Map Project: Western Empire (All versions 100% Complete!)

[Soldier of Od]

In other news, I also misspelled "Colfax" as "Golfax." Gah!

That's not your fault - Palladium misspelled Colfax as Golfax on their map on page 17 of Western Empire .
It totally stuck in my head and now I refer to it as Golfax in all my games.

[Hotrod]

Big Update: All three versions of the Political Map are done! I've also revised the bare geography and natural geography versions. I'm uploading all of these versions to my Patreon Page as backer exclusives, and I'll put one of the Political Map versions up on my DeviantArt page in about a week.

Changes to the Bare Geography and Natural Geography versions:
+Fixed that silly little river in the northeast corner of the map (finally!).
+Added some neat lines to the perimeter of the map.
+A few rivers weren't showing their full length running off the map in the Northeast corner because of how the erosion software works. They are now.
+Widened a few lakes slightly to swallow up a couple of pesky little rivers skirting their edges and reduce their cliff-like shores.

All three Political Map versions include the revisions above plus the following changes from the previous version:
+Made the title, wreath, and double eagle shinier and added a steep bevel to them.
+Inverted the colors of the Baalgor Wastelands label to make it stand out a bit more.
+Added national borders to the Cyclops Isle and Phi with a medium shade of gray, matching the Orcish Empire's borders.
+Made a legend for the map which I'm putting in the middle of the Sea of Scarlet Waters (and I moved the label for that sea to make room).
+Colfax is no longer misspelled “Golfax.”

Political Map Version-Specific Notes:
+The basic version of the political map is 5100x3300 pixels, includes all the items above, and is suitable for printing on 11x17 inch stock (by far the cheapest printing size for this image).

+The framed version is 5400x3600 pixels and is suitable for printing on 18 x 12 inches (and other sizes of the same 3/2 proportionality)
+Created a frame with a custom-made Blood Marble texture.
+Added wraparound inscription to the frame. For those who don't care to crane their necks around, here it is in plain text:

"Led by a young, ambitious emperor, humanity's greatest and oldest nation is stronger than ever. Its armies have no rival, and its Black Demon Ships prowl the waves unchallenged. Toiling slaves make some rich and others jealous. Bold colonists press forth to tame new frontiers. The Western Empire seeks to rule many nations, but it cannot rule itself. The noble and wealthy wallow in hedonism, forbidden magic, and petty squabbles. Civil war looms as the Middle Kingdoms prepare to rebel; others may follow. In the east, settlers have enraged the barbarian tribes of the Old Kingdom, which gather to invade. In the west, the emperor has named no heir, and rivalries between his concubines threaten a war for succession upon his death. The looming conflicts will determine whether the Empire of Sin will rise to the height of its aspirations or succumb to its own corruptions as it has for the last six thousand years."

+The big-frame version is 5400 x 4050 pixels and is suitable for printing at 24x18 inches or other sizes with 4/3 proportionality.
+Included everything in the framed version.
+Added a panel that shows the regional heraldry in greater detail and describes each regional house. My custom-made Blood Marble texture extends to the panels.
+Touched up the shield of House Ne'klosh to tone the yellow down in the heraldry section to match what's in the map itself.

Two lines of effort remain:

The first is improving the map. I'll be seeking feedback from folks like you and other artists in order to consider how I might improve this map. I consider this project to be my magnum opus for Palladium Fantasy, and while there are plenty of regions left to map in the world, none of them will have the kind of complex political structures that the Western Empire has. As a magnum opus, I want this map to look as good as I can make it.

The second is to turn this map into a RISK-like board game. This is something new for me, so I'll be doing some research into conquest-style maps and what works for them. I'm thinking that I'll start with just the game board and a simple set of rules and scenarios. Depending on how it looks and whether or not there's any interest, I may expand a bit on the rules and create some special card designs to go with them.

[kiralon]

That there map needs to be in a palladium book asap is all I can say. Ill get it printed fully soon but the guys I normally get to do this have closed

[Hotrod]

That there map needs to be in a palladium book asap is all I can say. Ill get it printed fully soon but the guys I normally get to do this have closed

FedEx, UPS, and many office supply stores have great printers. Finding one with someone who actually knows their hardware and software is another matter, but as long as you use something like cardstock or photopaper and they pick the right printing dimensions for the file you want printed, you should be able to get some good results. They'll be pricey results, but they should be good.

If you don't want to shell out big bucks for a large poster, 11x17 inch cardstock is probably the cheapest way to print this out while still getting really good results. Good luck with your printing, and let me know how it goes.

Also, and I hope this goes without saying, if you see anything about this map that I can improve for a screen presentation or a print, please don't hesitate to mention it.

[kiralon]

I get it printed on proper cartography paper and it looks awesome, and the guys used to use did it well. I'm not an American so those stores don't exist here but thanks for the ideas.

It costs me $94 for an A1 printout.

[Hotrod]

I get it printed on proper cartography paper and it looks awesome, and the guys used to use did it well. I'm not an American so those stores don't exist here but thanks for the ideas.

It costs me $94 for an A1 printout.

Yep, international size standards are kind of weird to me. They all seem to have a fairly consistent ratio of width to height of about .707, or the square root of 2/2. The constant proportionality is nice, but their ratios don't come out to nice, round fractional numbers like the 'Murican ones.

I'm honestly not sure which system I'd prefer if given the choice to mandate one for the world. While it would be +great+ to not have to worry about having more than one aspect ratio in some ways, I rather like being able to select one that fits what I'm trying to map best, and the dimensions lend themselves well to the neat lines I put around the perimeters of my maps. In this case, the 11x17 inch aspect ratio is just right for the scope of this map.

In any case, if you can find a good print shop over there, any of the prints should look good on your wall, even on something as monstrously large as A1. You'll just have a narrow band or two of excess that you can cut off. Alternately, some print shops will stretch an image so it takes up the whole poster, and as long . At the size of A1, you'll be getting a little over 100 dpi, which should look just fine at arm's length, though it won't quite be photo-quality.

If you're in the UK, there are print shops that do posters in 40x30, which is the exact proportionality of the big frame version.

[kiralon]

even the ones that I have zoomed in a section still look good, but so far the gnw with the deepblues for the seas looks the best, but I feel that the western empire one will beat it.

[Soldier of Od]

Yep, international size standards are kind of weird to me. They all seem to have a fairly consistent ratio of width to height of about .707, or the square root of 2/2. The constant proportionality is nice, but their ratios don't come out to nice, round fractional numbers like the 'Murican ones.

I think the point of the "A" series of paper sizes is that each one is double the last - A4 is like two A5's laid side by side, A3 is two A4's side by side, etc. (and by extension, A5 is an A4 folded or cut in half, etc.).

[Hotrod]

Yep, international size standards are kind of weird to me. They all seem to have a fairly consistent ratio of width to height of about .707, or the square root of 2/2. The constant proportionality is nice, but their ratios don't come out to nice, round fractional numbers like the 'Murican ones.

I think the point of the "A" series of paper sizes is that each one is double the last - A4 is like two A5's laid side by side, A3 is two A4's side by side, etc. (and by extension, A5 is an A4 folded or cut in half, etc.).

That's essentially the gist of it. Each one is one half the surface area of the one before. As you go up the A series from 1, the short axis of the lower A# is equal to the long axis of the next one, and the short axis of the next one is equal to one half of the long axis of the one that came before. In terms of the geometry, it's very neat and tidy. However, when I'm trying to work out the neat lines of a map, it's a bit of a pain. Since I want a checkered pattern with the same colors at all four corners, I need to find a common denominator between a width and a height that, when you divide the width and height by that denominator, comes out to an odd integer. With the American system, that's easy. With the A-series of paper, it's a hassle.

All that said, I might try doing a map sized by international print standards sometime. We'll see.

In other news, I played through a few games of Risk online last night against bots to get back into the swing of these games. I lost most of them; I guess that's what happens when you put an artist in charge of the army. That website has a lot of interesting alternate rules for RISK, too.

I love that I can play a game and call it "research."

[Hotrod]

A few thoughts I'm having about the game board map:

1. I need to represent paths between provinces. Some of these borders are complicated and/or narrow.

2. I need to figure out how this works with crossing the sea works. In RISK, you just cross it, no problem, but it generally links only one province on one side to one province on the other. Do I keep that, or do I allow multiple paths, or do I introduce some kind of sea-crossing mechanic? For now, I think I'll follow the example of RISK, since I'm planning on shamelessly ripping off its rules, at least at the start.

3. I need to figure out if and how I'll use foreign territories in the game board.

Aesthetically, I'll probably keep most of the political map in place, with maybe a bit more emphasis on the borders. and regional colors.

I'm also thinking about how I might use special cards to add some Palladium-specific flavor to the game.

[Glistam]

For the board game aspect, check out the rules for Castle Risk. I think they'd translate onto this map pretty well, and be pretty thematically appropriate.

[Hotrod]

For the board game aspect, check out the rules for Castle Risk. I think they'd translate onto this map pretty well, and be pretty thematically appropriate.

Awesome idea, and looking over the rules, I see quite a few that are similar to what I was already contemplating. Thanks!

[kiralon]

Ill be using a modified variant of master of magic. Ill just have to give a resource number to each land as well as a defensive rating and go from there. Ill also give a bonus if all the lands from a group are captured. Who will win, the middle kingdoms, the empires or the orc hordes.

[Hotrod]

Minor Update: the big version of the political map is available now on my Patreon Page to everyone, not just patrons. Enjoy!

[Hotrod]

The game board map is coming together. Although I'm making this version suitable for adaptation to other games, I thought it would be fun to put together my own set of rules. Here are my thoughts on making the Western Empire conquest game:

My goals
1. Make this cheap. I don't want any of you to spend much more than a nominal printing fee. anything else you need to play beside the board should consist of common/cheap items.
2. Make this playable. I'm not looking to make my own game from scratch.
3. Make this fun, easy to play, and Palladium-specific.

Concept and Materials Needed
I intend to make this game board workable for conquest-style game you care to adopt to it. That said, I'm using the framework of RISK with some variations. To play my adaptation, you'll need the board along with the following items:

1. Some very small post-it-note stacks in enough color varieties for everyone playing. You'll use these to mark the territories you control.
2. Some stackable small markers for your armies. I suggest you use pennies, nickels, and dimes, and have each army count as one cent.
3. Some distinctive small game pieces that can fit on top of your stacks of change. These will represent a general with a special rune weapon.
4. About half a dozen six-sided dice.
5. A deck of standard-size playing cards.
6. Some blank business cards and a pen.

Rules: Use the rules of RISK with the following variations:
1. Use your standard deck of cards for your RISK cards. Each card corresponds to a province, and each province is marked accordingly (Imperial Province is the King of Diamonds, for instance). Instead of cannon, horse, and soldier, use even numbers, odd numbers, and face cards to pick cards to play (Suits don't matter; they just help you find the province)
2. Every three RISK cards are worth 10 armies. This doesn't increase.
3. You may show and trade or give your RISK cards to other players who aren't actively involved in attack or defense.
4. When you play your RISK cards, you draw one adventure card (the business cards) for each card representing a territory you own.
5. If have a RISK card of a province you own, you may turn that in during your turn for an adventure card (you get no armies for this, just the adventure card).
6. You may show and trade your adventure cards to other players who aren't actively involved in attack or defense, but you may only play them during your turn.
7. You may hold as many adventure cards as you like in your hand, and you may play any and all of them during your turn.
8. When a player is eliminated, any of their remaining un-played RISK and Adventure cards go to the eliminating player. Any of their adventure cards that are in play go to the bottom of the Adventure deck.
9. All foreign provinces (Isle of the Cyclops, Phi, Orcish Empire) have 10 armies. They do not recruit, they do not normally attack, and they can only defend. Note that while barbarians from the Old Kingdom can attack the Old Kingdom Frontier, the Old Kingdom cannot be attacked or conquered.
10. Rune weapons can be assigned to armies. No army stack can have more than one rune weapon, though they can transfer troops during the Reinforcement phase at the end of their player's turns. If an army with a rune weapon is defeated, the rune weapon is removed from the board and its adventure card goes to the bottom of the adventure card deck.
11. Provinces with fortified cities (three or five-pointed star behind the city icon) get an extra die on defense (3 instead of 2, or 2 instead of 1 if only 1 army is present). They can still lose only a maximum of two armies per defense.
12. Players who capture a Regional Capital (cities with a wreath behind them) immediately draw an adventure card.
13. Regions in the Western Empire Conquest game count as continents in RISK. If you own every province in a region, you get the following bonuses to your recruitment every turn:
Ophid's Grasslands Colony: 1
Yin-Sloth Jungles Periphery: 2
Old Kingdom Frontier: 2
Tarldet Plains: 3
Scarlet Mountains: 3
Lower Barraduk: 4
Middle Kingdoms: 4
Southern Middle Kingdoms: 2
West Kighfalton: 5
Upper Kighfalton: 4
Koerdian Mountains: 3
Vequerrel Woodlands: 2

14. Game Scenarios:
A. Civil War: Suitable for two players. One player starts with the loyalist regions, while the other starts with the Rebel regions. Play until one side gets wiped out.
B. Team Civil War: Similar to Civil War. Two players play as the Imperial House and House Kaze. Everyone else picks other regional houses and they must cooperate to defeat the other side. Play until either the Imperial or rebel side gets wiped out.
C. War for Succession: The Emperor is dead! Players choose a noble house and vie to become the next Emperor! You can either eliminate your foes or persuade them to surrender and join your cause (first player to surrender to the winner gets second place, second to surrender gets third, et cetera).
D. Barbarian Invasion! I haven't worked out the details on this one, but basically one player starts out with a gigantic horde and invades from the Old Kingdom. The other (others?) try to stop the horde before it sacks every city in the Empire!


Adventure Cards (Please feel free to suggest more):
1. Lightning Weapons! The Cyclops King grants you a boon. Place this card face-up in front of you. Until the start of your next turn, all your dice rolls are doubled on attack and defense. Place this card at the bottom of the adventure deck at the start of your next turn.
2*. Rune Sword: Castledrake! Note that there are three Castledrake cards, and you must collect all three and play them together. Place these cards face-up in front of you. Then add the Castledrake token to an army of your choice. That army's attack rolls are all doubled.
3. Rune Sword: Frostfoil! Place this card face-up in front of you. Add the Frostfoil token to an army of your choice. When it is on a coastal province, that army can use the sea to bypass a single enemy-held province and attack the coastal province behind it.
4. Rune Sword: Deathkiss! Place this card face-up in front of you. Add the Deathkiss token to an army of your choice. This army now gets to roll an extra die on offense and defense.
5. Spy Network! Place this card face-up in front of you. You get to look at everyone else's cards whenever it's not your turn.
6. Thieves' Guild! Pick one other player. You may look look at and steal one of their un-played RISK or Adventure cards. Put this card at the bottom of the Adventure card deck when the theft is complete.
7. Assassin's Guild! You may eliminate another player's adventure card currently in play. If that card comes with a token, remove the token.
8. Seven Year's Plague! Place this card face-up in front of you. Until the start of your next turn, no-one else may recruit new armies (except by using their RISK cards)
9. Corruption! Choose another player and place this card face-up in front of them. When their turn comes, they may play any adventure cards in their hand, but unless they have an Assassin's Guild card, they must put this card at the bottom of the Adventure Deck and lose their turn.
10. Black Demon Ships! Pick one army in a coastal province. The Black Demon Ships will ferry that army and allow it to attack any other coastal province, anywhere on the map.
11. Pirate Blockade! Place this card face-up on any sea route. No army may cross it until you remove the blockade (unless they use black demon ships, Frostfoil, or an Assasin's Guild card)
12. Foreign Invasion! For this turn only, you may attack an enemy using 10 armies starting from an unoccupied foreign province (Orcish Empire, Phi, the Old Kingdom Lowlands, or Isle of the Cyclops). Any conquered territories become yours at the end of the turn, but with only 1 army in each province. All extra foreign armies get removed. Put this card at the bottom of the Adventure deck once your turn is complete.
13. Mercenaries! Add 10 armies to any province you own. Put this card at the bottom of the Adventure deck when your turn is complete.
14. Conquering Hero! Common soldiers from across your realm flock to your banner. Count up all the provinces you control and add that number of armies to any province you own.
15. Slave Revolt! Choose any single opponent's territory that only has a single army in it and remove its ownership marker. Now that province belongs to no player, and its region will give no recruiting bonus until it is re-conquered. If this happens in a foreign province, replace the single occupying army with 10.
16. Rune Sword: Mindprancer! Place this card face-up in front of you and add the Mindprancer token to an army of your choice. Once per turn, you can take control of another player's army and have them either move to a neighboring territory or attack someone else's territory one time. The army with Mindprancer must be in a neighboring territory to the army it controls.
17. Rune Sword: Tycho! Place this card face-up in front of you and add the token to an army of your choice. This army can re-locate its troops (and Tycho) to any neighboring province at the start and end of each turn.
18. Goblin Fever! Select one opponent's city and place the Goblin Fever marker on it, then place this card at the bottom of the Adventure Deck. That city is quarantined! Your opponent may not recruit from there, reinforce to or through there, or attack from there. Your opponent must roll a D6 at the start of every round. On a 1 or a 6, the fever is gone and they can remove the Goblin Fever marker. Otherwise, it continues until the next turn.
19. Slayer of Mountains! The greatest wizard in the world grants you a boon. Draw the top five Adventure cards, choose one, and play it immediately.
20. Guardian Angel! Place this card face-up in front of you. It will cancel the first Adventure card used specifically against you.


Anyway, that's the current concept for the board game. Any thoughts and suggestions are most welcome.

[Hotrod]

Update: I've got the game board drafted. No screenshot on this one today; I'm too close to finished to share this yet.

+I took out the provincial and city labels to make room for the next two items:

+To show which provinces can attack which, I drew in some invasion routes, taking a few creative liberties here and there to keep the map strategically interesting. For example, both mountain ranges are effectively corridors that can't be attacked from their inland side, only along the coast or from within their own regions.

+Since custom cards would be pricey to print and a lot of work for me, I labeled every province with a playing card designation, so you can use a standard deck in lieu of having a dedicated RISK deck.

+I added card slots for both the RISK deck and the Adventure deck I described in my previous post.


Still to do: Got to revise the frame to describe recruitment bonuses and re-check the province connections/invasion routes. I should have a ready-to-print game board up on the Patreon page this week.

[Hotrod]

The Western Empire Board Game Map is complete and available for view onmy Patreon page.Patrons will get early access until Friday, when everyone else can see it.

At this point, while I'm open to making fixes and tweaks, I'm considering this project done. Thank you to everyone who's supported this project with suggestions, comments, and critiques, and thank you especially to those who pushed me to make the Patreon page and supported my work financially!

[Prysus]

Greetings and Salutations. This is a Paetron question, as I'm still rather unfamiliar with the program. I'll also add this is not a complaint, but an inquiry so I can better understand and plan. I backed with the limit of 1 per month. Now, on the first of every month Patreon has charged me. So is this ...

1: There has been at least one new item every month (last post was September 4), and it simply charges me on the 1st of every month.
2: If 20 items are made in a single month, I will then be charged for the next 20 months (but only charged once per month) even if nothing else is posted after.
3: A monthly charge regardless if anything new has been added or not.
4: A weird glitch.
5: Other.

The money isn't an issue, and as it's the 1st of the month I can easily plan for it. So, again, this is not a complaint (and I don't want it to come off that way). More than anything, I'm confused and seeking clarity. I just really don't fully understand how Patreon works (this is my first, and to date, only one). Any help is appreciated. Thank you. Farewell and safe journeys.

[Hotrod]

Greetings and Salutations. This is a Paetron question, as I'm still rather unfamiliar with the program. I'll also add this is not a complaint, but an inquiry so I can better understand and plan. I backed with the limit of 1 per month. Now, on the first of every month Patreon has charged me. So is this ...

1: There has been at least one new item every month (last post was September 4), and it simply charges me on the 1st of every month.
2: If 20 items are made in a single month, I will then be charged for the next 20 months (but only charged once per month) even if nothing else is posted after.
3: A monthly charge regardless if anything new has been added or not.
4: A weird glitch.
5: Other.

The money isn't an issue, and as it's the 1st of the month I can easily plan for it. So, again, this is not a complaint (and I don't want it to come off that way). More than anything, I'm confused and seeking clarity. I just really don't fully understand how Patreon works (this is my first, and to date, only one). Any help is appreciated. Thank you. Farewell and safe journeys.

Short answer: It's #1.

Explanation: On the Patreon site, I have it set on a payment schedule "per creation," and you as the patron can (and should!) set a limit (I recommend 1 per month). Patreon charges/pays on the first day of the following month. I posted paid content in July, August, and September. Now one of my patrons set that limit higher, so when I posted several versions of the Western Empire map in August, I got more on the 1st of September than I did on the first of October, when I had only posted one paid creation in September.