# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Dungeon/Subterranean Mapping >  Random Dungeon Map - Suggestions needed

## Bogie

Usually when I make a map I start with an idea like "A Tomb" or "Necromancer's Lab", this time I started by just randomly drawing a floor plan for a dungeon.  Now I can't decide what to put in it.  
So I need some ideas or suggestions what this should be.  What kind of dungeon does this look like to you?  
When I'm done I'll post 2 high res versions, 1 with a grid, one without.
Thanks

Here's the basic floorplan:

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## Anoril

Hi!

A nice start. 
I would suggest the octogonal room to be the entrance (from upstair) deserving a guard room that dispatch to two main part of this underground evil temple  :Smile:  On the right, a incantation room where fidels stand in circle to incant ; down this room you can have a kind of clerical stuff room where to place equipment for the mass; north to the circular room, you have the Main Cleric office, a small square room where he/she hides books and secret and the bigger rectangular room at north is a secret place where lies the great altar for demonic mass where only him and a few are able to enter and imprecate...
The left part is a kind of chruch where the north place is the underground cathedral with a hidden treasure room and the "triangle" room is a place where to pray when mass are over. The main corridor from the guard room to the church is for prayer while the small corridor is for officers to enter the cathedral from the transept.
I don't know what lies in the darker place of this underground evil temple, i.e. the strange room with no entrance (magic portal) ?

Regards,

Ann

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## Bogie

Thanks for the ideas, evil temple it is.
Here's some rep for being so helpful!

Now I have to decide on the walls and floor textures.  should I use 1 tile for all floors or different in each room?

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## maxsdaddy

Stick with one floor tile for all areas that were built at the same time, especially main rooms. Secret passages would probably not share the same tile, nor would special areas. Flagstones for high traffic areas, marble flooring for areas that are sacred etc. Go nuts on the flooring for that unattached space. Thanks for sharing so much on so many different threads!

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## Bogie

You're welcome, I have tons of art and maps that I have posted on the Dunjinnin Forums, and several other sites, so it is easy to post them again here, although I've already seen many maps here that have already been using my stuff, so some of the Guild members have found a lot of it.  
This map is brand new, and hasn't been posted anywhere else.

Thanks for the tips on the floor tiles.  I should get some more done on it this weekend, but I do have a game to run Saturday.

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## Bogie

I finally got around to doing a bit more work on the map.  I changed the walls and floors, more or less following the advice I received.  I added a few elements to start dressing up the map.  The grey background is temporary, I am looking for a good background to put the map on.

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## jfrazierjr

How does one enter this place?  What is the population(ie, does it need a few more smaller rooms for sleeping, food prep, midden, etc?)  I think putting one or more rooms (or sections) "sunken" would give it a bit of pop to stand out.   Perhaps even balcony around one of the rooms(the circle one perhaps?)... anyway, just some ideas for ya.

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## Bogie

The entrance will either be the dead end corridor on the left side or the bottom of the hexagonal room.

I could easily add some living quarters to the odd shaped room lower left corner.  

I like the balcony idea for the round room, have to see what I can do.

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## Bogie

I can't decide which of 2 balconies I like better, which one do you like?

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## jfrazierjr

Well... since i was the one that brought it up, I was actually thinking of a full room balcony...Given the cost of the tile in the main temple room, I would say this place is a bit on the upscale side... i so, go with the marble.  of course, if they spent all their cash on the temple, then go with the simple wood....  Either way, they look good...

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## Bogie

How's this one with a full balcony?

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## jfrazierjr

I think it's cool, but needs some more thought. The first obvious item is how does one understand that the adjoining hallways are "under" the balcony.  Perhaps "semi" transparent part of the balcony where the entrance would be.  Or perhaps semi transparent the entire balcony.   Or have the balcony avoid avoid one of the doors(the right would) and have stars up right outside the door(but that only solves the issue for one door.)   shrug... don't know.

You should think about the hand railing since the would not be made that way with board planks.  Ditto the columns likely.   For the railing, I would suggest adding smaller posts(these would not go to the floor of the room) and have the planks straight and not curved at all.   You would have to rotate the texture for each segment though to get it to look right (and/or go with a different approach all together, perhaps wrought iron railing)

Would it be possible to lay down a grid or something else to provide scale for your future images?   Oh and BTW, those stairs look awesome!!!

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## Bogie

The issue with the hallways passing under the balcony is why I did the partial balconies the first time.  I like how the full balcony looks better, but I'm not sure how to solve the problem.  Maybe an archway will do the trick.

I like the idea of wrought Iron rails, that should be easy to make.

I prefer maps without grids, but I understand some people want them so I will post with & without when it is done.

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## Coyotemax

take out the bit that looks like the wall blocking off the ends of the corridors, and put a shadow on the edge of the wood?

(the outer edge that is, that would go over the hallway, instead of looking like the hallways end)

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## jfrazierjr

> I prefer maps without grids, but I understand some people want them so I will post with & without when it is done.


Yea, I prefer no grid either since I use VTT(MapTool!!), but even a single square off to the side with a label will help us determine scale while you are building it.   Just a guess, but the round room appears to be about 25ft side to side(so 12.4 radius) if one considers a balcony of about 3 ft.  But an explicit scale would help use determine that easier.... :Smile:

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## Bogie

I think this is a lot better now.

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## jfrazierjr

Yep.. pretty cool.  Don't forget the inner shadow on the walls abutting the balcony planks.   You might want to consider having the shadow from the balcony be larger than the ones for the rest of the walls to make it appear "deeper"

The railing looks good.  I want to see the whole thing now though!   I would also suggest a bit of grunge on the planks and/or reducing the contrast on that layer.  At full size, it will be the brightest thing on the map so far so perhaps a bit of darkening would not hurt.

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## jfrazierjr

oh.. btw, did you make the doorways or get them from the DJ forums?  Those look nice and it's hard to find perspectivey doorways.

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## Coyotemax

that works - my only concern was that it looked like a dead end from outside the room.

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## Bogie

Thanks guys!  I appreciate your input.
@ jfrazierjr:  The "doorway" is an arch made by Greytale that I got at Dundjinni.  He does great work.

I have been working on the shadows and have almost finished the hidden inner chamber.  Can still make changes if you have any other ideas for this section.
The floor and pit in this room are also by Greytale

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## jfrazierjr

Cool, thanks for the hookup on the doors.

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## Bogie

I wasn't able to find Greytale's original post with these so I will post them here.  They are his art not mine, but I don't think he will mind.

I did find a thread on Dundjinni Forums with some other ones he made, Here is the link:  http://www.dundjinni.com/forums/foru...D=8147&KW=arch

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## greytale

Thanks Bogie for the kind words. Great Maps!

Jfrazierjr, Those arches are part of the stone set originally released at DJ.

They can be found there and also at the Nook.

The stoneset with arches http://www.greytale.com/wp/?p=952
Some other arches http://www.greytale.com/wp/?p=1249

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## Bogie

I finished the map.  Thanks to everyone who helped with advice and suggestions.

Made 2 versions, one with the original floor tiles, and one with floor tiles that create a 5' x 5' grid over most of the map.

The map was assembled in Dundjinni using mostly art from the DJ Forums and from Greytale's Nook.  
The backgrounds are from DiviantArt.com  Dirty_Stone_Slab_by_GrungeTextures  and   Grunge_Texture_by_struckdumb

Feedback, comments and constructive criticism always welcome.

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## dangerdog15

This is so much fun to look at. I like the symbols set in the stone floor.

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## Bogie

Thanks,  I try to make my maps so they look nice and are interesting to play on.

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## Voll-ka the Deceiver

To Quote the self styled "super villain" Megamind; "The difference between a 'good' villain and a 'super' villain is. . . PRESENTATION!".  So be it, an evil temple.  Always a 'good' idea, and lots of fun for 'good' characters/players to defeat.  But. . .'great' characters/players always remember 'great' ideas for which dungeons are based around.  So don't "sell" it to them cheap.  Demon worshiping, drug using, flesh sacrificing, Spiritualists get remembered (and mercilessly beaten) while evil clerics are just "C7, LE, AC4, HP25, etc...  The point (over-done though it may be) here is, throw in some adjectives, some color, something to remember you by.  Think Slaughter House, Wicked Hostel, or Vial Shrine.  Please don't think I'm being rude or disrespectful to any one, but I find that sometimes I get "lazy" when I'm filling in the spaces of my larger campaign with side dungeons ('small crawls' as we call them) or diversionary encounters and ease off of the creativity.  Sorry to use so many words to make so small a point, but it is an important one that I feel strongly about and constantly try to work on in my own game.  Consider applying this line of thinking to your interior design as well.  Colors, textures and smells are always important, but so are placement and function.  Whose to say some paranoid evil priest wouldn't put in a few extra doors for security, or take unusual or extravagant measures in his designs (like putting door handles on the opposite side of the door from the hinges to fool heroes into pulling when they should push).  The devil's in the details.

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## Bogie

Right, but you also missed the point of this dungeon.  I started with a basic outline and followed the advice from those who posted as to how they would like to see the dungeon finished.  One of the early points made was that all the floors should be the same with the exception of a couple special rooms.  So, while I normally use multiple floor textures and lots of details, I wanted to stay close the the parameters of those people who chose to help out with their advice.  People like lots of different style maps.  Some are much happier with a hand drawn outline on graph paper than a hyper realistic detailed map.  Your view of what a map should look like is just as valid as theirs but not any more so.

That being said, my maps usually tend to lean more in the direction you describe, just not for this project.
However it did not take much to make a few changes and pimp up the map, so here is a third version with more "flavor".
Some will like it more, but some will like it less, and that's OK.

Chateau Despair

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## Voll-ka the Deceiver

Thanks for the reply.  I love it.  Sorry if I got "over excited".  Maps were always one of my favorite parts of the game and I'm still learning the rules of propriety here.  Point taken.

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## Bogie

No problem Voll-ka, glad you like the final result.  And feedback is always welcome (as long as it is constructive, as yours was).

Welcome to the Forum!

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