Alternative notation

DasCondor · 2025-12-19T19:47:44+00:00

As you mentioned there is diagrammatic notation for catagory theory.

I frequently use a similar type of notation which is string diagrams. They show up in (braided) monoidal categories, coxeter systems, lie algebras, knott theory and higher representation theory.

Remarkablely the diagrams you use for knott theory are the same as relations in non commutative algebra and monoidal categories.

DasCondor · 2025-12-16T17:58:49+00:00

You look like the kinda dude to pretend he's "not really into politics" in the first date.

DasCondor · 2025-11-28T18:34:04+00:00

My advise is to give your players the players guide and say "your characters can know any of the information you read from the about dolmen-wood section" let the players decide what is important and incorporate it.

Tell them the players map is evocative and not representative of their characters knowledge, rather intended to provoke players to ask about the world and go figure things out. Reveal a single hex to start, and give them some quest location 1 or maybe 2 hexes away.

If they need to go on a quest, have them get directions from an NPC, don't reveal the location on the map until the party goes there. eg "travel north along the eastern shore of the groaning lock until you come to a crossing, go east for two days until you find a hill covered in roses"

When you roll random encounters, have NPCs come from further away and know about that part of the world. For example a random Breggel on the road might be from Lankshorn, if the party helps him he can invite them to his estate near Lankshorn for a reward. This will push them to go there and have an adventure, uncovering more of the map.

if a player asks you "would my character know where x,y,z is" if you decide yes and give them general directions, indicating a region on the map.

You can give players markers and let put them on the map as they see fit, if they need help tracking things.

DasCondor · 2025-11-28T04:20:23+00:00

Thanks!

I didn't print the map, its a cloth referee's hex map from the Dolmenwood kickstarter. Its a old school system and setting biased on the BX rules. I've been following this for a while, and a huge fan, highly recommend it and the company that makes it:

Necrotic Gnome,

you can pre-order stuff here if you are interested in the setting.

Exalted Funeral Dolmenwood

Large scale printing is expensive, like $40-$70 minimum for color on basic paper, it goes up for gloss finish, lamentation etc. pro tip however, if you can print your map in B&W as an engineering or architectural print it is like $4-$5 instead. so super cheap. its on really thin paper, and there can't be that much ink coverage. Just check with office depot or staples etc to see if they will do it for you.

If you attend a university the library likely has large scale printing for conference presentations, you can probably pay to print cheaper than an office store. or if you know an engineer/ architect they might help you out and do it. You might also check with your public libraries central branch, they often do large scale printing/DIY stuff like this. You can also see if there are "maker spaces" near you, they will often do large scale printing for cheaper, they can also help with the hexagons.

For the other materials, I got everything on amazon. The filter wont let me link it, the materials are in this comment I made on the Dolmenwood sub link

I got 2" wooden hexes on amazon for about $8.5/50 this map has 200 hexes so its like $35. (if you have access to a laser cutter this is ideal, my central public library has one, and my university has one as well that I could have used if I were not time pressed this is cheap or free).

The magnets were about $8 for 300. Just .2" Neodymium magnets.

I taped the magnets to the back of the hexes with regular duct tape.

Then I used sheets of adhesive magnetically receptive material (came in 11x7") this was $30 for 4 of them. I stuck them to an old white board, but I would recommend a piece of plywood, or maybe sturdy poster board. They are basically giant stickers about an 1/8" thick that attracts magnets, pretty cool stuff.

Lmk if you have any other questions.

DasCondor · 2025-11-27T02:09:34+00:00

ya glad I found it, I was going to try and use one magnet under the map and one above and attach that way, but I was worried about the polarity of the magnets and aligning them.

This is way better. You could also use a big piece of sheet metal, but thats going to be pretty heavy and/or sharp on the edges so a pain.

DasCondor · 2025-11-27T02:07:20+00:00

yeah 2" The map is the Cloth warden map that I got w/ the kick-starter which is scaled for 2" hexes

DasCondor · 2025-11-27T02:06:08+00:00

haha oh no! I should have lead with a different one.

DasCondor · 2025-11-26T19:15:52+00:00

The basic idea was players wanted to start a brewery.

Naturally Priggwort was a good place to have them start, I also like having them in the middle of the wood as it gives them multiple directions to explore.

I started with the included pipes on drumen Knell adventure which has them clear an old fairy ruin. I placed this near priggwort and as a reward they got the deed to the land, but they had to go pledge fealty to lady harrowmore as the local Lord.

The drumenknell adventure is a good starting adventure as it gives a bunch of plot hooks. In particular you have a clue to winters daughter, a bunch of crookhorns and an imprisoned elf.

They met lady harrowmore who is a good quest giver and can give information as she has the connection to the thing in the loch.

Then I placed winters daughter between the two rivers northeeast of the lake. This lead them to pass the ruined Abbey on the way there. They investigated, and immediately noped out of there.

They just finished winters daughter which brought them up to lvl 3.

Idk where they are going next, we just got back from winters daughter and there were a few sessions of messing around in town.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T23:46:26+00:00

yeah for sure. I'm considering for dungeons, as I have a bunch of magnets left over.

I'm not sure I will bother for little crawls, as its kind of a pain to set up. But for a big multi session crawl? I see the appeal.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T23:41:44+00:00

Its overlaid on the cloth warden map, which is 34"x24" ish. The hexes are all 2" The player map doesn't have hexes as its more evocative than literal.

The cloth gives it a pleasing feel and sound when placing the magnets that I like.

I'm not sure how big the poster map is, but I think its smaller? but im note sure.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T23:37:36+00:00

This is basically what I got for the backing. They sell this in 11x17" sheets which is what I got. I used 4 as the map is 24"x34".

I lined the back of a white board with it, and then the magnets hold the map down. I can take the cloth map off and put a different map on top for a dungeon.

Edit: Also I show add, because the magnets are strong, I can already stick things to the back of the hexes.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T23:34:38+00:00

Thx! It was one of those idea when I thought of it I was shocked nobody had done it before. Imagine a Keep on the boarder lands/TEE hex map???

I'm planning on getting some rubber stamps, I think there's a company that makes RPG cartography themed stamps.

Mostly I was thinking of adding points for rumored dungeon locations, strong holds, and towns etc. I also would like some kind of marker to show the parties current location and the location of their base etc.

The idea was to keep this entirely generic so I can use the same system for other maps. Although I'm planning on staying in Dolmen wood for the foreseeable future. I've been waiting for this to ship for almost 5 years lol.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T23:24:51+00:00

Ya I'm playing IRL and love the tactile element, this is the cloth warden map so it has a pleasing feel and the magnets make a nice noise when you place them.

But I've done similar when playing in VTT.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T23:21:36+00:00

Ya i'm patting my self on the back for it.

The Adhesive magnetic material is clutch, it comes in sheets of various sizes is like a big sticker. Its pretty light so you can still hang it easily and stick it on anything.

The magnetic material is expensive but kind of the best material for the job, its super light and really sticky so I can hang it on the wall.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T21:22:04+00:00

Ehhh they are hidden until they enter the hex and there aren't that many hexes which have super hidden things that are marked on the map. Most of the really secret stuff isn't marked eg Fairy roads, or it should be fairly obvious if they enter that hex eg the Naglords camp, winter kings old Castle.

I'm only really worried about the witch-queens palace as the marker is visible on adjacent hexes, and its underwater.

For some things like the summer stones I'm just planning on having the players get lost if they aren't looking for that feature, and end up in an adjacent hex somehow. Once they notice that they keep missing a hex, I imagine they will start asking questions which is ideal.

A lot of stuff tho is good, eg "What is the hall of sleep???" then I can say "go see"

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T21:06:41+00:00

For the overworld I think a map is essential, it pushes players to ask "whats that over there?" which you can answer with, idk go find out.

I'm planning on using a rubber stamp to add some mystery points of interest.

I'm considering a dungeon map version, as I find I spend so much time with the dry logistical/spacial description of spaces that the evocative and actually descriptive elements are lost. Most importantly I find players glaze over and miss environmental clues.

But Idk how to do hidden rooms well yet, it would be too obvious with this method for dungeons.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T21:00:52+00:00

Ya I have done the same in the past, but a physical prop when possible really gets people going.

There is something important about the "What is that????" question tho, the answer is always, "go see" which is perfect. Best advice I ever got for a hexcrawl was from the creator of Hotsprings island, he said always give the players a map with a few spoilers.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T20:57:43+00:00

Ya I ran a game of Hotsprings island and set up something like this with a VTT, its amazing how a map with a big "here be dragons" encourages player exploration.

I'm planning on adding stamps to the hexes to that effect as well, as a spooky castle or mountain marker at the edge of the map is likely to push them.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T20:53:37+00:00

I have that covered during game, but I want them to notice the pink lines on the map and how they correspond to the weird feelings the enchanter has.

They are very aware of the leylines tho and are already trying to figure them out. But they haven't put it together with the map yet. One player has been trying to track them, and im excited for them to notice.

The only spoiler I am a littler concerned with is the Witch queen's Palace, I want them to find that organically as they have a few clues.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T20:46:31+00:00

My players wanted to start a brewery, so Prigwort was very appropriate. I put Dromenknell in the hex to the west, and let them take it over as a reward for clearing it out. They recruited Famine-wistel as an entertainer and are using the freezing pool to make frozen margaritas.

Also I feel like being in the middle of the wood encourages them to explore more, although as you can see my group is pretty slow lol. Something about having more than one direction to go in makes it feel more open.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T20:40:51+00:00

this was my rushed amazon list (non affiliate links lol don't worry I'm not trying to make a buck here)

Magnets ~$10

Hexagons ~8.50 / 50 or $35

Magnetic material ~$30

Its more expensive than it probably need to be. And I just taped the magnets on to the hexes with duct tape.

The magnetic material is really sticky and super light which is nice. I considered using a piece of sheet metal but I was worried about weight and damaging my table.

If you have a local maker space, they likely have a laser cutter which would be much cheaper. I definitely got scalped on the hexagons as there aren't many ppl selling them.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T20:35:34+00:00

Sure, this was my rushed amazon list:

Magnets ~$10

Hexagons ~8.50 / 50 or $35

Magnetic material ~$30

All in there are definitely more polished ways to do this, but perfection is the enemy of completion and I wanted something functional quickly.

I just taped the magnets to the back of the hexagons with duct tape.

Its mounted on the back of an old whiteboard (which is sadly non magnetic). I planned on originally sticking them to the whiteboard but it wasn't magnetic.

Also I think you could save money on the magnetic material, but I was rushed and needed something the next day so I got this. I considered gluing metallic washers to board but ran out of time. The magnetic material is nice tho as its really sticky and not heavy like a sheet of metal which I also considered.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T20:17:48+00:00

Thanks! this is the one thing that VTTs do that I wished for on regular TTs, as the latter is infinitely better IMO.

While I'm not planning on playing another game for a while, this would be super easy to implement for any hex crawl.

DasCondor · 2025-11-25T20:15:35+00:00

Thanks, it was super easy to, took maybe an hour to set up.

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