Mapping a Very Very Large Dungeon

[Callistoga Kid]

Hello. I've been running a tabletop 3.5 campaign that just finished up, and my players have stepped up to run a couple campaigns on their own. We started out with the tear out map in the back of the DMG, had it laminated. Used architect paper for a while (large area, not drawable on). Now we are using a wet erase marker battlemat (may not be exactly what it's called) and probably will for some time.

So! I'm planning on taking my group on Dungeon Crawl Classics #51: Castle Whiterock (a rather large campaign in a box) when my turn to DM comes around, and I'm not keen on using the battlemat. Whiterock is over 700 pages long and has a 48 page booklet of maps (made for the DM with grids and lines, mostly scaled to 10ft squares, some 5).

I've thought about just photocopying the map and hiding all the DM important information and secret doors and what not, 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?

 

[Lackhand]

I've thought about just photocopying the map and hiding all the DM important information and secret doors and what not, 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?

While that would be really cool, it seems like a lot of work for relatively little payout -- given that the pixellation at that point must be killer.

I'm guessing that the vast majority of it can be described in more simple terms -- 20' x 25' rooms, 10' wide by 100' long corridors, and so on.

You could make a few geomorphs in some appropriate shapes -- or purchase them, as a variety of people make these for sale -- and simply approximate pieces as they become relevant, relying on description or a more schematic map for tying the whole thing together.

Maybe I'm too lazy, but putting the whole thing on one sheet would just never occur to me -- the table I play on must just be too small

More power to you, and be sure to let us know how it goes!

 

[Callistoga Kid]

As for our table, I think I'll be using a ping-pong table. Havn't gotten exact measurements, but it's quite large. Granted, not big enough for 175"x225", but instead of breaking it up into rooms, I might just break it into fourths, or smaller if neccessary. That would probably fit.

As for the pixellation and the quality and what not, my method of hiding the DM specific information will be cutting pieces with an exacto knife from spare copies of the map and pasting them over numbers, traps on the floor, etc. So in the long run, I think that a bit of poor quality will work towards my favor in that the players won't be able to easily spot a pasted over trap or what have you.

Also, I've thought about buying dungeon tiles and those types of products... but it's pretty discouraging just flipping through the map booklet. Kinda hard to describe, but I just don't think it would work. Also, I feel that I would get frustrated and sacrifice the accuracy of the dungeon for the easiness of making it look good on dungeon tiles (welllll... this room could be a weee bit smaller I suppose...).

 

[Kristian Serrano]

If you have a computer and a TV/monitor, you could use something like MapTool which would allow you to scan or redraw the entire map and explore it on the screen with fog of war and all. The tokens (PCS) move through the dungeon and explore it bit by bit seamlessly on one map.

 

[Harley Stroh]

This may not be helpful, but we have the entire map booklet as a download here:

http://www.goodman-games.com/downloads/6-Maps.pdf

My image-fu is worthless, but it seems that one might be able to extrapolate useful images from the digital version. (Of course, the illustrator-illiterate caveat might negate this.)

//H

 

[Kristian Serrano]

This may not be helpful, but we have the entire map booklet as a download here:

http://www.goodman-games.com/downloads/6-Maps.pdf

My image-fu is worthless, but it seems that one might be able to extrapolate useful images from the digital version. (Of course, the illustrator-illiterate caveat might negate this.)

//H

Using the select tool in Adobe Reader allows you to select an image on a given page, copy it, and paste it into any application that handles images.

 

[Harley Stroh]

Yeah. I tried clipping and saving to a high-res jpeg (about the extent on my image-fu), in the hopes that I could blow it up to mini-scale, but I failed my check.

Maybe a tiff? Dunno. I'm out of my depth. Back to the blue-lined graph paper for this DM.

//H

 

[Kristian Serrano]

Yeah. I tried clipping and saving to a high-res jpeg (about the extent on my image-fu), in the hopes that I could blow it up to mini-scale, but I failed my check.

Maybe a tiff? Dunno. I'm out of my depth. Back to the blue-lined graph paper for this DM.

//H

There's a setting in Adobe Reader where you can specify the resolution at which you want to capture an image from the PDF. Try that.

 

[Harley Stroh]

There's a setting in Adobe Reader where you can specify the resolution at which you want to capture an image from the PDF. Try that.

Amaril for the win. I learned something today.

//H

 

[Kristian Serrano]

Amaril for the win. I learned something today.

//H

Glad I could help.