Well I’m cutting it fine with the session prep for tomorrow.
I’ve got the maps created and ready to go… and that’s about it…
Ok, that’s not true, but it’s not exactly inaccurate.
I did finish the map of the basement level, and even made it to work with the secret doors in a way I think should work nicely.
But that took up most of my day.
Tomorrow I’ve got 2 maps that I need to print at Officeworks.
These are the maps of Saltmarsh and the map of the area around Saltmarsh.
I’d really wish I’d looked for these earlier.
Because it would have made my life easier!
The map of Saltmarsh has been flipped so that North is pointing upward, which makes it need to be in landscape, but makes it easier to follow.
It was actually more difficult to find the second map the way the books have it.
Most of what I found was people being awesome and adjusting the map for the Forgotten Realms.
There’s nothing stopping me from uprooting it after session 1 and moving it to the Sword Coast though.
Which is honestly not something I actually thought of doing before writing it just then.
But upon further investigation is still just too much work.
Anyway, back to what I was saying!
I imported both maps into Paint.Net which is basically a free version of Photoshop that I’ve used for years.
You can either pay for it on the Windows Store or download it free from their website, the only difference is that you have to install the updates when they pop up instead of them being automatically installed by Windows.
Which is something I can live it.
I then find out what size they are in real life and compare that to paper sizes.
The Saltmarsh map is a tiny bit over A4 and the environs map is a little under A3 size.
So I saved them both, separately using the “File Type” plugins available for Paint.Net to the “Im(age)PDF” file type, which just saves it as a PDF.
I chose the A3 size for both of them, with no scaling, and a white border around them.
This means that when I print them in A3 at Officeworks they shouldn’t look horrible and will be easy enough to cut down to size.
I’ve also got a 1 page intro document to print out for all the players as well.
It just so happened that last Thursday SlyFlourish, a great DM advice blog, posted his Session 0 of Ghosts of Saltmarsh.
With it he provided a 1 page run down of a few things, and a great plot hook for the first adventure that I will be stealing if I can.
The document gives a quick rundown of the setting, some points of interest in Saltmarsh, the main 2 known factions of the town, and some helpful backgrounds to think about.
I wish I’d had it when I ran my Session 0, as it could have helped a bit.
I also have to finish reading Chapter 1 and the mansion part of Chapter 2 of Ghosts of Saltmarsh, which is roughly 43 pages… and I’m roughly 8 pages in.
A town is something that knowing like the back of your hand is helpful, and in this analogy I’m currently not even sure what a hand looks like!
There are a bunch of background information pages, so I think I can skip that 7 pages, plus there are maps and full page images.
So I’ve really only got around 30 pages to go…
I also feel like I need to understand Greyhawk a little better.
I don’t even know it’s Deities or it’s relation to the many planes of D&D.
Oh and I have an appointment tomorrow and I have to get a prescription filled…
So tomorrow is going to be a jamb packed race to be ready for 6pm!
I guess I should get some rest before then.