Mapping a Very Very Large Dungeon

[Callistoga Kid]

My laptop is getting fixed today, so maybe I'll download adobe and try my hand at it (yikes!). Also, I havn't gotten a chance to run to kinko's yet, but I'll be sure to let you guys know if they think my original plan is even possible and how expensive it might be.

Thanks for the pdf of maps Harley!
P.S. - What do you think of starting off with Halls of the Minotaur before Whiterock?

 

[Callistoga Kid]

I've taken a look at MapTool and it is very appealling, amaril. I'll be downloading it and playing around with it later tonight.

 

[Callistoga Kid]

Sorry for the late reply! But here it is...

It would have cost a small fortune to get all the maps for Whiterock printed out at Kinko's, plus the cost of miniatures which I would have liked, but not necessary... expensive. Even with the ping pong table, it would have been cumbersome unrolling and rolling up all those humongous maps.

My laptop took a bit longer to get fixed than I thought, but it's in working condition now. I've downloaded and fiddled with MapTool and the other tools... and it's amazing! Quite intimidating at first, no doubt. But wow, what a neat program - and for free! I learn more and more about it every time I open it up and the video tutorials are a godsent. I love the fog of war and topology tools and TokenTool and InitiativeTool. I've been mapping a simple dungeon and fumbling my way through figuring everything out, but I'm getting quite comfortable with it. I've told the group about it and they're pretty stoked. I'll be showing them the simple dungeon next week and all the neat little tricks MapTool does. And with a little luck and some elbow grease, I'll have all of Whiterock mapped out on MapTool eventually.

Thanks again, amaril! I'm certain this will greatly enrich our experiences at the table.

 

[nnms]

then blowing it up for the squares to be large enough to be 1 inch (also pencilling in some lines to cut the 10ft squares into 5ft squares). The first map of the dungeon alone has to be blown up 25 times, 175" x 225"

Is there an easier way to go about this keeping in mind that I am adobe/photoshop illiterate?

You don't need to pencil in the 5 foot lines. If you have 10 ft squares, each on is made up of four 5 foot squares that you can easily reference by counting the corners of the squares. Works well for moving miniatures on them that way as well.

The plus side of GG's stuff is that the maps are black and white. That makes blowing up and printing them cheaper if you can tile print onto regular letter sized paper.

I'm looking at the map booklet right now. Some of the maps will be relatively easy to print at 1" = 5ft as you don't have to print the blank areas between the rooms they can't go to. For example, look at Map 29. Lots of space where there aren't any rooms.

Also, some levels are completely unsuitable. Check out the overview of level 9 (maps 18, 19, 20). Such huge wide open space. Time to break out the battle map.

But Maptool and a screen everyone can see is a really great solution.

 

[Crothian]

Go old school on them. Have them map it out by hand as they explore the place.

 

[grodog]

Go old school on them. Have them map it out by hand as they explore the place.

Exactly: what's the point of having a huge dungeon if the players---as well as their characters---can't get lost in it?

 

[Mark]

Will a cheap projector be in use like the one from Woot.com?

Woot : One Day, One Deal (SM)

(For an image of the item available at the time of this post, please check the attached image.)

 

[Herobizkit]

Ok srrsly, Woot! Worlds crappiest projector? Is this site for real?

 

[Mark]

Ok srrsly, Woot! Worlds crappiest projector? Is this site for real?

Yup. Totally for real. Their counterpart, shirt.woot.com has some cool t-shirts from time to time for cheap but you have to check it early each day to make sure they don't sell out before you get one.