This way to mapping MADNESS

Early on in the process (like WAY early... check out this map from 2011) and even more recently (this map from about a year ago), I had been thinking about how the human settlement and the Vault of the Goblin go together.

As all the pieces finally come together and I make it all align nice and purty for the Saga of the Splintered Realm, I hit a bit of a problem. Or rather, a bit of several problems...

1. The keep map is a little on the sloppy side. It was one of the earlier maps I did in the evolution of mapping techniques.

2. The two maps don't layer over each other nicely. I kind of see where the central entry goes in relation to the upper keep, but the other entrances don't line up where I want them to.

3. There are some elements of the maps that I've sort of hand waved in play because I didn't love the utility of the layout. Some things were a little off from where I truly wanted them as I played.

4. Worst of all, the two maps are on graph paper that is 5 squares to an inch and non-photo blue, while all of my more recent maps are 4 squares to an inch on graph paper that always picks up the lines whenever I scan or photocopy it... and I have a ton of the newer style maps that all look clean and sharp.

So, I re-designed the two, breaking one of my cardinal rules, which is never re-draw. You can get bogged down in fixing old work that you don't move forward. However, since these two maps are CENTRAL to the experience of the Vault - these are the two maps referees are most likely to use and re-use - it was important that they had the most utility possible.

Now, if you printed them out and lined them up, the northwest pile of rubble on the vault map lines up under the octagonal temple in the northwest corner of the keep, the main stairs align under the south central building (the hall of warriors), and the stairs in the northeast align under the inner keep to the far east of Fort Morovar.

I present to you the revised Fort Morovar and Vault of the Goblin Entry Well: