# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Dungeon/Subterranean Mapping >  Dwarven City of Kuglutuk

## aeshnidae

Working on a dwarven city, which has an outside (above ground) portion but is primarily housed inside a mountain. Dwarves started mining and then created a city in the empty caverns. I started with a pencil sketch of the city as a side view, but then decided it would work better as an isometric map.

----------


## aeshnidae

Next I added buildings, drawn using a Wacom tablet and Photoshop. I looked online for examples on which to base my buildings, since I'm not the best at drawing actual things.

----------


## aeshnidae

It took seemingly forever to fill in all the buildings. Thankfully I actually thought to save each structure as a separate layer in a different PSD file. "Duplicate layer" is my friend. <3



Next up...adding some walls. I'm also looking for advice on whether/how to color the different layers. The map is supposed to be cluttered because I figured an underground city would become cluttered. But I'm also planning to use this map for in-game play and am considering color coding the different levels, label them, or both. I've got a version of the blank floor plan with labels:

----------


## Mouse

This looks like an interesting approach, Aeshnidae  :Smile: 

One thing that strikes me is that there doesn't seem to be a system of rapid ascent/descent.  No shutes, lift shafts, or main stairwells that go all the way up or down in one go.

Other than that, a very interesting modular approach  :Smile:

----------


## aeshnidae

Thanks, Mouse! Yes, the lack of rapid upwards/downwards movement is on purpose because I'm using this for a D&D game and don't want the PCs to be able to bypass certain levels. They have some flying potions and also have a tendency to unintentionally skip over huge chunks of maps that are crucial for the plot.  :Very Happy:  I think I will add lifts for non-game purposes...maybe a lift shaft beneath each of the Mayan-looking pyramids?

----------


## Mouse

Now that you have explained your evil plan....  :Razz: ..... I don't see that you need to add any lifts at all  :Wink: 

No escape, eh?

Mwahahahahahahaw.............

----------


## aeshnidae

What's great is that they have to break IN as well as break out. Mwahahaha indeed!  :Evil: 

I realized the map didn't show the Chieftain's Vault, located directly beneath the nobles' district. I have that as a separate dungeon map but I'm going to print this one out in large format, so I need the players to be able to see where the vault is located. What do you think of the cut-away? (The buildings visible in the cut-away are not supposed to line up with the buildings above.)

----------


## Mouse

I'm a bit confused by the missing vault between the key map (the one with the names of the different areas), and this latest map.

If by cut-away you mean the areas that show the backdrop of rock, they are very good.

I was never very good at using the correct terms for things, so that probably isn't what you mean at all.

One other thing that strikes me, and its relatively minor compared to the complexity of the map as a whole, is that the buildings in the clan quarters do seem to be very regularly spaced on a grid system of some kind.  Do you think it would be better to make them a bit less regular, and more rambling/cluttered, as if they have evolved over time?

----------


## aeshnidae

Ah! You're confused because I fiddled with the outline between the labeled draft and the current one. The thickest section (far left) has contains a sub-level, which contains a stronghold and vault. I want my players to see that there's something underground (err...under-underground?) in that district.

----------


## Mouse

Well in that case it does exactly what it says on the can  :Wink: 

I presume you will be doing individual maps of the bits that can't be seen on this one?

----------


## aeshnidae

Indeed I will! For instance, this is the vault:

----------


## Mouse

You seem to have all of this very well planned.

I look forward to the full finished collection  :Smile:

----------


## aeshnidae

Updated - now with walls! I think this is pretty much done in terms of the floor plan. Still have to decide if I want to color the sections, and I'm thinking of doing a little inset with a side view of the city. (Mouse, I do agree that the clan housing areas are overly ordered. But I can't bring myself to redo them so I'll settle for very tidy dwarves. ;-))

----------


## aeshnidae

Updated again, with colored sections.

----------


## aeshnidae

Is it final? Who knows! It's what I'm considering final until I find some minor error that I'm too OCD to let slide. ;-)

----------


## rdanhenry

I think when you combine underground housing, underground industry, and mining, you really do need to be very disciplined about it and centrally planned in order to avoid having it all fall apart, as in literally collapsing on itself.

----------


## aeshnidae

Added exterior buildings and another statue...pretty sure I'm done futzing with this now. In terms of city stability, there's a substantial chunk of mountain between the layers, vertically and horizontally. And if that's not sufficient...it's magic. ;-)

----------


## Mouse

Magic cures all kinds of ills  :Wink: 

Nice looking map, Aeshnidae  :Smile:

----------


## Bogie

Looks good Aeshnidae, lots of different sections for gaming.

----------


## aeshnidae

Thanks, Bogie! I've got the vault laid out as a dungeon and I'm working on the markets now.

----------


## aeshnidae

I decided that blueprints to the Chief's Stronghold & Vault would be more fun than the traditional dungeon-style map:



Also did a close-up of the markets. (I did _not_ draw the scenes inside the Temple of Koho. I drew the temple cut-away, giant statue, and flames surrounding the statue but I lifted the scenes from a Google image search. I manipulated them quite a bit in Photoshop but it's not my art. I will probably draw my own scenes at some point but ran up against a gaming deadline.)

----------


## damonjynx

> It took seemingly forever to fill in all the buildings. Thankfully I actually thought to save each structure as a separate layer in a different PSD file. "Duplicate layer" is my friend.


You could've also saved each "object" as a brush which would probably help manage your layer stack.

This is really nice, your cut-away is really good too.

On your last post, you show squares as being 5ft but there's no grid, is that intentional?

----------


## arsheesh

Nice work on this.  The cut-away looks great and the subtle color themes help distinguish the various levels.  The old blue map looks nice as well.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

----------


## aeshnidae

> You could've also saved each "object" as a brush which would probably help manage your layer stack.
> 
> This is really nice, your cut-away is really good too.
> 
> On your last post, you show squares as being 5ft but there's no grid, is that intentional?


Thanks! Yes, I did save objects as brushes but for some reason the brush turned out to be _very_ light. I'm not sure why that is, because I've turned other objects into brushes with no problem. 

The lack of grid is unintentional. It was showing up fine and then suddenly was not, and I haven't had time to troubleshoot it (well, I didn't have time back when I posted, and then I forgot).

----------


## aeshnidae

I finally had time to address the grid issue and fix some little things that were nagging at me. I think it's now final!

----------


## Arkidemis

It turned out well. Great job and fantastic detail.

----------


## aeshnidae

Thank you, Arkidemis! I really appreciate the feedback from everyone on this thread - it helped me put some finishing touches on the map that would not have happened otherwise. You all helped make this a much better final (errr...final enough) version.

----------

