a dungeon experiment, Iso and flat
JimP
🖼️ 280 images Cartographer
Well, I have long, for decades, wanted to make floor maps, and connect them. Not just say 'spiral staircase' down to the next level.
So, here it is. First map is an example flat map with a stair going downward.
The second map is a small Iso map leading down to a 'connecting' room on the next level. i say connecting, because at that point, I would map another flat map to show second level.
I think it would be boring to show all the stairs down, as they could be 10 feet, or hundreds of feet, of stairwell.
Here we go !
What do you think ?
So, here it is. First map is an example flat map with a stair going downward.
The second map is a small Iso map leading down to a 'connecting' room on the next level. i say connecting, because at that point, I would map another flat map to show second level.
I think it would be boring to show all the stairs down, as they could be 10 feet, or hundreds of feet, of stairwell.
Here we go !
What do you think ?
Comments
I have always assumed that a stairwell symbol meant 'one level', no matter how far apart the levels were.
Nice mapping, though, Jim
Some of my dungeons.. the stairs on level 4 may go down to level 6. A character might have to go up to level 3, to find the spiral or stone stairs that goes down to level 5.
More like a large stone puzzle. Sraa Keep on my Crestar site does have levels that as you progress downwards into the depths, your character misses where the main treasure is located. And the characters wind up with a lesser treasure.
I could do it for my Atlas maps though.
In Sraa Keep, on my Crestar site, the levels don't sit above and below each other. Some go off to the side. Or one level is partially under another one, the lower level goes down the ridge from the one above it.
I need to redo Sraa Keep maps, and this method might work, and it might make the maps more complicated than they already are.
I have to get ready for a trip next week, so not sure when I'll work on this. But who knows, whan i say stuff like 'no time' I typically go ahead and do it.
Symbol Set is Dungeon SS2B
I don't see a way to show the underside of the level above.
My plan was to draw a floor, and have a stone stair go down from an opening in that floor. But I don't see a way to draw a floor and show the underside of it.
If I could do this, I could show pits and other lower sections of the floor from underneath.
Anyway, research continues.
What seems to be the problem, Jim?
I don't think you can do that in ISO perspective. You can only see the front two faces and the top of anything.
What if you were to use cutaway views like in engineering drawings to show hidden things? Would that work?
Drafting is something I learned many years ago, but I would much rather use CC3Plus. Drafting gave me a headache, even when I took a class in AutoCAD.
Hmm... Instead of the back edge being slanted downwards, if it was more horizontal, or slightly elevated it would look more like what I want to do.
I don't know if it may help - it helped me visualise things better at least for ISO 3D drawings - but this video is a useful take on converting 2D dungeon maps to isometric views, using purely hand-drawn systems (albeit drawn into a computer and manipulated that way). It's a little long for what it does, at nearly 18 minutes, but if you scan to the end, you may see what I mean when I say it shows how a 2D floorplan can be split among several levels in ISO projection, yet still clearly showing exactly how every level connects and where. You'd need to flesh-out the details with walls, doors, room dressing, etc., but the basic principle holds, I think.
Still two sides but with a bottom view instead of top view.
That would certainly take some getting used to - and you are right - there aren't any symbols for such a view.
I watched the video... I did do a class in drafting in college, but I'm not good at it.
Or spiral stairs. I can try that next.
I think it might look better if you move that stalactite. At first I thought it was the dangling legs of someone sitting on the bottom step.
edit:
Argh, this looks more like an optical illusion where it looks right side up and upside down.
I think you're getting cooler now. The one before was better