# Gallery > Finished Maps >  Keep on the Shadowfell battlemats

## loydb

I'm making battlemats for all the encounters that don't already have them. Here are thumbnails (ok, big thumbnails) of the first 5. The fullsize map is linked, and will print correctly at 120 dpi.


Full Size: http://www.blankenship.com/maps/shad...p_bmat_1_1.jpg

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Full Size: http://www.blankenship.com/maps/shad...p_bmat_1_2.jpg

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Full Size: http://www.blankenship.com/maps/shad...p_bmat_1_3.jpg

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Full Size: http://www.blankenship.com/maps/shad...p_bmat_1_4.jpg

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Full Size: http://www.blankenship.com/maps/shad...p_bmat_1_5.jpg

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## Robbie

These are awesome and I'll probably use them at my next session...nice!

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## Sigurd

Thanks loydb - these are great.

Can I ask about the coloured icons on the floor of the last one?

Sigurd

Oh and you are officially encouraged to post some more!

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## Redrobes

Super maps. Theres not much else to say !

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## NeonKnight

> Thanks loydb - these are great.
> 
> Can I ask about the coloured icons on the floor of the last one?
> 
> Sigurd
> 
> Oh and you are officially encouraged to post some more!


You could....but that would give away secrets from the mod, which I must congratulate the original poster for not 'spoiling' with his maps.

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## loydb

Heh. Yes, I intentionally didn't put any spoilers on the map (other than some interesting faded footprints here and there).

Glad everyone likes them, I'll finish the module up over the next week.

loyd

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## loydb

Second batch up: http://www.cartographersguild.com/sh...0283#post30283

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## RPMiller

loydb, will you be producing VTT versions of these maps? Please?  :Very Happy: 

Also, for those that may not be totally aware, you can use VTTs with these maps in your face to face game. I adds a whole new experience to a face to face game when you bring a VTT in to the session. You can use fog of war and vision blocking and make your players sit on the edge of their seats wondering what is around the corner.

If the VTT has individual vision capability, and your players are willing and able to use laptops at the table, the experience goes up even higher because PCs will disappear from view when they go around corners and the player starts screaming and going what do I need to hit and all the other players desperately want their initiative to come around so they can run around the corner.

Additonally it makes it really easy for the GM to pass notes to the players without anyone else being the wiser.

The reason I'm bringing this up is I recently played in an online game that was basically an old school dungeon crawl, and I have to say that it was one of the most fun sessions I've ever had because everything was a surprise and I couldn't see what was happening to other players when they went around the corner and were suddenly set upon by a horde of zombies. It was an absolute riot, and I would encourage everyone to at least give a VTT a try at the table just once to see what you think.

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## loydb

I don't use any VTT software -- I'm not sure where I'd even begin.

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## RPMiller

For these particular maps all you really need to do is drop the grid and tell us what your pixel scale is. That is how many pixels are there to a grid square. I'm assuming the grid is one square = 5'? How many pixels are in one square side? That gives you ?? pixels = 5'

Also, if you could remove the doors and add each type as a separate graphic that would make it possible to "animate" the doors. Refer to Gamerprinter's challenge submissions thread for this month for exact specifics on VTT elements. It will save me all the typing.  :Wink:  Also, if you could remove the "symbols" from the last map that would be nice to so that what they represent can be "properly" used in the VTT. (We wouldn't want to spoil anything there.  :Wink:  )

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## loydb

I don't own the rights to the door symbols (or any of the others) as far as distributing them individually.

The pixel scale is 120 dpi (so 120 pixels per inch, 5' squares).

The arcane symbols are visible to the players, why would they be removed from the floor?

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## jfrazierjr

> loydb, will you be producing VTT versions of these maps? Please? 
> 
> Also, for those that may not be totally aware, you can use VTTs with these maps in your face to face game. I adds a whole new experience to a face to face game when you bring a VTT in to the session. You can use fog of war and vision blocking and make your players sit on the edge of their seats wondering what is around the corner.
> 
> If the VTT has individual vision capability, and your players are willing and able to use laptops at the table, the experience goes up even higher because PCs will disappear from view when they go around corners and the player starts screaming and going what do I need to hit and all the other players desperately want their initiative to come around so they can run around the corner.
> 
> Additonally it makes it really easy for the GM to pass notes to the players without anyone else being the wiser.
> 
> The reason I'm bringing this up is I recently played in an online game that was basically an old school dungeon crawl, and I have to say that it was one of the most fun sessions I've ever had because everything was a surprise and I couldn't see what was happening to other players when they went around the corner and were suddenly set upon by a horde of zombies. It was an absolute riot, and I would encourage everyone to at least give a VTT a try at the table just once to see what you think.



heh.. of course, my first thought is the scene 3/4 of the way through StarWars where Han and Chewbacca run around a corner chasing some stormtroopers while Luke and Leia stand there..... then 5 seconds later, Han and Chewbacca run past them the other way and Luke and Leia have this dumbfounded look on their face for like 2 seconds....until the stormtroompers start shooting at them...

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## RPMiller

> I don't own the rights to the door symbols (or any of the others) as far as distributing them individually.


You aren't distributing the symbol you are distributing a picture of the symbol. It is the same as using it in your map. This was done in PhotoShop yes? If they truly are licensed, just post a link to where we can get them, or simply remove them and let us worry about dropping in a door of our own. There are a million of them out there.




> The pixel scale is 120 dpi (so 120 pixels per inch, 5' squares).


Just to clarify, that is not 120 dpi. It is 120 ppi just like you defined it. There is a difference between dpi and ppi and there is an entire thread devoted to the discussion if you are interested in the termonolgy. Just search for "dpi vs ppi". Yea, it's a pet peeve of mine.  :Smile: 




> The arcane symbols are visible to the players, why would they be removed from the floor?


Hm... perhaps those aren't the same ones I thought they were... never mind then.




> heh.. of course, my first thought is the scene 3/4 of the way through StarWars where Han and Chewbacca run around a corner chasing some stormtroopers while Luke and Leia stand there..... then 5 seconds later, Han and Chewbacca run past them the other way and Luke and Leia have this dumbfounded look on their face for like 2 seconds....until the stormtroompers start shooting at them...


Exactly!! In our game, one of the PCs ran up ahead and around a corner and we were like, "er... you might want to... " and then he suddenly replied, "We have company". We had been encountering swarms of rats up to that point so we were like, "Yea, we know. The place is infested with them." Then he replied, "Ah, no. It appears that some of the residents are upset." We were in some ancient buriel catacombs beneath the city.  :Shocked: 

Then the thief a little over eager decides he wants a piece of the action and runs around the corner and smack dab into the lead zombie of the group of 12!! Let's just say that he didn't fair too well after his inital attack. Apparently he had a hinderance of Over Confident...  :Rolling Eyes:  He played it very well though.  :Very Happy:

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## jfrazierjr

> I don't own the rights to the door symbols (or any of the others) as far as distributing them individually.
> 
> The pixel scale is 120 dpi (so 120 pixels per inch, 5' squares).
> 
> The arcane symbols are visible to the players, why would they be removed from the floor?



Though I am in no way asking you to spend the time to remove it (or anything for that matter), if you provide the base image, and then anything else separately such as chairs, doors, even floor carvings as png images with transparency, then said image could be used anywhere, as well as the base map could be used without said images and the whole thing becomes much more reusable.   Think if it this way, what if the GM does not want the symbols anywhere on any of the maps.  Providing it as a separate object just gives him that choice.

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## loydb

I know what you're asking -- but that exact thing is specifically forbidden according to the license for the commercial Profantasy symbol sets. There's a whole encryption thing going with the reader on to prevent exactly that -- the redistribution of the symbols as PNGs.

I've used a few of the CSUAC symbols, but I don't keep track of which ones they are. They can be obtained at the GM's Parlor I think.

On the next set of maps I do, I'll put some thought into how to set up sheets that will both support the way I work and allow me to easily save a 'bare' battlemat for VTT. I'll still be unable to provide the PNGs as tokens, but it's a start anyway . . .

loyd

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## Valarian

> For these particular maps all you really need to do is drop the grid and tell us what your pixel scale is. That is how many pixels are there to a grid square. I'm assuming the grid is one square = 5'? How many pixels are in one square side? That gives you ?? pixels = 5'


What Rob means is that, for a VTT, the size of the image determines the scale. For instance, a map that is 10 squares by 10 squares at 50px = 5' would be a 500x500 image. At 100px = 5' it would be a 1000x1000 image. The GM running the game can then drop tokens scaled at the same pixel to foot ratio and they will be the correct size for the map.

Personally, I like having at least one square near the scale to illustrate the scaling and to allow those whose VTTs have a grid scale selector (a widget to set the size of grid) to draw the grid on to the map.

EDIT: The scale is 120px = 5' as stated. There's a second page ... Note to self: must look at number of pages before replying.

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## Valarian

> On the next set of maps I do, I'll put some thought into how to set up sheets that will both support the way I work and allow me to easily save a 'bare' battlemat for VTT. I'll still be unable to provide the PNGs as tokens, but it's a start anyway


Do you not use CC3 for the dungeon drawing then? If you're in CC3, it should just be a case of hiding the relevant layers (Furniture etc.) and exporting the base image out.

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## RPMiller

> I know what you're asking -- but that exact thing is specifically forbidden according to the license for the commercial Profantasy symbol sets. There's a whole encryption thing going with the reader on to prevent exactly that -- the redistribution of the symbols as PNGs.


Got it. That is the answer to that issue, and I fully understand. As I mentioned, just leave them off then. Those of us that have CC3 can pull the images from there ourselves, and if we don't we can just grab one of the thousands of door symbols already created or make our own.




> I've used a few of the CSUAC symbols, but I don't keep track of which ones they are. They can be obtained at the GM's Parlor I think.


Yup. Excellent collection and I also highly recommend it.




> On the next set of maps I do, I'll put some thought into how to set up sheets that will both support the way I work and allow me to easily save a 'bare' battlemat for VTT. I'll still be unable to provide the PNGs as tokens, but it's a start anyway . . .
> 
> loyd





> Do you not use CC3 for the dungeon drawing then? If you're in CC3, it should just be a case of hiding the relevant layers (Furniture etc.) and exporting the base image out.


What Valarian said.  :Smile: 




> EDIT: The scale is 120px = 5' as stated. There's a second page ... Note to self: must look at number of pages before replying.


 :Very Happy:  :Laughing:

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## loydb

Over on the RPTools forum there's a link to a VTT package for Shadowfell Keep.

http://forums.rptools.net/viewtopic....r=asc&start=45

Hopefully that will work!

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## jfrazierjr

> I know what you're asking -- but that exact thing is specifically forbidden according to the license for the commercial Profantasy symbol sets. There's a whole encryption thing going with the reader on to prevent exactly that -- the redistribution of the symbols as PNGs.
> 
> I've used a few of the CSUAC symbols, but I don't keep track of which ones they are. They can be obtained at the GM's Parlor I think.
> 
> On the next set of maps I do, I'll put some thought into how to set up sheets that will both support the way I work and allow me to easily save a 'bare' battlemat for VTT. I'll still be unable to provide the PNGs as tokens, but it's a start anyway . . .
> 
> loyd



Oh, thats ok.  I had no idea taht some of the images were from CC.   I have not tried making any battlemaps, but when I get around to it, I plan to be careful for that very reason with the images I choose to use.

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## JustPlainEvil

Nice work!

My group just entered the Shadowfall keep itself and these maps will make things so much easier. Trying to build the whole map with just dungeon tiles and my terrible drawing skills did not work out too well  :Razz: .

Thanks for the making these maps.

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## Scratch2k

I just finished choppping these up with Posterazor and printing them then slicking them all together to make full sized maps, they look AMAZING. Thanks for your work. 

One thing I had a problem with though was that it seems like after 1-3 you switch from 120dpi to 96 then 72 so I had to make some adjustments in Posterazor to compensate so they would print out in proper scale, I only wasted 25 pages before I discovered this  :Smile: 

Thanks again, love your work.

I keep forgetting to check the module, but is there a map in it for the final encounter and if not, so you have any plans to create one?

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## loydb

Hmmm. I thought all the links were to 120 dpi. My bad.

No, I didn't do any of the encounters that came with printed battlemats, and don't plan to do so. In actuality, I ended up not using the maps I made, opting instead for building everything in 3D using Worldworks terrain  :Smile:

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## Alrethe

> I ended up not using the maps I made, opting instead for building everything in 3D using Worldworks terrain


Can you snap a photo of our 3D terrain?  I'd like to see it.

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## loydb

I'll shoot some of the actual dungeon next time we play (monthly). Here's the waterfall encounter area:

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## Hoel

That waterfall is the coolest thing I've seen all day  :Smile:

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## loydb

Thanks! The players really like the 3D. Worldworks makes some incredible terrain.

I'm working on a 3D Winterhaven build for our game in March or April.

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## Midgardsormr

These mats will be seeing some use in my game over the next few weeks. Thanks a lot for making them available!

Since I use MapTool at the table, I did some Photoshop work to combine the entire first level into one image and reduce the resolution to 50 pixels / square. 

Here's the composite image, and have some rep!

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## loydb

Very cool!

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## Dornal

I have to say I really like these maps, great work.  I am sure the gang will Love them when I start running this module in a few weeks in FG2

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## emerging_guy

These battlemats look incredible.

Maybe a dumb question, but how do I print these off so they'll be the proper scale (1" tiles).  That is, what printer settings do I use?!?!

 :Confused:

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## Midgardsormr

> The fullsize map is linked, and will print correctly at 120 dpi.


If you need software to chop them up into page-sized pieces, try PosteRazor.

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.

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## mvincent

> If you need software to chop them up into page-sized pieces, try PosteRazor.


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.

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## Midgardsormr

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.

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## mvincent

> As far as I know, though, there isn't any way to specify a new print resolution in Paint.


Image > Stretch/Skew
(also, the image's current size can be obtain from Image > Attributes > Units=inches)

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## Midgardsormr

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.)

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## Taed

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.

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## Maldev

> These mats will be seeing some use in my game over the next few weeks. Thanks a lot for making them available!
> 
> Since I use MapTool at the table, I did some Photoshop work to combine the entire first level into one image and reduce the resolution to 50 pixels / square. 
> 
> Here's the composite image, and have some rep!


 Great work on the H1 map

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## steelcurtain11

Sorry for the crazy necro bump.. but my friends and I are trying to get into D&D and we wanted to use these maps to start out on this campaign. I'm having trouble printing though.. I'm trying to use my schools printer which prints on normal sized 8.5x11 paper. I'm trying to use the postrazor program to cut the images up to print out and then tape them together but I'm unsure of how to go about it. Can I use the image that someone posted that's 50dpi and print that out to scale (1inch squares) instead of printing each one separately? Or do I have to go through all the 120dpi images and print them out one at a time?

Also, on the last page when it asks me absolute size, size in pages, or size in percent I'm not sure if I should change these or leave them.. I wanted to make each square on the image = 1 inch but the way this is set up makes it seem like it'll print bigger than that. (I.E. area 1-1 inside the keep says size in pages 6.9477x5 pages. But if I'm using 8.5x11 inch paper and the squares on the image are 29x27 and I want them 1inch each, then it seems like I should change the size in pages, but I'm not sure how to figure out what to (or choose absolute size,size in percent instead)

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## recon35

I know this is an old thread, but thank you for the maps. My friend lent me the module, but without the attendant maps, so this is a big help.

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## wolfbriak

I just started DMing for my group and we're scattered across the country and are using roll20 as our meeting system. I have to say your maps are the BEST quality I've seen yet and they are the only ones I've been able to successfully upload to the tabletop without it looking all distorted and weird. Nice work!!

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