[CC3/DD3] Old School Dungeon Maps: The Castle of the Mad Archmage

[jaerdaph]

I updated the southeast section of level 2 map to reflect the changes made in the latest installment of TCotMA (which now includes level 3). Joe Bloch has sent me scans of his hand drawn maps for levels 2 and 3, and last night I set up some templates in CC3 FCW files with the images inserted to trace over. I calculated the factor I had to scale the image at to match the 10' per square by eyeballing with the DIST command the distance in CC3 between two grid adjacent grid lines on the hand drawn image and resizing the image using SCALE. I was having a real hard time getting the grids to line up using the SCALE command, so I ended up using SCALEXY to independently scale the x and y axis independent of one another, which was much more precise. Once I had a good fit, I used MOVE to get the part of the scanned image I wanted at the axis origin coordinates in the lower left of the map (0,0) by eyeballing and clicking on the spot on the image to get my "move from" point and then snapping to the (0,0) origin. Fun with math and advanced CC3!

[jaerdaph]

Here's the southwest section of level 2 I did last night. There's a couple of interesting features on this particular section of the dungeon, like the Moat of Blades in room 107 and the evil temple in 132.

[Turgenev]

Those maps are looking very nice! Can't wait to see more!

[jaerdaph]

Those maps are looking very nice! Can't wait to see more!

Thanks! Now that Joe Bloch sent me the GIF files of his original drawings, the mapping goes faster. I'm planning on finishing off the last section (NW) of level 2 tonight, then combining all four sections into one giant poster map.

Then I start of level 3.

[jaerdaph]

I made a bunch of minor fixes to the Level 2 maps based on things that were bothering me and some comments from The Castle of the Mad Archmage author Joe Bloch. I repositioned some of the label numbers, added 1' wall sections under all doors and secret doors, created two new symbols to show one way doors and secret doors with a directional arrow, made the curtain thicker in the temple to Demogorgon (room 132), re-worked the circular stairs (room 112) to stand out better and finally made the dashed lines representing the shifting wall (area 47) clearer. And when that was done...

[jaerdaph]

...I combined all four maps in CC3 to create this giant poster map! This made use of Insert file and the Move Origin commands, which you can learn more about here:

http://www.profantasy.com/cchelp/hlp_cmd_insert.htm

http://www.profantasy.com/cchelp/hlp_cmd_origin.htm

Edit: The render from CC3 seems to have messed up some of the text. I'm going to fix this tonight if I can.

Sometimes I really hate CC3 for major inconveniences like this (and no anti-aliasing). I might go back to doing all my text and labeling as post work in another program...

Edit: Image removed. See new version of the poster map below...

[Steel General]

Very cool Jaerdaph...

[Hoel]

I must ask:
How do you play a dungeon like this? Random encounters?
I GMd two days straight this weekend and managed to put in a total of 18 encounters (effective party level of 6, highest EL 12, they just run straight through my cave trolls).

[jaerdaph]

I must ask:
How do you play a dungeon like this? Random encounters?
I GMd two days straight this weekend and managed to put in a total of 18 encounters (effective party level of 6, highest EL 12, they just run straight through my cave trolls).

In the old days (1e), we used to go through room by room, level by level, trap by trap. Kill monsters, take their stuff. Meet up the next day and do it all over again. Ah, high school.

I think Joe Bloch is doing an amazing job filling up the numbered encounters of this old school megadungeon in Gygaxian prose and style: http://greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com...Mad%20Archmage

I'm going to be running this for a group of friends starting this weekend. We'll be using the Microlite20 rules instead of 1e/OSRIC. Should be interesting.

[jaerdaph]

Here is the revised version of the level 2 poster map. I've also included a black and white version. I've read and received several comments from a few folks who are having problems viewing the neon blue maps. I'm very sensitive to the issue, as myself and members of my family have had problems with our eyes. In response (because I want as many people as possible to be able to enjoy these maps), I've created a black and white version of the poster map above. Please pass this on to folks you run into on various message boards etc. where The Castle of the Mad Archmage is being discussed.

Edit: poster maps removed - see below for newer versions.