Design Maps for a Sandbox Campaign (Part IV - Dungeon Maps)
This is the fourth and last article on How to Design Maps for Sandbox Campaigns.
I highly recommend starting from the beginning by reading:
How to Design Maps for a Sandbox Campaign Part I - World Maps
How to Design Maps for a Sandbox Campaign Part II - Region Maps
How to Design Maps for a Sandbox Campaign Part III - Hub Maps
to better understand how to make and design maps for your sandbox campaigns before jumping into this one.
However, this article will encompass everything needed to create a Dungeon Map for your Sandbox Campaigns.
4. Dungeon Maps
Dungeons are the bread and butter of adventuring in D&D, and dungeon maps are one of the most exciting things for the players to explore and engage with. Since we already learned from the previous articles how to design world, region, and hub maps for our sandbox campaign, let's see how we could design and create dungeon maps and learn how to organize all of them for your next session.
4.1 Connecting to Quests
My design philosophy is always to connect dungeons with the quests the party engages with. It might sound like a no-brainer, but without a good reason to be in the dungeon, dungeons become a mindless slog without a purpose. Quests and the creatures that dwell there should also inspire the dungeon encounters and puzzles because, after a while, the dungeons will start feeling the same.
4.2 Quest Conclusions
Another approach I take is that dungeons should be the end points of your quest. Dungeons should at least bring the players closer to the climax of the quest assigned to that dungeon simply because sandbox campaign quests could drag on without clear conclusions and resolutions.
4.3 What should be found in a dungeon?
When running a quest, there are multiple encounters the players engage with. The dungeon of the quest should have all of the encounter types that were prevalent in that quest beforehand, maybe even all encounter types. That means if you were investigating an orc ambush and solved many ancient orc puzzles, finding yourself in the dungeon where the royal orc court is discussing orc politics with the orc nobility might be out of place. It may sound cool, but the quests inherently promise some story payoff, and bamboozling your party into a different type of experience might not work out to conclude a quest.
4.4 Who runs the dungeon?
When creating dungeons, consider the creatures and bosses and their lore to use for the dungeon map and environment. Their abilities, lore, and the story you want to tell should reflect on the dungeon that your players will experience.
4.5 Creating Dungeon Maps
Before starting your dungeon map creation, planning encounters you intend to include in your dungeon is beneficial. This can range from puzzles and combat to social interactions or a mix of these elements. Having a clear idea of these encounters allows for a more precise and effective dungeon map design.
Understanding the sequence and nature of these encounters is critical to guiding the dungeon's layout. Anticipating what players might encounter next enables you to design a more dynamic and engaging dungeon. For instance, encountering successive combat challenges might become tedious for players. Therefore, incorporating different types of encounters, like a puzzle or a social interaction, can add a refreshing element to the dungeon exploration. Such variety enhances player engagement and enriches the overall gaming experience.
4.5.1 DungeonDraft (Basic)
I like to start my dungeons with DungeonDraft instead of Inkarnate. DungeonDraft lets you prototype the areas faster than Inkarnate, which is very valuable when designing maps and if the design requires to be updated in some way. If new ideas arise or something doesn't fit with the design, it's not as expensive to fix at this step compared to when you started to detail your map. Dungeondraft also created caverns way easier.
Usually, I only use DungeonDraft for my dungeons since the combat encounters I run are in the "theater of the mind" while letting the players map the dungeon themselves when exploring.
However, whenever I need to run an online session, the following step comes into play to make the dungeon look pretty.
4.5.2 DungeonDraft + Inkarnate (Intermediate)
While the Dungeondraft is quicker, Inkarnate has the more appealing art assets to make the dungeon look pretty for your players. Even though this step is time-consuming, it helps with the mood for your online sessions. For this, I take the DungeonDraft layout of the dungeon and import it as a stamp on incarnate to detail the map and make it look more believable for my players.
4.5.3 DungeonDraft + Inkarnate + AI (Advanced)
Finally, the last step, which is overkill, is to use AI to add flavor to your online sessions. I use ChatGPT 4 CustomGPT Generators for this step. You can read about it more in this article “Powerful Ways How AI Can Enhance Your D&D Sessions“, but let's take one of my generators to see how we could use it.
Dungeon Goblin Generator - Environments
Whenever I finish a map, I like to generate some of the important environments of the encounter to help set the mood for my players. I write a few sentences on the idea and let AI run with it. Also, some of the weirder things you might come up with will not have a representation on the web, but AI will always come up with something.
I suggest you skip this part if you're not running an online DnD session.
Since we explored some of the approaches and tools for dungeon maps, let's proceed to the last step - bringing all the maps together and looking into how you can use LegendKeeper to organize our sandbox campaign.
5. Bringing it all together - LegendKeeper
It's hard to run a sandbox campaign without the proper tools. I wouldn't be able to effectively pull most of the approaches I take to create my sandbox maps if not for such DM organizational tools as LegendKeeper. But this is how I do it and how I organize my sandbox campaign maps, hubs, and encounters.
5.1 World Maps
World Maps should hold this information about it, mostly the big-picture aspects of your campaign.
Region Maps - All of the regions that are in your world should fall under the world map.
Factions - Some of the most important factions that influence your main campaign should be placed in the big-picture category, which is prevalent throughout your campaign.
Major Lore - Some of the relevant lore for the whole world should be placed here. Such things as religions, general information about the world, and unique lore about the world should fall under this umbrella.
5.2 Region Maps
Region Maps holds mostly the information needed for your sandbox campaign.
Factions - are mainly stored under the region map because they will influence the region the most, and having them in the region might inspire your quest. These factions are the ones from which the quests arise or because of them.
Hubs (Settlements in the example) - These settlements connect the quests, NPCs, locations, random region encounters, and dungeons.
Region Encounters - These encounters should lead toward the dungeons or be a part of the quest's progression.
Dungeons - The endpoints of quests
Quests - Should be the guiding factor of how the hub, dungeons, and the story you tell. Also, the endings of quests should lead toward other hubs or quests.
5.3 Hub Maps
Quest NPCs and Hooks - All NPCs and Quest hooks should entice players into quests and side quests.
Merchants & Downtime - Players should have a place to get new equipment and have some activities that vary in their gameplay.
5.4 Dungeon Maps
Encounters - Separating encounters can be an easy way to reuse some encounters that the party skips or give them a facelift if they find them boring and add them elsewhere.
Combat Encounters - I suggest making a decent initiative tracker since Legendkeeper has a dice roller. You can even roll initiative for your monsters to save time during the session.
As we conclude this extensive journey through sandbox campaign map creation, sharing these intricacies and strategies on how I employ them in designing and managing them has been fun. Through these four detailed articles, we've delved deep into mapmaking and uncovered techniques and tips that I hope will enrich your campaign adventures.
The maps you create are more than just a guide. They are the canvases upon which epic tales unfold and memorable adventures are born. I trust these insights and methods will inspire you to craft worlds that will captivate and enthrall your players, making each campaign an unforgettable journey.
Read Next:
How to Design Maps for a Sandbox Campaign Part I - World Maps
How to Design Maps for a Sandbox Campaign Part II - Region Maps
How to Design Maps for a Sandbox Campaign Part III - Hub Maps
