The Video Maze I posted last year was a big hit and I wanted to revisit that particular genre. The new elevation rules in the 2011 rulebook opened up another favorite classic video game for me. By adding multiple elevations, I now could map everyone's favorite 80's pyramid game.

The original game itself showed the pyramid on an angle. This couldn't easily be translated into a square grid map that was at even angles. The solution was to create two game pyramids and butt them up against each other. So while this map isn't as faithful to its source as the Video Maze was, it really pays homage to the original game.

The new elevation rules also removed the necessity of needing stairs or ladders to represent the area where you could change elevations. This is for me as a mapmaker the best part of the 2011 rules update as it opens up creatively what you can design.

When you first see all these elevation triangles your immediate response should be "@!#?@!" In the original game our hero could jump from any platform to the next elevated platform. To keep that spirit alive, I decided that each square was a point where a character could change elevations. This did create a herculean job of placing all those triangles but I think staying faithful to the source was worth the trouble.

One other neat feature of the original video game was the floating platform you could jump onto to immediately and safely take yourself to the top of the pyramid. This mechanic had to be incorporated into my map. So for this map, the following special rule applies.

When a character is given a movement action, squares inside the border of an orange line are considered adjacent to Elevation Level 8 squares for movement purposes only.

I'd post a link on where you can download it but I don't want to destroy this community by linking offsite!

love it.

I would have done it where the map had a special text that said all figures have Leap/Climb.

well under the new rules ...all those square are steps and transitions to different elevations so Leap Climb is not needed...basically this map is a huge staircase.

The new rules, those marks on the terrain to show "multi-elevations" are actually places in Multi-elevations where characters without powers can get to Elevated terrain, whether that be 1 elevation or multiple elevations.

God this new elevation thing is complicated. When I first saw it I thought you had to mark all sides, so I couldn't understand what level anything was on! Now, I see that each level is accessable through any side, making this map very interesting to play on! Great work!

i like this!
i think it would break my brain to play on it, but i love the gimmick concept

hopefully wizkids, or even us mapmakers, can come up with a better labeling system. that red triangle thing sure is distracting.
granted this map is an extreme and we probably won't see something like this again, its probably better in smaller doses.
either way, big big thumbs up for the map

That map is crazy! Nicely done!

Good job on the map. But I think that this map will make some people hate the new rules on elevation.

I agree the red triangle thing on this map is a bit distracting. Again this is an extreme case, on a regular map with only a few changes it's not distracting at all. I believe also the triangles and elevated terrain lines are bit too large/thick, but it's hard to tell. When I first looked at this map I was confused by the it. It makes sort of an optical illusion, I saw these big red squares and thought these ware the actual 1.5 inch squares. When re-examining I noticed that these are not those at all. This map messes with my eyes a bit, because there is not much variation, only two different types of textures and the shadows are a bit thick, the shadows add to the illusion that those squares are 1.5inch not 3inch, it seems the grid of the map actually gets lost in the map itself. I am sure a printed version on a table though is much more "understandable".

The concept is perfect though. Reminds me of a ziggurat. If this concept was taken outdoor (like in the Brazilian Jungle)with some better lighting I think it would work really well.

True. Actually the new elevation rules would really lend themselves to a Favelas-type map.
I'm thinking special agents hunting down a certain green-skinned Edward Norton scene in particular.
Or that particular level in Modern Warfare 2.

The compression of the image to something postable adds to the illusion. We're looking at compressed smaller file at less than a meg of data. The full map when printed at 250dpi and 24x36 is a lot cleaner.

Yay! When you die you can say @#%&! just like in the game!