Here is a first take on an update for the Saltmarsh area to make it match Ghosts of Salmarsh.
Here are the new version of the Realm Maps, with player version without hexes and DM version with 12 mile hexes. Now that I see it I kinda of like them. The two sets are matching so you can mix and match having hexes on none or both even as needed in your game.
You can grab them here: http://bit.ly/GH-Flanaess-RW_Maps2-598CY-2019
Alyssa and me are have a two hour long seminar presenting our work and answers questions.
Here is a link to the event: https://www.gameholecon.com/events/event/7950
Here comes the Flanaess split up into over 140 different parts like countries, highlands, lakes, forests and oceans. Perfect for use in Campaign Management tools like Realm Works and World Anvil.
Each part comes as a compressed JPG to make the files size small and manageable. Two versions are provided a Player version with 12 mile hexes, roads, symbols marking towns and cities.
The DM version has all the content plus labels but no hexes.
The set also comes with a overview map in "mini size" of 6000 pixels.
You can get the Realm Maps here: http://bit.ly/GH-Flanaess-RW_Maps-598CY-2019
I helped Darlene create a font featuring the famous script of the Greyhawk logo. It took awhile but here it is, version 1 of the Greyhawk Gothic font.
It is released as Creative Commons -BY -NC -SA 4.0 so you can use it for all your gaming needs as long as they are not for commercial purposes.
You can grab it here: http://bit.ly/GreyhawkGothic-Font
Bryan Blumklotz is filling in for Mike Bridges tonight with Anna Meyer. Come join us for a discussion about Ahlissa and other Oerth topics...
The next version of the Flanaess map is ready, the 11x17 inch 598 CY atlas. You can get it here: http://bit.ly/GH-FlanaessAtlas-598CY-2019
It comes in both JPG and PDF format. The JPG version comes in 77 images including covers and symbols, this version also include 0.25 inch overprint.
PDF's comes in both individual pages and as a complete set of 77 pages. The individual pages doesn't include the overprint to make them print better on normal printers.
The complete set PDF comes in two versions, a full quality version with overprint that is 2.63GB for maximum quality printing on all types of printers, and a reduced quality version for tablet use that is 52MB in size.
I've been using Realm Works by Lone Wolf Development to manage my games for the past four years, and since my maps are a big part of my gaming my maps need to go into Realm Works as well.
Up until recently it was a bit of a hassle due to RW's limitations being 32-bit software, but thankfully now RW is brought into the modern age (at least on the bit level) with a 64-bit version. So now it can handle reasonably large maps up to 30MB, and 6000px or so in size. The 30MB is a hardcoded limit but the pixel size more of a practical limit that I have figured out the hard way to keep performance reasonably.
After some testing I decided to go for 200 dpi for detailed maps and 150 dpi for larger maps, like oceans. Keeping the images within 6000px means that the 200 pdi maps can cover a maximum of 30x30 inches of the Flanaess map ( the pink square on the image below), and the 150 pdi images can cover 40x40 inches (yellow square).
Maps using a 200 dpi export image are not perfect but good enough for referencing things during the game. Below is an example using the Player Map of Ket
and here is the same area with the DM overlay:
The 150 pdi maps are less pretty but still usable, and will mostly be used for really large areas like the Sea of Dust or oceans. Below is an example of the Icy Sea map:
and below with DM's overlay:
A little tricky to read the fine print, but the main purpose for me is to have a map inside Realm Works that you can put Map Pins on, and that way create a reference in a quick and efficient way.
Pretty maps in Realm Works is great and all, but a key questions are: How easy is it to get them there, and how easy is it to update the maps themselves? In order for this to be useful long term an efficient workflow is needed, and after some fiddling around I think I have a working solution.
Each map used in Realm Works needs to have a set definition that can be used over and over again, so you can update the map inside RW and keep the Map Pins in place. This can either be done by using artboards in Illustrator and then export them as separate images. The sheer number of maps a Flanaess campaign might need (especially mine) will soon overwhelm the artbort limits of 100 in Illustrator, and will not make things easier.
Photoshop to the rescue! Export the whole map at 200 dpi and then use Photoshop to copy as many pieces you like out of the big map. By using the Photoshop vector functions and selections each map cout out can be defined, named and reused for future map upades, creating a matching new version.
This way you can have an almost unlimited amount of large and small special maps for things like forests, mountains, lakes and rivers as well as the more standard countries. When the Illustrator map is updated only two versions (Player and DM) needs to be exported.
Not a perfect workflow but it will do the job of creating a new set of maps for Realm Works much easier, and it also opens up for some other cool ideas that I'm going to test out when I come back from Paizo Con.
This is not a promoted post - but a disclaimer is in order - I volunteer for Lone Wolf Development helping out at conventions, and as a compensation they pay my badge and hotel room.
A full set of maps for Realm Works, that you can of course use outside of Realm Works as well will come as soon as I'm done with the Atlas.
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