Dungeon Master Ninja - Dungeon Mapping

Hello, Steemians! 

Before I get into today's post topic, I have an important lesson to share regarding safety. I learned this lesson the hard way, last night when I was chopping kindling. Foolishly and against sensible warning from @skycae, I chose to hold onto the thin piece of wood I was chopping with a hatchet in the dark. A sizeable chunk of my flesh, down to the muscle, has been flayed from my palm near the bottom of my index. Ouch! I consider my self to be somewhat skilled at chopping wood and preform the task rapidly. A lesson in being overly confident and careless is a recipe for disaster. At least that is what I am taking away from this unfortunate experience.           

DM Ninja, Early inspiration...

Today I am going to share with you, my love of Dungeons and Dragons. From a very young age I have been deeply intrigued and inspired by fantasy and folklore entertainment mediums. Who doesn't love an epic and engaging adventure story? Two of the first Nintendo games that I played aside from Mario Brothers were, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. I even attribute these games to my introduction to reading, writing and even basic math. Eventually I listened to J.R.Tolkien's "The Hobbit" on audio book and couldn't get enough. I can not remember clearly where my first Dungeon Masters Guide and Monster Manual came from. However I am deeply and eternally grateful to whomever gifted them to me.

Dungeons...

I prefer my dungeon maps to be flexible and adaptable. While drafting the walls and natural features, I consider multiple scenarios regarding the potential inhabitants, quests and variable player character levels. Making notes on a separate sheet of possible variations. Then I color it in and create scenario based random/fixed encounter cards. These include potential traps and other exciting happenings.          

This is by far my favorite aspect of being a dungeon master, story teller. Dungeons in the loose sense of being any map worthy locale with an element of danger or challenge, are my favorite to create and bring to life. I generally try to steer the story away from prolonged down time activities and use in town dungeon scenarios as much as possible. In this post I will be sharing one of my most recent dungeons crafted and talk about how I might run it in different ways.

Enter: Salt Water/ Fresh Water Cavern

The general feel or theme of this dungeon is subterranean, with water being the main element at play. 

Floor One Sub Floor One Sub Floor Two

Salt Water: The tides or water level may be different depending on the time of day. At higher player character levels I would choose Sahuagin as the main adversary. I would not use them on the first level, Giant Eel and Crabs will do fine. Perhaps a flood trap that would carry the players to the next floor?

On the second level, I decided to have an unnatural structure in the middle to house a sub boss of sorts. Probably a Sea Hag and her Scrag bodyguard. This could also be a safe house, once the initial occupants have been evicted. Also serving as the point in which, the difficulty of the dungeon will increase. The second half of this floor will feature a few Sahuagin guard camps or at least, strong signs and foreshadowing of their presence. Also sharks in the deeper pools.

Third and final level of this dungeon serves as the main base of the primary inhabitants. I decided to make the paths into rivers, to give an advantage to the enemy. I imagine plenty of guards and ambush traps along these routes, leading to the central area which serves as the main Sahuagin camp. For the boss I was thinking Young Turtle Dragon or perhaps a Giant Octopuss?

Fresh Water: Changing water levels become irrelevant and cave may be dimly lit with bio-luminous fungus or moss in some areas. Swap Giant Eels and Crabs for a Bear, Alligators or maybe a Giant Frog. Sea Hag and Scrag become a Green Hag and Troll. The Sahuagin could be substituted for Bullywug or Lizardfolk.

Underdark: May be an Ancient Aboleth's lair, guarded by Kuo-toa thralls.

I digress...

I could likely go on forever, my key point is that versatility and flexibility are fundamental skills for any home brew Dungeon Master. I hope this has been insightful/inspirational. if you have any advice or ideas to add, please leave a comment!