Sloping Passages

Hi, all. I re-activated my account after several years, and it seems that I have forgotten near everything I had learned. Hopefully, someone can give me a better idea on how to structure maps with passageways that slope under a corridor at a higher elevation. The best way I can figure right now is to keep a breakaway tile-group. Other than creating a new map-section for each passageway (and moving PC tokens back and forth), can anyone suggest something better? Note, I haven't even tested fog yet though I'd like to use it. Thanks in advance. (EDIT: I'd also like to keep the slope information hidden from the players initially, as detection is a big part of the mystery.)

That is a hard problem to solve in a 2d space.  I can think of some solutions with some heavy API scripts (which don't exist right now!), but nothing that would preserve the mystery.   If you're deft at fog of war and your party isn't in the "problem area", you could create a large rollable table token with both possible maps on it and fog over, then swap and reveal.  That's about all I've got.  =/

I usually put the slope information on the GM layer, and once they have figured it out I show them.

Grimtina said: I usually put the slope information on the GM layer, and once they have figured it out I show them. The problem is that they can't walk down that northernmost corridor because it lies 10' below the southern. I thought about pulling the north passage to front and sinking it to the GM layer until the party goes travels down it. That at least doesn't have me fumbling about in the heat of game play. Otherwise, the breakaway seems the simplest option that doesn't tip my hand to the players.

I'd say the breakaway section is the best option, put it on the gm layer positioned where it should be, then swap it to the map layer once their in the area where they're going to discover it. Of course it doesn't really help if they are going to be in multiple places simultaneously (split party).

This map was just a test run; the live map is roughly three times the size, with several elevation changes (it's a Dwarven outpost inside a mountain). I tested the gm-layer switch, and my take away was: combined with fog it will work in several areas of slope with multiple break away sections of 2-3 tiles each—especially if I bar the area with an extra set of doors so the layer change is hidden behind the first. For the really large elevation (equaling a long run of map tiles) it's probably best just to split the map into discrete levels. Although now that I think about it, maybe having lots of small sections where I can move PC tokens across non-contiguous zones could work. I don't know how best to do that smoothly, though. Thanks. I guess users can't lock threads (topics are auto-locked after two months iirc)

Konnel said: I guess users can't lock threads (topics are auto-locked after two months iirc) Mods can. Good luck!