I have just been browsing the maps and noticed that all city maps have a scale set in miles. Some of those cities are ports that have ships and if the scale is to believed, those ships are ±188 miles port gunnel to starboard gunnel (wide) and somewhere near 400 miles in length. Even if we swap "feet" for "miles", that's a hefty ship. If we round down to 180ft (for easy maths)... that's 36 5' squares wide. Shoo. It'd take 3 turns only sprinting to get from one side to another. For comparison, the modern 3rd* largest cruise liner in the world: The Allure of the Seas is 210' feet wide (see attached) and weighs ±225,000 gross tonnes. Wooden ships of the period (yep I know it's fantasy, but their inspiration) were famously small with cramped quarters, and most d&d battle maps are between 20'-40' at the widest.
Every city map has a map scale in miles, but they do appear different in size and numerical scale - so maybe some are more correct than this one... but just a heads up: ignore the scale if it doesn't make sense, and embrace the scale if you want rowboats for giants. :)
* Probably not 3rd largest but still very big (It was 3rd on a list of very big ships).
Rule for drama. Roll for memories. If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
It looks as if the map scale is a separate overlaying graphic... and not drawn into the map by the cartographer (which is also slightly evident in their random placements on the maps). Which means that this error could have crept in at the graphic design/layout stage, where one from many map scale images are dropped in over a map. They look the same, so to anyone not reading the content, it looks totally fine. So... until errata, don't trust the city map scales. Use your common sense.
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Rule for drama. Roll for memories. If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
Seems like Darth Vader's flag ship can't compete with these giants. Just how big is Wildemount? At least they don't carry cannons... those would probably be sufficient to destroy the planet. :D
Conspiracy Theory, Wildemount's humans are actually giants, and they build mile high and long boats and buildings. Goliaths are literally just stone giants, Aarakocra are descended from Rocs, and so on.
(definitely just a typo, though.)
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Rule for drama. Roll for memories. If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
Whoo! And I was right here for it. :) Cannot wait to move 9.144m in my turn.
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Rule for drama. Roll for memories. If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
According to Deven Rue on Twitter - meters, not miles.
So they are only 615×1845 feet instead of 990000×2970000 feet. Admittedly, much smaller, but still almost 14 times the size of The Titanic (they would be about half the size of the titanic if the scale was feet).
Feet as a measurement are still problematic, at least for the Port Damali map. Ships are not typically 180 feet across. They may have meant to use feet... okay... but the actual measuring device that is printed along with the 375 does not convert to feet without raised eye brows. If the building on the north shore with attached water wheel is a mill, that building is over 450 feet long. For a mill. It is in the top 2 or 3 of the largest buildings in the town. The steam vents are roughly 36 feet in diameter. That's some Death Star scale vents. Tiny hovels would be 36' by 36' which is 1296 square feet, while larger structures are over 77,000 square feet. Even the individual market stalls are about 36' long. That's a lot of boxed fruit on a display for that one stall.
Yet again for comparison, the sistine chapel is 5,000 square feet.
It's not just that miles should be feet. It's that the whole map-key-distance graphic (its scale as it relates to the map artwork) and the arbitrary "375" are just plainly wrong. If 375 were between 50-60 it would make more sense.
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Rule for drama. Roll for memories. If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
Feet as a measurement are still problematic, at least for the Port Damali map. Ships are not typically 180 feet across. They may have meant to use feet... okay... but the actual measuring device that is printed along with the 375 does not convert to feet without raised eye brows. If the building on the north shore with attached water wheel is a mill, that building is over 450 feet long. For a mill. It is in the top 2 or 3 of the largest buildings in the town. The steam vents are roughly 36 feet in diameter. That's some Death Star scale vents. Tiny hovels would be 36' by 36' which is 1296 square feet, while larger structures are over 77,000 square feet. Even the individual market stalls are about 36' long. That's a lot of boxed fruit on a display for that one stall.
Yet again for comparison, the sistine chapel is 5,000 square feet.
It's not just that miles should be feet. It's that the whole map-key-distance graphic (its scale as it relates to the map artwork) and the arbitrary "375" are just plainly wrong. If 375 were between 50-60 it would make more sense.
IIRC, Matt Mercer confirmed last night on a very smokey Twitch stream that the scale should read feet instead of miles. I agree, it still gives you wonky dimensions.
Actually, looking closer at the map, there are a few scale concerns. The market stalls are almost as big as most houses (around half the size on average). The moon statues are as big as a house. The guard towers have more room than all but the largest building. The water wheel/millhouse is a dozen times the size of houses.
If wee assume that the ships are sailing ships (20 feet across), that makes most houses less than 10×10 (and people complained galder's tower was small).
My guess is the map scale is supposed to be 25 feet per segment (100 feet total) and we aren't supposed to worry about the tiny 1.5 room houses.
Hey fellow owners of the Wildemount sourcebook.
I have just been browsing the maps and noticed that all city maps have a scale set in miles. Some of those cities are ports that have ships and if the scale is to believed, those ships are ±188 miles port gunnel to starboard gunnel (wide) and somewhere near 400 miles in length. Even if we swap "feet" for "miles", that's a hefty ship. If we round down to 180ft (for easy maths)... that's 36 5' squares wide. Shoo. It'd take 3 turns only sprinting to get from one side to another. For comparison, the modern 3rd* largest cruise liner in the world: The Allure of the Seas is 210' feet wide (see attached) and weighs ±225,000 gross tonnes. Wooden ships of the period (yep I know it's fantasy, but their inspiration) were famously small with cramped quarters, and most d&d battle maps are between 20'-40' at the widest.
Every city map has a map scale in miles, but they do appear different in size and numerical scale - so maybe some are more correct than this one... but just a heads up: ignore the scale if it doesn't make sense, and embrace the scale if you want rowboats for giants. :)
* Probably not 3rd largest but still very big (It was 3rd on a list of very big ships).
Rule for drama. Roll for memories.
If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
Those are some big boats...
Oh my gosh, I just found it in my hardcover version. Page 73.
I want to commandeer that boat.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
It looks as if the map scale is a separate overlaying graphic... and not drawn into the map by the cartographer (which is also slightly evident in their random placements on the maps). Which means that this error could have crept in at the graphic design/layout stage, where one from many map scale images are dropped in over a map. They look the same, so to anyone not reading the content, it looks totally fine. So... until errata, don't trust the city map scales. Use your common sense.
Rule for drama. Roll for memories.
If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
Seems like Darth Vader's flag ship can't compete with these giants. Just how big is Wildemount? At least they don't carry cannons... those would probably be sufficient to destroy the planet. :D
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Executor
Conspiracy Theory, Wildemount's humans are actually giants, and they build mile high and long boats and buildings. Goliaths are literally just stone giants, Aarakocra are descended from Rocs, and so on.
(definitely just a typo, though.)
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
According to Deven Rue on Twitter - meters, not miles.
Lol, that still makes the boats almost 300 meters wide.
meters? since when is D&D metric?
Rule for drama. Roll for memories.
If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
I guess since now?
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Whoo! And I was right here for it. :) Cannot wait to move 9.144m in my turn.
Rule for drama. Roll for memories.
If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
So they are only 615×1845 feet instead of 990000×2970000 feet. Admittedly, much smaller, but still almost 14 times the size of The Titanic (they would be about half the size of the titanic if the scale was feet).
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ModeratorWhere do you see that? I only see a someone else else replying to Deven's acknowledgement of the error with a joke: https://twitter.com/JasonRGBest/status/1239378492438876160
There are no tweets by Deven that include the words "meters", "meter", or "metric".
EDIT: Hannah Rose, one of the editors, confirmed on Twitter that the intended measurement for the scale is feet: https://twitter.com/wildrosemage/status/1242527719474118657
Thanks Hannah Rose, but...
Feet as a measurement are still problematic, at least for the Port Damali map. Ships are not typically 180 feet across. They may have meant to use feet... okay... but the actual measuring device that is printed along with the 375 does not convert to feet without raised eye brows. If the building on the north shore with attached water wheel is a mill, that building is over 450 feet long. For a mill. It is in the top 2 or 3 of the largest buildings in the town. The steam vents are roughly 36 feet in diameter. That's some Death Star scale vents. Tiny hovels would be 36' by 36' which is 1296 square feet, while larger structures are over 77,000 square feet. Even the individual market stalls are about 36' long. That's a lot of boxed fruit on a display for that one stall.
Yet again for comparison, the sistine chapel is 5,000 square feet.
It's not just that miles should be feet. It's that the whole map-key-distance graphic (its scale as it relates to the map artwork) and the arbitrary "375" are just plainly wrong. If 375 were between 50-60 it would make more sense.
Rule for drama. Roll for memories.
If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
IIRC, Matt Mercer confirmed last night on a very smokey Twitch stream that the scale should read feet instead of miles. I agree, it still gives you wonky dimensions.
Actually, looking closer at the map, there are a few scale concerns. The market stalls are almost as big as most houses (around half the size on average). The moon statues are as big as a house. The guard towers have more room than all but the largest building. The water wheel/millhouse is a dozen times the size of houses.
If wee assume that the ships are sailing ships (20 feet across), that makes most houses less than 10×10 (and people complained galder's tower was small).
My guess is the map scale is supposed to be 25 feet per segment (100 feet total) and we aren't supposed to worry about the tiny 1.5 room houses.
For some weird reason, balder's gate 3 uses meters. Despite the unparalleled accuracy to fifth edition, they decided to go with metric.
Daniel Christopher Knapp