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Overall a very good piece. My only complaint is that the script text is too small and can't be read when you print it out, unless you print it out at a huge size. This would be a 5 star product if the text was a separate layer you could turn off.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thanks for your review. The text size was selected on the supposition that the floor plans would be printed to 25mm miniatures scale as is the standard. However in future updates I will add a larger text version for the GMs reference. |
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This was one of those emergency purchases made just hours before game play. I needed a map for an old house. I was looking for something larger, but this one included a drawing of the exterior and profile cutaway. Those were not only very helpful, but the drawing was perfect to convey the dark, spooky mood. The floor plan was great and was a nice prop for my game. The only problem I had with the maps is that they printed at different scales, and I couldn’t figure out how to get them to print at 1” scale. I was in a hurry, so this was probably my own fault for not taking the time to figure it out. Even so, they were still large enough to do the job.
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This set is very useful, and necessary for your maps. The color and quality of the set is top-notch, but the set seemed to lack something... Perhaps more variety in the tiles themselves. There was a few pages that were so close to the ones in the original set, that I wasn't sure that I didn't have them already.
The images are wonderful, as expected, but there are many images that seem to be repeated, and I think that the set could have been laid out a little better. One page had four copies of the same stairway. This could have been just ONE, and if someone wanted more, they could print that page several times. This is one case where "less is more."
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thankyou for your feedback. I'm working on revamping the entire set and will take your comments onboard. |
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OMG! This set is AMAZING! It is packed with pages upon pages of some of the best artwork imaginable. The graphics and textures are better than any of this type I have seen. I printed of a few of the pages, and was so impressed, I had to print them all (and some like the hallways) several times.
There were a few things that I personally didn't care for. There was no consistency between the tiles. Some have 1" squares, and others didn't. The rooms were various sizes, but they don't seem to blend. I would have preferred the rooms been 5"x5", for example, with wallways and passages connected to the rooms themselves. This way, you could build a solid floor, and not have rooms of various sizes.
The biggest issue for me was the lack of a natural flow of the pieces. When you lay them on the table, it looks like beautiful rooms just scattered around. The lack a blending is disturbing, however, the artwork is so good, that you can't complain.
If some pieces are added (like more flexible corridors and hallways) in future sets, I could easily see myself purchasing the entire collection of these tiles.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Thanks so much for your review. In order to improve the floorplans could you contact me at chaugnurfaugn AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk and let me know a bit more specifically what it was about the consistency you didn't care for and tell me a bit more about what sort of thing you'd be after in the flexibility of corridors and hallways. I'm looking to overhaul the set to make version 2 and address some of the issues mentioned by reviewers so your feedback would be really helpful. If not, no worries and thanks for your purchase. Hope you get some good use out of the tiles!
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I got more or less what I was aiming for at an OK price.
I would have preferred if there were several more versions of the maps, in varying sizes and with hexagonal tiles, and that there were a print ready version for various paper sizes as well.
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Originally published at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/03/14/tabletop-review-into-th
e-pit-9-pits-and-traps/
Into the Pits 9 is a collection of 19 trapped rooms and pits that look quite promising. My favorite trap is a room where the floor slides away over the course of five map tiles. Some of the maps have swappable parts and two maps are spread across two files. Included is an interesting crossbow trap along with a set of passage-blocking walls. All the rooms and traps, save the one file of 6 “Assorted Pits”, are named:
Crossbow Trap
Passage Blockers
Five Diced Fingers and One Hidden Lever
Flooded Chamber
Guardian of the Key
Lair of the Flesh Eating Fish
Mezzanine of Enchanted Weapons
Submerged Room
Surprising Pit in 5 parts
The Bridge of Scalding Steam
The Burning Well
The Chittering Guardian
The Daemon Pit
The Fragile Floor
The Hungry Pit
The Watery Tunnel Trap
Trap of Tiles
Stairs to Nowhere
All these files are made available as 72 DPI .PNG files. Forever People advertises, in their supporting documentation, that the files are ready to be printed at 100%, but since they are sized initially at 11 inches by 15.569 inches, you have to tell your printer to fit the picture into the frame. This gives you a decent print that end up being less than 100 DPI. All of the files are far too dark to print in a black & white format and printing them full-color works, but isn’t as good-looking as it would be if they went with a higher resolution .JPG file format.
These files look great on the computer though and could be a great asset for a GM running a game on a virtual table top, like MapTool. The Surprising Pit in 5 parts room practically calls out for virtual table top use. The only problem with using these files on a virtual table is that every one needs to be edited before they can be used. The GM will need to crop the file to the usable portion and then resize it appropriately. I tested this out with one map where I could easily count out the grid squares and after cropping the picture I had to resize it to 99.6 DPI to get it to the same resolution it was when it was oversized. That only worked for one file. I tested to see if the separate files at least used the same sized grid squares, but they do not. Many virtual tabletops will let your resize the grid used in-game to match the grid on the map, but since it would difficult to match the grid on these traps to whatever map you are already using, this will only suffice if all the GM is showing the players is the trap.
Each file seems to have registration marks, as if they were originally destined for commercial printing. It seems that these files were simply reduced to a standard 11″x 15.569 size and saved as 72 DPI .PNG files. While the files look great on the computer, they are a bit more trouble than they are worth for regular use by most GMs.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Sorry to hear you're not happy with the product, though I'm a little confused as to your precise complaint.
I tested the print before publishing (and again after reading your review) by opening each full page image in Windows Photo Viewer by simply double clicking each .png file provided in the zip folder.
Most operating systems have a similar photo viewer. You don't need to (and shouldn't attempt to) import the files into image manipulation software or any kind of Photoshop type software to open and print the files (assuming that this is what you are doing in order to guage size and DPI).
Printed from Windows Photo Viewer at 100% scale (where scale is not an option you should ensure you uncheck 'print to fit' or 'fit to frame' options as *these options will resize the image*) and choosing 300dpi (Windows Photo Viewer also gives the option of 600dpi) the full page prints with no cropping and to a good quality standard more than suitable for the average tabletop game. I've playtested all the plans and received nothing but positive reactions, both to the quality and the entertainment factor they add to a game.
The images do print a little darker on paper/card than they appear on screen, though this can be amended slightly by printing onto matt photo paper if you want the highest quality. Some colour is also lost in most standard prints but this is intended, my hope being to add a dark atmosphere/feeling to the floorplans, making them suitable for dark fantasy as well as sword & sorcery.
If the images are really printing for you as poorly as you seem to indicate I would check that your ink levels don't need topping up and that you're choosing the highest print quality where you have the option to choose. Also, print straight from file and not from image manipulation software.
My only suggestion for the cropping problem (which is somewhat mystifying) is to try borderless printing, but I'm not sure why the floorplans should print fine and to the right size (one inch grid) for me and friends/playtesters who have printed them but not for you.
The design is meant to present an old-school 'illustrated' feel rather than a glossy, High-Def Photoshopped or 3D software feel (if you would prefer this style there are lots of other floorplans that meet the criteria on Drive Thru/RPG Now). Perhaps the 'gritty' illustration feel is simply not to your preference in this instance?
The floorplans are not suited for virtual tabletop use in their current format because, as you say, the grid is not millimetre perfect. I'm currently in talks with NBOS, makers of Fractal Mapper, with a view to releasing a virtual tabletop version of Into The Pit with much more accuracy in the grid.
-David Sharrock (Forever People Digital Press) |
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There's some lovely elements in this set. I especially like the "Surprising Pit in 5 parts" - there's a different tile for each stage of the opening pit. Optional modular parts like a waterfall being interchangeable with a lavafall are a nice touch. There's plenty of unique whole-room pieces which can be used for one-off encounters as part of your own dungeon with your usual plans, but they probably look astounding when used with the other sets from the series.
The style is colourful, very atmospheric - there's a good balance between computer-generated art and old style free-line details.
Lots of imagination and creativity has gone into this. Inspiring stuff!
-Billiam B.
http://bit.ly/rpgblog
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This is a handy little map. It's a good size for a 4-5 hour session once you dump some traps, encounters, and a little imagination into it. My only complaint is minor, which is that the grid is a little thick.
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A nice variety of illos, covering the fantasy, modern, and horror genres... and delivering exactly what it says it does, along with a number of partial body-shots.
The only gripe I have is that a small number of the drawings seem pixelated like they are details cropped from larger scans that have been enlarged past the point their resolution could handle.
But... given that I found immediate use for several drawings the week I purchased the set, and fully expect to use more of them as time goes by, I can't complain too loudly.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Sorry to hear you were not fully satisfied with the resolution of some of the images. They were indeed enlarged from smaller images but included so that the publisher could use them as maybe smaller incidental artwork rather than large pieces. Most of the images should be large and well resolved enough to appear very sharp when reduced in size. |
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A nice piece of art, though prohibiting cropping more than 50% of the image limits its usefulness.
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Publisher Reply: |
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Please feel free to crop the image as needed. Any restrictions are there to prevent publishers applying filters or generally altering the illustrated old school 'feel' of the piece. I have no problem with the picture being cropped down. |
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I really like this piece. Has a nice old school AD&D first edition feel to it.
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