The World’s Largest Dungeon
At the time, The World’s Largest Dungeon was the largest role-playing game module ever produced, with 840 pages and sixteen 17” x 22” poster-sized dungeon maps, featuring every monster from the d20 SRD.
When I joined AEG in 2003, the manuscript was mostly complete, but the design template of the book was still rough. I lept at the opportunity to contribute to such a fascinating project. In my own time, at home, I worked to create an evocative design theme, eventually arriving at the illustrated page border consisting of the dungeon pillars and portcullis, with the dungeon sections labelled on a metal plate that moved down the pages like notebook tabs as the book progressed. This was a hit with the book’s main author and editor Jim Pinto, as well as the AEG creative director Mark Jelfo, and I soon found myself in the unenviable position of being the book’s sole graphic designer and typesetter in the 11th hour of production.
As I completed the layout, I became intimately familiar with 3rd Edition stat blocks, and—as pointed out by Jim in the book’s appendix—caught and fixed numerous editing errors that had crept in due to multiple people working on the text over the course of several months. I learned so much from this project—which I’m sure could be considered the equivalent of several courses in book design and typography—and I’m forever grateful to my mentor Mark Jelfo for the opportunity!
Page Spreads
One of my favorite aspects of this project is the black and white pencil illustrations of the late, great William O’Connor—truly one of the nicest artists I’ve ever met. His drawings were a joy to place throughout the book and wrap text around, delightfully playful and evocative of old school D&D.
The World’s Largest Dungeon Map
WLD came with sixteen interconnecting poster maps, which measured over 7’ x 5’ when assembled. The maps were originally sketched out by author Jim Pinto and designed by artist Cris Dornaus. When nearing completion of the book, we realized that the maps lacked the detail needed for viewing on 17” x 22” posters. I enthusiastically stepped up and added dimensionality, texture, color, atmospheric detail, and magical effects.
At left is a picture I snagged from the Wayback Machine archives of AEG’s 2004 website, showing me excitedly standing next to a wall of maps on delivery day. I wish it was higher res so you could see how goofy I looked.
Click a map section below to view in full screen.
20 years after its publication, The World’s Largest Dungeon is still punishing masochistic gaming groups, with many groups sharing their adventures on Twitch and Youtube. Below, a group has enlarged a WLD map to 1” scale, for use with 28mm miniatures.
