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View Full Version : [Map Design]What's the best way to make/create a castle



paladin_carvin
2009-09-25, 11:18 AM
I want to make a castle and I'm pretty new to map making. Anyone have suggestions? I actually could make up the tiles and such if I had a plan... but I dunno. I'm thinking something long abandoned and it was created by humans... something fort like. Man, it's this stuff that makes being a DM hard for me. I'm much better on the fly than with preparing stuff...

Cicciograna
2009-09-25, 11:22 AM
Do you want to actually draw the map of the castle, defining the position of each room, put furniture in them, draw a layout of the castle itself; or rather planning what this castle should contain, defining the general contents of its halls (without actually deciding where the throne should be in the throne room), choosing from a list of possible rooms the contents of the stronghold?

In the latter case, I'd suggest you Stronghold Builder's Guidebook, which contains everything you need to plan and run a stronghold.

In the former case, find some free program to design floorplants and start to draw. O else, try to find some real-world castle floorplan and adapt to your likings.

Zeta Kai
2009-09-25, 11:36 AM
You need to go see the mapping gurus at the Cartographer's Guild (http://www.cartographersguild.com/). They are much better equipped to assist you.

Ostien
2009-09-25, 11:38 AM
In the former case, find some free program to design floorplants and start to draw. O else, try to find some real-world castle floorplan and adapt to your likings.

AutoREALM (http://autorealm.sourceforge.net/) is a good free program. Have made world maps and floor plans with it.

kestrel404
2009-09-25, 11:48 AM
Honestly, pick up some graph paper, figure out a scale, and start drawing. You could check out this (http://medievalcastles.stormthecastle.com/castle-floor-plans.htm) or this (http://forum.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=2802) for inspiration, but fantasy castles don't need much realism to them. Just make a couple of defensible rooms near the beginning, don't forget to include a privy (because the players NEVER expect to break down a door and be told "And this is the bathroom. There's an orc with his knickers around his knees looking at you in absolute horror.").

paladin_carvin
2009-09-25, 12:51 PM
Cic, I kinda like the idea of a vague castle... perhaps I can do that. I've tried to draw up stuff a few times but it always feel so stilted. Maybe if I just made up a chart... but what rooms should a castle have? Especially one that used to have magicians and such?

Cicciograna
2009-09-25, 02:08 PM
Cic, I kinda like the idea of a vague castle... perhaps I can do that. I've tried to draw up stuff a few times but it always feel so stilted. Maybe if I just made up a chart... but what rooms should a castle have? Especially one that used to have magicians and such?
Stronghold Builder's Guide to the rescue! and if you don't want to buy the actual handbook, you can find somewhere on the Net an .xls file to assist your building.

EDIT: there it is (http://www.dndadventure.com/ftp/toolsdl_stronghold_builder_10.zip) the helper.