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View Full Version : Mapping in 3 dimensions.



druid91
2021-01-22, 07:47 PM
So, I'm putting together a Rogue Trader game for my IRL game group. One of the things I was considering doing to encourage initiative in the group was to provide each one of them with a binder of setting information. But rather than overloading all of them with the exact same list of 'stuff' they would get to choose one person to be the Quartermaster who would get a binder of the existing ship and supplies + spare paper and ship sheets for future acquisitions. One would be the Recordkeeper, who would get a binder on a few different planets, including simple market information and rumors/gossip (AKA Adventure hooks.) and lastly, one would be the Cartographer, who I was planning on giving maps not just of the koronus expanse, but some basic maps of the same planets the recordkeeper has dossier's on.

But.... how on earth am I supposed to map out the Koronus expanse without pressing it flat? Does anyone know how to do a 3d star map? I considered doing two maps, one from the X,Y and one from X,Z. But I dunno if that would make too much work for the Cartographer.

Hilary
2021-01-23, 12:13 AM
Hello.

I plan on making a 3D map that is a complex of umber hulk tunnels where they set up rock fall traps.

I intend to use something like pipe cleaners (colors for tunnel size) or just wire and make a physical 3d model.

Mechalich
2021-01-23, 06:17 AM
A 3D star chart is basically just a 3D scatter plot. You can define some arbitrary point as the 0,0,0 spot (perhaps the starting star system) and then measure distances from that to the nearby systems, probably in light years, to map out the rest. So a system at 3,6,2 would be three light years 'east' six light years 'north' and two light years 'up.' There are several free online tools that can take such coordinate data and make a plot for you, such as chart-studio (https://chart-studio.plotly.com/create/#/). Admittedly calculating the distance between any two points in such a system becomes an exercise in geometry, but my admittedly limited understand of how 40K space travel actually works suggests this doesn't really matter anyway.

Sneak Dog
2021-01-23, 07:26 AM
You could look up an existing Koronus Expanse map and use that, save yourself some trouble. It is flat, but 40K uses flat maps. Besides, our spiral galaxy is relatively flat.

Also, distance in 40K is less about absolute distance and more about warp routes, right?