Suggestion about maps

Started by Delbareth, October 19, 2007, 02:02:26 PM

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Golanthius

I agree with Tanis on this one. I think both measurements should be listed (example: 90 KM (55.92 miles)).

Having been raised on the US standard system, I am reluctant (even resistant) to learn another system.

Delbareth

#16
I notice something a little bit disappointing...
It deals with the position of the Merchant's Highway river. On the 1998' map, it reaches the sea in Asylum. Now it reaches the sea near Drakkel. We can then assume that the later version is the official...
In your Crystal Dominion campaign, you said the group book passage on the "Lady on the Water" to travel to Price. On the map the river is not very close to Drakkel but we can assume that they find it more confortable for the travel...
The question is : is this river in its final place?
Delbareth
Les MJ ne sont ni sadiques ni cruels, ce sont juste des artistes incompris.

olympian73

Hey Mark,

Ever thought about inventing a measurement system that's specific to Khoras?  You could have the Khoras version and then a translation to metric and/or standard systems.  Maybe it's a version invented by magic users or a particular country or region?  Like currency or languages, different cultural regions would use different systems yet an overall Khoras standard would keep things in perspective.  Just an idea...

 

tanis

Wow I'm jealous I didn't think of that!  :P

That's actually a great idea, and has more authenticity than using any Earth measures. It is a little harder, but I'd rather use Khoras measures for things than anything else. Different nations might even have different measures depending on their culture, which would be historically accurate for a world with medieval transportation and communication.
He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

Delbareth

Hmmmm...
How many of you use the names of the day and the names of the months? Who say during his game Landthrive instead of July for example... ???
If I say to my players "The next village is in more than 5 koraks". They will ask again and again what is the size of a "korak", and a "lak", and a "minak", etc...
I agree with David when he said that "fortnights" and "leagues" are already too complex... :-\
Delbareth
Les MJ ne sont ni sadiques ni cruels, ce sont juste des artistes incompris.

olympian73

Did I say 'Mark' on the previous post?  I meant David...ug..

Yeah, that's the drawback to Khoras specific measurements, currency, or languages.  If you have a million cultures you could have a million different ways of saying inch or centimeter or hour or minute.  It's truly how much effort and time one wants to invest. 

avisarr

Wow, this topic has generated a lot of interest all of a sudden. :)

Olympian73: Yes, I have actually considered creating Khoras specific systems of measurement. I even have some notes around here somewhere regarding that and those notes involve several different systems for different geographic regions. You guys are right... to be absolutely realistic, the different cultures would each come up with their own measurement systems. However, I think that would put too much complexity in the game. Delbareth put it best... it's hard enough to keep track of an alternate calendar system and use the terms regularly. I think most gamers would probably find it frustrating and cumbersome to be using "koraks" and "minaks" and such for distance and weight. I know I would find that frustrating, especially if I had to remind my players what a "korak" was every 10 minutes. In my own game, I tend to use miles or kilometers just to keep it simple. Anyway, that's why I haven't posted a Khoras system of measurement. It's just a matter of keeping things simple.

I agree with you regarding which real world system to use. The best solution would be to present Khoras in both systems - metric and "US standard" (or whatever it's called). Any opinions on the best way to do that? I could just list both terms with one of them in parenthesis:  such as 27 miles (43.5 km). Or every measurement could be a link to a conversions page and... actually, no, that feels cumbersome. Probably the best solution is to just list both measurements right there in the sentence. I am open to suggestions. I want it to be easy to use for everyone.

And finally, Delbareth, yes, you are absolutely correct... the position of the river is not in its final place. The Merchant's Highway is going to pass directly through Drakkel and Drakkel's harbor is right at the mouth of the river. Asylum is going to sit at the mouth of a different river. These two changes are recent (within the last 2 years) and will be included in the next version of the map. I needed to shift those two major cities to the mouths of rivers (it just makes sense that they would be at river mouths anyway) and it helped with the current and previous campaign. I will definitely get the Drakkellian Alliance and surrounding regions tidied up a bit in the next version of the map. I actually have dozens of minor changes that are going to be put into the new map.


Delbareth

O, for putting both systems. But it means to change a lot of measures in the entire website... (don't forget the gp/pound and gp/kg ;))

About the new maps. Will they have exactly the same size than the previous ones. Because I'm doing a road map with tracks and distance (in km ;)) and I will send it to you as soon as I finish it. If the new maps have the same size, with city in the same place, we could use the tracks layers for them (with minor change for Drakkellian Alliance tracks). If not, well... it will still be useful on the "old" map. :-\
Delbareth
Les MJ ne sont ni sadiques ni cruels, ce sont juste des artistes incompris.

avisarr

Will the new map be the same "size" as the old map? Yes, the size of the world isn't changing and the relative position of nations and cities will still be the same. So, the distance between Strathon and Tykron, for instance, will remain the same.

The new map will be larger only in the sense that you will be able to "zoom in" to a greater degree. It will involve more pixels and more details. But the world itself isn't changing significantly. Your work with the road system will still be very useful.

Golanthius

Actually, if more people are using the metric system than the "Imperial" system (US standard). Then it makes sense that you would want to list your units of measure as such. As for the individuals such as myself, I can always convert the system to suit my game.

I noticed that all of the nations are in the metric system, so I say leave it like it is and continue to make the entire site one system.

tanis

Well, I'm for km with miles in parentheses. I say miles in parentheses to show metric as the dominant system.
He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

olympian73

I can see from a gaming perspective how addressing the different forms of distance would be frustrating.  I like the parenthesis idea as well as posted by Tanis.  Keep up the good work David!! 


avisarr

Ok, it's decided then. It'll be both systems. Metric as the primary with the US standard system in parentheses. Such as...  97km (60.3 miles).

Thanks for the feedback on this. It helps. I'll work on cleaning up the measurement systems this month.

tanis

No problem David, we just like watching Khoras evolve and grow.

And when we get to help that's not bad either lol.  ;)
He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.