I draw the occasional D&D map

Dyson Logos · Apr 4, 2019

The only major river inlet on the whole of the island is the Y’ruvex Swamps, a marshy lowland pincered between mountain ranges. We believed that if we could get past the swamps themselves and to the open rivers beyond, they would likely lead us to the heart of this island and the rumoured central plateau.

But nothing healthy grows in those swamps and the mountains around them show the spoor of the mightiest of territorial predators – dragons. The Jale folk call the river valley “the Central River” in their strange tongue and the the swamp name probably translates to something like “place where the people drown and die” – a proper translation wasn’t forthcoming as our Jale guide was killed when the hippogriffs attacked us on the larger of the hilly islands. We had pulled ashore to examine the massive standing stones just visible from the shore only to discover that the tallest hill on the island is home to a large nest of the beasts.

This map is actually a stylized closeup (at roughly 3 miles per hex) of one section of the classic Isle of Dread adventure from my campaign where I mash it up with elements of the Carcosa setting. Of the classic Isle of Dread map, this shows encounter location 8 (the Hippogriff nest on the island), location 5 (the caves of the rock baboons on the lower right of the map between the volcanoes) and it doesn’t quite extend north enough for the Roc nest at 16. It also includes a lot of smaller details that were added as I imported Carcosan weirdness – megalithic standing stones on the island, a few mountain caves and shore details to attract explorers’ attention, and such.

https://dysonlogos.blog/2019/04/04/yruvex-swamps/

Dyson Logos · Apr 8, 2019

The Ruins of Charnesse

There was never much to Charnesse – a stone bridge, a few houses, and a small common house that served ale and light food to passing travellers and the local farmers when they had a few coins to spend.

But there’s a lot less now. Smoke was seen rising from the area since yesterday, and the reports are grim. All the homes have been ruined and even the fishing pier has been damaged. A huge fire was lit in the centre of the small thorpe seemingly with the furnishings off all the buildings – and close inspection also finds bones in the mix.

Only the common house remains mostly unmolested. Most of the furniture is missing, but no other damage is to be found. And one old human is still sitting there, slowly working his way through a bucket of ale. He has nothing to say, and has no memories of anything unusual from yesterday…

https://dysonlogos.blog/2019/04/08/the-ruins-of-charnesse/

robus · Apr 8, 2019

Ooh - I'll take that thanks very much!

Dyson Logos · Apr 11, 2019

The Vault of Tranquility is the audience chamber and sanctuary of the Dwarven mummy Gheres-Nekheb Stormstone – one of the last remnants of the Lich Shogunate. Within these enchanted halls only the dwarven mummy’s voice can be heard above the level of a hoarse whisper… and old Stormstone rarely speaks louder than that himself.

From these secret halls, Gheres-Nekheb sends out spies and assassins to the lands of the living, keeping tabs on the ever changing politics and alliances where the Shogunate once ruled.

Hidden in the stony outcrops of the Yalon Badlands and further concealed by illusions, the front door of the vault has been sealed and presumed unopened for over 700 years – however on rare occasion those contacted by agents of the mummy lord are invited to an audience and are escorted through the main entrance. It is said that the assassin Khoutef bears one of only three keys that open this portal.

https://dysonlogos.blog/2019/04/11/tranquility/

Dyson Logos · Apr 15, 2019

The Wooden Duck is a walled coaching inn nearly a day’s ride from Granitespire, about an hour outside of Prince’s Harbour. It has a small tavern but is mostly dedicated to 8 private and semi-private rooms and a large common room for travelers to stay overnight.

The Wooden Duck is owned by a widower who moved here from Granitespire – he is eternally on edge because back in the city he killed a silver merchant and expects the monkeys of Granitespire to swarm down upon the Duck at any moment, even decades later.

The main bartender, Hemrus, is a particularly ugly halfling with spiky bright blond hair who wears tall platform shoes to look over the bar. He is energetic and quick, and yet quiet and surly in disposition. He earns tips for his prompt service, never for his pleasant demeanor.

In addition to the bartender, the Inn maintains a staff of 4-6 additional cooks and servants who take care of horses, clean the rooms, and cook when the main cook isn’t on hand.

https://dysonlogos.blog/2019/04/15/duck-inn/

Dyson Logos · Apr 18, 2019

The crypts under the Grand Cathedral in Javelin Hill are where the faithful and powerful are interred to rest in silence. But something went wrong. Probably linked to the burial of the Lord of Sunsets, minuscule stone “eggs” managed to work their way into the stonework and packed earth of the crypts…

Unfortunately, few travel down to the lowest level of the crypts and the “great mausoleum” at its centre – otherwise they might have noted the weird stone and earth “tumours” that were growing here, consuming the dead and reconfiguring the whole structure.

But now most of the weird tumors have opened up and revealed their contents – strange insectoid creatures of elemental stone incorporating the bones and grave-goods of those buried here. Some perhaps even show some understanding of who’s bones and clothes they wear.

https://dysonlogos.blog/2019/04/18/infestation/

Dyson Logos · Apr 21, 2019

Psychedelic Cellar of the Stone Giants

Up in the hills there’s a small river cave where a pair of stone giants have set up their own private grow-op to supply themselves (and a few shamans and priests back “home”) with giant-scale psychedelic fungus.

The “psychedelic cellar” itself is well protected in giant terms. Stone bars block access along the river to all but the smallest of would-be thieves (halflings could be an issue), and the door to the cave is kept under lock and key. The easiest access to a would-be thief is to work their way up the icy cold stream that feeds the mushroom cave. At the tightest point, this requires about five feet of travel underwater where the cave ceiling is only an inch above the stream’s surface at best.

Of course, enterprising thieves could slip in and out of the cave this way to steal human-use quantities of psychedelics (using waterproof bags) as long as they timed their runs for when the giants aren’t in the cellar.

The two giants who live here are… predictably sketchy. Either tripping hardcore or coming down, they are at least a little paranoid about other stone giants coming to snatch their stash – or worse, telling the hill giants about their source and having a full on hill giant home invasion on their hands.

https://dysonlogos.blog/2019/04/21/psychedelic-cellar-of-the-stone-giants/

Dyson Logos · Apr 23, 2019

If we set the wayback machine to nearly a decade ago, there’s essentially a full year where I posted nothing but geomorphs to the blog. Behind the scenes I spent a couple of months working on geomorph concepts to figure out what format worked well enough that it was not too apparent when you moved from one geomorph to the next.

I was originally going to work with Erol Otus’ “Geomorphic Mini Dungeon Modules” format of 11 x 11 with entrances in the sixth square on each side, but it was way too obvious when you moved from one to the next – it felt like you were exploring geomorphs instead of a cohesive map.

After about a dozen designs, I settled on these 10 x 10 geomorphs with entrances on squares 3 & 8. The design caught on and there are thousands of geomorphs available on the net that use this structure now.

Dyson Logos · Apr 29, 2019

TL;DR: Four new geomorphs in a flashback to a decade ago, and the DungeonMorph Dice Kickstarter is going strong and moving in on $10k of the $15k target!

bit.ly/2XHYo0d

It is always kind of exciting being involved in a Kickstarter as it goes live. And this one is a great reminder of when I first started working on maps for the blog. It is refreshing to go back to my classic geomorph concepts and start drawing new ones again.

Doubly so knowing that they will be translated onto dice as we move forward! Joe over at Inkwell Ideas is Kickstarting 3 new sets of DungeonMorph Dice and I’m developing designs so we’ll have a Dyson map on every die in the set.

This set of 4 are (clockwise from upper left):

Barracks Dungeon Geomorph – The main feature here is a barracks room with two attached latrines and a commander’s office and quarters adjacent to it.

Tombs and Crypts Geomorph – Reminiscent of my Spiral Crypt design that was used in the Shadows of Forgotten Kings adventure, but much more compact.

Water Feature Cavern Geomorph – linking dungeons to caverns, we have a small oddly shaped lake that is used as a well and water storage in the dungeon section, and perhaps a shrine in the area to the southeast.

Large Cavern Geomorph – A larger cave to explore, with a few raised and lowered sections to it.

https://dysonlogos.blog/2019/04/29/more-geomorphic-dungeons-with-dice/

Dyson Logos · May 3, 2019

A small dungeon or sublevel of another dungeon, the Black Armoury is where the Mad King sealed away the Weapon after using it once in the Battle of Zayhr Mountain. The guardians of the weapon are trapped here in eternal vigilance – their own life force replaced with the energies of the Weapon itself.

The structure itself is a multi-tiered affair with stairs up and down to various sections, and a high ceilinged chamber with rough natural cliffs and ledges has an overlook that leads back to the upper hall of the armoury.

Linking the various levels and sections together is a small secret chamber – home to the Mad King’s advisor and assassin who is the elder among the Weapon’s guardians.

https://dysonlogos.blog/2019/05/03/armoury/