ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.พ. 2023
- In today's episode of Game Changer, we take a look at FPS level design, and see what we can bring to our D&D table.
The Ruined Spa battlemap (50x44): trekiros.files...
GridPaper tumblr: / gridpaper-maps
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💬 DISCORD: / discord
📘 MY HOMEBREW: trekiros.com
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PNGTuber avatar by KoffeineYT [ / koffeineyt ]
Music: "Getting it Done" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommon...
CS Dust2 3d model by TheJagsStudio
NukeTown 3D model by Leonardo, Luciano, Lorenzo Zarzuela
creativecommon...
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#opendnd #dndogl #dnd #dnd5e #ttrpg #gamedesign
Slow zombies that fall down broken stairs are fun to terrorize fresh PCs with, but raise the tempo with flesh-eating Ghouls and a life stealing Wight. Excellent work!
This is a fantastic video. The “rooms connected by hallways” is such an ubiquitous RPG map design that I didn’t even notice until you pointed it out.
Same. The new perspective/possibilities this opens up is amazing!
Tbf, rooms are usually connected by hallways. It's kind of standard construction.
@@PaulGuy yeah, but it’s not usually a hallway connecting a room to another room which is connected to another by another hallway sequentially with large unfilled gaps between them, the way many RPG maps are drawn. Usually it’s multiple rooms connected to one hallway with the rooms sharing walls. That’s standard construction.
The only way I found mazes to be translatable are skill challenges. You don't actually navigate, you just have to make checks, and the DM narrates as a maze. And then you can nest those skill challenges in a dungeon structure, to make it feel replayable.
I made a maze filled with poison gas and then had them by hand draw their way through a print out of the maze. Timed them in real life and they took damage based on how long they spent in the map. Had a couple chests and a mimic in there too, was gonna pause the damage timer for a combat, but they ended up just running with the mimic to get out sooner. Great fun
@@evinoge5834My problem with this is that it doesn't have anything to do with their characters. It depends on how well the player can solve it, not their character. This is a problem with many puzzles, though, and aside from rolling checks to anticlimactically solve the puzzle it is pretty hard to solve.
I feel like having a combat encounter in a maze where the enemy team knows the maze layout might be fun.
This video is incredibly well made and researched. I've been using FPS maps and reskinning them for years now, and I STILL learned a ton from this. Great vid, with more to come I'm sure. Happy birthday, Trek!
Thanks!
I recreated De_Train for a 13th Age campaign, it works well I think, though there are some things to take into account for a TTRPG. For example the entire party are likely to all pick the same lane, so really the decision should be appealing to different party compositions. Another thing that I found was that each chokepoint is likely to create its own separate encounter, so a FPS map can quickly become an entire dungeon in itself. A big thing as well is that short range in a FPS game is mid range for a TTRPG, because FPS games have a lot less focus on melee. This is important because there is a risk of making something that you feel like is a good short range area based on other FPS maps, but in practice you find that while close, the ranged characters can still keep an eye on the melee characters while keeping their distance to them.
I hope you stick with it. This is the most informative video I've ever seen on making compelling maps. I hope you keep making great content.
Thank you! Currently working on video number 3 which is also going to be about maps, just a different framework & way to build them to achieve different goals
If you want to help me continue making these, the best way is to share the video with other DMs you know, to convince the almighty algorithm that my videos are worth people's time 🙏
Love the premise of this channel, as I frequently consult video game design principles to help me be a better DM. I’d love future videos to focus on how video game maps and environments can help tell a story - how exploring a place like Rapture helps communicate Bioshock’s themes every bit as much as the actual writing does.
Bioshock and Fallout are the absolute emperors when it comes to environmental storytelling 🤩
This is a cool idea, but one big issue I see with this idea is that it relies on the party knowing the map (they have to have found all the lanes first). So much of D&D/rpgs is about exploration. So you present your party with a room with three paths going off it (in the same rough direction). Are they going to go up path A, figure out it's the long path (and not alert anything), THEN go BACK and go up path B to discover it's the sneaky, and THEN go BACK AGAIN, and check out path C discovering it's the charge-in way...?
Context matters a lot. TLDR: most areas are self-explanatory through location (roofs are sneaky generally) and encourage players to not engage in combat 24/7 and as such not only ever take combat abilities and spells, such as Message, which can make exploration and scouting MUCH easier.
A roof entrance is typically a sneakier entrance since guards typically don't roam attics and bank roofs, despite having guards, usually have less than anywhere else; the same goes for basements or any other "outset" room, like a garbage area. The charge-in way for a house is typically the actual entrance, which would be clearly marked by a number of things, like signage and the number of guards.
For places that are more of an open space, like a walled settlement, similar ideas apply, just in a way that may be less obvious. For instance, the stables could the sneaky route, where your rolls for stealth would be for the horses instead of guards, which could be solved in other ways as well, such as through Handle Animal. The charging route would still be relatively obvious: it's where everybody in the settlement congregates.
I think ultimately though, it comes down to encouraging your Players to use non-combat spells and ideas, even when the map design of a certain area is obtrusive and not-so-easily communicated. For instance, a shapeshifted druid as a rat wouldn't be strange in most places, which could include certain animal companions or familiars as well; these would be very useful for scouting areas you don't yet know. If you don't have those, the Message spell can also be a big help.
I think also these "maps" are all meant as battle maps so a lot will already be visible. Without knowing for sure where it leads, players can usually tell that the hidden side path is probably the sneaky way, and identify the open area and the place with cover, simply because the maps for 1 combat are small and they can see. They might not be able to see everything, but if the DM is not too inconsistent they should pick up on this.
I enjoy this design philosophy but more importantly, I like imagining how a tactician can explain these kinds of maps to the party.
Imagine if you're told by a captain or lieutenant that you can use certain lanes, look for things as cover, break certain walls, or position your squad around important rooms.
Let's say the ranger can make use of a room with good cover, but there's a strong chance it will get contested, so the paladin might want to cover the ranger there.
All in all, there's many possibilities with FPS style maps.
Thank you youtube for recommending me this channel! Already used the tips to great effect. However, I find myself thinking of the main difference between tabletop and FPS maps in my opinion: FPS maps are meant to be played repeatedly, while tabletop battles are usually the first time the players have been in that area. A 3-lane map is balanced for two teams that know the map by heart, but many of their intricacies (such as the fact that long A favours long-range sniping, or that catwalk favours stealthy close-range combat) are lost on new players. How do we communicate these details to players who are there for the first time?
Very interesting video, I've seen plenty of advice online that mentions ways of varying up rooms, but your take on varying the connections between the rooms was a neat perspective! I liked the FPS good design to good TTRPG design parallels!
Thank you!
I've had a lot of discussions with DMs who had an issue where their players would always use the "chokepoint" tactic, putting their paladin or barbarian in the door and everyone behind them - it's a cool tactic, but if it's all people use every single combat encounter, it can get a bit dull. That's why I focused the discussion on this point, I knew it was a problem people were having in practice
Something I didn't notice you mention about using FPS Maps for TTRPGs - an FPS each player runs off to act on their own, they aren't staying close to eachother and helping eachother out, but TTRPGs tend to be more team-focused, no? It's never occurred to me to crib FPS maps for TTRPGs, but I've cribbed maps from Final Fantasy Tactics before.
It depends on the FPS, some of them reward you for running off on your own, some of them reward you for sticking together and working with your teammates
teamwork does not require players to bunch together, it just requires them to be coordinated.
spreading the party between multiple different pathways forces enemies to fight from 3 different angles, making them vulnerable to sneak attacks.
This is a ridiculously well thought out and presented video. Really opened my mind!
Funnily enough, dungeon design and fps map design have been linked for years. One of the most prolific map makers for older dnd , Janel Jaquay, was the person who made some of the most famous counter strike maps! Dust 2 is quite literally a dnd dungeon map!
I’ve been looking for another channel like Dungeon Masterpiece. You have that sweet spot of useful info, clear explanations/representations, and links to practical material. Liked and subbed, definitely looking forward to more.
This was pretty fun and informative but there are a couple issues that aren't really addressed with this style of map making.
1) is clarity of information. It becomes somewhat hard to convey information the more complicated and organic a map becomes. Adding levels and elevation is easier to show in a video game than on a 2D map. Likewise it's hard to show and mark where terrain interactions would be, since video games rely on the assumption you have experience with that specific map to know the ins and outs. Lastly it's harder to read and navigate maps that deviate from the grid frequently, while you can get used to it it could slow things down more trying to determine if some position is within range of some other point and similar issues.
2) is the difficulty in creating these maps. True you could use other resources to find and print them but that doesn't really leave much option for those who create custom areas and maps. It creates a lot more work to put into designing maps that will limit it's usage. For those who use others resources it'd probably create an issue of reusing content. I don't think there's all that many unique maps available and it'd probably become somewhat obvious quickly if the maps start repeating, something that tends to be more obvious with more complicated maps. Not major problems, but issues to consider none the less. Probably the biggest issue would be a lack of customization for such maps to change them up, it's something much easier with standard blocky rooms and grid layout that you can use generic assets to change the layout fairly easily, adding doors and objects where you need them.
The concepts and ideas here are good, I just wish there was a segment that talked about ideas to help implement and adapt this more easily in practice.
The more granular/complex blocks and interaction nodes also tend to be heavily reliant on audiovisual engagement and extremely particular to the game's movement systems. It is much more difficult to precisely convey relative distances, especially complex combinations of ones, in either theater of the mind or on a 2d representation of a 3d space (and setting up a 3d representation is far more work and less accessible). Consequently, it is liable to slow play and progress down far more than in a video game and without some of the feedback systems (sensory, timing, and kinetic) as part of the engagement and reward.
It has some applicability, certainly. It is a design tool that demands a higher understanding and skill floor on the creator's part, though.
Something that you don't talk about too much, is what this kind of map design does to the perceived gap in power between martials and casters, and even between certain spells available to casters. I think a lot of the perception that martials are weak, comes from people watching or playing games where every fight is basically "big open room of perfect fireball size" where the martials have to spend a round or two just getting pelted with arrows before they can start doing their business, meanwhile the casters are free to reign hell upon their foes.
In a well designed map that incorporates multiple entrances, tight corners, corridors, and verticality. Suddenly being able to post up a barbarian to tactically pinch off a corner that the wizard can't effectively cover is a really potent strategy. Similarly the rogue and ranger are having a blast tactfully maneuvering crumbling architecture without disrupting any of the debris and potentially collapsing a roof or alerting enemies below. Whereas the sorcerer might be able to fly, but that doesn't do them much good in tight spaces where you have to crawl carefully to navigate.
This also makes "shotgun" spells like burning hands or cone of cold a lot more interesting than say a fireball or lightning bolt.
Good point!
Weirdly enough, my favorite FPS map is Lockout from Halo 2, although it's been copied in later games and entirely different games as well. I remember playing a mini game on a Minecraft server and just really liking the flow of one map before I realized it was a recreation of Lockout and going sicko mode with my map awareness
what kind of maniac designs a building where doors open OUT from a room INTO the hallway
Interesting thoughts well presented!
FPS maps are usually played over and over again, so players learn different paths, tactics over time. TTRPG maps are usually only used once. I'm not confident my players will grasp the different paths and the resulting tactics and make informed decisions if I would present them 3 paths for example.
You could try having a relevant npc explain the map mechanics to the party or have them do a non combat exploration/item hunt in a similar map
Would be nice to understand what changes you need to make for this to work in turn based combat. Part of what makes kill zones and cover work in FPS I think is that you have to take the damage crossing the open area, and it’s plausibly enough to kill or disable you. In turn based, enemies might not be able to deliver enough damage to you before you can cross the kill zone for it to be meaningful. If they didn’t ready an action, you might move across in one turn with no consequence. How do you make this translate well?
Love the idea of exp!or sing a ruined spa facility. Props for making it something that can easily be fit into so many campaign themes.
I think having a set universal map legend system for things like holes, doors, windows, walls, breakable walls, railings, light cover, heavy cover, difficult terrain and possibly something for there being something of notice above a place on the map. I think having a universal legend system for creating and modifying battle maps in that way would be one of the most helpful things for map creators, GMs and players alike.
DUSK's E1M9 Ghost Town would probably be really good, along with a few other maps from DUSK now that I think about it.
This new channel is going to the top!
I'm just getting ready to start my first campaign, so I've been watching a bunch of DM videos, and it only now occurs to me I hadn't come across anything that covered maps, yet I really needed something like this!
Great vid. Instant sub :D
This was your FIRST video? This is amazing! Instantly subscribed and eager to dust off my Borderlands 2 copy to look at the maps with a bit (or a lot) more DM braincells activated.
I just found you through Kraken Week 24 and am watching your catalogue!
Near the end in your example you mention the debris counts as difficult terrain. As the GM you could say that it also counts as cover, but difficult terrain by itself does not provide cover and only restricts movement speed, which can actually be bad for melee combatants.
Thank you SO much for the link to Grid Paper. I've wanted some layouts of FPS maps for this exact purpose for awhile but had no idea where to obtain them, if such a resource even existed. Great video.
Some of my absolute favorite FPS maps to steal for D&D are those from Payday 2, and that's definitely not because I was running a homebrew modern setting. Payday 2 has a LOT of great maps to choose from, be it the older maps that have interactable map elements like windows you can board up and vents enemies can crawl through, or newer maps that have a ton of cinematic elements. Not to mention that Payday's RNG variety can give you a ton of inspiration for varied events that happen during a mission.
One of my favorite maps from Payday is the Brooklyn Bank. On paper it's a very simple job but there's so many ways to enter the vault: you can drill in from the top or saw in through the doors. You can drill through the door or blow it up with C4 and pull it out with a winch. You can escape through the sewers or your getaway driver can show up in a nearby parking lot. Not only that but the map is just generally very well made with good cover and a nice high ground balcony that both enemies and the players can use. I think if you added some more variability (or not) and reskinned the mission to a fantasy setting it could make for a great standard D&D map for a heist or possibly for some sort of defense mission.
You're my new favorite channel. Really great analysis and examples.
Thank you!
I just stumbled upon your channel and was instantly floored by the video quality and presentation. I'll definitely keep an eye on future videos and will absolutely watch the rest of the now available ones.
Things regarding video game maps I always really like is when the level turns back on itself and brings you into an area you've been to or you were able to see before.
For example entering a small keep via it's courtyard and being able to see or get back to it through multiple doors, balconies or broken walls in the buildings lining the walls and fighting through this location with sections out in the open and inside or atop the battlements.
It would provide a lot of space for elevation shenanigans and such.
The courtyard would also be the fastest way of getting from one building to a building on the other side, but also the most dangerous since you could be attacked out of every building and from every battlement/balcony.
This is amazing. I am rethinking everything I've ever created with some cringe for my ignorance and a lot of excitement for these new ideas!
I think the first time we did this was in Rise of the Uncertainty Lich (2006). It's nice to see people catching up to what spiritplumber did.
I found this video kinda late, but I am going to make an attempt to use this information in my current game. Thanks for the insight friend.
I feel the pointy hat inspiration, but I may be wrong :)
Oh Pointy Hat is absolutely my favorite TH-cam channel and a big reason I format my videos the way I do :p
What I don't like in your map is how hard to read it is, we have floor 0 in top left, floor 1 in top right, then floor 2 in bottom left and floor -1 in bottom right
Also 2 corridors from floor -1 lead to precisely nowhere.
It's also really tight per floor so big AOE or long range battle is not an option.
this channel is so good! well researched and direct, many resources... honestly just keep doing it please
The problem is how I bring these ideas INTO LIFE. Concepts are all there, but I all I can do is just pick that map up, which it wouldn't fit into my campaign I want to run.
ive never thought about Maps like this im gonna incorporate these ideas from now on
Hey love the video, what a cool idea thanks for making it! One suggestion I would have from an audio perspective is: I'm hearing a bunch of clicks at the beginning of sentences or in the middle where you've mashed two takes together. You can solve this by doing a very small fade in at the beginning of each clip, there might even be a setting for this in your editing tool. The fade in can be very short. Keep up the good work!
Very helpful! I look forward to more map design, which is my particular weakness. I also look forward to how we can integrate story and combat, which video games often do, and even more often attempt.
I've been thinking the challenge of a high tech verses low technology armies face-off. Ewok verses Imperial; Gungan verses droids; Na'vi verses miners from earth. There is some games where its already tried. The big challenge is the weapon miss match. Bows and guns actually have nearly the same lethality at close range. Guns out range bows at longer range so map size matters. Modern guns use up a lot of ammo and can run out. Bows rarely do that. However guns suppress the foe while bows rarely do that. You can't pin, suppress or give covering fire with low rate of fire weapons. While less important in an RPG. This difference is important if your taking a bow or mage into a first person shooter.
A lot of cool ideas and insights that can lead to advanced design.
With the quality of your videos, I was surprised to find that you're fairly new to YT. I am super excited to see your content and I'm glad to be an early subscriber! 😁😁😁
I really enjoyed this video so far, leaving a comment as asked! Thanks for the link to the GridPaper tumblr!
If you want another game to look at, Hunt Showdown is a great example. Each compound is much more similar to the sort of arena that you'd want in a TTRPG (as opposed to the 3 lane design that dominates deathmatch style games) and are a lot more free flowing. There are a lot of possible paths through each compound, with multiple levels and small elevation changes, tiny pieces of cover, and interactable elements. Not to mention each compound feels like a place that people would actually live and work in, as opposed to the majority of FPS maps which are very clearly arenas first with set dressing added on later.
The one room a day is a good way to define small consistent effort over time. I love the idea of focusing more on the connections but im unsure how you could define the same atomic work
Wow, just realized this stuff applies to my favorite shooter, the OG Star Wars Battlefront 2 from 2005.
Most obvious example to me is the Jedi Temple. In the center is a big open area with lots of cover and raised areas on the sides, ideal for long range engagements. Then there's a lane on the right side of the map that goes through a couple smaller rooms and a tight walkway that are better for close-quarters, and a lane on the left that leads to a 2 floor library where the center of the 2nd floor is open to the bottom. Then multiple doors from the central room to the left and right lanes make it easy to jump from one type of engagement to the other at your leisure, while ensuring each command post has multiple angles you can approach from/have to defend.
Can't believe you just gave me greater appreciation for a game I didn't think I could love more. Excellent video! Can't wait to see what comes next now that I've watched all of your stuff.
Around 6 months ago I made a map of Scarface Mansion from Payday 2 for my SW5e game and it has certainly been one of my greatest session as the players were using all the things I designed and put into perspective from it's various entries of stealth all the way to the elevation and cover once things got messy. The map and it's design are personally one of my favorite aspects of dnd and should be discussed more.
I really enjoyed the maps in CODMW3 survival mode. They were all distinct yet similar. You definitely had significant choices to make in each one, and it played heavily into your tactics. You had to cut off lines of approach yet leave yourself lines of escape. Etc. I don't always see a 1:1 correspondence to ttrpg's, but there are certainly lessons to learn and design concepts to consider. The map always make a big difference, so craft (or choose) it well.
Criminally underrated channel.
Love your stuff man... The dissection and "nitty gritty" ... I love it. I was an aspiring game dev many years ago... And recently starting GMing... So alot of this stuff I have some knowledge on but the breakdown you've done is amazing. Keep it up. I'll watch everything you put out.
You remind me of a slower pace, more serious version of Pointy Hat. (Mostly because you both have little mascots) Absolutely love the little guy! Very excited for your videos going forward!!
If I can make a suggestion, perhaps speak a little bit faster, and cut out some of the longer pauses. I get the feeling this video could've been about 10 or 15 minutes long instead of 20 without losing any information. Otherwise, definitely an interesting video that I'll be referencing in my next map I make!
Yup, that was my first video and others have pointed out the same thing, so I tried to make it faster for the videos since then
Brilliant video - I have always wondered why my maps felt boring or combat always developed into a slog fest, this was super informative!
Great vid. Nice maps. I will say I don’t usually detail out specific maps for my RPG encounters. Although I do map out encounter networks.
It's awesome to see content like this, keep it up!
Oh damn, this is great stuff. This channel's gunna go far.
I don't have a lot to say. I really like the content. Just doing my due diligence to get this video more engagement. Feed the algorithm gods
Sledge's Safehouse from the original Borderlands game would make a good dungeon. That was definitely one of my least favorite maps as a kid but it has some good map design for a zombie apocalypse or fallout style ttrpg. There's multiple ways around most individual rooms but, being a safe house, you have to move through each room to get to the end. Some rooms are divided by chain link fence so you can see through areas but can't get to them. Being an older title it doesn't have a lot of verticality to the map design but it's essentially an underground bunker and fits the part nicely in my opinion.
I've been looking for a channel like this for over a year. Clear explaination and useful information. Gonna watch it a few more times and put it into practice when I have some quiet time.
Great video and really love the way you break it down. Would be interested to hear your thoughts and how you would apply these concepts to an old school dungeon or even a floor of a mega dungeon. If you have any examples that follow these principles, I would love to know about them.
I found this video highly informative and well made. I saw your other videos and am looking forward to se more! The content, research and reference is high quality (although I do think you could put more links in the description), and you can can talk us through it very well.
Apart from some sound problems, the production quality is good enough to communicate efficiently with the viewer, and not overloaded at all. Also, the modron talking to us is in the perfect interaction level: it isn't boring nor distracting! You nailed it!
Please keep up the good work and make more videos like these on similar topics. I will be sharing with all my tabletop enthusiast friends. See you in the next one!
Finally i can have a never ending ttrpg session on 2Fort map
This was awesome! Thank you!
Awesome format and content! Going through your other videos later!
7:10 - Obi-Wan has the highground, not Anakin.
You're getting a youngling treatment (a light saber one)
I can't believe in the 3 days it took me to edit this video that thought never crossed my mind once.
@@Trekiros you've underestimated the power of a dark side
Thank you man :3
I’ve been messing around with solo miniatures games lately, like Five Parsecs from Home and Five Leagues from the Borderlands and everything you talked about here will greatly enhance those games.
Literally never thought of dnd combats like this and this is actually a really good idea
I always like to imagine that my Bag of Holding contains the "Facing Worlds" map from Unreal Tournament.
I can hear the music playing in my head.
@@The_PolterGhost Same. It gets louder when the bag is opened.
Your content is so underated thanks for all the great videos
Great video! Subscribed. It doesn’t seem to show up as much on a phone speaker but if you listen with anything better than that there seems to be some audio popping that can be really distracting.
I think one of the biggest pieces of history this video misses is how early FPS games were literally designed to be dungeon crawlers. Wolfenstein's blocky rooms evolved into Doom's sprawling technolairs. John Romero, American McGee, and Sandy Petersen were all D&D players that designed megastructure maps with various non-linear lane choices and "acts" to each map that would split encounters, alongside various Gygaxian traps to catch unwary players by surprise.
Doom itself is one of the more famous examples of dungeon crawler design, to the point where almost every level is very memorable, especially for those fond of Shareware Doom. Finding a secret door for that magic armor or superweapon, fighting your way through a horde by picking to run-and-gun or tactically taking cover, and figuring out which battles to choose and paths to take transform basic Point A to Point B maps into unique experiences.
INFERNO is my fav, because childhood! But also because... B you know... It's just neat!
"Boxy" style maps are the standard in ttrpgs because the are easiest to describe to players; also easier to "cover" sections not to be seen yet. Trying to describe the expert map would be a lot more challenging. Great video!
Well made video, I would just recommend adding a quiet background music like ambient music to make the video more entertaining and to hide the gaps in your sppech.
Some really good food for thought! I want to try literally using an FPS map that a player knows well when mapping out their hometown or something. That way the player is just as familiar as their character with the layout
Love your content! You're the best! This is my obligatory content to improve your results in the TH-cam algorithm. :) ❤
(A lot of memorable early fps maps were designed by TTRPG players.)
Yup, that's something I've gotten quite a bit of feedback about, so I've added it to the to-do list. Kind of forgot about it 😅
Very insightful!
This was a lot of great analysis!
You’re videos are outstanding.
Really inspiring.
This lends itself well to Bunkers & Badasses
Brilliant video, very informative
Cool spa map idea 👍
Not many to sift through but the short list of videos you've got already are very well done. This one's my favorite so far but your Zelda maps is also great
This channel is extremely underrated from just two videos I've now seen. Subbed!
I have always had plans to use the level The Library from Halo: CE as a premise for escaping a city that being attacked by spell-plagued creatures. Having the town watch along the walls to work on opening gates while the party has to defend themselves in periodic arenas of street alleys. I have a mega city in my setting that is perfect for this. I also have open plains and deserts that the party must travel through to reach a destination. How would you go about making this travel sequence worthwhile? I have some solutions but would love to know your solution.
Just found your channel and loved this video. I'm excited to go check out the rest of your stuff next.
Awesome video, lots of cool ideas,!
There is nothing more disgusting than a battlemap that breaks from grid.
Not FPS maps, but I've used a lot of WoW maps in my campaign, just reskinned. If you pick the ones that are less linear they provide a good dungeon adventure and well, somebody already did half the design job for you so it's a lot easier to populate them.
19/10 a++
this is easily one of the most informative, valuable videos I've come across since I started DMing. Immediate like/sub
Combat was always my least favorite part of out D&D/Pathfinder/etc. sessions, and I think I have a better handle on why now: Most combat maps, both in premade campaigns and the original ones by our usual DM (who is a phenomenal storyteller, mind you) made for rather dull encounters of "move up and hit the wizard until they stop breathing" that gets boring as fast as possible. Some of the few genuinely enjoyable fights were in interesting areas, and some were straight up gimmick fights -- which I would argue is in the same arena (no pun intended) of careful and thoughtful level design, as opposed than slapping down a spellcaster behind a couple meat shields in a giant square room.
I really appreciate this video. Nothing's going to make me love TTRPG combat, it's just never going to be all that fun for me, but if nothing else I have something to think about to compare experiences.
It's amazing how much of this could be applied to tabletop wargaming, too. In most game's manuals you're instructed to: "randomly scatter X large, Y medium and Z small obstacles and call it a day". Those maps tend to be quite boring, but now i'll try to spice things up with this video in mind. Thanks!
In the effort to present a labyrinth in a TTRPG setting that isn't.... awful. I think I would run it as a semi-theatre of the mind; DM would have a layout to keep track of the party's position. No map, encounters could be run on simple generic maps as needed [or have the labyrinth itself as the encounter with traps etc] and as the players are trying to find their way through you mainly only have to describe the movement and interactions as they occur.
This is great. It is also vastly overestimating the cleverness of my players.