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View Full Version : DM Help DM advice needed- Visual Representation of Location in a Dungeon



OminousP
2015-02-02, 11:57 AM
I consider myself a pretty good DM, at least as far as newbie DM's go. But I'm still kind of inexperienced and need some help with my dungeon-crawls.

My last D&D campaign went great, but it wasn't very dungeon-crawl heavy. The players stole a pirate ship and sailed around exploring all of the islands in the land, negotiating with the local villagers, and fighting the evils that lurk on the coasts. I made some cool 'enemy lairs', which were like my own mini-dungeons. By that I mean- most of the time I created a series of 3 or 4 rooms in a cave/ruins/fortress etc and each room had a big, open battle in it and an interesting environment and backdrop for that battle. Once in a while I'd throw some traps and treasures in there too.

This was a lot of fun for everyone and the campaign was a great success. But now I am DMing a campaign that I didn't write myself. It's actually "Shackled City", the 3rd edition adventure path. And it seems very dungeon heavy. In fact the first dungeon is this big, complex enclave with dozens of small rooms and a series of keys that the players need to collect. And I anticipate having a little bit of trouble with parts of it since I'm not used to running such an elaborate dungeon.

My question is: how do I get my players to know where they are in the dungeon? I have a book full of awesome maps for myself, but how do I give the players a visual representation of where they are in the dungeon without showing them the full map (and killing the sense of 'exploration')?

These players are very used to me walking them through ruins and cities and letting them explore big open environments. Shackled city has these elaborate deep dungeon crawls with lots of small tunnels and rooms and small battles in each one. So I need some advice on how to keep them both immersed in the dungeon and aware of their location in it.

If any of you experienced DMs have advice or techniques to share, please do. Thanks for reading this!

Donnadogsoth
2015-02-02, 12:22 PM
I consider myself a pretty good DM, at least as far as newbie DM's go. But I'm still kind of inexperienced and need some help with my dungeon-crawls.

My last D&D campaign went great, but it wasn't very dungeon-crawl heavy. The players stole a pirate ship and sailed around exploring all of the islands in the land, negotiating with the local villagers, and fighting the evils that lurk on the coasts. I made some cool 'enemy lairs', which were like my own mini-dungeons. By that I mean- most of the time I created a series of 3 or 4 rooms in a cave/ruins/fortress etc and each room had a big, open battle in it and an interesting environment and backdrop for that battle. Once in a while I'd throw some traps and treasures in there too.

This was a lot of fun for everyone and the campaign was a great success. But now I am DMing a campaign that I didn't write myself. It's actually "Shackled City", the 3rd edition adventure path. And it seems very dungeon heavy. In fact the first dungeon is this big, complex enclave with dozens of small rooms and a series of keys that the players need to collect. And I anticipate having a little bit of trouble with parts of it since I'm not used to running such an elaborate dungeon.

My question is: how do I get my players to know where they are in the dungeon? I have a book full of awesome maps for myself, but how do I give the players a visual representation of where they are in the dungeon without showing them the full map (and killing the sense of 'exploration')?

These players are very used to me walking them through ruins and cities and letting them explore big open environments. Shackled city has these elaborate deep dungeon crawls with lots of small tunnels and rooms and small battles in each one. So I need some advice on how to keep them both immersed in the dungeon and aware of their location in it.

If any of you experienced DMs have advice or techniques to share, please do. Thanks for reading this!

Well, traditionally, DMs expect the players will map the place themselves, thus transposing the beautiful map into their hands. Failing that, you might draw pictures of key locations, and then draw a crude map for the players that lets them get a feel for how these key locations are connected, while leaving enough unknowns for them to get lost in if they stray from the main channels. Perhaps tie the sophistication of your map for them to a navigation roll on their part. That's all I have.

Thrudd
2015-02-02, 01:05 PM
Usually you describe just what the characters can see, using approximate distances : "you can see 30 ft down the hallway, where it ends in a door. There is a door halfway down the hall on the right."

The players can navigate that however they want. If they don't have perfect memories, they would probably be advised to draw maps so they can find their way out again.

Outside of battle, the only visual you need is the marching order of the characters. For tactical battles, use something you can draw on and draw the walls of the immediate visible environment, draw or place things to represent objects and furniture.

In no case should they have access to the complete map of the dungeon, unless they have somehow procured this in-character.

Beta Centauri
2015-02-02, 04:29 PM
Kill the sense of exploration. Transparency is your friend.