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View Full Version : premade Vs. home made dungeons



purple gelatinous cube o' Doom
2007-01-13, 06:46 PM
I was wondering how many people prefer using WoTC or 3rd party maps for dungeons or whether you prefer to draw your own. Personally I make all my own stuff.

Matthew
2007-01-13, 06:50 PM
Generally, I only use premade adventures for 3.x. I make all my own adventures for my Homebrewed and Houseruled Campaign.

Ninja Chocobo
2007-01-13, 06:51 PM
I make my own stuff. But that's mostly because WoTC or 3rd-party stuff is either too expensive, not right for my party, or not available.

Viscount Einstrauss
2007-01-13, 07:02 PM
Depends. Most of my campaigns hardly ever see dungeons, as I think it's absolutely ridiculous that they just litter the countryside. The PC's spend a lot more time in cities and towns, or outdoors in the wild. You could go several sessions of mine without setting foot in some damp cave.

But when I do use them, about 75% of them are pre-made maps. Though I replace all the treasures/encounters/traps with whatever I want to be there.

breakdownjason
2007-01-14, 12:40 PM
I like to make my own dungeons, as its easier to set up exactly what treasure you want and where you want it to be. Also, making specialized dungeons (i.e. a limestone cave with various natural hazards) allows for more freedom as you can make evolving dungeons as compared to static ones. I always like to have my players go back to an old dungeon later in the adventure, and if you can have everything move around easier, it makes things more interesting for them instead of the same traps, the same monsters and the same treasure in the same spots.

Thomas
2007-01-14, 02:01 PM
Maps? Maps are secondary. They're just a bunch of lines connection a bunch of balloons with numbers in them.

I prefer self-made. I don't think I've run a pre-made dungeon in 10 years.

I'm currently about to rewrite and otherwise recreate the legendary Haunted Ruins and Snakepipe Hollow dungeons for the new RuneQuest - recreating the maps and characters, rather than just using what exists and updating stats to the new edition. Because the publishers never seem to get the power level that their game is actually capable of when players put their minds to it...

Scorpina
2007-01-14, 02:19 PM
I very rarely use Dungeons. When I do, except for a brief excusrion into Undermountain a year or so ago, then they're always home made. That way they can make sense, given who built them and why (and occasionally who has moved in since or whatever) within my storyline.

purple gelatinous cube o' Doom
2007-01-14, 03:48 PM
I guess I was a little vague when I say dungeon. For me, dungeon is an all encompassing thing. So it means a cave (like most seem to think) or a sewer, or a wizards tower etc.

ReluctantDragon
2007-01-14, 04:04 PM
Anything where it deals with an indoor encounter, be it traps, monsters, npc's, etc. then yes, I have graph maps. If it is outdoors, then I will tend to not have graph maps but general overlays of the area.

Hileria
2007-01-14, 09:45 PM
Homemade. Actually coming up with the design of a keep, the layout of a cave system, or the topography of a forest clearing is usually the part of the adventure design I enjoy most.

You don't have balancing issues like when you're figuring out the encounters; you don't worry about wealth or magic items when dealing with treasure, and you've already done the work of figuring out your story arc or plotline.

DeathQuaker
2007-01-15, 12:15 PM
I like to make my own, but sometimes I'll download maps from WotC's site in their map-a-week section. They're great because the maps are drawn out but the details are left up to the DM, so you can save time drawing out the environs but still come up with the traps and inhabitants on your own.

Zaggab
2007-01-15, 12:18 PM
I have never used a pre-made adventure, and I try to use as little pre-made fluff as possibly as well. I don't know why, but I just don't like to use things someone else has made.

Matthew
2007-01-15, 03:44 PM
I like to make my own, but sometimes I'll download maps from WotC's site in their map-a-week section. They're great because the maps are drawn out but the details are left up to the DM, so you can save time drawing out the environs but still come up with the traps and inhabitants on your own.

True, indeed. There are some nice maps there.

RandomNPC
2007-01-15, 07:54 PM
ive ever only used one pre made, and thats because it was free, from my cousins mom, he wasn't going to use it and if she let him touch it knowing it was going to be given away he would have burnt it just to "see what would happen" same thing he says everytime someone wants something from him that hes done with...

i love making maps, its the fun part of having everything i make destoryed, the NPCs i have to tweak out before i toss them back at the party, the map they can re visit next game.

pestilenceawaits
2007-01-16, 11:23 AM
With very few exceptions I use home made maps, but I am a geographer and kind of a map geek so my opinion my be a little warped. Most outdoor/ terrain maps, political maps and world maps I do on the computer and dungeon/ cave maps, Town and building maps I draw out using graph paper. WotC does put out some nice free maps though and I have been tempted to use them on occasion when I am in a hurry.

Rockphed
2007-01-16, 01:10 PM
I didn't even know about the maps on WotC, but I like drawing my own. I just have little experience, so I don't always know when to stop.

Stormcrow
2007-01-16, 07:20 PM
I've never run a pre-made adventure in my life. I picked up the game at twelve years old and ran with it, making it up as i went along. Seven years later it's still working out for me.