Large Dungeon

[Alecthar]

I decided to give making a nice big map a try. I'm not sure what I'm gonna spice the map up with, I'm thinking some cracks and holes in the floor here an there, a few skeletons and piles o' bones, and the roundish room in the top right will probably have a nice beveled magic circle dealie filled with blood.

What do you guys think might be some interesting stuff to include? Coffins/Sarcophagi? Slime-filled pools?

[Ascension]

Straight-up man-made dungeons are pretty boring until you start decorating...the list of things to decorate with are innumerable. Just to spice up the floor you could use some rugs, stairs, platforms, holes, pits traps, cracks, rubble, arcane circles, stains, and some light colored shading in the middle to denote "worn" areas where the people walk.

Once you start thinking vertically you start adding columns, bookcases, tables, desks, chairs, stands, musical apparatus, torches, beds, junk piles, coffins, chests, and all of the dollhouse amenities that you can think of...just leave enough room for people to move around in.

[Steel General]

I think to narrow things down a bit, you may want to think about a "theme" for the dungeon (if there is one). That may give you (and helps us give you) ideas on what to put in it.

[Alecthar]

Okay, got some of this put together. The roundish room in the top right is the ritual room, with magic circles laid into the floor, then filled with the blood of human sacrfices to enhance their power.

Directly to the south is a hallway that still remains almost untouched from the dungeon's original use as a crypt. When the current denizens arrived and attempted to remove the sarcophagi and their moldering corpses, those in this hallway refused to be move. Vehemently. Perhaps the statue's eerie presence has something to do with it? The ritualists prefer not to bother with such questions, and have barricaded the entrances to the hallway. (Translation: Zombies here!)

The room to the south of the hallway has been changed into a makeshift barracks for the henchmen in service of the ritualists.

[Lich]

nice i really like the statue Alectar!

[jfrazierjr]

Nice start. This map would benefit from a bit of shadow on the walls (or a bevel, but I prefer a shadow) to give it a bit of depth away from the thick outer walls.

[Alecthar]

Nice start. This map would benefit from a bit of shadow on the walls (or a bevel, but I prefer a shadow) to give it a bit of depth away from the thick outer walls.

What's the most efficient way to do that in Gimp? I'm pretty unsure exactly how to wield the "Drop Shadow" filter.

[jfrazierjr]

What's the most efficient way to do that in Gimp? I'm pretty unsure exactly how to wield the "Drop Shadow" filter.

Make a selection that has just the walls outline shape on it. I usually turn off all the other layers except the one with the walls shape. Take this selection and invert it (so that the selected parts are the "walls" interior. Now you wan to grow(or shrink) the selection (see the selection menu in GIMP) so that the selection is slightly bigger than the original(if you turn the grey walls back on, the selection should be out in the rooms by a few (2-5) px instead of inside any of the walls. Fill with black. Move the layer to below the walls and above the floor texture. Turn off the selection and use G. Blur to suit. Probably 5 px, perhaps 10. This depends on how much bigger the selection was that you filled with black.

[jfrazierjr]

If you would not mind, could you post up your xcf file?

[Alecthar]

Make a selection that has just the walls outline shape on it. I usually turn off all the other layers except the one with the walls shape. Take this selection and invert it (so that the selected parts are the "walls" interior. Now you wan to grow(or shrink) the selection (see the selection menu in GIMP) so that the selection is slightly bigger than the original(if you turn the grey walls back on, the selection should be out in the rooms by a few (2-5) px instead of inside any of the walls. Fill with black. Move the layer to below the walls and above the floor texture. Turn off the selection and use G. Blur to suit. Probably 5 px, perhaps 10. This depends on how much bigger the selection was that you filled with black.

If there were a statistic on "Filter Used Most," kept in GIMP, mine would easily be Gaussian Blur.

Despite that, your method never occurred to me. God I feel dumb sometimes.

I'm trying to get a .zip with my .xcf uploaded, but it appears my internet connection is being a punk and won't let me.