Dungeon Style Test

[mthomas768]

I decided I needed to work on some B&W style maps, so I threw together a quick dungeon map as a test / practice piece. My goal here is to produce something that will work in print, and as a VTT map. The grid is 5' squares at 75px / square. It prints at US letter.

The feature layout in this is pretty nonsensical, but I'm fairly happy with how the base map looks. Some of the features are still WIP. Opinions?

WIP04.jpg

Oh, features:

• South-west room - lava pools
• Altar and dais north of lava
• Two crevices (slightly different styles) to the west
• Three pits - covered, open, and water-filled
• Assorted statues and coffins
• Large rectangular water pool and central statue / fountain
• Up and down shaft markers in the south room, trap indicator in the hall nearby
• Secret door marker (that's probably the wrong version)

[madcowchef]

I like the good clean features of the map, all the elements are strong and easy to read. The only thing I don't care for is the fill around the edges, its neither classical (rock forms, cross hatching) nor does it seem to convey any information about whats on the other side of the wall.

[mthomas768]

I'm not happy with the fill either. I am not a huge fan of hatching patterns, I usually find them distracting. I'm trying out some smooth, half-tone fills now. Here are some samples

WIP05.jpg

[mthomas768]

And here's yet another iteration with a few more features in. I also rebuilt the pits and picked a single fill style for the background.

WIP06.jpg

[madcowchef]

This is excellent. Simple, clean, thick black and white for printing. If there is any criticism I have its that the fill extends a bit far for my taste, but I think that's very much in the eye of the individual beholder.

[mthomas768]

Here's another iteration / test using the same map, with a slight speckled wall shadow treatment. After I added the boulders I wanted to try out a rougher shadow treatment. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I think it looks good for the walls, but I think it may add too much noise to the detail shadows if I use it there.

WIP07.jpg

Thanks madcowchef for the comments. I'm still not 100% happy with the background fill either. It's a bit too regular to my eye, though I like the effect of the subtle wash pattern (hopefully I can figure out exactly how I did that).

[Green-Pilgrim]

WIP07a.jpg

1. I love your lettering and clean lines.
2. The border shading works for me. Simple and effective.
3. The 'dots' inside your walls kind of throws me. They're not large enough to really get my attention as 'shadow' and it's a little too light to be easily noticed.

Other than that I love the style.

Keep 'em coming.

-GP

[mthomas768]

Thanks! I did implement a more spatter-ish interior shadow on this map, which I think works a bit better: http://www.cartographersguild.com/du...r-caverns.html

[MarcTassin]

I think what works well in Traitor Caverns is that when you get those tight little passages, the spatter shadow blends together and makes them feel appropriately claustrophobic, which is a nice effect. I agree that it works less well on the finished floors and hard lines of this dungeon.