You start with a blank sheet of graph paper, a pencil, and a few ideas.

Anyone who’s run a roleplaying game (at least those who did so before the days of computers and pre-printed cardstock “terrain tiles”) has been here. You begin by staring at the blank sheet for a few moments, then you start to fill in walls, rooms, and passages. It doesn’t matter whether you’re creating a subterranean dungeon for a sword-and-sorcery game, a secret missile complex for an espionage campaign, or a science-fiction space station, the basic process remains essentially the same. You’re playing at being an architect, taking a stab at designing a believable physical structure. That’s the easy part. More