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Hello, dear denizens of the Elven Tower.

As you know, we have just gone through a migration that forced our Patreon to change its billing subscription.

This month, which is the first under this new setting, shall serve as a catalyser and as an adaptation period.

One-Shots: We wish to continue publishing One-Shot Adventures. And we wanted to know what you think. These are the possible options:

- One Map, a couple of pages. A quick adventure with a single map, a clear objetive, and a pretty straight-forward mission.


- Two Maps, two chapters. A little longer than the one-map version. It might include extra art, NPCs, a new monster statblock. These give more agency to players, and different paths of action.


- Three Maps, three chapters, isometric map of the dungeon. These are the longest One-Shots. They barely earn their name, because they take from 2 to 3 sessions of 4 to 6 hours to complete. They usually start with a town/city map which features several NPCs. They have an encounter map as the second chapter, and the third chapter is a combination of two maps: the dungeon and its isometric version for incredible details and a three-dimensional visual aid. These are great to introduce new people to the game or to have a mini-campaign with your playing group.

Which kind of One-Shots suits you better?

Comments

Bear Dad PDX

I prefer the third option of 'Three Maps....". The second option of Two Maps, Two chapters would be fine. Although I could, no doubt, find a use for them I already have a library full of One-ish paged one-shots so less interested in these. Some times I string them together with slight changes to make a longer adventure.

Nick

I vote 2 maps 2 chapters. I like the length and it keeps things feeling tight. My 2nd vote would be for the 3&3, but I have a hard time using the isometric maps digitally so I am less enthused by iso maps in general. Also like you said, these are on the longer side of what would be considered a one-shot and probably need to be broken into a couple of sessions.

Ed May

Two maps, two chapters version gets my vote

Jack Neller

A little of 2 and 3. For the reasons already stated. But staying middle of the road with 2 maps sounds sound.

Michael Pixton

I agree with many of the others that #2 is the best choice overall, but using #3 occasionally (quarterly or semi-annual) would be great!

Christian Conkle

The problem with isometric maps for me is that its difficult to use in VTT play on Foundry. I need dungeons that I can quickly get ready before any given Friday night (game night).

Hisham ElShakhs

lol Christian said almost word for word what I would have said (including Friday night being game night). Though I guess a mix actually works well. The ISO maps are beautiful and fun, but since we play virtually 95% of the time they mean I have to create a separate map for VTT

elventower

Thanks for your input, our strategy from now forward is that the isometric map we do monthly will be a 3D projection of other maps that will come in top-down perspective. That way the isometric will be an extra asset, eye-candy for a top-down map available.

elventower

Thanks for your input, our strategy from now forward is that the isometric map we do monthly will be a 3D projection of other maps that will come in top-down perspective. That way the isometric will be an extra asset, eye-candy for a top-down map available.

elventower

Seems like most agree with this proposal, we're already planning this month with this in mind.

elventower

Most folks agree with this. We're already planning this month's publications with this in mind. Thanks for your input.

Christian Conkle

Our game group has a simple rule: This Friday and Every Friday FROM NOW UNTIL THE END OF TIME! Its kept us together since 1987!

elventower

just... wow! how many members of this party are originally from 1987? That's 37 years TTRPG gaming!

Hisham ElShakhs

@Christian - nice! Our group of 6 started playing in about 1985, but took a few long breaks along the way before we started with Friday night VTT in 2019. We have been playing Friday nights since then though we have missed one or two when not enough folks could make it. We rotate DM’s among 3 of us.

Brian

My preference is the 3 map-chapter before 2 map-chapter. I DM 2/3 in person, but same comments on the ISO maps. Like the solution you found.

Florian Steuri

11h Two maps, two chapters version gets my vote

Timothy Schmidt

Dismiss the photoshop and keep the magazine download. I don't use photoshop. Have tiers by choice of 5e (color) OR Shadowdark (B&W) not both.

Pavlo Vasylkov

I would like to see option 2 with isometric maps. They are amazing and can be useful to show players a different perspective for abstract combat while still relying more on theater of mind for detailed combat. I use "battlefield screen" for lots of stuff, not only for a battle map and that's why I can see use of them. But I understand why most of DM's will not use them and rather discard them as an option.

Dweign

I think 2 maps/2 chapters is generally fine, but some stories need the three maps, three chapters!

elventower

I see. This is perfect for us though, isometric maps are part of what we publish so they will be included in one of the adventures we publish. It's good to know some of our supporters find use for them in-game.

elventower

I understand what you say. We will still publish 3-chapter adventures. But's it's great to know that you guys share almost the same opinion.