If you need software to chop them up into page-sized pieces, try PosteRazor.Originally Posted by loydb
Oh, and don't try to print my composite map—it was resized for screen display and is only 50 dpi, which is not enough for printing. You could conceivably print it at 120, though, and get a sort of mini reference map.
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
I have heard excellent things about that utility (especially if you are using a Mac)
Note though: MS Paint actually does this too on it's own. Accurate resizing on the other hand takes a bit more thought with MS Paint, but it can still be done.
As long as the image is tagged at the correct dpi, Paint can do it (theoretically—I've never been inclined to actually try it). As far as I know, though, there isn't any way to specify a new print resolution in Paint.
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
Image > Stretch/Skew
(also, the image's current size can be obtain from Image > Attributes > Units=inches)
No, stretch or resize (depending on the version of Paint) cannot change the print resolution. It changes the actual pixel dimensions, which is definitely what you do not want to do, as that always degrades the quality of the image. You can change the print size using the printer driver set to print at something other than 100%, but your results will be unpredictable, as you never know if the printer is going to shrink the image by printing it more densely (obeying the pixel dimensions) or by throwing away pixels (obeying the print resolution).
In short, don't use Paint for this sort of thing unless the image has been properly prepared (which most of these were, by the way. It seems as though there were one or two that weren't specified at the proper dpi.)
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
Thank you loydb so very much for creating and sharing these wonderful maps. My players just will be getting to the actual keep this weekend, so these battle maps are just what I was looking for.
They print fine in B&W, and I have access to an 11x17 paper printer and a paper cutter, so stitching each section together shouldn't be too bad. I'll just provide the players with the mini-map when they need to backtrack and so on. Or maybe I'll make one of them do the mapping. Or compromise and allow only the player with the highest Dungeoneering skill access to the mini-map. I suppose I'll give them the choice and see how it works out.
The footprints that you created in the first encounter map are perfect! I'm not sure if I hope that one of the players notices them or not (in which case I could point out the clue after-the-fact when they protest "no fair -- how were we to know?").
One of the things (and I have a bunch) that I think is missing from _Keep on the Shadowfell_ was an encounter at the ground level of the Keep. So, I used the _Sinister Woods_ and _Ruins of the Wild_ dungeon tiles to create the ruins of the keep and the tower remnants with decending stairs. And of course there's a few goblins there on lookout...
Other changes that I made to the module (which are not spoilers since they differ from the written module) was to have the note from Irontooth written in Goblin (not Common), which sends them back to town in search of someone who reads Goblin. And who do they find? Ninaran, who helpfully provides an incorrect translation. Unfortunately, part of her incorrect translation contradicts some other information that the players already have, so they know that someone is lying or stupid or wrong. So, they try to find someone else who speaks Goblin, and Nathreem the Prescient tells them that his apprentice, Douven, reads Goblin, and he's out on a archeological dig at the moment. So, that manages to solve the problem of getting the players out to the dig site. I took a bunch of other ideas (such as what is found at the dig site) from someone who did a huge rewrite of the module which you can find at http://www.thealexandrian.net/creati...ll/kots-dm.pdf.
Last edited by Taed; 04-12-2010 at 07:48 PM.
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