First Battle Map

[NathanC]

I've been wanting to learn how to do battle maps in Photoshop for a while now. As luck would have it I found madcowchef's very handy step by step instructions.

So here it is, my first battle map.

Lots of textures from CGTextures and deviantart and the dundjinni forums. I think i grabbed the trees from Neyjour. It's been such a long time since I picked them up I don't remember.

Also grabbed a great brush pack for the grass from calthyechild on deviant as well

Suggestions are welcome. I know the cliff it a little wonky and the structure could stand to be a bit larger.

[Rautatilhi]

I'm not an artist, but a "serious" battlemap user, so my opinion is: your map is totally OK. You and your players can easily follow the terrain types which is important, and if the PCs or some enemy like to climb trees, then it is the best method to put down full trees. But I think most of the time the fight goes under the trees an around the tree trunks, so I prefer when you can see the trunk (it's not so beautiful, but useful).
What will happen there?

[Pmumble]

Hey Nathan,

I think this is great for a first map. I followed the same tutorial and I know the techniques from it and such thanks to Madcowchef. I'd feel totally comfortable using it at my table because it would be simple to explain the questions I have in seconds. These things seem to be a balance between speed and beauty so some of these suggestions might be above and beyond what you care to do (like the shadows).

There are a few things that jumped out to me. The first is the walls of the structure the camp is in, because of the shape. Is it a ruined structure like in the tutorial or something else? I think logs.

I'm not sure what is at the base of the hill.

If that is a hill, maybe place some darker shadows indicate elevation. With the layer set to multiply, black fill, %50 transparent layer and a soft brush. The shadow thing is a bit finicky but it's worth playing with for major features.

Here's a 5 second not so great example with an airbrush:
First-Battle-Map-shadow2.jpgFirst-Battle-Map.jpg

[Farland]

I think you did a nice job. I personally prefer maps without grids, though, so my VT program can add them.

[wdmartin]

Not bad for a first effort. Certainly better than my first one, which I was not brave enough to post.

That said, here's some feedback:

1) The grid is awfully heavy. You might tone it down a little. For example, set the blending mode of the grid layer to Multiply (when using black lines) or Overlay (for white lines). You might also use a gaussian blur on the grid (perhaps about 3px).

2) Try to post maps both with and without grids when putting them online, because some people may want to print them, while others may want to use them in a virtual tabletop program, where the grid can generally be turned on or off depending on what suits the players.

3) Pmumble's comment about adding shadows to the cliff is good advice.

4) The scale of the bedrolls is a bit odd. They're almost 5' by 10', which is pretty large. Maybe size those down a bit? It's okay if they don't take up two full squares.

5) The walls on the camp site adhere strictly to the edge of the grid. It'd be a bit more natural to overlap or fall short in a few places -- the grid is there for combat mechanics. Players need to be able to see where the grid is, but the features of the map -- walls, furniture, etc -- don't necessarily have to conform to it.

6) The resolution is a tad on the low side. Try designing at 100px to the square for most maps. It allows for nicer detail, and prints better.

I've done 50px-to-the-square maps myself, but generally only for really, REALLY big maps like Castle Venatris, which was 140 squares by 100 squares. I actually made that one at 100px to the square, but it was so big MapTool couldn't handle it. So I had to reduce the resolution.