RE: (TFT) Moria Maps??? --> Hex geometry and Scaling factors of 2.64.

["rsmith" <rsmith@lightspeed.ca>]

	You could pick up a copy of Lords of the Underearth.
but it would give you a pre-made (tho very small) Dwarven 
mine.  (I would change residential areas shown by a single 
room into clusters of apartments, when turning it into an 
adventure.)

	Thinking about the size.  The hexes in LotU are
Mega-Mega-Mega hexes.  (I'll call this a Level 4 hex.) Such
hexes are <36 meters across, and have an area of exactly 
343 hexes  (a single hex is ~1.59600 meters square if my trig 
is correct so a Level 4 hex would have an area of 528.1 
square meters).

	(5.28 hectares should be able to feed the peasant 
farmers on the land plus 1 or 2 more people depending on the 
land quality.)

	Now that distance across I said was <36 meters.  I got
that number by multiplying 1.333 meters by three 3 times. 
However, a Mh is not 3 times the width of a regular hex. 
They pack.  I don't see any easy geometric solution, so I am
going to measure one of my big maps.  (Long Pause.)

	Ok, on the Chessex battle map that I've drawn Level 2
Level 3 and Lv. 4 hexes on, from the center dot to center 
dot of a Lv. 1 hex is 2.54 cm (one inch).  This represents
1.333 meters.

	By eye, averaging the rough edge of the Level 4 hex,
I measure it to be 46.7 cm across.

	This works out to representing: 24.51 meters across.


	This is pretty close to 5 times the width of a 
Mega-Mega hex (Lv. 2 hex).  Notice that in ItL page 24,
second column first paragraph after table at the top of
the page, Steve Jackson suggests that the size of map
hexes for larger scale maps be scaled up by factors of 
5 for later maps.  This would work pretty close IF THE
ORIGIONAL sized hex were 1.0 meters across.  Since it is
1.333 meters, his scaling factor won't match the Mega-hex,
Mega-Mega hex growth rate.

	Also note that LotU specifically stated that its 
hexes were Level 4 TFT hexes.

	Anyway, my calculations show a scaling factor of 
2.64.  Multiply 1.333m by 2.64 = 3.5m (the width of a 
Megahex).  Multiply 3.5m by 2.64 = 9.27m (the width of a
Mega-Mega hex or a level 3 hex).  Multiply 9.27m by 2.64
= 24.47m (the width of a Level 4 hex).

	(This is pretty close for a scaling factor of 7
when going up two levels in size rather than SJ's scaling
factor of 5.)


	Anyway, back to our original discussion of Moria
and using the LotU map for it.  I've loaned my copy away
but It seems to me that there were about 35 hexes across
it counting via the hex grain.  (Does anyone have the 
exact number?  Don't measure along the alternate hex 
grain, but the width via a straight line measure thru the
center of an imaginary center dot in one hex to the imag.
hex dot in the next.)

	If we go with the LotU map being 35 hexes across,
the distance thru that mountain is ~735 meters.  Now
Tolkien's mountain ranges (in particular the Misty 
Mountains) were unrealistically thin.  But let us say 
that this mountain range was from 30 to 50 km wide.
(Any one have a way to firm up that number?)  Taking the
average of my guess at 40 km, Moria should be ~54.5 LotU
maps across.


	Summary:
	To reiterate, the LotU map shows you the doors, 
tunnels, and LARGE rooms of a VERY small dwarven mine.
(Small rooms are not shown and must be interpolated.)

	My friend Paul Danielson used to run a TFT campaign
and wanted to do Moria.  He used dozens of pages of graph
paper (square grid) and mapped Moria like the Platt river
(a mile wide and an inch deep).  By that I mean, that he
had a tonne of area mapped, but it was just thin lines on
a square grid that had no character or interesting thought
behind it.

	What are peoples feelings about adventuring in a
dwarven palace?  How would you map it?  This is a subject
of intense interest to me, as I've ALWAYS wanted to do an
adventure in Moria.


	Rick



-----Original Message-----
From: tft-owner@brainiac.com [mailto:tft-owner@brainiac.com]On Behalf Of
Home
Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2003 9:20 AM
To: TFT List (E-mail)
Subject: (TFT) Moria (Khazad-dum) Maps???


would anyone have or know of a web site to get maps of the Mines of Moria
(Khazad-dum) from the Lord of the Rings -- either home-made or otherwise?

my kids want to do some adventuring in that setting after I have read them
the books.  I could make up something myself, but it's easier if I have a
starting point.

thanks a bunch,
Dave
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