Simple DnD Map V1

The goal of the map is to have two players pick characters and move through the map in a way that teaches them the mechanics as they play it. We were given a rule sheet with various stats, classes, etc. and for my first iteration, my map ended up looking like this.

As you can see, the players start in the top left section of the map, with two different paths to go down. One path leads to a camp of bandits, and the other leads to the boss of the level, as well as the endpoint.

For the playtest of my map, the two playtesters were Leland and Christian. Leland picked the Warrior class, and Christian picked the Rogue class, respectively. The majority of the playthrough went pretty well, despite my lack of planning for enemy statistics. Leland chose to go down toward the camp of bandits, while Christian went to the right towards the boss. However, once he discovered what awaited there, he quickly retreated and followed Leland toward the camp. Once they got there, they both chose to fight the bandits, though Christian got unlucky and was killed in one hit by one of them. However, Leland was able to kill the rest, except for one archer who was able to take him down at the last minute.

The map provided both players with interesting paths to explore, and both agreed that the aesthetics of the map were nice. I will quickly acknowledge that I did unintentionally go overboard with the visual aspect of the map. The players also said they thought the enemy statistics were pretty well-balanced for the number of players. There was not anything in particular that went wrong. The players were not overwhelmed by enemies, nor were the enemies too easy to take down. There was not any overwhelming confusion, and overall there were no issues.

The screenshot below shows the ending positions of both players in the camp of bandits.

There are of course several ways the map can be improved. The most obvious thing that could be improved is the placement of the Boss. The way it is currently, a player could accidentally stumble upon it and get attacked at the very start of the level. This nearly happened to Christian when he chose to go to the right at the beginning of the playthrough, though he managed to stay far enough away so that it did not attack him. To fix this problem, I am considering placing an extra pit trap at the entrance of the path, or possibly adding a locked door that you have to use a key to get through. This would force the player down the other path, so they do not get attacked straight away.

Something else I could do to improve my map is possibly adding more paths and/or corridors to add complexity to the layout. This will add more intrigue for the players and provide more opportunities for different types of encounters and obstacles. In general, I think the map would benefit from a more restricted layout so that the players are directed where to go, giving the map better flow.

Overall, I think for the first iteration the map I created is pretty decent. I have never played Dungeons and Dragons or any other type of role-playing board game like it before, so I am definitely learning as I go and it is an interesting experience to learn how these types of games function and how I can use my mind to design maps that work well.