Map Troubles and Updates

I think i mentioned in a previous post that i was going to give drawing the maps for shards by hand.  Originally i was planning on a completely digital approach to the project, but didn't feel that i could capture the look i was going for.  After checking out a few videos on youtube and coming across 2minutetabletop.com i had to give it a go myself.  So i grabbed some cardstock and set to work.

A whole mess of map drawing

This is what i came up with, several sheets of paper each drawn to the edge with corresponding edges on other pieces of paper.  The idea was that i would draw out a larger poster map on smaller, more manageable sheets of paper, then scan them, and assemble them digitally.

This all would have gone fine and well if it were not for my scanner.  Little did i know that the scanner only scans the page up to 1/8 inch from the edge.  This meant that my carefully drawn pages that aligned so well when i was drawing them, were missing significant portions of the actual map.

After some thought, I came up with a solution.  I would scan each page four times; once on each edge, and assemble the composite picture on the computer.  This worked well, although was rather time consuming and needed some work with the alignment when i finally brought all the pages together.

Two hours later, I had the map assembled!

The Assembled Map!

To save time in the future, I think i've come up with a solution.  I will cut my pages slightly smaller before i start drawing on them so that they can scan with one pass instead of four.  I tried this approach with the bridge section of the map and it was a great relief not having to piece together the individual section before adding it to the larger poster map.

Now for a bit of and update.

My plans have changed slightly as far as this project.  I'm still going to leave the mechanics documents up in the downloads section, but i'm going to shift my focus to getting a Introductory, "Learn to Play Shards" Kit together.  I really want to get a easy to learn/play copy of this game into peoples hands as quick as possible.  I'm hoping this will make it easier to get into the game, as if you're reading this, you probably don't have the luxury of getting together with my gaming group when we play.

I have a good deal of work ahead of me on deciding exactly how i want to present this game to someone who is totally unfamiliar with any of the concepts.  Here's what i'm planning on creating to do so.

-Pregenerated Character Sheets or cards

-Weapon Cards

-Intro Map

-Paper Minis

-A step by step guide that teaches you how to play shards by taking you through a quick game

As always, the writing comes first, so that means the art will be lacking once i release this.  As soon as i have something ready though i'll upload it to the downloads section for your to print off and try out for yourself.

Till next time

-Tom K.