i took some time and rebuilt the whole stuff.. lowered the walls so 5' wide corridors are more visible.. i don't have the stuff on this PC but i'll post it tomorrow so you see what i managed to do..
my idea is not to use these maps as whole but only parts of them - images of rooms, corridors, chambers, locales, etc as the party advances through the adventure.. that is why it's 3D..
experience shows that these kind of maps are mostly usable in online play by post games.. but they can be used in any real time game (be it online chat, voice, or real play at the table) as a quick reference to how a place looks..
sketchup offers a ton of free models for use online so you can virtually do whatever you want and present it to your players.. for example i found a model of a fox and placed it lying in one of the rooms.. the party was totally amazed by the dead fox and it turned out to be a great adventure hook.. when i tried to use the same trick at the table with the same party they almost completely ignored a dead animal..
it's not a rule but tricks and visual things can improve a game by a lot..
at this time i'm experimenting with sound and sound processing software so the players can also listen to their environment..
be aware that all this can take a lot of time for a "newbie" who has no experience with all the tools.. but if you have the time and will, go ahead and learn to use these tools (more on what else i use later).. your players will really enjoy it all.. and their enjoyment is our (DMs') enjoyment, too!
as a side note: i'm currently running one campaign that is only play by post on my own forum and the gameplay goes on all the time.. i'm a software developer so i'm at my pc most of the day and it allows me to advance the campaign all the time.. i "lose" around an hour and a half each day for d&d activities - including typing on the forum, reading the books, drawing, or creating the sounds..
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