Dungeon Craft: Segment 3

Welcome back to the Dungeon Craft series. Last time you were informed of various methods that can be used to create your dungeon map. From doing it all by hand, all the way to free generators on the internet. Now since we've decided upon the medium in which the players will view the world from, let us craft. I'm using the pen and paper method, so these are my tools of the trade.

Figure 1: My DM/GM toolbox

Don't worry you only need a pencil, normal paper, and an eraser. Everything there I got either as a present, found on the side of the road (like the old 1980's printer paper), in closet, or from a teacher trying throw out old supplies. The dice I did buy for myself. I'm fairly frugal, which why I use this method.

Now this may become confusing moving forward. The reason is whenever I start burning out on one thing I switch to another to keep going. Example: I'm drawing out a map of the dungeon, my hand starts cramping. In response I switch to the computer and with my off hand type out more background for major Non Player Characters (NPCs) for the dungeon. Still, I well attempt to keep my thoughts as clear as possible.

This dungeon is meant to have multiple factions for players to interact with. Best course of action is to write out how these factions relate to each other. If something doesn't seem right like "why would goblins ally with dwarves?" in your own dungeon then you can remove the plot hole by filling it in, or just getting rid of that alliance to where the plot hole never existed in the first place. This webbing technique is useful to more visually inclined people because then they can see how groups are reacting to each other.

Figure 2: Factions Web

This is my second form of. I actually opened a simple text document in notepad and typed out some general features. Royalists, Nobles, Paladins, and Mercenaries. Whenever I webbed it seemed too simple, and boring. We aren't going for a straight forward charge in and kill everything dungeon, we want airs of intrigue and clashing ideals. In response I added on and gave conflicting relations. The Mage's Guild being neutral okay, but being allied to both groups raises interest. Are they attempting to play both sides off each other, are they trying to mediate, or are they simply hedging their bets?

Figure 3: Notes

After the web I went to a random name generator and began coming up with NPCs for these various groups. I added, removed, and modified most of them. The main things I want are perhaps the reasons for the conflict. Nobles want rights returned to them, historically governments try to centralize and gain more power. Feudal lords aren't really victims themselves, but maybe this is something that has been simmering for a few decades. This would give some credence and humanity to the rebelling faction; I don't like villains who go "rawr I is evil SMASH MAIM DESTROY!" So villains with an somewhat understandable motive are more engaging. Especially if any of players have the Noble background for their characters, increasing their chance of being sympathetic.

Figure 4: Style Test

Next I sketched out a rough idea of what art style I would be using. I really had to consider where on this spectrum to go, and it revolved around whether or not the players would look at the map anyway. My Saturday group has maps to look at, but they tend to ignore them and just ask me if they're close enough, my girlfriend does the same. With that in mind the fancy looking isometric version, while lovely, would be a waste of graphite and ink. It also makes it much easier to trace out this ambitious dungeon I've concocted.

If this was the wilderness I could just make the whole map first, and through the party in arbitrarily. A dungeon needs to feel confined, like there is only one or two directions the party can go. It is important to know where the party starts. I considered to give a few major factions their own starting points, that way it could be replayed from different perspectives if need be, but that seemed too confusing and wanderlusty. I decided to procrastinate on the idea and type more in my faction notes. Then I simply wrote down some general locations and rolled a dice at it. If it turns out a boring start while I'm working on it, then I will redo it and keep what was made as another portion of the dungeon.
The dice dictated they start with a character known as the Baron King. This might be useful as he is  written down as part of the overall Mercenary faction. He is also called the Baron King because he owns through force of will, wealth, influence, and inheritance multiple baronies across this portion of the continent. This could be used to explain why the party, which will most likely be very diverse, would work for him. His reasons for jumping in could be that the conflict endangers some of his property in the area, or he simply wishes to give his forces to the highest bidder and profit.

We have a patron but we still don't have a starting place. Perhaps the Baron King owns a manor inside the city, or he is at a war camp outside it. From here we can imagine the players being in a safe spot to gather their bearing before venturing out. They might also be given different ways of entering the dungeon. Perhaps a large battle where they join the Baron King's other forces in taking a portion of the walls?

Figure 5: Baron King's Camp

The map itself isn't impressive because I decided my groups wouldn't actually be looking at the maps, and I would simply need to fill in what they see. For now we will sit on this and take a break from dungeon crafting. When making your own dungeon you should do this too. Whenever you comeback you might have a new idea come, or revise something, and so on. Perhaps by the next post I will have completely changed how we are doing things, but until then happy dungeon crafting.

It is important to know where your party starts.