Tell Qa Question

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jfall

Tell Qa Question

Post by jfall »

This is mainly for James, but if anyone else can answer it I'd be grateful.

I'm a little dubious of the scale for the maps in the Tell Qa aid by James Mishler for the Wilderlands of High Adventure. (By the way James... overall, I'm extremely pleased so far with the content....it's super chunky. Kudos.)

I'm laying out the Copper Crown Flophouse and rough dimensions of 120' by 160' seems to be REALLY huge. Maybe I'm misreading the map... Does the flop house constitute that entire "building" as indicated on the map? And this isn't an isolated case.

I'm adding rooms that obviously aren't in the descriptive text but still...I'm having some issues trying to fill it out. I've got a kitchen, the main flop room, an eating area, an office, that back room where they gamble, a pantry, a private dining room, a generalized supply room, a secret corridor and observation room, and an indoor comode. Still.... when you add all of that in, some of the rooms are absolutely enormous.

So I'm thinking, maybe I'm wrong on one account or another. Anyone add any clarity on the matter here?

Thanks much.

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Post by Treebore »

I don't know "the" answer, I just suggest do it however it makes sense to you. Its what I have always done. Your right that its huge, almost 20,000 square feet, almost 10 times the size of my 1800 sq foot home. So that would be the size of a small mansion, or similiar. Unless the occupants were giants, but they aren't. Unless you decide they are.
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Post by Tadhg »

I don't think those dimensions are unduly large. After all it's a big enough building to accommodate a lot of people to flop and feed. Perhaps you can add more rooms - office, more storage areas, meeting rooms and such if you feel the main flop room is too large.

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CharlieRock

Post by CharlieRock »

I've been in barracks and other types of holding bays that were that size or larger. I know that's no help but hey.
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jfall

Post by jfall »

I'm not trying to be argumentative here, but when you have to heat a building via fire it's always a good idea to have a smaller space. That's why most living spaces in the middle ages were quite small. It takes a lot of fuel and work to heat a great big area.

But then again, I'm certainly not helpless here. I'll either readjust the scale or figure that there are more areas within that one "building". (i.e. not just the Copper Crown but maybe a couple of residences and things like that.)

Just thought I'd check here first. Thanks for the feedback guys.

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Post by jamesmishler »

Jfall,

The scale is correct (3/4" = 160 feet). Actually, the size of the buildings are an unhappy medium between the original size buildings of the CSIO and CSWE from Judges Guild and historical medieval buildings.

I'd considered going with historical-sized buildings, but then the classic City State and Viridistan would be waaaay out of scale by comparison. The old JG maps always had largish buildings.

To have make it more sense, you can simply add more doors and say that each of the largish buildings is a "Roman tenement" style building, with numerous subdivisions within it. That's what I've always done with the CSIO and Viridistan.
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jfall

Post by jfall »

Heya James,

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I figured that it had to be some kind of a nod towards the old Judges Guild stuff.

I've already mapped out the Copper Crown but I am going to use the tenement-style layout in the future.

I've read through Tell Qa once already and can't say enough good about it. It was exactly what I was looking for in terms of an urban landscape in which to base a true swords and sorcery set of adventures in. Very nicely done James!

Thanks again.

CharlieRock

Post by CharlieRock »

Also one thing about packing people into large rooms. The body heat builds up quick. At least it always seems that way to me.

Or make like a big breezeway. It's like a patio between two sections of a building (or two different buildings, too). That should eat up some space.
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