Old-school dungeon map tutorial

[Kris]

After receiving a couple of requests on how to draw old-school dungeon maps (like the one pictured below) I thought I would try my hand at writing a quick tutorial with the aim of doing just that.

Anyway, I think I might have made it sound way more complicated than it actually is, but if anyone's interested in giving it a try, here's a link to each part of the tutorial:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

(note that for this tutorial I have only used freely available software - so anyone can give it a try)

 

[Gilladian]

Cool!

 

[amerigoV]

I'll add a couple of tips based on the sample map:

1. Do not put doors/entry points in the middle of a wall of a room. Take a walk around your workplace and home - most entry points are closer to one edge of a wall as it maximizes the use of space in the room - good examples are rooms 4/5 and 16/17. Churches, Cathedrals, and grand entryways tend to break this rule as their is a goal to impress the person instead of maximizing space (room 8).

2. Look to make irregular shaped rooms. Rooms with symmetry along one or both axis tend to result in static encounters. There is nothing more boring than a square or rectangular room (granted they make sense in many situations). While this map has a number of different shaped rooms, every room has an axis of symmetry. When you couple it with coming into the middle of the room - everyone can see each other resulting fixed encounter lines before initiative is ever rolled. The most interesting room I see is entering Room 24 from Room 25. This will likely create a more dynamic encounter since part of 24 is hidden from view.

 

[howandwhy99]

Here's a tip: Creatures who build are following a different behavioral pattern than those who don't. Many creatures, cuckoos bird to orc kings, don't build at all, but take. So how they use their space often differs quite considerably from the intent of the original designers.

Which brings me to point 2: Almost everything built is crafted by creatures based upon their intent, knowledge, and intelligence. Many animals dig lairs, build nests, or search for a protective home like lions in a tree. Maps that require inclusion of perceived needs, whether it be defensive walls and traps or kitchens and bathrooms, tend to be more interesting than those which have no purpose. Of course the locations do not need to be about these design intentions any longer, but part of exploring them gives players clues to what has been, what may be, and where to expect finding something now lost.

I would suggest imagining locations you would want to explore, who then would want to create those, how they had the capacity to do so, and then "build" it all using the rules of the game so the players can follow all the connects as they desire.