# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Dungeon/Subterranean Mapping >  One Page Dungeon WIP: The Underground River

## RecklessEnthusiasm

I thought the One Page Dungeon contest didn't seem to have enough isometric entries, so I thought I'd whip something up. Here is the beginning of my Underground River entry. Just getting started, but I am digging the vibe.

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## RecklessEnthusiasm

Update.

Now I just need to figure out what to put in it and what to mark as exciting landmarks. Any ideas?

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## Jaxilon

Looking good so far.

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## Steel General

Nice start RE... as for what to put in it, the first thing that popped into my head was a boat full of Oompa-Loompa's  :Very Happy:

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## anstett

One thing to consider is stalactites. I know it would seem weird to just have one hanging in mid-air but perhaps along the one wall where you have a couple of stalagmites on the ground just 180 them and have them hanging there near them?

Occupants? Spider webs and bones are a good start. How about the broken remains of a small skiff floating tied up to that one stalagmite in the river?

BOB

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## jfrazierjr

Since you don't have much to work with and have to put in text, unless you have something specific planned, I would suggest moving the title text to the top right and make it one line(or play with some type of overlap effect).   This would give you plenty of room for the description of the contents.   Personally, I would also suggest adding another room or three.   nice stuff you are doing here, it's a good start... looking  forward to seeing the finished piece.

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## RecklessEnthusiasm

Awesome advice! I will definitely be adding a boat floating there in the river, and maybe a wrecked one or two as well--I like the idea that this is sort of a secret transit-point to some underground dungeon--the moist entrance, if you will...  :Razz: . I think bones and webs are a great idea, or goblins (which are pretty much the same as oompah loompahs, yeah?). I'll have to pick a monster 'theme' and go with it. I might add a couple rooms, as there seems to be plenty of space for it. Of course, the more rooms I add, the less space I have to write and the more I must write within said space. Hmm.

What do we think of, say, a goblin-run toll booth to pass through to the river? Only, the goblins' toll is all of your money and items, or your life. Then the extra room could be their treasure-room where they toss the gold and items on one side and the bones and rotting corpses on the other (the 'food pile')?

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## anstett

For a generic competition I would leave it as "toll taker" rather than goblin to give the end user full control over what they place there by level/genre/etc

Grins, if it was my campaign, it would be a doppelganger and something else that _could_ take everything but "you look like nice people, we will only take half from you" and then make the players paranoid for why they got away with something. 

BOB

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## rdanhenry

Bats, cave sharks, and caveman paintings.

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## RecklessEnthusiasm

> cave sharks.


Best idea yet.

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## tilt

looking great RE - nice colors  :Smile:

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## RecklessEnthusiasm

I need to study Torstan's work more and figure out how he gets such clean and smooth line-art...

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## RecklessEnthusiasm

Still interested in finishing! Just need to think this thing through a big more... Need more dressing!

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## Gamerprinter

Remember that each encounter location needs a label, then a text description of what the encounter is (without game mechanics) somewhere on the map. Last year, though my map was a favorite and I hypertext linked an entire adventure in the map - I didn't win because I didn't list what the monster encounters were on the map - which is a requirement for the contest.

Somebody on the previous page of this thread suggested to list your goblin toll-taker as just a toll-taker - it would be better to say 'goblin toll-taker' because just a 'toll-taker' will cause you to not win the contest. Remember this contest features winners in multiple categories, so if I remember right, last year there were something like 15 winners altogether - there are multiple chances to win this contest.

And although there are some great prizes, its the status of 'winning this contest' that has any real meaning -- and I want to win. I want you to win too!

GP

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## RecklessEnthusiasm

Gameprinter - Thanks for the tips! I've never designed an encounter before, so this will be tricky for me--I hate to have to mark up my map with lots of letters and symbols, but if that is what it takes to win then I'm down for it! Anyhow, I've downloaded all the winning maps from last year and will model my textual entries off them--hopefully that will put me on the right path.

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## Gamerprinter

Well look at my map entry (on this board, and right now the thread below yours). You'll note I have a title of the map, all chambers with encounters listed (no mechanics), my name, a link to the Creative Commons License, and the map itself - all following the requirements of the contest.

If you want to keep your map unlabeled for personal uses, just save the labeled version as a separate file name, so you can have both! Also remember that the final map needs to be 300 dpi, as a JPG, Doc, or PDF file.

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## RecklessEnthusiasm

Okay, I think I am about finished unless anyone noticed anything I forgot or should add/subtract. I think I covered all the requirements: 300dpi .jpg, name, author, key, licence with link. The goblins' spelling mistakes are intentional. Any others are not... already fixed the "liscence" typos in the bottom right, by the way.  :Smile: 

I worked in the cave art and even the cave sharks.  :Smile:  Anyway, let me know what you think!

--Thanks to Steel General, anstette, jfrazierjr, rdanhenry, gameprinter, and tilt for your advice and kind words!

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## jtougas

Fantastic RE  :Smile:

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## RecklessEnthusiasm

Thanks a bunch, JT! There are some pretty awesome prizes listed on the O.P.D. page--here's hoping I can take a couple home.  :Smile: 

Will you be participating!?

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## Ascension

Looks really nice, man.

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## jtougas

> Thanks a bunch, JT! There are some pretty awesome prizes listed on the O.P.D. page--here's hoping I can take a couple home. 
> 
> Will you be participating!?


No. I can't really handle any kind of competition right now. (my challenge entries here are proof of that). For some reason it just shuts down my ability to map anything. Hopefully that goes away. Plus with the caliber of entries I wouldn't have a chance  :Smile:

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## DevinNight

That map looks great, nice job on the coloring and the transparency. If I was going to give you any criticism I'd say to take the stroke off the text, darken it just a bit and keep the glow around it. Maybe keep the stroke on the light colored call outs. As it is the stroke creates a kind of blur effect on the text making it harder to read.

Best of luck!

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## geamon

I'm entering RE, just trying to have something substantially completed before I post it.

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## RecklessEnthusiasm

Ascension - I appreciate it. Will you be entering this year?
jtougas - that's a shame, I always love seeing what you come up with!
DevinNight - Thanks for the advice! Is this version any better?
gaemon - I'd love to see a WIP though! No need to be shy!

I just noticed that the image has a higher contrast and grittiness in the thumbnail that I kind of prefer... Hm.

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## DevinNight

in my opinion, much better. nice job.

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## cfds

That looks great.

(But you have a typo in encounter 3, it should be "indeed dynamite".)

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## anstett

Like the graffiti touch!

BOB

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## jfrazierjr

fix speelin




> 6. ..... Landing atop the it's back..

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## jfrazierjr

fix... remove "the"




> 6. ..... Landing atop the it's back..

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## rdanhenry

4. Two "r"s in "barrels". "Well-placed" and "indeed" have also suffered letter pilferage. Dang goblins!
5. The goblins would "poke" their heads out to take a "peek".
6. As already noted, remove the "the" in "the its back". It barks? Really? I guess the goblins have truly domesticated it.
9. To keep tense consistent change "catched" (which would be "caught" anyway) to "catches". It should be a comma rather than a period after "Pleeeze"
10. "Alerted" - Well, we found one of those missing letters, anyway. Huzzah! Cave sharks!

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## RecklessEnthusiasm

Best team of copy-editors around! Thanks guys. I always seem to have problems typing in photoshop, often because I am too zoomed out to see what shows up.

Reuploaded a fixed version in the earlier post.

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## DevinNight

After 4: do you need a space before the Y? It looks a bit tight.

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## RecklessEnthusiasm

Good catch! Okay, _re-_re-uploaded in the previous update. I think it'll be the final version. I really should especially thank djekspek and torstan who were my inspiration for this style.

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