How to Mark/Illustrate relative depth in Dungeon Maps?
JulianDracos
Mapmaker
I realized that dungeon maps are usually per level and are therefore represented as generally flat. Sometimes there are stairs, ladders, etc. indicating a path up or down to another room. But I do not encounter a map where it indicates how far up or down one room/area is from another. If you look at mines or caves, then you tend up go up and down.
It is probably unimportant to do so, but I was wondering if anyone had techniques used to illustrate change in depths on the same level of a dungeon.
Comments
Don't really have an elegant solution. I usually don't bother with that, but if it's important I'll make a note of elevation changes on my DM map. Perhaps a side-view perspective map, or you could play around with lighting (brighter for higher elevation and darker for lower maybe?)
Are you looking to show where elevation changes occur in a general sense ("this corridor is sloping down"), or something that measures the precise change?
I've tried using the Angle by Edge feature to indicate the grade of a slope, but it's not as visually helpful in a dungeon setting as it is on rooftops, for example. Mostly I either use the Adjust Hue/Saturation effect to make lower floors darker and higher floors lighter, or I will use the shaded polygons to make areas darker or lighter as you go down a corridor. But this doesn't really show grade or angle or depth. For that, I've done what Steven suggested and just made notes on my DM map or the accompanying map description.
Let me cite an example from one of the greats.
I do suppose that I could try my hand at isometric.
I was considering making things darker or lighter depending on the depth. Since that is what Royal Scribe has done, I will try my hand at that to see how it works. I think that will be easier than isometric.
There are various other options you might try, beyond what's been suggested already. Perhaps the most comprehensive guide to mapping cave systems for CC3+ is in the very early Annual Caves & Caverns modern style, as the mapping guide for it demonstrates how to use a top-down drawing to create a workable cross-section as well. That mapping guide also has a link to the UIS Working Group's website, which has a PDF of various real-world caving symbols, including for illustrating heights, that can be used that way, and a further website that has detailed example maps as further inspiration.
For more "art-style" dungeon drawings, where there's overlap between features on different levels, the classic method is to use a dashed line to indicate the underlying part - as I've done recently for the Nidag Temple map, for instance.
I used these, with a mixture of other tricks (shaded stairways, shadow from an angled ledge, different floor fill styles/colours) on the Rosebud Caverns map from the Atlas last year as well, which may give you a few more ideas.
Even with a "flat" dungeon level, it need not be the same level everywhere; early versions of D&D encouraged use of sloping passageways and similar features for example, based on real-world caves and artificial underground places, although that often simply made for player headaches in trying to map things during games, so tended to disappear from practical gaming use very often.
Don't forget too that something as simple as an arrowed line can help show where a gradual slope is, drawn on or beside an affected area, and different styles of arrow can be used to show different degrees of steepness.
Ralf did a tutorial about a year ago showing how to use the Solid shading to convey depth. His example uses sharper edges to convey stepping down, but you can also use an edge fades to make it more gradual. As I mentioned, I also sometimes use Adjust Hue/Saturation to change the lightness, but that only works if you're using separate FLOOR sheets.
early versions of D&D encouraged use of sloping passageways and similar features for example
Oh, yeah! Dwarves had the ability to detect slopes, an advantage that was probably worthless in actual game play. If the slope was enough to cause problems, it would be steep enough for anyone to notice it.
I tend to use shading/blurring. For example, just made a church (still in progress, but enough to illustrate) that has a upper balcony looking down on the worship area. The worship area also has an elevated altar and lower side chapels. This two maps (level 1, level 2 with the balcony).
For level 1, the altar is a bit higher than the main floor, and the side chapels a bit lower. I just add either shading or whitening over the floors in those areas.
For the second level, the worship area has both a modest blur and use the the 10% gray fill.
I find this combo works well without getting too complicated.