Another Random Mega Dungeon Map

I added round corridor layouts to my map generator, here's a rescaled copy of a random output.

Door placement on thus could be tricky but I'll figure it out.

Randomly Generated Megadungeon Map

 a Randomly generated Megadungeon map:

Generated from a program I'm working on. Each tile on the map is 10' by 10', the image is scaled up 200% after generation. No doors just yet and there's still the occasional blocked route now and again but I'm definitely getting a different look from what I usually draw manually.

another one straight out of the program, no cropping or rescaling:

Post Apocalyptic Ruin Maps

 Fiddling about last night with programming a retro-stlye RPG map generator to spit out "city-size" ruin maps for games like Mutant Future and Gamma World. It's got a lot of work if I really want to do more with it, likely going to tack on an encounter generator to stock the ruins. Here's what it does so far:

Mountain Pass Hex Map

 A mountain pass to plug into virtually any fantasy campaign. A few caves to explore, some mysterious old towers, and the entrance to a dwarven stronghold.

click for 150dpi version

Old Tower Ruins Hex Map

Here is an Old Tower Ruins Hex Map for you. This one is much smaller scale than the previous ones, probably best to call it 30' to a hex.

This old tower ruin would be fitting for a brief adventure, some property a character inherits in a deed, or maybe standing over a dungeon entrance. It would work out pretty decently for a small skirmish battle as well.

I had a heck of a time getting the elevation contours hatch marks to come out right, I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. I made a variety of them that'll be truning up sometime in the next few days. 

 

Fantasyland Hex Map

 A more whimsical fantasy land hex map than the last two I posted. 

Click for 150dpi

 

This hex map is packed full of inspiration for players and DMs. Three possible polities, some indication of goings on in multiple places right on the map. Monsters, bountiful crops, fungus forests, ancient crumbling walls, strange blighted woods, and giant thistles. The implied scale here is smaller and tighter than the other two with the castle-towns sprawling across multiple hexes.

Post Apocalyptic Hex Map

 Here's a post apocalyptic hex map using some of the newer stuff I'm working on and my older Post Apocalypse Hex Symbols.

Click for 150dpi version

 

This map is packed with adventure opportunities. Ruined cities galore, a cracked dome arcology, and a sealed one as well. Strange hives in the rustlands, a vile toxic swamp, an ancient battlefield, and a massive pile of tires. 

Wilderness Hex Map

 Just for the fun of it a wilderness hex map.  

Click for 150dpi version.

I used my town and castle icons and a few new wilderness icons I'm testing out.  I didn't set it up to be keyed yet because I'm not to sure about scale. If you want to have fun with it feel free of course, just let other people know where you got it.

Further Joy of Hex

 Hex maps and RPG campaigns go back to the very first fantasy campaigns due to the wargaming roots of  the hobby. One of the features of the hex map I have always disliked was the monolithic nature of the hex symbol. In the standard hex map a single symbol defines the entire contents of an area outside specific notes that a GM may have on said hex. One way around that is to denote general elevation or terrain type by a color code (I have done some of that in the sample map here). Another way to expand on the utility of the hex map and get a use out of those hexes is a detailed hex border.

The detailed hex border adds a layer of detail that expands on the GM's descriptive repertoire and in the player's agency in making informed decisions. In the example map here I have provided a number of border details to expand details and to clarify.

In the sample map we have six general types of terrain. Border hexes expand on the relation between some hexes by indicating troublesome or notable differences in travel between hexes. The border details show are for elevation, forest travel, swamp hazard, and shoreline danger. Each border detail has 1 to 3 little marks for each symbol denoting the level of significance at that border from notable, serious, and major. 

A notable border feature would provide risk only to the unprepared and unskilled in navigating that feature. A serous border feature indicates a degree of hazard to experienced travelers and the major border feature indicates a rigorous challenge to the skilled. It is possible to mix border features as well and this compounds the potential hazard. 

 How serious each border hazard is would of course be relevant to  game, campaign, and even the adventure as what is noted could vary on map scale.  For ease of handling in old-school play a hazard can be avoided on a 1d6 roll over the number of hazards noted on the border detail, requiring specific equipment to make that roll, give a re-roll, or to avoid the impact of a hazard can expand utility an increase the utility in player choices.  One difference in elevation may just slow progress but failing a check against two could indicate a party member has stumbled, failing against could indicate no progress at all in absence of ropes in addition to the greater risk of a potentially deadly fall.

A GM could of course elaborate in notes as to the contents of a hex:

• D.2: The Village of Buckmay sits secluded in the forest and is difficult to approach due to the thick tangle of trees in the southwest and north. The forest opens up clearly to the northwest but the going looks rough to get into the hills, anyone traveling without a local guide stands the risk of falling far enough as to suffer 2d6 damage. 
  

I'm going to work on this idea some more and share it here of course. Difference in scales intrigues me the most as it may serve as a functional means to make more local hex travel meaningful. I'd be delighted in any reader's input.

The Castles and Habitations Chart pdf is available on Drivethrurpg as a PWYW.

The Castles & Habitation Chart pdf is available on Drivethrurpg as a PWYW.  It's editable and vector art so any higher end software should allow folks to pull off any symbols they should like for use on their own maps.

Link:
Castles & Habitations Chart



They let it go live last night so folks got it before I knew they could.

Castles& Habitations Chart

While working on my campaign map I brewed up a new set of icons/symbols for castles and other habitations. Sharing them here as a 1d100 chart jpeg file and it will be downloadable from drivethrurpg as a spiffy PDF soon.

Click for full size verison

The pdf will allow copying so you can use any icons you like on your own mapping projects. I'll post when it's available.

Mapping Away

More campaign map samples.  I got the borders in place for the holdings in the Hundred.

Still using symbol based terrain at this point. The map above is a screen clipping of the holdings of the various Lords of The Hundred (sans labels). The map show The Hundred and bordering territories. I got a lot of waterways on the map as they play a role in determining where borders are and where I'll eventually end up putting in keeps and villages.

Zoomed in a bit with filled in holdings. There is no significance to the fills in the image above they are simply used to make it easier to see the individual holdings. Some of the holdings are rather small with a handful being near a square mile, one much smaller.

I want the players to be able to have characters that are politically involved with estates and holdings of their own. Knowing where the various holdings actually are and what might be mentioned in a deed is the sort of thing I figure I'll need on a map.

More Campaign Map samples

Got some work in on the Riperia campaign map.

Above is a closer view of the general neighborhood of the campaign starting area. Changed the name of a Kingdom added a region label (most were there on the last map but not legible on the first sample). I did some work on the coastline of Fenardy and some icon geographical work done for The Hundred. (Hmm... just noticed the national border between two countries is missing in the sample shot.)

The map above is a zoom in to the geographic detail with iconographic symbols.  There is more river detail on this resolution of the map as well. For scale reference the coordinate grid (which I'll explain in a future post) is 16 miles across and an actual inch at 100% file resolution on the main file.  To come are the keeps and villages for 10 holdings, well thee were never actually a hundred but calling it The Hundred just sounded better than The Eighty Seven would have.  Next detail layer in the terrain will lose some of it's icons with hills and mountains shown as general changes in elevation and details will be exposed in the forests as well.

Campaign Prep and Sample Map

I've been prepping a new campaign and tuning house rules lately.  The training/loot-exp posts are part of that.  Here's the map of the grand overall campaign setting.

This is the continent of Aroa. The highlighted realm is Riperia. I've been playing with Riperia as campaign setting for a few years now and it's getting turned slightly and having the neighboring nations fleshed out a bit more.  The largest change beyond the overall expansion is the addition of the fey realms north of the Thornwall.  I've taking some place names from campaigns past and will be ressurecting pieces and shoving them in where they fit. No good reason to abandon over 35 years of campaign notes entirely.

Garforne, Gossland and Tridge survive from my earliest campaign map drawn in 1980 or so. Not sure if that map itself still exists. The Thornwall and nearby realms were initially worked up only a couple years ago. Some place names and associated histories will lurk form my late 80's/early 90's campaign.  The Talmyrian Empire is no more but it will be part of the history of thsi setting (I also have to dig out that map and revive a bunch of cities).

It is all in all a classical fantasy campaign with feudalism, quests, dragons and knights. This the only.human dominated portion of the world I'm likely to worry about for some time. Common Men share the world with Amazons, Valans, Brownies, Elves and Half-Elves (Light, Grey, and Dark), a variety of Hobs, Gnomes, A few types of Dwarves ( Hill, Dvarga, and Daro) , Gorans (Giant-kin), Beastmen of several kinds (Simbai-Felines, Vroo-Canines, Velch-Vultures,Aigossians-Goats, Pongar-Apes, Salamin-Reptiles) and wretched Trollkin. They are opposed by a wide variety of hostile folks including Bwgs, Trolls, Orcs, Giants, Dragons (both hive and solitary), Octons, Gargoyles. There will be little touches of sci-fantasy but it will not be an omnipresent sub-theme.

It's not all fun and games with the "friendly" races they don't even all have a homeland on the main campaign map but they are able to relate to men in a generally neutral if not friendly manner. Elves tend to want to be left alone. Hobs would rather tend to their own affairs as well but don't mind having a human over as a dinner guest. Dwarves are concerned more with the subsurface world but openly trade with humanity. The Goran are found worldwide but their ancestral homeland remains (mostly as old ruins in Gossland). Most of the beastmen hail form lands beyond the map but the Aigossians are native to Chalconia and Vroo to the wilds of Targoth.

Despite the presence of a few types of elves, dwarves, and halfling I want to avoid ren-fairia as much as possible. There will be no elven serving maids at the local pub and while people are aware the Simbai exist they may have difficulty dealing with one in the flesh. The Vroo actually have rather poor reputation as raiders and brigands within Cymria. Yeah it's an "almost europe".

Enough rambling for now. The map is going to change and have a lot of details added. The original map is a computer file 160 inches to 200 inches across at 16 miles to the inch.  With over 8,000,000 miles to fill I should be able to fit in a lot of stuff worth posting about for years to come.

Monsters on the Map !!!!

A quick quiz:
Which sample map shows there is a 1 in 6 chance there will be a 2d6 skeletons coming down the hall?

As per last post ,maps can be made even spiffier (i.e. more interesting to look at and more immediately useful in play) by putting things on the map. Added a couple icons to the map and at a glance I can tell you where there's a mummy, a band of bugbears, and a possibility of bumping into a pack of skeletons. The monster icons need not even be as detail as here as little frowning faces would do the trick as well.

With more useful information on the map the DM can better play out what the response could be to things like the door being kicked in between #1 and #2. I'm curious about the relationship between those bugbears and the mummy as I can see the both at once without going through the room descriptions.

If there's room, put it on the map.

Sure one can argue agaisnt cluttering the map up with monsters that will be dead, that's what erasers, delete buttons and crossing out monsters is meant for.  If #3 had an x scrawled through the bugbears it should be pretty obvious there are bugbear corpses present unless the dungeon has a really good clean-up crew.

Spiffier Dungeon Maps

Make spiffy dungeon maps when you are brewing up your own dungeons. Put more information on the map and make them look more dynamic if you plan on looking at it for more than a couple of minutes or are writing up something for others to use.

Bog standard dungeon on left, Spiffy map with more information on the right.

It isn't real hard to see which one is more interesting and has more useful information on it does it?
The stop signs with #'s indicate lock difficulty (written in this example as a level for illustration purposes). Ceiling heights are shown in case anyone climbs, flies, levitates, or is just plain old big (there is an assumed default becasue ceiling height isn't noted everywhere). Things are spread out and given more interesting shapes, and some pillars are put in a room for eye-candy and illustration purposes.  Room #4 was given a tilt to make it more interesting and the run of narrow corridor past the door connecting to room #3 creates a little more drama and sense (along with actual) distance. The intersection #1 is widen to give it some character and the tunnel leading to #1 from the west is also offset from the door to increase variety and to change sight-lines and firing arcs for dungeon explorers.

Just a little effort and a dungeon map can go from blah to interesting with increased utility.

Playing With Hex Renders

Just playing with alternate ways to render hexes for a hex crawl, here's test shots of the same generic layout with three different renders. It was quickly slapped together so the hexes don't line up perfectly so I was thwarted in putting a squashed hex grid over the sample for now.

Click for Higher Res Image

Worth the time or too out there for you?

The Fetid Wilds [Sample Map]

Here's a 100 dpi version of the map for The Fetid Wilds, an upcoming post-apocalypse hexcrawl to be published soon.

The Fetid Wilds will use the standard Mutant Future Rules with optional starting equipment. Other Hexcrawls in the works as well, some will be posted here, some will be released as pdfs (for retail or PWYW depending on project). I hope to be able to get out a number for various systems and mean them to be used for mini-campaigns or to fill in sections beyond the edge of a GM's map. The encouraging success of The Space Monkey PC I came out with last year has emboldened me to push on with self-publishing.

No Man's Land Maps

Here are two maps I was working on for my Mutant Front No Man's Land Project a couple years ago.  Konsumterra of Elfmaids & Octopi has a series of posts with interesting tables for a Great Weird War campaign and some GM using those may be able to make use of these maps in their own campaigns.

Map 1, a huge chunk of the Western Front (some cities labelled)

Map 2, a smaller section of the Western Front with labelled hexes

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo: maps free for personal use,  if you use them online please credit me and provide a link back to here.

There's a freak chance I'll finish labeling the cities on Map 1 if enough people ask and I can find the time.

Sterile Dungeons

In a thread at Original D&D Discussion about running Tegel Manor Geoffrey McKinney made some comments on how good the map for thatadventure is. I recall liking the map but had forgotten why some folks think it’s special. I realized something I do myself and an awful lot of other folks likely do: we produce sterile dungeon maps. Big empty maps full of walls and door locations and numbers but mostly empty space.

I myself post a number of maps and map sections on this blog but I do them with an eye to other people making use of them for themselves so I don’t clutter the maps with a bunch of stuff I use when making maps as I use them in play.  I leave a lot of empty space for other DMs to fill in their own stuff, I even leave out the doors some of the time when posting maps here because those pesky doors are an adventure specific feature of many a dungeon adventure.  I think I and many other dungeon builders are shorting each other and everyone else. What I put on my maps for my own use but don’t usually put on maps I post here: traps and trap trigger areas, dungeon vegetation, floor properties, ceiling heights, treasure locations, grumpy smiley faces (meaning monster in this room), air quality, and clutter. When I was a kid I often used big 22”x17” sheets to map out my dungeons at 1” to 10’, an entire dungeon might have ended up all on the maps but as I became more sophisticated and wanted bigger dungeons I drifted towards the more conventional and sterile style of map and notes even if I tend to go beyond empty walls and number for my own use.

My dungeon maps get really cluttered and full as the dungeon is used in play. Footprints get put on the map, dead bodies and broken doors get noted, player navigation marks are noted. A lot of little things end up down on the map that become notable and even important with repeated play in the same dungeon, I end up noting circles of illumination sometimes that really help when describing things (why I don’t do that a heck of a lot more often beforehand I do not know).

I think I’m tired of sterile dungeon maps, we all should be. I’m going to have to put more on the maps I post here and I hope other folks do as well.