Poll: What Scale Do You Use?

[DeepShadow of FoS]

After some discussion, it appears we have enough information to build a good poll (and by "good," I mean one where we can leave out a catch-all "other" for logistical purposes). This poll is our next step in creating some general guidelines for domain tweaking that can be added to the Mistipedia.

If you don't know what scale your campaign is in, skip the poll for now and answer the following question:

How long would it take to travel across Mordent, from the sea to the eastern border?

From this we should be able to figure what scale you prefer, and you can make your vote.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

It says my submitting form is invalid. Help? Anyone?

[MichaelTumey]

Ah, I couldn't vote for any of those because I don't have a single set scale on any map. It's whatever it is at design. Sometimes it's 1" = 5', sometimes 50', sometimes 1 mile or more. Since I create vector maps, I have the ability to export to any resolution for the final map, though I generally work in actual inches using a 24" x 36" or 36" x 48" dimension. I create the map, and then decide what the appropriate scale is afterward. Because it's vector, sometimes I create at one scale and decide I need to enlarge everything (or shrink everything), so I grab all elements, group and alter the size, ungroup and save.

Since I generally do not prefer to create entire worlds, most of my maps feature a specific region or smaller and scale changes to whatever I create. I'm not so methodical.

Edit: I don't know what a submitting form is - I imagine some Forum thing, so wait for an admiinistrator to fix...

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Ah, I couldn't vote for any of those because I don't have a single set scale on any map. It's whatever it is at design. Sometimes it's 1" = 5', sometimes 50', sometimes 1 mile or more. Since I create vector maps, I have the ability to export to any resolution for the final map, though I generally work in actual inches using a 24" x 36" or 36" x 48" dimension. I create the map, and then decide what the appropriate scale is afterward. Because it's vector, sometimes I create at one scale and decide I need to enlarge everything (or shrink everything), so I grab all elements, group and alter the size, ungroup and save.

Since I generally do not prefer to create entire worlds, most of my maps feature a specific region or smaller and scale changes to whatever I create. I'm not so methodical.

Edit: I don't know what a submitting form is - I imagine some Forum thing, so wait for an admiinistrator to fix...

But isn't that just for local maps? Wouldn't you have to make a decision for your campaign about how long overland travel takes? Given the example question, would you actually decide that the trip across Mordent takes an hour sometimes and days others?

[MichaelTumey]

Ah, I couldn't vote for any of those because I don't have a single set scale on any map. It's whatever it is at design. Sometimes it's 1" = 5', sometimes 50', sometimes 1 mile or more. Since I create vector maps, I have the ability to export to any resolution for the final map, though I generally work in actual inches using a 24" x 36" or 36" x 48" dimension. I create the map, and then decide what the appropriate scale is afterward. Because it's vector, sometimes I create at one scale and decide I need to enlarge everything (or shrink everything), so I grab all elements, group and alter the size, ungroup and save.

Since I generally do not prefer to create entire worlds, most of my maps feature a specific region or smaller and scale changes to whatever I create. I'm not so methodical.

Edit: I don't know what a submitting form is - I imagine some Forum thing, so wait for an admiinistrator to fix...

But isn't that just for local maps? Wouldn't you have to make a decision for your campaign about how long overland travel takes? Given the example question, would you actually decide that the trip across Mordent takes an hour sometimes and days others?

Let me append what I said in my quote above. Yes, I use a specific scale, but it changes with every map - I don't have a specific 1" = 5 mile (or whatever scale) as a pre-existing requirement. I decide on the mapped area and the scale at the time for that specific map, which may differ from other maps. It depends on what is being mapped.

Now if I knew ahead of time a specific nation is supposed to be a set dimension, I would set the dimension appropriately - and I do this for commission maps for specific publishers. Kaidan, my published setting has a specific known scale. Rather I know Yonshu Island for example is 140 miles east to west and 220 miles north to south.

However, often when I create a map for gaming, I am not mapping a specific place, or rather it's specific to the one map and there is no predetermined scale - I figure out what the scale should be as I create it. This is especially true for a map some valley with some particular village. As I create the buildings, this is what decides scale for me. If I know a particular building is 50' wide, then I insure that all the rest of the scale of the map compares to what the building size is supposed to be - to maintain some kind of accuracy.

But in your case, I would decide what the breadth of Mordent is supposed to be, then design the map around that scale. If the nation included in the map is large, then the final map scale will be smaller. It depends on the region being depicted I suppose.

[BedrockBrendan]

The original scale worked fine for me. The mutable scale of the d20 version just felt too strange to me.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think DeepShadow is asking a question specifically about map scale here. (i.e. the physical size or utility of maps) He's asking about what overall size people prefer for the setting. A map of Mordentshire and a map of Mordent are going to have different scales, obviously, otherwise one will take up a whole room. But the question is, given the size of the map from Domains of Dread, what scale would you choose to get Ravenloft as a setting as large as you like it. (right?)

[ewancummins]

I went with something approaching the size of the 13 Colonies (not counting extensive western land claims), with over two million inhabitants.

I did not automatically assume that all cities increased in population by the same factor.

[MichaelTumey]

I'm sure you're right, that's what he means, but a couple things.

1. Don't Ravenloft domains have a specific scale already? Don't you know how big Mordent or Mordentshire is already?
2. I'm a digital printer by profession, I print large format maps all the time. Which specific scale to use is dependant on how large a map one needs. Is there a specific maximum size map that would be used which would determine this?
3. I don't have a one most comfortable scale to use in my maps. Some maps I create with detail equivalent to any possible scale. Encounter scale at 1" = 5' is the only true scale that I ever consistently use. Larger than encounter scale could be any scale - whichever best fits the map and the region being mapped.

Even if he means 1" = 5 mile scale is some preferred dimension to work with - how do you create a map of the Soviet Union, at that scale? Would creating a 30' wide map be appropriate? For me, map scale is dependant on the scale of the region being mapped. If I designed a 24" x 36" map of the Soviet Union, or Luxembourg, they would be a different scales to fit the final map dimensions. IOW, I never look at scale first to determine a maps size. The scale is determined after knowing how big a region is being mapped and what level of detail does one wish to show - that determines scale (not the other way around). If a specific scale is warranted, since I create vector based maps, I can always export the map to the desired specific scale.

Beyond this, I'm not exactly sure what he means...

[ewancummins]

If I showed you a map without any scale listed, how would you measure distances on that map? You would have no idea whether City A is supposed to be a hundred miles from City B, or just ten miles.

That's the situation with 3E Ravenloft maps- by design. The 3E maps have no fixed scale because the 3E maps are just pictures showing the relative size and location of domains and features. As published, these maps do not describe distances or area in terms of miles. When a DM says 'I read this map as one inch equals one mile' he's describing a small world. When he decides instead to read the same map as 'one inch equals one hundred miles' the world is much larger. Most of us (I gather) pick a size for the world and more or less stick to it, but some guys prefer to leave all distances 'fuzzy.'

[HuManBing]

I seem to recall the 2nd edition maps did have some scale on them. I don't recall what it was exactly but I do know I increased them by a factor of 5 or 10.

Also, corroborating Deepshadow's report that the poll won't accept votes properly. I quote another thread in humorous vein when I say that democracy appears to have failed us... :/

[Nathan of the FoS]

1. Don't Ravenloft domains have a specific scale already? Don't you know how big Mordent or Mordentshire is already?

Not really.

Beyond this, I'm not exactly sure what he means...

He means (I think), "Look at the map at the beginning of Domains of Dread. (It's a two-page spread, so roughly 20 inches "east to west" and 10 inches "north to south".) For the purposes of your campaign, do you assume that one inch on this map equals one, two, ten, or fifty miles (making the Core 20, 40, 200, or 1000 miles across)?"

[DeepShadow of FoS]

I'm sure you're right, that's what he means, but a couple things.

1. Don't Ravenloft domains have a specific scale already? Don't you know how big Mordent or Mordentshire is already?

Not in 3E. In 2E they had a scale that put the entire Core around the size of Switzerland, which most of us do not agree with. In 3E, the maps have no scale at all.

[MichaelTumey]

Ah, then it's a question of relativity (relative to the size needed by it's user...) I look at Europe and the size of European countries as a measure for size of nations in settings like Ravenloft. Instead of looking at Ravenloft as being the size of Switzerland, I'd say something like central Europe; ie: Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Czechoslovakia combined. But it's relative to the needs of the gamers in question - it might be different for everybody.

[HuManBing]

Yes, and this thread is trying to get a sense of what scales have worked for people who've tried fiddling about with them.

Just because different people may have tried different things doesn't invalidate a poll asking them what they've tried.

It's not as though this thread is trying to sneak in a new official decision of "thou shalt use this scale and none other" or anything.