Wiggly Map Rooms

A big reason I have not been blogging much is that I have been working a lot on my role-playing game. My wife and I have been enjoying it a lot. But I doubt anyone wants to read short blog posts about which of its web pages have been updated or added.

This blog post is mainly for my own archives. After a tiny bit of experimentation I discovered how to make straight lines wiggly using Inkscape, which is useful for making the player's version of a map appear hand-drawn by an NPC. I want the settings I use recorded somewhere, and a blog post works.

1. In Inkscape, make a new layer for wiggy rooms that are only visible on one version of the map.
2. Select the rooms' paths. Duplicate them, and move the duplicates to the new layer.
3. Use Extensions -> Modify Path -> Add Nodes to put nodes at every grid intersection (20 pixels on my maps).
4. For some reason this deselects what you are working with. Use Select All to reselect the rooms.
5. Use Extensions -> Modify Path ->Fractalize with 3 subdivisions per segment and 7 smoothness

You can see examples of this at the Base and Temple and Unseigable Tunnel maps.

UPDATE: My next map will be a version of a black market in a sewer, inspired by this map.

UPDATE: The menu named Effects has been renamed Extensions in Inkscape 0.47. I've modified the directions appropriately. I also have switched from 6 subdivisions to 3 subdivisions in step five, which makes for a simpler file without much visual difference.