The Goblins Fan Forum

@ LAYF thats a neat little Java programme!

...and yeah I just pen drew a load of elements on a separate sheet then scanned them so I could copy and paste to speed things up.
I wasn't too bothered about the noticeable repetition cause I knew it was being given to a pro cartographer to work from for the real OD book.
I remember seeing the finished maps he did and they were amazing! ..certainly made mine look like the amateur job they were!

@ Borys. I Must admit at the time I was a poor student and couldn't actually afford the book so I don't now have those copies to show you.. but they were really good, do you have a copy?

...anyway, here's the middle level (which is below the first) :

..and the lowest level (some flooded passages and lava pools) :

Hmm.. I'll be honest here... I love 1st and 2nd level... but this last level... compared to the others... really look rushed... like you had put no effort into it compare to the others.... :s is there a reason for the difference in quality?

LooksAtYouFunny wrote:Hmm.. I'll be honest here... I love 1st and 2nd level... but this last level... compared to the others... really look rushed... like you had put no effort into it compare to the others.... :s is there a reason for the difference in quality?

Well it was a bit rushed at the time yes!!

But the main reason (or my excuse anyway) is my brief was just to design an 'basement' level that would allow players to drop down into it and come up at other places. I was asked to put the lava pool in the middle and to keep it a little bit mazey but otherwise empty.

I assume there was a reason for this at the time, I seem to have hazy recollections that the authors used up their word count on the upper two levels, but that might be my failing mind!!

anyhoo, If anyone did have a desire to use this map but with some more detail of some sort, I'd happily redraw bits of it with any requests though!

Loving your work Fifty ... especially the Pirates Map... I am seriously going to have to revisit my own ocean area maps and see if I can make them look a bit more like this

Thanks Unlucky-for-some. I suspect it's very obvious which ones are my more recent efforts!

I like the idea of an old style map ... my players have a current map of the islands they are on and about at the moment. I like the idea of them finding a much older map with one or two extra islands on it for the player who pays attention to spot

Unlucky-for-Some wrote:I like the idea of an old style map ... my players have a current map of the islands they are on and about at the moment. I like the idea of them finding a much older map with one or two extra islands on it for the player who pays attention to spot

Definitely the beauty of the digital age, its so easy now to have maps or any other hand out in a variety of 'finished' formats.. I still remember having to trace-out a map on a variety of bits of paper and ageing with teabags and coffee grounds in the microwave!

fifty wrote:

Unlucky-for-Some wrote:I like the idea of an old style map ... my players have a current map of the islands they are on and about at the moment. I like the idea of them finding a much older map with one or two extra islands on it for the player who pays attention to spot

Definitely the beauty of the digital age, its so easy now to have maps or any other hand out in a variety of 'finished' formats.. I still remember having to trace-out a map on a variety of bits of paper and ageing with teabags and coffee grounds in the microwave!

LOL - ah the good old days! I actually set fire to one of mine in my mother's oven once, trying to give it that authentic "rescued from a fire" look.

well I bet it sure looked authentic! XD

Here's one I'm still working on for a bunch of guys on another forum. They wanted a future earth wasteland, sort of madmax/fallout I guess...

Out of curiousity, has anyone seen any Revit or AutoCAD maps? Thinking about starting a game.

Does anyone fancy attempting an antique-style nautical chart ? I'm running a D&D campaign for a group of folk just now which is based on this map:


Only in my version there's a sheer stone pinnacle in the centre of the whirlpool. In reality it contains a hidden prison tower for the BBEG and the whirlpool is like a magical barrier to keep it in / disturbances out, but that's not common knowledge. Since the BBEG has started rebuilding his powers, the whirlpool has got MUCH stronger in response to his escape attempts. Anyway, I digress.

What I'm looking for is a map of that central area that I can potentially turn into a puzzle. What I'm thinking of is giving the players something like 2-3 partial maps printed onto thin paper so that when they overlay them correctly, they'll reveal both the complete map and a coded message detailing where to find the the entrance to the BBEG's tower. The key to deciphering the code and some other stuff will be collected en route as they search for the map.

So what I'm looking for is a base map of those islands around the whirlpool with space for a couple of pirate-towns on the edges, so some of the outer islands should have natural harbours and a source of fresh water. They don't need to have a source of food or even much land necessarily (the 'towns' could simply be groups of ships / wrecks tied together) because the idea would be that normally they would only serve as temporary refuges for merchant ships travelling around the archipelago). The closer you get to the whirlpool, the harder it should be to navigate (so loads of submerged rocks, shipwrecks, islands close together and shallow shoals - stuff like that, but randomly drawn over the three maps so a 'safe' channel on one piece is revealed to be deadly when pieces 2&3 are added). The idea is that without the three(ish) pieces of map and the Tower Key, the players can't get to the BBEG. At least not easily.

I'll probably give this a go myself if no-one else is able or willing, but I'd love to see what you guys can come up with since it will undoubtedly be better If you're able to provide the maps either as separate jpgs, or ideally as photoshop or gimp native files (with layers) that would be amazing. I'll add the riddles later.

We're playing in a 'standard' medieval fantasy setting using D&D 4e and it's relatively low-magic at the moment insofar as it exists in plenty of artefacts and plot-relevant devices, but actually being able to use it is a rare gift. Wizards are pretty rare beyond the occasional PC in the mortal realm and the other realms haven't started making much of an appearance yet.

OMG TY, whatever game that is...can i play? PLEEEZE!?


Seriously though, you have epic map skills. When I start a game, you will definitely be getting homework.

I'm glad you like the setting! It's for a 4e D&D campaign I've been running for a group of mates who are truly awful at D&D battles but who quite like the interactive storytelling side of things. They're also stupidly good at solving logic puzzles and riddles (there's not much a group of 30-year old gamers haven't heard), so I'm going for prop-puzzles and codes in a last-ditch attempt to give them something to think about that might take them longer than about 30 seconds to figure out Hopefully this'll give them something fun to think about for a little while.

If anyone has any other ideas for visual puzzles I'm all ears.

OK, so I've spend a few hours this afternoon working on my base map for the campaign and I'm pretty pleased with how it's come out. It's not the old-school style of a classic nautical chart, but I quite like how it's come out The lines across the chart are just for decoration (in-game they are used for navigation).

I'm planning on printing the maps like this, treating them to make them look old (tea-soak and painting with oil to make them transparent) and then handwriting out the coded message for how to enter the main tower to make them look more authenic. If anyone's curious, I'll post photos of the final version later on once I've actually figured out what I'm going to write to the players. In the meantime, here are my three maps:

Map 1: Map 2: Map 3: And when completed it looks like:

I like it...

to comment further.. whats the scale?
so... If i got this right.. the players get the 3 first maps, and overlay them to get the 4th?

That's right There isn't a scale really (horrible map faux pas I know!) but the whole thing is probably about 500 miles across. So big enough for decent exploring but not so big it'll take ages to travel around once they get a ship.

Okay... that is important (to me)

I really like your map, and for most games it will probably work... but.... as a "secret map" it does have one problem....
each map is to "detailed" by it self.....
any second rate navigator would be able to take just one map and say... ahhh... thats "death skull reaffs that there, just missing a lot of islands is all"
so... if meant as a puzzle... you'll need to hide the "target destination" really well..... or instructions needed.... the map's by them selves are a bit to obvious...

500 mi... thats roughly the height of UK (no schotland involved) right? seems fair....

Yeah, it's not supposed to be that serious really - more of a bit of fun for the players than anything else. The idea really is that the maps provide the NPC navigators with information on the current state of the Maelstrom and the reefs (they change a lot and have never been fully mapped by civilians or pirates since each Captain's safe routes are kept as secrets of the trade). But that's all incidental really. The important information for the PCs will be a coded message appearing around the edges of the map explaining where they have to be and when in order to find a secret entrance to the Hub (the secret prison at the centre of the Maelstrom) and safely gain access to it.

LAYF, as you noticed it's not a secret map. And I think it wasn't intended as such, appearing to be a puzzle map instead. Also it obviously being a puzzle is important to game's success, as it guides players in the right direction.

Loving the maps and the concept Thinkslogically!

oh and Happy new year btw!

Any one know if there is an official map of the goblins setting? Me and a few guys are trying out a game based in the world of the goblins comic over on Myth-weavers (Except with gnolls) and I was wondering if there was something like a map encompassing the area around Brassmoon floating around.

Oldkingkoal wrote:Any one know if there is an official map of the goblins setting? Me and a few guys are trying out a game based in the world of the goblins comic over on Myth-weavers (Except with gnolls) and I was wondering if there was something like a map encompassing the area around Brassmoon floating around.

There is a world map. I have seen it. Uhg... finding it again. I recommend a search over in the Goblins Discussion subforum, or wait a bit more here.

Edit: google found it: http://www.google.com/imgres?sa=X&biw=1 ... x=66&ty=80

Oh! thanks man! Didn't know there actually was a official map. Sorry, my google fu was weak.