First Map in GIMP

[nolgroth]

Haha! It is you. And the interwebs get that much smaller.

Well being that I followed a link in your HERO Boards sig to this wonderful resource, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise.

Excellent all around. Glad to have another Herophile filling up the ranks, and I look forward to seeing more of your mapping. Now if I could just find the time to map... I guess I have about another 2 - 3 years until my time is freed up.

Well I understand about time. My one day off is filled with gaming these days. I still run the crew in Gemini Ascendant and I started up a game to teach my children the glory that is HERO. I just decided that I wanted to actually make maps instead of just steal those here.

And when I actually write the module up, can you guess which game system I plan on using?

[Turgenev]

Nice work, nolgroth. I can't wait to see what else you come up with. I like the water effect.

[RPMiller]

Well being that I followed a link in your HERO Boards sig to this wonderful resource, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise.

I'm beginning to wonder just how many people I have brought over here... I have a number for referrals on my profile, but I think you have to say who referred you during registration or something.

Well I understand about time. My one day off is filled with gaming these days. I still run the crew in Gemini Ascendant and I started up a game to teach my children the glory that is HERO. I just decided that I wanted to actually make maps instead of just steal those here.

Very cool. You will have a lot of fun with that if your kids are like mine. They enjoyed dreaming up a superhero and the powers and I did all the crunchy bits. We've played a few sessions and they enjoyed it every time. I throw in the moral dilemmas and such as well to hopefully teach them a few things about the "grown up world". Since your kids are home schooled I'm sure they get plenty of that already.

And when I actually write the module up, can you guess which game system I plan on using?

Um... GURPS?


I kid, I kid. Hero of course.

[nolgroth]

Nice work, nolgroth. I can't wait to see what else you come up with. I like the water effect.

Thanks. I used the Render -> Lava tool and changed the Gradient to an all blue one. I tweaked the settings a bit until I got what I liked.

[nolgroth]

Very cool. You will have a lot of fun with that if your kids are like mine. They enjoyed dreaming up a superhero and the powers and I did all the crunchy bits. We've played a few sessions and they enjoyed it every time. I throw in the moral dilemmas and such as well to hopefully teach them a few things about the "grown up world". Since your kids are home schooled I'm sure they get plenty of that already.

Well, we've played a total of three sessions before they went off to see grandma for a couple of weeks. In the last one, my daughter's character was eaten by an animated dragon skeleton. Like a true champ, she picked up the HERO book and started in on character #2.

Um... GURPS?

Well I have nothing against GURPS, but I have nothing for it either. I have to admit that there is a certain appeal to going D&D 4th, but HERO has always suffered from a lack of support. I suppose there is nothing stopping me from going either way for that matter, but HERO is my primary system.

[RPMiller]

Like a true champ, she picked up the HERO book and started in on character #2.

Good for her! She's learned to just let character's go. There are players out there that still haven't learned that.

Well I have nothing against GURPS, but I have nothing for it either.

I actually played GURPS for several years. I ran a campaign that lasted a few of those years in fact, and the rest I was a player. It is a decent system, but I never did get the Generic part of its name. Hero System is far more generic and flexible in my opinion. But like all systems they have their strengths and weaknesses and you tend to go with what works for you.

So to bring the subject back to mapping... are you going to be using these maps in OpenRPG or MapTool, or are you printing them out?

[jfrazierjr]

Hey RP!

Yeah, would have used hexes if I had taken the time to find some sort of hex making tool. As it was, I was just following the tutorial and adapting. As you can see in the posted update, I have gotten rid of the "grid" altogether. Wasn't doing it for me. I like the Solid Noise Overlay that added a "mottled" look. Even had a side effect of making the water look even better.

Honestly, this map turned out way better than I expected. The doors were a PitA and I am still not 100% into liking them. Better than the first attempt though.

For the moment, I am going to continue using this particular technique to finish up a series of "portions" to a larger dungeon. Been playing around at running a short diversion from the Gemini game. Felt really like going "old school" with dungeons and all that.

And then I am going to attack that Regional map project.

For this version, I remade the doors and moved the Doors layer up above the Drop Shadow. I turned down the Drop Shadow layer opacity to 70% from 80%. I messed with the water technique described by torstan and I am not sure if I like it better or not. Any lower opacity and it looks like a discolored blob.

Next step is to post a key and write-up for this section.

Hope you don't mind, I opened this up and removed the drop shadow and added a bevel to both the outer stonework and the inner walls to get rid of the floating on top look that the drop shadows gives.

Joe

[jfrazierjr]

Hope you don't mind, I opened this up and removed the drop shadow and added a bevel to both the outer stonework and the inner walls to get rid of the floating on top look that the drop shadows gives.

Joe

Heh.. of course if you REALLY want to go over the top, how about this one

[RPMiller]

You would need to add a drop shadow or bevel to the doors as well to give them the height of the walls.

[nolgroth]

Hope you don't mind, I opened this up and removed the drop shadow and added a bevel to both the outer stonework and the inner walls to get rid of the floating on top look that the drop shadows gives

Don't mind at all. It is a neat affect and one that I may experiment with on the next cycle of maps I play with. I have to admit to actually liking the "floaty" feeling a bit.

Heh.. of course if you REALLY want to go over the top, how about this one

I think I like this one even better.