What techniques do people use for making dungeon maps, especially if you’re publishing a module? Are you drawing and then scanning them in? Or are you creating them entirely digitially? I’ve seen a couple things as far as GIMP and Photoshop but would be helpful to know what people recommend.
I know there is also stuff like dungeon scrawl and so on which is good for home games, but maybe a bit less flexible for full-on modules.
I enjoy drawing the image on grid paper and taking a photo. Low-tech but it works.
Sometimes I’ll do something digitally, but my tools are coarse and it takes longer.
I draw mine on graph paper using a pretty standard method - pencil, then go over with ink, then add some shading with a marker.
Then I scan it in with my brother printer/scanner combo, load it into gimp and touch up the coloring and remove the grid.
I’ll try throwing together an example of the steps later tonight or this weekend.
I love to doodle dungeon maps, it’s like a meditative exercise for me.
However, if I want something cleaner, easier to use digitally, I re-draw them in GIMP. Here’s my workflow, with examples and links: Eldritch Fields: How do I make dungeon maps? A tutorial...
Just a few random notes re: mapping. I run into these problems often, most recently while working on this thingie.
The basic map is a two-dimensional projection, “seen from above” at ground level/foundation. This works well – until you introduce any element that would overlap with the floor in this projection.
Corridors ducking under each other are relatively simple to represent.
Balconies, catwalks, bridges are slightly harder, with dotted lines.
In certain instances, it’s just the easiest to draw a cross-section of the room. Much easier than trying to remember it or trying to conveying it with word only in a publication.
I also find that such an easy thing as writing a word or two on the map does a lot of heavy lifting… “bridge, 40’ above”, “lake, 10’ deep”, “window at 15’”, very useful…
Dungeons are good, because they are mostly PURELY INTERIOR. Underground or cut into bedrock or whatever.
When you are doing a free-standing building, your work-load quadruples right away. A dungeon room that, say, takes up 12 squares on your map is just that: 12 squares.
A free-standing building with the same footprint will have a roof. Several levels. Might have windows, doors, etc. A fortress will have a courtyard, space on top of the walls, inside the towers…
So you have to decide what to map out 1:1 and what to abstract or generalize.
The “old-school” approach is to map out everything, have several overlaying maps (at ground level, at roof level, etc.). If there are repeating instances, e.g. bastion of a fort, you map out just one. But there is a limit, and perhaps here it’s good to think about whether it’s worth to do such a map, whether it will really come up in play. Will there be a “dungeon crawl style” exploration procedure – or will it be more generalized.
[/random notes]
Here’s my process, first I draw the map on grid paper in pencil, and then go over everything in ink:
Next I add in some texturing, grid lines, etc:
After that I add some texture to the exterior, making it easier to see what is “inside” and what is “out.”
Finally I add shadows using a marker.
Once all of this is done, I scan it in using my Brother Scanner. I go into Affinity Designer and remove the background paper and grid lines, and then add some shapes and numbers for keying.
Brother printer/scanner, the OSRest of office supplies…
