Test Dungeon

I’ve finally had a break on some of the projects I’m involved in which has allowed me put together a test dungeon. Having never built any practical tabletop terrain for miniatures, I decided to recreate the sample gothic dungeon from Hirst Arts.

This will give me the opportunity to test solutions to number of necessary features:

Stairs

How do I handle moving miniatures up and down stairs? The miniature obviously won’t fit on any of the intermediate stairs? Do I treat it like a ramp with a terrain cost? Should the cost be directional, more expensive to climb than to descend? How do those experienced with miniatures gaming handle this?

Camera Controls

Given the tight confines of the entry hallway, I’ll need to implement camera controls so the minis don’t get lost behind a wall. Automated 3rd-person cameras are notoriously difficult to solve in a way that is satisifying in all situations and user controlled cameras need to not only be intuitive, but not pass through walls or the “floor.”

Line of Sight

There are two right-angle turns in this sample dungeon. What’s the best way to represent LOS and only reveal the dungeon that is visible? Should previously explored areas be shown, even if they aren’t visible? What about character facing? If a character turns around, do I reveal the portions of the map visible during the turn only to hide them again?

Passing in Hallways

Even if only one character can occupy a space at a time, do we allow passing through the square without stopping to prevent bottlenecks?

Lots of questions to answer, but those answers will go a long way toward making this a fun and functional experience.