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Into The Pit 9 - Pits and Traps

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Into The Pit 9 - Pits and Traps
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Into The Pit 9 - Pits and Traps
Publisher: Forever People
by Alexander L. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 03/14/2012 07:11:51

Originally published at: http://diehardgamefan.com/2012/03/14/tabletop-review-into-the-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.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
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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Into The Pit 9 - Pits and Traps
Publisher: Forever People
by Billiam B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 02/26/2012 12:58:05

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



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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