In need of dungeon making tips.

[Bogusoid]

I have never gotten to be very active in the HS community given I am the only person I know who plays, so I am always left to my own devices and input. I think the D&D style play will be a good way to interest friends in shorter games, but I want to make my own scenarios. Unfortunately, I'm not very good at it.

I was wondering if anyone here with more experience in custom map and scenario building could offer tips on how best to make a fair, fun series of maps filled with challenging, but not entirely too brutal monster encounters. I want to use Rise of the Valkyrie and Road to the Forgotten Forest for the first map in a campaign I'm working on inspired by Castlevania, but I don't want it to be too big in comparison to maps used in the first two official dungeon crawls from Battle for the Underdark. I've tried limiting myself to only two or three 24-hex tiles, and about the same amount of 7-hexes, so as not to overstep my boundaries.

[Kaiser Cat]

I want to try and say something here, but I'm kinda drawing a blank.

[S1R_ART0R1US]

I think one of the things that makes a scenario great is having it be about more than eliminating enemies or have some other terrain effect, like spewing lava that comes out of random hexes or something else to differentiate it from a standard battle. You should try and put some height in it to. Since scenarios are not necessarily supposed to give the sides equal advantages you could put the bad guys on height too.

[Bogusoid]

Yeah, I find that I can't be quite as creative with VirtualScape and so I just get out tiles and try to build a map with the hope it's worth recording later. Obviously it won't be mirrored like a tourney style map, but I still have trouble making it just balanced enough to give good access to treasure and still require strategy to survive.

What would you say is a good rule of thumb for deciding where to place random treasure glyphs?

[Kaiser Cat]

Originally Posted by Bogusoid

What would you say is a good rule of thumb for deciding where to place random treasure glyphs?

Generally, the best place for a treasure glyph is near the opponent's start zone, or at least far away from your own start zone. Two great examples are rooms 2 and 3 from the Ancient Sanctum.

[Bogusoid]

I have an enduring theme in mind for a campaign but how to actually set up the maps and scenarios is what eludes me. I've always wanted to do a kind of Castlevania-inspired campaign that uses swamp monsters like the hydra and sahaugin, werewolves, undead, and culminate with a battle against the Lord and Lady Esenwein.

Now that I have some D2 in my possession, I'm thinking of maybe creating a hallway with two Iron Golems that serve as mere LOS blockers until they are awoken via a trap (be it on a treasure glyph or otherwise), and then are added to the Dungeon Master's army for that room.

[flameslayer93]

I had a scenario that at the end of each round a rock outcrop transformed into an Earth Elemental. It was a fun mission(considering I have 3 MS3's)!

I have some scenario based maps in the Valhalla Games you may wish to look at(and hopefully play). You can find the link in my sig.

[DrAwsm]

Originally Posted by Bogusoid

I have an enduring theme in mind for a campaign but how to actually set up the maps and scenarios is what eludes me. I've always wanted to do a kind of Castlevania-inspired campaign that uses swamp monsters like the hydra and sahaugin, werewolves, undead, and culminate with a battle against the Lord and Lady Esenwein.

Now that I have some D2 in my possession, I'm thinking of maybe creating a hallway with two Iron Golems that serve as mere LOS blockers until they are awoken via a trap (be it on a treasure glyph or otherwise), and then are added to the Dungeon Master's army for that room.

That would be very cool! And it totally sounds like something that would happen in a Castlevania game. If you follow through and make the campaign, I'd love to see pics and read a battle report!

[Kaiser Cat]

Originally Posted by DrAwsm

That would be very cool! And it totally sounds like something that would happen in a Castlevania game. If you follow through and make the campaign, I'd love to see pics and read a battle report!

Reminds me of an Idea I had where Rock Outcroppings are replaced by Granite Guardians.

[Bogusoid]

I've got a map made up in VirtualScape for the hallway level, but what I fear is that Player 1 won't likely spring either trap and the Iron Golems will go unused. That would be good for P1, but much less interesting. I'm also considering mixing or replacing the golems with Knights of Weston who act as animated suits of armor, maybe considered Undead Constructs instead of Human Knights. Still, I would like P1 to have the option of Knights of Weston, since they are a popular squad.

[DrAwsm]

Originally Posted by Bogusoid

I've got a map made up in VirtualScape for the hallway level, but what I fear is that Player 1 won't likely spring either trap and the Iron Golems will go unused. That would be good for P1, but much less interesting. I'm also considering mixing or replacing the golems with Knights of Weston who act as animated suits of armor, maybe considered Undead Constructs instead of Human Knights. Still, I would like P1 to have the option of Knights of Weston, since they are a popular squad.

I was under the impression that Player 1 would only use unique heroes. But, hey, it's totally up to you, Bogusiod. I think that James Murphy would have been a good, thematic hero since he uses a whip.

[Bogusoid]

Originally Posted by DrAwsm

I was under the impression that Player 1 would only use unique heroes. But, hey, it's totally up to you, Bogusiod. I think that James Murphy would have been a good, thematic hero since he uses a whip.

At first I thought it would be the standard for unique heroes to run dungeon crawls on their own, until The River of Blood was finished and released. In that campaign, created by the official design team, Player 1 just drafts a 500-point army that must only exclude Utgar and the Greenscale Warriors (since they will be used as enemies in a later scenario). It doesn't say you even need one unique hero, but I should hope most people would choose at least one without being forced.

For now I'll just say "400 or 500 points of non-Utgar, non-Valkrill units," then bar any non-Utgar/Valkrill units who are set to appear as enemies later in the campaign.

I also really like Second Wind, as established in TRoB. I'll be using that rule as well.