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View Full Version : Good tools for building a 3-D dungeon



Naanomi
2015-01-12, 09:08 PM
My PCs will be taking a trip to an underwater dungeon soon, and I want to build it out to be very 3-D... twisting and turning around itself several times to increase the 'maze' quality of the place. Does anyone know of any good 'dungeon building tools' to craft a good 3-D map that *doesn't* rely on existing knowledge of 3-D modeling?

Grinner
2015-01-12, 09:10 PM
Minecraft?

ddude987
2015-01-13, 04:05 PM
Minecraft?

I never thought of that.... I need to do that now.

Comet
2015-01-13, 04:30 PM
Making it on paper like any other dungeon with several levels that bleed into each other at multiple points would be my method. It takes a bit of doing and doesn't look as fancy as an actual 3D model, but it ensures that the end result is something that the players can wrap their heads around and, potentially, map on paper themselves as they go.

gom jabbarwocky
2015-01-13, 04:56 PM
I'm afraid to say that after much trial and error, the best way to map out any dungeon will probably be with graph paper and a pencil. 3D dungeons especially. This is unless you want to invest the time and money in acquiring and learning how to use some special software, which I did not.

In the past I've had issues with dungeon cartography because I have a thing for multi-level dungeons with radial symmetry and square grids on a flat plane kind of make that difficult. I tried to switch to hexes, but my players nearly revolted. 3D dungeons are always awesome, though. If it is underwater, you can do a lot of weird stuff with water currents and hydro-powered devices, maybe geothermal vents. With magic you can have strange things like water flowing the wrong way and other such nonsense. Have fun!

Beta Centauri
2015-01-14, 12:18 PM
Is it entirely necessary to map it explicitly? I find that for really interesting dungeon environments I have to forgo any maps and rely on description. I can imagine stuff that I'm not sure anyone (let alone me, with my poor design skills) could map in any readable way. That is, the picture on the map would require almost just as much explanation and description as if it wasn't mapped at all.

Rogue Shadows
2015-01-14, 12:20 PM
Does anyone know of any good 'dungeon building tools' to craft a good 3-D map that *doesn't* rely on existing knowledge of 3-D modeling?

Scotch tape and cardboard?

aspekt
2015-01-14, 12:24 PM
Different colored wax pencil on stiff, see-through plastic sheets. The kind that used to be used on overhead projectors.

Each color is a different level of course so that you can layer them.

If you can have Photoshop open on a laptop you could conceivably do it with layers on that.