March 2015 Entry - The Oracle

[anomiecoalition]

Better late than never...I love the one-page dungeon contest and have been struggling to come up with a concept and design. The dungeon is an oracle that was once used by an ancient elvish civilization. It used to be situated on an island but the ground has since sunk partially. So, the first floor (and entrance) is underwater. The oracle was also once a beautiful elvish maiden who has fallen into despair as the civilization collapsed and transformed into a medusa. I plan on having a variety of sea based creatures for encounters on the lower levels and perhaps a few medusa minions on the 2nd level - though the real challenge for players will be the need to have underwater combat to make it to the 2nd floor rooms.

I obviously still have to finalize the map and place it on a page with all the text - but figured i'd post something now that I have the basic layout (I think). I'd love to get some feedback regarding the map's readability - It sort of makes sense to me, but not sure if others will be able to make out the passages between rooms and the up/down elements. So any suggestions on the layout or for enhancing clarity are appreciated.

oh yeah...and ignore the grid - the export got messed up.

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[Chick]

There's no doubt, that is an awesome job of showing two levels in the same diagram. I wouldn't have believed it could be done, but it's very clear to me.

I found it much easier to follow the layout if I viewed it from "farther away" where I could see the colors more distinctly, rather than in closeup, so it might be helpful to make the two colors a little stronger tone difference.

There seems to be a deadend going north off of room F. Also some of the stairs are clear colors for the level, such as those going west and south from A, but some are not, such as the stairs from A to 2. I think it's because the stairs are supposed to be disappearing below the floor of A, but it does make it a little confusing.

Overall, an incredible job of coloring and placement to convey two levels in the same spot!

[anomiecoalition]

Thanks for the compliment and comments. I actually had similar complaints so this update addresses some of them. I tried to darken the stairs and I think I fixed the dead-end you mentioned (though there are a few dead-ends in there to mess with players...maybe they'll drown while swimming around...)

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[Chick]

Definitely better! When I zoomed in closely, I had no confusion where I was this time. Still amazing

[Jaxilon]

Very nice So far and I think it conveys the thought.

[Meshon]

What a great idea! I, like others, am impressed with the fact that you've put a multilevel dungeon on one map, and it's not hard to read at all. Very cool.

The stairs from A, D, and F seem to run into walls at the bottom though I might just be misinterpreting.

I'm looking forward to seeing the finish, I think you can pull it off.

cheers,
Meshon

[anomiecoalition]

Thanks for all the rep and comments everyone. Here's an update - I've started plotting out the overall layout and figured out what monsters i'm gonna have. Now just need to write out all the text and make revisions to the map itself (add doors, fix grid, etc). I tried to make the lower level walls stand out more and changed the stairs a bit. Hope its more readable.

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[Gamerprinter]

I think you need to place the CC license logo, not the the URL, if I remember the OPDC rules correctly.

Looking good, by the way!

GP

[anomiecoalition]

Think I have all the rooms and basic descriptions blocked out now - need to refine it and pretty the whole thing up a bit. May need to reduce the font a bit (from 10pt to 9 or 8 ). And if I have time before this thing closes i'd like to still try to pretty the map up a bit more (fix the grid and play around with the bevel on the substructure).

I'm not sure how detailed to get with the monsters/traps/treasure. I'm not entirely sure how to write it system neutral - so any advice is helpful.

@Gamerprinter - I actually checked the one-page dungeon website and it says that we just need the link - though I might try to get the logo in there if I have the space.

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[anomiecoalition]

This is closer to the final version of the text

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