This is the fourth post in a series about the theory of mapmaking.
Part 1 was about glyph placement,
part 2 was about map footprint size and shape, and
part 3 was about map orientation and map symmetry. This installment is about elevation variance and small landings.
When I mention small landings, I mean areas of only 1, 2, or 3 hexes that are on a different level than all the surrounding terrain.
Mole Hills would be an obvious example of a map with a lot of this sort of terrain feature, but just about every map has some irregular terrain somewhere on the map. To take an example from my own maps, the 2-hex bumps on the sides of
Swamp Helix are such an isolated bump, and even the steps leading up to the platform on that map sort of qualify, although those spots obviously surrender height advantage to the platform itself.
I want to make it clear that I'm not talking about having a lot of height on a map. It's entirely possible for a map to have very large...