"Designing Your Dungeoncrawls" Topic

When you are using dungeon tiles (2D or 3D) to create a DungeonCrawl tabletop, do you design the dungeon ahead of time, or do you just create it ad hoc with the tiles on the tabletop?

Depends.

Both

Yes.

What mwindsorfw, Doctor X, and miniMo said.

As an aside, Doctor X and have frequently been on opposite sides of isdurs in the past, but we seem to view things more alike as time goes on.

We have? I never noticed. But I will enjoy the synergy while I can I guess!

Either design ahead or use a system to generate it as we go along.

A lot of players like to go to the left. This is because GMs tend to be less traps on that side. Therefore, I put more nasty things on left hand paths.

With tiles I lay out as we go. But sometimes tiles aren't a fit. I'll prepare​ staging if it's appropriate for game start. Sometimes for small enough maps I'll print them out in figure scale and have ready but rolled up, with the rooms and corridors masked by Post-Its, and lay out when the players get there.

For tiles,

I haven't figured out a good system to have the rooms pre-made up. I would need 3" deep stackable boxes, with sides that can be folded flat.

Note I use isometric tiles (2D with vertical components but without walls, or if you prefer, 3D with the walls removed).

The main challenge with laying tiles as you go is you have to teach yourself that the tiles only have to match the map tactically, not literally. And players love to help laying then out.

Full set up first. My method is using a 3D dungeon with all the encounters/background set up and then covered with index cards. The cards are removed as the party moves.

Done both. Sometimes I use a pre-made map, which I follow as best I can. Other times, I make up a layout right before the game, formulating my plans as I lay it out. Both work. Both have their merits.

I built a 2.75D map of The Steading of the Hill Giants, per the original map. Had a blast with it. Ran it at Tundra Con, last January. Planning to build a full 3D map of the Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, per the original map, for next year's Tundra Con event. Really looking forward to playtesting that one. Cheers!

Here is a closer look at one approach to multi-layer dungeoning in a small space.

I built a 2.75D map of The Steading of the Hill Giants, per the original map.

Now that brings back some bad memories.

Went in there with a fairly large group but many were a few levels than needed to be.

The King was waiting for us down near the treasure room.

After watching a priest get torn to pieces by their God (he kept on trying to call on the God to help and the God had finally got Fed up and gave him a choice).

That did not end well for the priest but the God did teleport all those lower level guys hundreds of miles away.

So that left just a few of us left my character jump out and shot off a Wand of Ice. Used a Ice Storm spell on it hoping to cause some major damage.

Yup major damage did happen but not the giants and their allies, since the Cone of Ice end a few feet short of the monsters.

The giant's boulders on the other hand had plenty of range to hit me.

Oh I was still alive but just barely.

So using the Wand of Ice my brother and I created a Wall of Ice to block the Hill Giants that were attempting to attack us from behind.

I was going to do the same to the front area as well and was going to fire off a Fireball though the hole that the Giants were making and have my brother create a new Wall of Ice but…

When I turned around to tell him that he had turned the Wand of Ice on himself and had encased his character in a huge block of ice.

Well that left two of us left and me without my Wand of Ice the other guy character was able to sneak pass the Giants to our front and had headed down another path to the outside.

So there I was surrounded by lots of Giants and their minions and my brother in a block of ice.

So I did the smart thing and got the hell out of there.

Oh and my brother, well the giants just threw him into the river and the ice melted sometime later.