Death) Not quite, though.
On a very large map without an underground, in contrast to a large map with one:
1. Instead of a pair of relics in adjacent locations, there will be a pair of major artifacts.
2. It will generate artifacts in the treasure room.
3. The monsters will be slightly weaker. They were also weakened on the hero in version 3.1, it seems. But it's still quite possible to lose, even now. Blind jumps and creeps come to the rescue.
4. They will appear a little less often, but not so much that you can't fight them for a day, for example. Right now, I've set it to 3 turns, which is a good frequency. In my opinion, it's insignificant.
5. Because of points 3 and 4, experience will be gained more slowly, and the first encounter will happen, for example, not on level 21, but on level 18.

And I agree that it's better without the hero, but we couldn't get that approved before the tournament. So, it's a compromise... In my opinion, the most significant difference will be a greater shortage of resources?

Regarding the voting. How will people vote without knowing what it's about? In short:
1. Diamond template. A template with a confusing system of passages, where it's unclear which path leads where. The smallest, fastest template. You can realistically visit on the 2nd week, but you can also get lost and "drag it out" until the 4th week.
2. Shield template. The largest template in terms of size and number of zones. But... there is a Gate of Oblivion (GO). Accordingly, as with the Labyrinth, you can speed up the game through the GO. If not through it, the game can be very long, but... who's stopping you? Another feature is the lack of mines at the start. Wood and ore are in one of the neighboring locations, and you still have to guess which one.
3. And what other template is there? There doesn't seem to be another one yet, so it would just be a repeat.