Comments on: Artifacts of roleplaying: the Marvel Super Heroes City Map

By: Rockjaw

Rockjaw — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 11:21:37 +0000

Zones = areas

Yes, a very vague system, but I used to like it. Just like Marvel used to define a combat round as “anything that could happen within a single comic book panel”.

By: Crimson_Archer

Crimson_Archer — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:40:53 +0000

I have an original of that map up in the loft with the rest of my Marvel Stuff… Have to admit that I never used it though! I did convert the “zones” system of measurement into proper distances purely out of pedantry, but my friends and I were more used to doing it that way.

By: 100 Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games You Should Play Before You Die

100 Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games You Should Play Before You Die — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:01:04 +0000

[...] Marvel Heroes – In 1984, roleplaying games were still a new hobby. TSR published an innovative and clever RPG set in the Marvel Universe way back then, and the game still has a lot of devoted followers. [...]

By: Mystie

Mystie — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:46:36 +0000

My RPG knowledge is sketchy at best. My knowledge goes no further than the boundaries of ‘Hero Quest’ and it’s expansions when I was in my early teens.

…but that map looks very Hero-Clixy to me? (http://tinyurl.com/c3fttm) There could be an evolutionary chain of cartography there?

It would be great to play some games again, but I never find the gaming partners these days.

By: Dr Toerag

Dr Toerag — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:27:16 +0000

The first roleplaying I ever did was entirely based on a map. I read about D&D in a magazine, in about 1977-8. With no rules, and no chance of finding any in the backwater I lived in, I took a large poster map of the Moon, pencilled in all the “Mare” to make seas, and took my brothers on an epic journey around the Mare Imbrium.
Later that year I got hold of “Basic D&D” (the red box) and drew a new map of my own world. I had the group clear a dungeon and set up a home there. Happy days…

By: Rockjaw

Rockjaw — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:11:25 +0000

I think my first and most frequent exposure to the word ‘artifacts’ was probably through American RPG material, and that’s how I’ve always spelled it since.

I’ve been looking around at mapping software, but unsurprisingly most of it is aimed at producing fantasy maps, and is of course Windows-only. I can get around that, but it’s still a pain.

I have a feeling I could reproduce something like this map using a Visio-a-like. We’ll see.

By: Shadowe

Shadowe — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:12:27 +0000

Firstly, I’d like to slap you around the head for choosing the Americanism “Artifacts” rather than the British “Artefacts”, but that’s just me being picky.

I’ve never been much of one for drawing maps for my own games – my old ‘puter had at least 6 different RP mapping software apps installed, and I actually used… well, none of them.

For things like “world-maps”, I’ll sketch something up, sure, if I’m not using something pre-published, but it will be rough, ready, and very short on details.

Pre-D&D3E I *never* used maps for tactical movement. Never, ever, ever. I have far more skill at describing a scene than I do at describing it, and as a GM, my imagination is powerful enough to let me map things out in my head, describing things in a couple of quick sentences, and then letting the players’ actions determine how the encounter evolves.

In 3/3.5E I would *sometimes* use a map. In 4E it’s pretty much essential (going back to my “4E is a good miniatures game” theory).

But you’re certainly correct that a map, with little to no explanation, but with points of interest, and possibilities… that can fire the imagination, and provite a wonderful focus for adventures.

I can’t wait to see what you come up with.