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Tsotha-lanti
2008-03-15, 08:05 PM
Help a GM in distress!

I need a free dungeon/indoor mapping software. I've tried out Dungeon Crafter III - Silver Edition, and I'm not thrilled with the graphics (I'd be perfectly happy with something that just does simple lines in black & white but is easier than doing it in Paint by hand). Grid (5 ft. x 5 ft.) preferred.

What software do you use, and where can I get it?

Jack_Simth
2008-03-15, 08:34 PM
I generally just go with something Quick and Random (http://direpress.bin.sh/tools/dungeon.cgi) when I need a dungeon.

Squash Monster
2008-03-15, 08:52 PM
MapTool is fantastic: http://rptools.net/doku.php?id=maptool:intro

I really like making caves in it, specifically. Paint a region rock-colored. Use the polygon tool with a different rock texture as fill and no line texture, and with snap to grid on. Carve a few boxes out this way and you'll get great jaggy caves.

Grug
2008-03-15, 10:08 PM
I just downloaded that and it seems cool, but how to you add tokens or backgrounds from stock?

crimson77
2008-03-15, 10:38 PM
http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/4081/whisperingwillowsinnsf8.png (http://imageshack.us)


I just use excel to map out the dungeon. I have some icons that i also put for things in the room. I take a screen shot (or multiple screen shots) and presto, instant dungeon. Well in this case, it is an inn on an old road on a cold snowy night.

Grug
2008-03-15, 10:40 PM
That image made my eyes feel like they were stabbed.

RTGoodman
2008-03-15, 10:47 PM
Wizards has a dungeon tile mapper on their website somewhere. I remember it being pretty decent, though I haven't done much with it.

EDIT: Aha! Link (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20061121t)!

Tsotha-lanti
2008-03-16, 08:02 AM
Wizards has a dungeon tile mapper on their website somewhere. I remember it being pretty decent, though I haven't done much with it.

EDIT: Aha! Link (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20061121t)!

It's both incomprehensible and horrible. You get 1 of this object and some of that... good luck building anything you actually want! It's not even tile-based.

Going to give MapTool a try. Thanks, Squash Monster!

Theodoxus
2008-03-16, 08:08 AM
Wow Jack, that Dire Press site is amazing. I'm totally using that. Thanks for the link!

RTGoodman
2008-03-16, 01:04 PM
It's both incomprehensible and horrible. You get 1 of this object and some of that... good luck building anything you actually want! It's not even tile-based.

Playing around with it, that wasn't the one I like from before. The one I liked had a similar layout, but allowed for all sorts of more stuff. Or maybe I'm just crazy. :smallsigh:

Da King
2008-03-16, 01:07 PM
I use dungeonforge (http://www.dungeonmapping.com/df/public_html/), but that maptool looks way better, I'm going to check it out now.

Grug
2008-03-16, 01:25 PM
If you have any experiance with Map Tool, how do you add more backgrounds or tokens made in Token Tool.

Squash Monster
2008-03-16, 04:07 PM
File -> Add Image Explorer Path

Pick the folder full of stuff you want to add.

Prometheus
2008-03-16, 08:13 PM
Google Sketchup 3D. It can give very precise coordinates if yo need to be mechanically accurate, its got color, it is good at drawing structures, you can make it 3D if you want, and it comes with trees and cardboard cutouts to represent people. It's one thing to make something that you can describe to the players, another for the players to visualize.

InkEyes
2008-03-16, 08:36 PM
It's both incomprehensible and horrible. You get 1 of this object and some of that... good luck building anything you actually want! It's not even tile-based.

Going to give MapTool a try. Thanks, Squash Monster!

I've played around with that before. What you do is go to the little gear icon and click, then go to the thing that says set/extension count and set "cnt" to the max (which I believe is 20) for each set. There are multiple copies of the most used stuff (floors and the like) but you do run out of stuff fast if you need lots of an uncommon image. You also have to browse through all the different sets sometimes to fine an image you want, and the floors from the different sets are sometimes a different shade of gray. The images often overlay on each other in ways I don't like, too. It is rather clunky and it doesn't give you an option to save a copy to your computer, but it could be useful in a pinch, I guess.

Jack_Simth
2008-03-16, 08:51 PM
Wow Jack, that Dire Press site is amazing. I'm totally using that. Thanks for the link!
Glad to help. It's good for when you need a quick dungeon, and you're not too worried about it making sense (it routinely stacks Large or Huge creatures in there - and doesn't check little things like them being able to get in or out, or even if they have enough space to actually move inside that room).