Whipped this up in a few minutes in adobe illustrator. I can't decide whether this is a good idea or fucking stupid
>>44777368
It's actually pretty awesome, Allowing for a very dynamic map, without actually needing some three dimensional map.
The obvious issue is that it will only look good from two angles and those two angles don't agree with each other on which parts are higher.
>>44777455
Thanks, I was thinking of how LOS should be resolved though. Maybe people on edge squares can see/shoot down all levels except for those behind a wall 2 levels down, then an additional square behind the wall every level
hmm
>>44777368
You're going to run into problems if there's ever going to be overlapping stuff and altering heights, meaning that every map will be a steady slope downwards. Then again, that probably won't usually be a big issue.
Bigger is that if you look at it from any other angle, say from around a table, it will look terrible.
I'd use some kind of colour coding for different floor heights.
>>44777782
Being immediately next to a wall provides cover to attacks from above, unless the attacker in on the edge above you, and vice versa. It's easier to shoot more targets from above, than it is from below.
>>44777852
good idea
>>44777841
>>44777765
yeah I'm just using this for roll20 games
>>44777368
The one you made is pretty baller. But the moment you try to make a non-open space (for example adding a few walls or support columns) the whole idea becomes shit.
>>44777368
I've done something similar, but did it top down will ledges /cliffs marked, and the height value of each square labelled.
Then you just need a rule about how much of a height difference blocks los for different sized creatures.
Is worked well for me in the past. I took a page from fft for the idea of height values.
That's how id suggest you do faux 3d.
>>44777782
Reminds me a lot games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre. Those use height values to determine weapon reach, that could work for you.
I.E. Swords can strike 1unit up or down, maybe with hit bonus/penalty, but spears reach 2 units.
>>44777894
They could set it up so that the bases of the walls and support columns are shown, but the rest is cut away, like in pic related.
attacking down
blue = LOS
red = no LOS
Attacking up pt 1
attacking up pt 2
>>44778509
actually fuck that, the dude a square away from the wall on the bottom level should still be in the line of fire unless the wall is 2 squares high or the distance is long enough, hmmm
>>44778238
How do you communicate the height of the wall/column that way without making the squares behind it awkward?
>>44778238
Aye, some dotted lines to show the terrain in question continuing up. Shouldn't be a problem.
>>44778666
I don't see column height necessarily being something important, but for cases where wall height matters, like low walls, I'm seeing an indicator near the edge of the wall.
>>44777368
Nigger I told you to write me a program
>>44779705
I don't code nigga
>>44777368
OP, I had never even thought of this before. But this is a really, really great idea. I'm probably going to at least try this at some point or another; being able to see height differences so easily should work better than trying to describe it on a battlemap. Thanks.
>>44777368
Good idea, definitively - Rolld20 or online games.
You could also print it for real life play and then print out tokens (if you use models the 3d gets wonky).
Great idea, solid, works well.
>>44779799
btw im doing all this in a second layer over an isometric grid
makes it easy
One of the most famous adventures to use Isometric maps was the original Ravenloft adventure, and they were so well received that they were remade in the Expedition to Ravenloft adventure.
Ramps could be replaced with 1x1 staircases the count as difficult terrain (or whatever system equivalent.
>>44777368
Holy fuck that's cool, do some more maybe?
>>44783772
It's pretty easy, this is the graph paper I used
>>44783772
>>44784003
this is what it looks like in illustrator
>>44784025
>>44784003
>TFW ive had a pad of this paper, 200 sheets thick, on my desk for years. And i could be doing this RIGHT NOW
>>44784162
Gentlemen, what we have done here today, will change the way PnP games are played forever.
>>44784399
>>44784213
OOOoooohhh my gooooood
It sucks so much because its my first map, but its a super good way to do iiiittttt
I love you /tg/!
RAMPS ARE LAME.
STAIRS. MORE STAIRS. STAIRS ARE GREAT FOR COMBAT, TRIPPING AND THROWING AND RUNNING UP AND DOWN. STAIRS! COMPARTMENTS IN STAIRS!
>>44785024
yea i would but im lazy
>>44785024
but that wouldn't accommodate the physically handicapped. What are you against body positivity?
>>44777368
They talk about this approach in AD&D's Dungeoneers' Survival Guide, if I remember right. It may have been touch upon elsewhere as well.
>>44784399
And with this, I will be invincible!
>>44784998
pics?
This thread awakens my DnD4 boner again.
But my regular group hates DnD. And that makes me sad.
>>44777368
I remember a guy who wrote a neat little program using hand drawn tiles where you could edit the topography a the map. Kinda looked the same. Could probably do something similar with any old editor for vidya games that had them, but it was neat cause it was a stand alone prog.
>>44786576
>building your dungeon in Sims
>>44777368
Thats pretty kick ass.
>>44777368
It's a great idea until stuff starts to occlude the squares. If there were ramps and platforms on the other side you wouldn't be able to see the ones behind them without rotating the whole thing
>>44777782
Go play final fantasy tactics, it will answer all of those questions for you
>>44786911
>implying
Sims has always been 3d afaik, but then again I never played it so I wouldn't know.
I meant things like Fallout or Jagged Alliance etc. Commandos, Desperados or whatever it was called.
There were loads of these games with isometric graphics.
The program I meant was just designed to do that, because the guy wanted to see his pixelart in action.
Can do the same in any 3d package too if you add a camera with 0° degree lense, i.e. parallel projection and put it at an 90° angle at x/y and something like 30° on zunless you are using a program that calls the vertical axis something other than z.
Probably could do it on google sketcup too. Might be a good way to try it because you can use a huge library of assets to put in your scene. You could add some rudimentary furniture or stuff like ships etc.
Eh, I'm going off on a tangent though.
I'm more of a wargamer, not a roleplayer so I don't know exactly what you would want from a map like that.
If you have the know how you could probably do a lot of stuff easily in 3d as well. Thought that might be overkill.
Just a thought.
>>44787489
Bingo. The reason why people don't do this in RPGs but they do it in video games is either camera rotation or every map being rigged so that everything is accessible from the correct side.
In other words, it's stupid but it looks neat.
>>44787697
>put it at an 90° angle at x/y
45°, sorry.
But you get the idea.
>>44787702
You could just put an additional layer in your image to do that.
Or actually do it in 3d. From what I hear people use tabletop simulator a lot and you'd basically just have to generate some topology, uv map that and put a grip over the model.
>>44787697
I wasn't implying negatively.
I was implying ease of it due to being the central part of the game rather than having to find a map editor. Older Sims games were fixed isometric, IIRC. In the newer ones, just affix the angle as it suits.
>>44787726
>you could just do twice as much work to make your product do the same thing every other product does but look slightly different
Yes, you could. Have fun with that!
>>44787762
I don't think you really understand what I meant.
When you paint over a grid like OP did you could just take the pieces that overlap other parts of the map and draw them on another layer. That way you can turn the layer on and off and display them - or not.
You wouldn't do any extra work, but you could see everything.
>>44787778
So you're going to turn off the main map so that it's possible to see a ramp that's 180 degrees away from the viewpoint of the illustration, then the players are going to be able to move their tokens onto that ramp effectively?
Highly doubtful.
>>44787813
If the party is cresting a hill you can always just swap the map to the other side of it.
>>44786429
If you drop dnd, you will get even more games.Seriously, google, what the fuck?
>>44787884
Fuck, wrong pic.
>>44787813
If you got a ramp that is facing away from the viewers pov the logical thing would be to just not make the ramp so steep that you end up looking at the underside of it.
If you want to be contrarian for the sake of it you could come up with dozens of other retarded things to do as well.
That's not helpful to the OP's idea though, is it?
Also nor really the point of the thread as a whole. Same thing happens with or without an extra layer.
Not really sure what your point here is.
>>44787892
I've got exactly opposite - 1 360 000 for the first, 1 260 000 for the second.
>>44787896
I think his point is imperfect solution fallacy.
>>44777368
Seems like any slopes should be steps
As far as physical boards go legos scale pretty well with 4x4 blocks on the boards, have yet to ever try it in practice though
>>44787918
Yeah that is the problem about perfect solutions. They don't exist.
As I understood it OP wants to add a z-axis to his games and a way to measure LoS.
You could color individual squares like a topological map and create a legend for elevation levels etc. Then you'd have to use an abstraction for determining LoS though.
The same thing happens with an isometric two dimensional representation like OPs image in certain angles, though since you already have the map you can just measure the appropriate distance via proxy. If you got a top down view you'd have to basically do Pythagoras each time you want to measure LoS. Doable but still anything but perfect.
>>44787919
That would definitely solve the problem of not being able to see where a marker stands.
>>44787949
>Triggered
>>44788044
What now
>>44788074
Mix of fat, slim and differently coloured blocks, edges don't match up, hill is only 11 wide while tiles are 4x4.
>>44787949
This is an excellent idea, why didn't I think of it earlier.. I might even give them a new paint if the players find it out of context
>>44788085
Well obviously it was just a test
>>44785347
My PC isn't against the physically handicapped, he's for them. In fact he's the region's leading producer of them.
>>44788106
If you ever try it you'll want to do 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 |1
So you have room for blocks in the middle for things like cover, and walls that don't interfere with how the tokens sit on the board
>>44788121
>>44788127
Thanks, I'll be home in a few days and I'll try it right away
