The Village of Hommlet
Besides the retro feel of them, what’s the appeal of the old blue TSR maps?
I recently pulled out the classic T1 module to use good old Hommlet as the base for a combo adventure involving both the classic moathouse as well as Dyson’s Delve.
It took me about three minutes into the game before I went digging for my copy of the Temple of Elemental Evil just so I would have a nice high-contrast black and white map of the village to work from. My old eyes just can’t cope with the low-contrast blue used in those “classic” maps.
It works better in dungeons I guess, where there’s enough blue to form a higher contrast, but using it for the village itself was a mistake, IMO. I’ve also tried running my own maps through in classic blue, but I don’t like the result because my cross-hatching isn’t solid enough to provide the contrast required. Again, it works best with a solid blue background instead of a mix of blue and white.
So, why do you hate my eyes? Am I just too old for this shit, or are there other appeals to the blue maps that I just don’t get?
I thought the classic explanation for the blue maps was that the photocopiers of the time couldn’t reproduce them, so just an IP protection strategy.
I’m with you so far, but you keep seeing blue maps being published today, and I’ve even had people tell me that they switch mine to blue for that old school feel. In the end, my eyes just hurt.
I get the IP protection, but if there is one part of a module that you’d expect people to legitimately photocopy, it is the maps – you might want to have versions that you can write all over, cut up and hand out to players, etc. The text of the adventure, on the other hand…
But I believe you that it might be all about preventing piracy – isn’t that the reason for WFRP3e’s gubbins and bobbins?
I still enjoy seeing the odd OSR product coming out with one, but I can’t really claim its anything but nostalgia involved. Does anyone even know why TSR ran with them in the first place? I mean there are low contrast color schemes which actually help legibility (solarized for example) but pale blue on white doesn’t seem to be one of them.
As someone who doesn’t do a lot of colour printing the blue maps give my black ink a rest. Other than that I guess it is just nostalgia in my case, but I agree that blue doesn’t work with more complex maps or with shading styles.
Nostalgia, definitely. But also because water-filled areas look more like water-filled areas when they’re stippled or shaded in blue (e.g., Dungeon Modules X1 or U3) rather than black (X2 or I1).
Although it was to prevent photocopying (non-photo blue wasn’t so much a limitation of the technology as an important feature for publishing then—using it for copy protection was just a handy side-effect), I find that they’re easier to make notes on. Though perhaps a better color could be chosen that would still have that feature.
Correct on the prevention of photocopying, Rob. Based on what Gary once told me(still mouring his loss to the gaming community) whem I was play-testing his pre-productions stuff for Mythus/Dangerous Journeys, it was also a manner of cost in those days. For some odd reason, the “OSR blue” was also a bit cheaper in mass quantity. I like the blue for when it was utilized, but nowadays I prefer black and white (or even sepia), hand-drawn maps. A lot of these modern, CG-infused stuff is cool, but I find them tooooo busy and artsy for my tastes.
You can pry my blue maps from my cold dead hands
But why? That’s the question here.
Because G is, literally, a zombie?
I’ve always hated the blue maps, and still do. They’re hard on the eyes and more of a pain to consult at a glance; I don’t understand the nostalgia for them at all.
I don’t get the nostalgia for the blue maps.
For me it’s mostly nostalgia and habit, I’m just used to using old modules and having the maps use a consistent and comfortable scheme. However, as a couple people here hinted, the blue (or any light color, really) tones are easier to make notes on, either on laminated original products. or on printouts from more modern PDFs.
That said, I’m totally fine with the maps here, or anywhere else, using whatever color scheme the creator wishes. As I mentioned on the Desert Tomb comments, programs like Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop or GIMP make tweaking colors and other details quite easy.
Blue is my favorite color, but I don’t like it on my maps. I prefer black lines and filled in with color or details. I’m old-school, but I never liked the old maps very much.