DungeonMorph Dice PDF Preview

Very small version of the battlemat graphic.
Very small version of the battlemat graphic.

Another task related to the DungeonMorph Dice project is to get the process/format correct to create the battlemat PDFs based on those same designs.  Linked from this post is one design.  I’m creating the designs in my Dungeonographer software program, which has a free version, and I’m posting the raw .dgo file so you can open it using the software and tweak it if you want to change the design slightly.

Back to my process: once the design is re-created in the software (5-10 minutes, usually) I save it as a .png at 300dpi where each square is 300x300pixels.  (Perfect for 1″ battlemats.)  Then I also print it to a pdf with the same specs and US Letter size paper specs. This results in a 9 page pdf which you can easily print, then trim the edges and tape together.  If you access to a plotter, you can print it straight from Dungeonographer or you can open the PNG image in an image editor and print the image based on the original DPI. (Which is set to 300.)

A couple of other notes on the design-to-battlemat process:

  • Each square in the original designs was set to be 10’x10′.  Because most players want each 1″ square to be 5’x5′ when using miniatures, each square in the original design matches a 2×2 set of squares in the battlemats.
  • Furthermore, the floor pattern I’m using here is a 2×2 set of stone tiles per square. (I hope that doesn’t confuse too many.)
  • I probably will vary the floor patterns and darknesses of the walls between different designs.  Does anyone see a problem with that approach?
  • An edge of one row/column of blank squares was added to each side of the battlemat.  You can cut these away.  They allow a wall which is centered on an edge of the design to print fully, but you can cut/crop the wall in half if desired. (Note this particular design doesn’t have a wall that spans an edge, except for some butts where the lines start/end.)
  • Each DungeonMorph design would be one pdf.  The six pdfs for each die would likely be zipped together.

Here are the files:

Let me know if you like this approach, particularly if you have constructive feedback to make it a little better.