

2) Is "The Soulgrave" within the "Free City of Soulgrave" or does it lie outside somewhere ? If it is inside the city walls, I would imagine it to be a tad inconvenient having all those undead running loose. If it is outside the walls, how far away is it ? I am aware that the "Free City of Soulgrave" is the location of DCC27 (another good one Harley), is "the Soulgrave" featured anywhere in the DCC collection or was DCC35 it's first appearance.

Thanks in anticipation.

Frank

PeelSeel2 · Post by **PeelSeel2** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 4:08 pm

frank5471uk wrote:Hi All

Having spent some time preparing some starting material for the start of my Aereth Campaign......

Frank

I noticed you had scales on the map. I ended up getting the PDF of the Known Realms and am printing off the map of the area I want to use, but am having a problem with scale, since it does not quite match the scale in the boxes. How did you determine the scale for yours?

frank5471uk · Post by **frank5471uk** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 9:46 am

PeelSeel2 wrote:
frank5471uk wrote:Hi All

Having spent some time preparing some starting material for the start of my Aereth Campaign......

Frank
I noticed you had scales on the map. I ended up getting the PDF of the Known Realms and am printing off the map of the area I want to use, but am having a problem with scale, since it does not quite match the scale in the boxes. How did you determine the scale for yours?

Hi PeelSeel2

I copied the relevant PDFs into powerpoint, aligned them as best I could to reduce the "seams" and then used the powerpoint drawing tool to add the scales, boxes and compass. In terms of how to decide what the scale was, I simply eyeballed it. The DMs Maq of Aereth has a scale in the bottom right corner that shows how big 1000 miles is (which is roughly the width of Crieste). I drew my own scales on the two maps I did with the sizes roughly about right. I will be within a 5% error margin and that is good enough for me (and better than any medieval cartographer ever managed

)

Once I had the additions about right, I simply saved it all as a new jpg.

Frank

PeelSeel2 · Post by **PeelSeel2** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 10:17 am

frank5471uk wrote:I copied the relevant PDFs into powerpoint, aligned them as best I could to reduce the "seams" and then used the powerpoint drawing tool to add the scales, boxes and compass. In terms of how to decide what the scale was, I simply eyeballed it. The DMs Maq of Aereth has a scale in the bottom right corner that shows how big 1000 miles is (which is roughly the width of Crieste). I drew my own scales on the two maps I did with the sizes roughly about right. I will be within a 5% error margin and that is good enough for me (and better than any medieval cartographer ever managed )

Once I had the additions about right, I simply saved it all as a new jpg.

Frank

Cool! I never thought about using power point for this. I guess eyeballing it is as close as I am going to get. Thanks for the Tips!

Post by **Harley Stroh** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:38 pm

frank5471uk wrote:BTW, whilst I have the attention of one of the authors of DCC35, can I draw your attention to one unanswered question from above (plus a new one)

1) The gazeteer states :-

"Officially known as Sirael Citadel, the prison island of Crieste is better known as the Isle of Many Graves, or simply the Graves. ........ In the years since its creation, Sireal Citadel has grown to encompass the entire island."

However, a quick peruse of the map of the Northlands shows that the island in question is an unnamed island (part of "The Wreckers" group) that has a city "The Graves" marked on it is the only habitat. The unnamed island is at least 100 miles long, so is unlikely to be filled up by Sireal Citadel.

Is this a map error ? Is it simply a scale thing ? Is there something obvious that I am missing ?

2) Is "The Soulgrave" within the "Free City of Soulgrave" or does it lie outside somewhere ? If it is inside the city walls, I would imagine it to be a tad inconvenient having all those undead running loose. If it is outside the walls, how far away is it ? I am aware that the "Free City of Soulgrave" is the location of DCC27 (another good one Harley), is "the Soulgrave" featured anywhere in the DCC collection or was DCC35 it's first appearance.

Frank,

1) You are correct. The island as depicted on the map is far too large. This my fault, as it is true to my original sketches.

2) The Soulgrave is outside of the Free City, perhaps 1/2 a day or so of rough travel. Folks interring their dead gamble on getting to the Soulgrave and back again before the sun goes down.

A place named Soulgrave (no distinction) was mentioned in Idylls of the Rat King, but all the fluff came afterwards. Both the Free City and the necropolis are on the short list for "cool places that we'd love to detail" if and when the time comes for more world info.

//H

donm61873 · Post by **donm61873** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:05 pm

Picked this up, and I think I'm missing something...

Is there a map showing the locations of the modules, or have I missed something in my readthrough?

donm61873 · Post by **donm61873** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:12 pm

Yes, I should have explained this better...

Ok, I see the tags on the maps, and that's fine. Finding the ONE I'm currently looking for is annoying but ok. There's no grid or key, so perhaps a guide for where things are located on the maps?

It's like looking for Philo, Illinois without knowing where in the US the state of Illinois is, on a map with no state boundaries.

donm61873 · Post by **donm61873** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:40 pm

Finally, never mind....

At least from what I see, #35A is NOT on the map. Finally found the Thornswild, so that helps.

It would be nice to have two big overall maps: one with borders of the various "states", and another of just the module locations, and keep that updated with new releases?

Post by **goodmangames** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 7:08 pm

Starting with DCC #36 (the first published after the Gazetteer), all DCC's include a blurb inside describing their location, as well as a map excerpt showing the location and module number specific to that adventure.

donm61873 · Post by **donm61873** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 12:43 am

And that's fine, but it would be very useful to have a "freebie map" somewhere of rough world features, but all of the published locations on it at the website, and update it with new releases... Then I'd know if #48 is near where my group is adventuring now, to consider in my buying decisions.

Cardinal · Post by **Cardinal** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:54 am

donm61873 wrote: it would be very useful to have a "freebie map" somewhere of rough world features, but all of the published locations on it at the website, and update it with new releases... Then I'd know if #48 is near where my group is adventuring now, to consider in my buying decisions.

AMEN!

Shambleau · Post by **Shambleau** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:55 pm

That would be just great!

Post by **goodmangames** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 10:47 am

What I'd like to do is have a world map on a web page, and the ability to zoom in and out with a mouse click. That way you could see the entire Aereth map at once, and zoom in to a region to see what adventures are set there. I don't know how to do this, though, and I've never seen it done on a basic web page. If anyone can show me an example, please do...

Plaag · Post by **Plaag** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:58 am

goodmangames wrote:What I'd like to do is have a world map on a web page, and the ability to zoom in and out with a mouse click. That way you could see the entire Aereth map at once, and zoom in to a region to see what adventures are set there. I don't know how to do this, though, and I've never seen it done on a basic web page. If anyone can show me an example, please do...

You could make each zoomed in region a separate page with the ability to click back or even deeper into the map (and thus another separate page, etc) So without any program this would be a simple way to go about it.

ShaneG.

Warduke · Post by **Warduke** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:34 pm

something like this seems like it *could* be done pretty easy ....

http://members.aol.com/dreadwood/maps/index.html

it'd be cool, too, to have a hot link table ofthe numbered dccs beneath the map. click on #1 and it takes you to the blown up map with silverton, etc.

edit: some of the image links are broken, bu i think the idea still stands

frank5471uk · Post by **frank5471uk** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 2:30 pm

goodmangames wrote:What I'd like to do is have a world map on a web page, and the ability to zoom in and out with a mouse click. That way you could see the entire Aereth map at once, and zoom in to a region to see what adventures are set there. I don't know how to do this, though, and I've never seen it done on a basic web page. If anyone can show me an example, please do...

Joseph

I have no idea how to do what you have specified, but if you can manage it it would be fantastic. Lotsa, lotsa luck.

Frank

Jeff LaSala · Post by **Jeff LaSala** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 12:01 pm

A bit off-topic, perhaps, but for those of you familiar with DCC #35, you might know that the Xulmecs are already familiar with such an animal as this.

One-Ton Rat Roamed Ancient Swamplands <--- (this is a link)

I love it when D&D isn't that far from reality.

Rob_MacHead · Post by **Rob_MacHead** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:16 pm

Warduke wrote:something like this seems like it *could* be done pretty easy ....

http://members.aol.com/dreadwood/maps/index.html

Excellent! Nice site. Perhaps its time to enlist the aid of some hotshot web genius fresh out of school to whip up something.

RMC

Rob_MacHead · Post by **Rob_MacHead** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:37 am

Would it be possible for someone to post on the website the locations of the adventures NOT mentioned in the supplied material?
Also, as an inexperienced DM (relatively speaking) I would have appreciated a little guidance from the DM guide or Gazeteer on how much info to start the players off with. You know, to ease me into the job.

RMH

Jeff LaSala · Post by **Jeff LaSala** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:06 am

Generally speaking, the Gazetteer book is safe for players and the GM's Guide is less so. I won't say that should be a hard delineation, but it's a start.

Any god entry in the GM's Guide could be available to any players considering that god. There's no solid GM-only secrets in there; mostly just flavor and fluff relating to those gods, plus domains, holy symbol, and favored weapon.

Rob_MacHead · Post by **Rob_MacHead** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 2:33 pm

Thanks Jeff.
For a noobee, it can get a little over whelming.
My crew is enjoying the adventure (35A). We're only 2 sessions in.
I'm looking forward to branching off into other modules. And throwing in my own stuff too.

RMH

Jeff LaSala · Post by **Jeff LaSala** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 8:19 pm

Sure thing. If you have any questions, we're here.

Particularly anything in that boxed set!

Post by **Harley Stroh** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:36 am

I'd second Jeff's answer. We worked hard to make the Gaz something that wouldn't spoil the game for players. There are lots of "secrets" but these are mostly phrased as hearsay, myths and rumors.

Know too, that the Gaz was probably outdated the moment it was penned. Feel free to advance any plots or schemes that strike your fancy. Players can march up to Leherti, expecting to get the jump on the Scourge ... only to find that the surviving nation states have already fallen and that the Scourge is knocking on the Theocracy's door.

//H

Post by **Harley Stroh** » Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:43 am

Rob_MacHead wrote:Would it be possible for someone to post on the website the locations of the adventures NOT mentioned in the supplied material?

After the box set (DCC #35), we started including a small map block in each adventure, explaining where the advenure was located in Áereth. It should be in the opening section of the adventure or on the back cover.

An updated map with all the locations is in process, but I don't know how soon we will see it.

//H