Rappan Athuk Reloaded - DnD 3.5 - Sword and Sorcery

[krag]

First Post updated 8/20/14

Hello all! I am currently making these maps for my own campaign to do with my group in the future, and I thought, 'why not post it for others as well?' So here I am.
I will be updating this first post with all the links to the maps. If you have any questions at all, you can feel free to ask the questions and I will get to them as soon as possible.

These maps are intended to be used in conjunction with Rappan Athuk Reloaded by Sword and Sorcery.
You can purchase the campaign here (https://www.amazon.com/Rappan-Athuk-Reloaded-Necromancer-Games/dp/1588467953).

Keep in mind, these maps are quite large and will take a minute or two for them to load for your players.

Maps:
Ground Level (https://i.imgur.com/vEFDDbs.jpg)
Ground Level Player Overview (https://i.imgur.com/56ZTGi4.jpg)
Ground Level Section Overview (https://i.imgur.com/H7nrg2h.png)
Ground Level Section 1 (https://i.imgur.com/PSXp0zm.png)
Ground Level Section 2 (https://i.imgur.com/SAcuQEe.png)
Ground Level Section 3 (https://i.imgur.com/DntHn79.png)
Ground Level Section 4 (https://i.imgur.com/7YX8wOG.png)
Ground Level Section 5 (https://i.imgur.com/feGhUog.png)
Ground Level Section 6 (https://i.imgur.com/vvjwj1G.png)

Level 1 (https://i.imgur.com/Ib6EkS1.jpg)
Level 1 Section Overview (https://i.imgur.com/dgWUxex.png)
Level 1.1 (https://i.imgur.com/WvE9iwP.png)
Level 1.2 (https://i.imgur.com/8rcZTU5.png)
Level 1.3 (https://i.imgur.com/rR04Ep5.png)

Level 2 (https://i.imgur.com/X2GnJT0.jpg)
Level 2 Section Overview (https://i.imgur.com/c45xC1F.png)
Level 2.1 (https://i.imgur.com/QMsW40w.png)
Level 2.2 (https://i.imgur.com/1Dh76dy.png)
Level 2.3 (https://i.imgur.com/J8N0I12.png)
Level 2.4 (https://i.imgur.com/DqLz520.png)
Level 2.5 (https://i.imgur.com/Y27t9AR.png?1)

Level 3 (https://i.imgur.com/uKvTFrk.jpg)
Level 3 Section Overview (https://i.imgur.com/YJFxNSD.png)
Level 3.1 (https://i.imgur.com/uENSKN4.png)
Level 3.2 (https://i.imgur.com/tt01FoD.png)
Level 3.3 (https://i.imgur.com/lvMSEWo.png)

FAQ:

Q: What symbols do you use?

A: Some of the materials I use are made directly by myself, however most of my prop images are from the Dundjinni community. This is a community of tabletop players who have created materials for the use of making maps.

Q: Will you be making a map for the Wilderness?

A: No, I will not be posting any images of "The Wilderness" map, as it will have not been made by me. I suggest googling a color version of the map for your players to have a map of the surrounding wilderness of Rappan Athuk, as the map that comes with the campaign itself really gives much away due to it numbering everything and it being in black and white...

Q: What pixel size should I set my grid to in Fantasy Grounds?

A: If you set your grid to 40, you will have the exact size grid needed, and may need to just adjust the pan of the grid unless otherwise noted.

Q: My Fantasy grounds moves extremely slow when trying to mask these large maps.

A: I had noticed this issue and have started to make sectional maps with overviews for the DM. There are a few that are still large, but they are significantly smaller than the others and should provide a much faster gameplay than the large full maps.

Q: I have some suggestions for you! How can I reach you?

A: I suggest using this board to give your suggestion. PMs are nice, but maybe someone else has the same question or idea, and I'd like to be able to address questions here. Major questions will be answered both in a post and here on the FAQ. Quick easy answers will be answered as a reply only.

[Trenloe]

Sharing any maps you make would be really cool. Just be careful if you use copyright protected content (symbols, etc.) as you shouldn't share material created with those. Some symbols available for download however do allow distribution of maps made with them - it all depends on the symbols and the publisher/provider.

Anyway, I'd be interested in seeing some Rappan Athuk maps - that would be cool! :)

[krag]

The items (tables, torches, ect.) I would use i got a while back and are made by a community where they freely allow each other to use them, so they are allowed to use in projects with no problems.

[Trenloe]

The items (tables, torches, ect.) I would use i got a while back and are made by a community where they freely allow each other to use them, not to add I have no intention of making money off it.
That's cool.

Just as an FYI - not charging money for something you produce does not release the burden of adhering to copyright on the materials you use. However, most community use agreements allow the use of material if it is not sold; however it can get quite complex depending on the particular use agreement. But the best way is what it sounds like you plan to do - use only community material and don't charge for anything you produce. :)

[krag]

Here is what I have done so far on the first level. There's a lot of material before level 1, so I started in a wonky area, but it'll get you an idea of how I intend to distribute everything on the maps. The images are going to be quite large, which kinda sucks, but it's necessary as Rappan Athuk is literally "huge".

If others want to jump in and do different levels so this goes faster, that'd be really cool. I'm doing a grid system of 40x40 with 300 px/sq. in. I count how many 5ft squares the map in the books are, add 10-15 more, than times that by 40 to find out the total pixel width and height. That way everything is evenly on the 40x40 grid, and the image sits VERY well in Fantasy Grounds.

For materials, I have about 1GB of textures and patterns for photoshop, some of them were created by myself, the "decor" is mostly community produced for use in RPG elements.

Here is level 1 of Rappan Athuk, halfway done (top half of map completed):
https://i.imgur.com/rwl9vGk.jpg

Let me know what you think, and what I should look into with making it better. I'll see what ideas I can actually incorporate with my skillsets.

[Trenloe]

Looking good! :)

[damned]

nice work - keep it up.

[krag]

I finished Level 1. I found my Level 2 that I had done before, but it's not as nice looking as the level 1 is, so I'm going to redo it. Thankfully I can just copy over it's old textures with new ones. But before that I am going to do the ground level with the mausoleum, because you can't have a Level 1 without going through that first. It's much larger and will take more time to complete however.

[jshauber]

Very nice!!!

Looking forward to more...

[krag]

I guess I'll necro-post my own thread... Sorry it's taken so long to get the ground level finished, it's quite large, and there are a lot of tedious grave sites that I had to place one by one. I'll be working on level 2 next.

The Ground level map has been updated in post #1

To answer any random questions, no, I will not be posting any images of "The Wilderness" map, as it will have not been made by me. I suggest googling a color version of the map for your players to have a map of the surrounding wilderness of Rappan Athuk, as the map that comes with the campaign itself really gives much away due to it numbering everything and it being in black and white...

---------------------------------

7/22/14

Editing to not double post

Level 2 has been finished, and I imagine I'll be changing the mapping style. I looked around at other mappers of the community and I can see that most of them have realistic looking maps instead of maps that look like... maps. So I'll try to emulate this style from now on. I'll be taking about a week off from making these maps, so if you support the idea of the change or if you don't support the change, please let me know, so that I'll be more sure about my decision in future maps.

What other maps for Rappan Athuk are you guys interested in other than what is naturally going to be made? (a town outside the reaches of the wilderness?) let me know.

[Blahness98]

I may have to take a closer look at these.. After running the Slumbering Tsar, I have my eyes set on running the PF version of Rappan Athuk..

[krag]

I have updated the FAQ a bit, and also sectioned the Ground Level map so that it doesn't slow down your groups' gameplay. There are reference images so that you and your players are able to move around easily about the sectioned map.

This past week I've been taking the maps I have made and have been implementing the formatted text stories, encounters, and treasures. I must say, I am new to the DM side of Fantasy grounds, so I am having difficulties to do "1d6 Dire Rats" as a random encounter, so I've just been going with half of the maximum possibility. Also I am having a difficult time finding out if FG does the Exp calculation due to the CR of the monsters or not, as I have not had time between college and making these maps/campaign to try it out myself. If anyone knows these answers, just PM me as they are a bit off-topic.

Back to the maps though, My next steps are to section levels 1 and 2, than start work on 3. If my FAQ confused anyone about whether or not I'll be doing wilderness scenerio maps, I will. What I won't be making is the overview of the wilderness, as it is very large and the battle/scenerio maps are "parts" of it.

Also, it took me until just now to realize I sort of made this in the wrong section, as they are just maps, so if an admin moves this thread to the "Maps" subtopic, I'll understand.

[Trenloe]

I must say, I am new to the DM side of Fantasy grounds, so I am having difficulties to do "1d6 Dire Rats" as a random encounter, so I've just been going with half of the maximum possibility. Also I am having a difficult time finding out if FG does the Exp calculation due to the CR of the monsters or not, as I have not had time between college and making these maps/campaign to try it out myself. If anyone knows these answers, just PM me as they are a bit off-topic.
You can't have a random number of creatures in an encounter entry, it only accepts a single value. Unfortunately there is no easy way to indicate that there are a random number of creatures in the encounter without changing the NPC name (especially if there are more than one NPC type in the encounter). You could have the main encounter title as "1d6 dire rats" as a reminder.

One way that I sometimes use if there is a random encounter table is to make the whole table in the FG tables functionality: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Tables Then, within the random encounter table I'd list "1d6 dire rats" and have a link to an encounter with 1 dire rat. So, you can roll automatically on the random encounter table - the label "1d6 dire rats" will be displayed in the chat window so you know you have to roll 1d6 to see how many of the critters there are, and the link to the encounter will also be shown in the chat window so you can just click on that, change the number of dire rats and then deploy to the combat tracker.

There is no auto calculation of encounter XP or CR based off the total CR of all of the creatures.

[krag]

Trenloe, thanks for the heads up

Today I put up the section maps for Levels 1 and 2 and editted one of the answers on my FAQ. (not that these questions have been asked frequently, just trying to answer them beforehand. Being Proactive and all.)

I hope that the section maps make things a little easier for you to mask things and send the map information to your players. Some of them a still a little large, but I tried by best to make sure the locations sectioned had meaning and a clear path to the next sectioned area.

I have also included "Section Overviews" for use of the DMs while they are setting up their linked shortcuts between the maps.

I'm implementing the sectioned maps in my campaign I am building, and once I am caught up I will be starting work on Level 3. I have decided that I will be keeping the same mapping technique I have been using, however it doesn't look as great as some of the ones you all have done, my hopes are for usable maps that don't take me forever and a day to make, so that you all can get them as quickly as possible. (Run-on sentence, much?) Rappan Athuk is nothing to scoff at in terms of size, and it's a challenge for me personally on top of my college work and other things. But don't worry, I will persevere.

When I say I would really like your input, I do mean it. If you would like to see something implemented that Rappan Athuk doesn't have naturally (such as a town map or anything like that) let me know. Most likely I plan to make one anyway. I hate how the story naturally starts anyway (you start together in the wilderness).

Thanks again for the support, it means a lot and keeps me going. Hopefully we'll have a huge dungeon crawl that we and our players can all enjoy, soon.

[Griogre]

It's not easy to do the maps for that module. Skeleton Key did maps for the graveyard and first level but the levels after that are hard. When I ran that module as an open game I didn't have a lot of time to prep for it so I tried a few different things. Because of time constraints on the deeper maps, I ended up using the mask tracing technique where I put a mask over the DM map and just traced over it using FG's pen tool. While it wasn't pretty, it did work and solved the grids not being aligned to the FG grid as well. :p

I salute you for efforts. I ran the module until the boss encounters took longer than the four hour time slot - which is death to open table games. One thing you might need to think about. Like the "Worlds Largest Dungeon" if you don't do something about the XP granted, your characters are going to level too fast. The 13 and 1/3 encounters to level on average is a problem in this dungeon because is based on an old AD&D dungeon and they really didn't delete many encounters compared to the original dungeon. This was something that wasn't that big a problem in an open table game with a dungeon of that lethality, but in a normal campaign, after they do a few dungeon levels - you are going to notice it.

[krag]

Updated the first post to include Level 3 plus sections. My classes this month are pretty much killing my motivation to work on this, but I'm grudgingly continuing through it. Next month I only have 1 class so I'm looking forward to getting a few levels finished.

@Griogre thanks for the heads up. I think I'll make sure to see what level I want my players to be at each level, and than divide the experience needed between the existing encounters.