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The Shadow in the Flame: A Workshop on Designing Dungeons, Monsters, and a Villain
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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7036797" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong><span style="color: #B22222">Step 6: Dungeon Mapping (part 1 – Iterative Design & Rough Maps)</span></strong></span></p><p></p><p>One of my first steps was creating a conceptual dungeon map with brainstormed areas loosely connected and divided according to level, which you can see in the spoiler tag below. I went for a weird mashup of side-profile map and top-down map, because just getting my ideas down was most important. I also found that thinking 3-dimensionally from the very beginning helps to incorporate verticality into a dungeon (and verticality is awesome).</p><p></p><p>[SBLOCK]<img src="http://i.imgur.com/fmm4LOy.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />[/SBLOCK]</p><p></p><p>Building off of that, I approached making a top-down rough map of the main floor in Photoshop. I knew I wanted the map scale to be 1" = 5 feet so we could put miniatures on it. I guesstimated the size of my map to be a bit larger than the average D&D poster map, around 36" x 48". And honestly, my first attempt didn't have much character...</p><p></p><p><img src="http://i.imgur.com/nx17OvJ.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>I realized a couple things studying my first take...</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I needed to increase the map size to 36" x 60" in order to fit the Tower of the Bonfire.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There needed to be a place to eat.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I imagined where fumaroles of hot gas might be taken advantage of by the Brotherhood in the citadel's design.</li> </ul><p></p><p>My experience is that iterating your design – letting a project rest and coming back to it with a fresh perspective – is the hallmark of a successful designer. So my next iteration came out like this...</p><p></p><p><img src="http://i.imgur.com/5eOOaXs.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Already, I can see a couple things I'd like to iterate on again...</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There should be more "empty" rooms. These can be a combo of empty rooms for the DM to use & frequently recurring areas types (e.g. armories, hidden elementals, guard posts, offices, sulfur pools, etc).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I need to think about defenses for The Bonfire's Tower against <em>passwall</em>, attempts to fly down the fissure/fumarole, and so forth. Especially since it's a bit isolated from the rest of the citadel.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Having the Water Oubliette (and beneath it the Distillery) so close to the main gate is a security risk for the Brotherhood's water being poisoned. On one hand, it does make sense as the original mystics who created Krak al-Mazhar weren't too worried about being attacked and poisoned. OTOH, The Bonfire is paranoid. So perhaps some added defenses to compensate for its location.</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7036797, member: 20323"] [size=4][b][COLOR="#B22222"]Step 6: Dungeon Mapping (part 1 – Iterative Design & Rough Maps)[/COLOR][/b][/size] One of my first steps was creating a conceptual dungeon map with brainstormed areas loosely connected and divided according to level, which you can see in the spoiler tag below. I went for a weird mashup of side-profile map and top-down map, because just getting my ideas down was most important. I also found that thinking 3-dimensionally from the very beginning helps to incorporate verticality into a dungeon (and verticality is awesome). [SBLOCK][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/fmm4LOy.png[/IMG][/SBLOCK] Building off of that, I approached making a top-down rough map of the main floor in Photoshop. I knew I wanted the map scale to be 1" = 5 feet so we could put miniatures on it. I guesstimated the size of my map to be a bit larger than the average D&D poster map, around 36" x 48". And honestly, my first attempt didn't have much character... [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/nx17OvJ.png[/IMG] I realized a couple things studying my first take... [list][*]I needed to increase the map size to 36" x 60" in order to fit the Tower of the Bonfire. [*]There needed to be a place to eat. [*]I imagined where fumaroles of hot gas might be taken advantage of by the Brotherhood in the citadel's design.[/list] My experience is that iterating your design – letting a project rest and coming back to it with a fresh perspective – is the hallmark of a successful designer. So my next iteration came out like this... [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/5eOOaXs.png[/IMG] Already, I can see a couple things I'd like to iterate on again... [list][*]There should be more "empty" rooms. These can be a combo of empty rooms for the DM to use & frequently recurring areas types (e.g. armories, hidden elementals, guard posts, offices, sulfur pools, etc). [*]I need to think about defenses for The Bonfire's Tower against [I]passwall[/I], attempts to fly down the fissure/fumarole, and so forth. Especially since it's a bit isolated from the rest of the citadel. [*]Having the Water Oubliette (and beneath it the Distillery) so close to the main gate is a security risk for the Brotherhood's water being poisoned. On one hand, it does make sense as the original mystics who created Krak al-Mazhar weren't too worried about being attacked and poisoned. OTOH, The Bonfire is paranoid. So perhaps some added defenses to compensate for its location.[/list] [/QUOTE]
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