D&D General Maps, Maps, Maps! Dungeons, Ruins, Caverns, Temples, and more... aka Where Dyson Dumps His Maps.

Gnarsh’s Domain

The gnoll warlord Karag was granted visions of a lost and razed desert temple that contained a portal that could be opened to the Abyss with the right rituals. The temple was dedicated to an ancient evil ally of Yeenoghu, whom the gnoll demon then turned upon and imprisoned. Karag gathered his followers and set out to find the temple, leaving a trail of corpses and destruction in their wake. Karag had slaves and lesser members of the gnoll pack clear the debris and open the way to the underlevel directly, ignoring the ruined temple above with the intent of learning the rituals from the visions in order to invoke the might of Yeenoghu directly upon the world.

However, before Karag could complete this plan, the gnoll was challenged by a rival flind warlord named Gnarsh. Gnarsh had heard of Karag’s vision and coveted the gnoll’s power, treasure, and the favour of Yeenoghu. Gnarsh gathered their own army of gnolls and attacked the dungeon. A fierce battle ensued, filling the dungeon with the sounds of gnashing teeth, clashing metal, and howling rage. In the end, Gnarsh remained along with a few servitors. But lacking the visions of Karag, Gnarsh could do nothing more than rage at the portal, unable to breach into the abyss to either assist or attempt to spit in the eye of Yeenoghu.

Today the aged and greying giant flind lives in the chamber on the upper left side of the circular chamber, with a pair of hellhounds chained to the alcoves on each side. A few gnolls still wander these chambers, and a small priesthood has grown up around the secret of the portal in the swirling red pool on the lower left – a chamber that Garsh actively ignores now in anger and frustration.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 7,200 pixels (24 squares) wide. To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for the recommended 10‘ foot squares that make sense with this design) – so resizing the image to 1,680 pixels or 3,360 pixels wide, respectively.

The Sordid Rhinoceros

Named for the… anatomically unlikely… signage out front, this basement tavern is in the heart of the roughest part of town and is used by “adventurers” of the worst kind as a sort of base of operations when starting whatever skullduggery is at hand.

The structure proper is a mix of a small apartment building and the tavern & inn. The ground floor is divided into two halves with the front half being horribly run-down and often abandoned apartments with broken skylights, piles of clutter and filth, and rampant vermin (a term also used to describe the people living there). The back half extends up another level and has no ground-level access – the door in the back leads immediately down into the tavern below instead. From the back rooms of the tavern, one can ascend to the inn rooms above – again not in good repair (and in some cases abandoned by the tavern owner to the ravages of past guests).

The main point of interest for most people is of course the Sordid Rhinoceros’ tavern in the basement. The main tavern is divided into two parts, the bar when you enter and more tables to the right. The main entrance is in the front of the building although some slip in through the back alley entrance. By the back alley entrance is a “snug”, a smaller private room for eating and drinking typically reserved for the owner and their friends – but in this case often used for meetings where a bit of privacy is wanted. The snug opens up into the pantries and storage area, but also to the stairs leading up into the inn above. The Inn has 5 rooms on the ground floor (and a linen closet and storage room), and a further 6 on the top floor (two of which are currently abandoned to the elements).

The tavern’s back rooms are the befouled kitchen, a pantry along the back wall, storage room, and Nine-Toes (the owner)’s private office in the middle (with spy holes over two tables where his friends know to set up their meetings). Attached to the office and the stairwell upstairs by secret doors is Nine-Toes private sleeping area which also contains a secret trap door leading to a series of trapped tunnels that he uses to slip in and out of the tavern as needed.

The Sordid Rhinoceros is pretty obviously my attempt to draw a version of the Vulgar Unicorn from the Thieves’ World stories, without referencing the existing floor plans from the various RPG supplements released over the years except for the basic building shape (so you can use this version with the maps of Sanctuary). I’ve tried to include the various bits from the books, including the safe in the owner’s office, the secret tunnel, the back stairs up to the rooms above, back alley entrance, etc.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 8,400 pixels (28 squares) wide. To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for the recommended 5′ squares that work best with this design) or 140 pixels (for 10‘ squares) – so resizing the image to 1,960 pixels or 3,920 pixels wide, respectively.

Dyson Logos said:

View attachment 339641

The Sordid Rhinoceros

Named for the… anatomically unlikely… signage out front, this basement tavern is in the heart of the roughest part of town and is used by “adventurers” of the worst kind as a sort of base of operations when starting whatever skullduggery is at hand.

The structure proper is a mix of a small apartment building and the tavern & inn. The ground floor is divided into two halves with the front half being horribly run-down and often abandoned apartments with broken skylights, piles of clutter and filth, and rampant vermin (a term also used to describe the people living there). The back half extends up another level and has no ground-level access – the door in the back leads immediately down into the tavern below instead. From the back rooms of the tavern, one can ascend to the inn rooms above – again not in good repair (and in some cases abandoned by the tavern owner to the ravages of past guests).

The main point of interest for most people is of course the Sordid Rhinoceros’ tavern in the basement. The main tavern is divided into two parts, the bar when you enter and more tables to the right. The main entrance is in the front of the building although some slip in through the back alley entrance. By the back alley entrance is a “snug”, a smaller private room for eating and drinking typically reserved for the owner and their friends – but in this case often used for meetings where a bit of privacy is wanted. The snug opens up into the pantries and storage area, but also to the stairs leading up into the inn above. The Inn has 5 rooms on the ground floor (and a linen closet and storage room), and a further 6 on the top floor (two of which are currently abandoned to the elements).

The tavern’s back rooms are the befouled kitchen, a pantry along the back wall, storage room, and Nine-Toes (the owner)’s private office in the middle (with spy holes over two tables where his friends know to set up their meetings). Attached to the office and the stairwell upstairs by secret doors is Nine-Toes private sleeping area which also contains a secret trap door leading to a series of trapped tunnels that he uses to slip in and out of the tavern as needed.

The Sordid Rhinoceros is pretty obviously my attempt to draw a version of the Vulgar Unicorn from the Thieves’ World stories, without referencing the existing floor plans from the various RPG supplements released over the years except for the basic building shape (so you can use this version with the maps of Sanctuary). I’ve tried to include the various bits from the books, including the safe in the owner’s office, the secret tunnel, the back stairs up to the rooms above, back alley entrance, etc.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 8,400 pixels (28 squares) wide. To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for the recommended 5′ squares that work best with this design) or 140 pixels (for 10‘ squares) – so resizing the image to 1,960 pixels or 3,920 pixels wide, respectively.

The Sordid Rhinoceros

The Sordid Rhinoceros (300 dpi promo, no commercial license) Named for the… anatomically unlikely… signage out front, this basement tavern is in the heart of the roughest part of town a…

dysonlogos.blog

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Oh I needed this for next week! Thanks!

And just rejoined the Patreon. Huh? I could have sworn I was already on it.

Specter’s Tower 2023

An old watch tower outside of town, Specter’s Tower is (unsurprisingly – considering the name) said to be haunted by the ghost of the last watch who worked here who died horribly after consuming “tainted” food. The watch tower was never re-staffed after that and became home to a necromancer for a short while until the townsfolk tipped off some adventurers to take care of the problem.

These days the tower is used occasionally by local bandits when they need to stash something they’ve stolen, and is occasionally occupied by one or another villager who has been exiled from the community or just doesn’t feel welcome there anymore. Without proper maintenance, the basement (D) is a half-flooded mess, while the other side of the basement (C) is generally left alone because the necromancer’s remains still hang from the rafters. It is unlikely that anyone has recently found the secret room in (D) that was used by the watch and then the necromancer.

This is a redraw of an older map from the blog dating back almost a decade to 2014. In a recent Neoclassical Geek Revival game, we found ourselves adventuring here and I started redrawing the whole map.

I like towers, I particularly like them when the entrance isn’t completely obvious. This reminds me of a fort at a park I used to play in as a kid – you had to walk down a long concrete pipe (basically a sewer main pipe) under a hill to get to the tower in the wooden fort.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 9,000 pixels (30 squares) wide. To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for my preferred 10′ squares) – so resizing it to either 2,100 pixels wide or 4,200 pixels wide, respectively.

Gaftur’s Gate

Home to a gateway to other worlds, Gaftur’s Gate was cut out of the rocky hillside with powerful magics to form this small complex, but was then modified by stone crafters of remarkable skill and otherworldly provenance.

There were once two gates here, but one was destroyed when it was opened to some far realm and the mad entity that composed the entirety of the realm attempted to impose itself on the prime material plane. The gate structures are in the lower left chambers – each containing a raised walkway around a sunken area with the gate archway. The west gate room is scorched and damaged, the archway shattered, while the east gate room crackles with energy, the gate ready to be used (but not keyed to a destination yet – that requires a ritual modified for every potential gate connection).

The walls of Gaftur’s Gate are carved and polished from solid rock, displaying the skill and craftsmanship of the otherworldly crafters. The stone is dark and hard, with veins of lighter stone running through it. The surface is smooth and nigh-impossibly polished, reflecting the light of torches, lanterns, and the strange crackling energy of the gate. The stonework is adorned with intricate arcane patterns and symbols – much of which is mathematical concepts of time and dimensional linkages. Some of the carvings are worn or damaged, showing signs of age, decay, and violence. The doors are made of old wood but plated in a thin metal.

Currently, the small complex is home to a small group of renegade dwarves who are researching how to open the gate back to their home world. They will react violently and with nearly insane aggression to trespassers, fearing that their last chance to return home will be denied them.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 10,500 pixels (35 squares) wide. To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for my preferred 10′ squares) – so resizing it to either 2,450 pixels wide or 4,900 pixels wide, respectively.

Gorgonmouth Mine

An abandoned copper pit mine in the Chalk Hills, Gorgonmouth turned out to be a lot less profitable than anticipated and recently hasn’t even been worth working for the miners in nearby Riverside Downs.

The mine is a closed pit mine built up around a small natural cave that had obvious copper veins in the walls. The cave has been expanded over the years and a significant amount of copper retreived before the veins essentially ran out.

Outside the pit is a small bunkhouse attached to a stone watch tower, and another small stone cottage / bunkhouse, surrounded by tailings piles from the mine. Up on the hill is a small wooden watch platform that isn’t quite as tall as the tower, but provides a second watch point.

This is all very handy to the group of bandits that have taken over the site, allowing them to watch for annoyances coming from the town. However, these bandits aren’t quite what they seem – unknown to the townfolk, the real reason Gorgonmouth was abandoned was because the miners found something tentacular and massive down below, something that strangled the last of the miners…

But it didn’t kill the bandit who went down to the bottom of the stinking mine hoping to score some easy copper… it reached out and put something inside them… and now they are in charge of the bandits and are attempting to capture enough prisoners to continue digging out whatever beast is below.

The entry to the mine itself is cut into the hillside at a moderate incline down to the old cave. The main pit is fairly large and contains a significant amount of wood structure and scaffolding to allow for the descent of miners into the depths and to work the walls of the old cavern. The pit itself is overlooked by a room that was converted from mining area to a “break room” with a table and desk and a pair of glassless windows.

The mid level of the pit mine digs deep into the wall where a good strike of copper was found, and a creepy and foul-smelling fog seems to almost try to climb over the railings here from the level below. The bottom level is mostly scaffolding and supports at first inspection, with the fog concealing the drift passage beyond where the tentacle resides. Scattered around it are the ruined bodies of those sent down to dig it out – sooner or later it loses patience and lashes out at the prisoners in pain and frustration…

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 9,600 pixels (32 squares) wide. To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for my preferred 10′ squares) – so resizing it to either 2,240 pixels wide or 4,480 pixels wide, respectively.

Scavengers’ Deep Map 2

The Scavengers’ Deep is a reminder of the amount of work that went into underground structures during the great war. Generally, the elves only built underground when hiding their breeding and research facilities, whereas the forces of the kingdoms, assisted by the dwarves, were constantly building underground as the elves were unrelenting and would completely raze any surface defences that they defeated.

But the structures now known as the Scavengers’ Deep are atypical, an elven complex mixing some (ruined) surface structures, natural caves, and significant sprawling complexes dedicated to research, training, and breeding their slave races.

This is the second map in the Scavengers’ Deep series – sitting just south of Map 1. This map extends along the mountainside with a tower overlooking the area (although the mountains get significantly taller as we head eastwards). Between the tower and the barred windows into the chamber south of it are four narrow “windows” into the corridor beyond the stony walls. Water comes in via these holes from rain and winter melt, and flows through the grate to the area below where it is moved to much deeper cisterns.

As with Map 1, most of this map is on a single “level”, with a few areas extending above or below the baseline. There are two sunken rooms (upper right, middle left) where you can see the lower chamber from the level above, as well as the aforementioned tower, and the water filtration area under the gratings.

Access to this map is either via the tower, getting through the narrow windows by the grates, or getting past the barred windows south of the tower. More likely, it will be explored by coming from map 1 to the north, from the sloping passage to the south, or the massive cavern leading to the old breeding pits that is on the very eastern edge of this map.

Expect more maps of the Scavengers’ Deep over the coming months, probably at a rate of one map per month.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 14,400 pixels (48 squares) wide. To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for the suggested 10′ squares that this is designed around) – so resizing it to either 3,360 pixels wide or 6,720 pixels wide, respectively.

Dyson Logos said:

View attachment 342159

Scavengers’ Deep Map 2

The Scavengers’ Deep is a reminder of the amount of work that went into underground structures during the great war. Generally, the elves only built underground when hiding their breeding and research facilities, whereas the forces of the kingdoms, assisted by the dwarves, were constantly building underground as the elves were unrelenting and would completely raze any surface defences that they defeated.

But the structures now known as the Scavengers’ Deep are atypical, an elven complex mixing some (ruined) surface structures, natural caves, and significant sprawling complexes dedicated to research, training, and breeding their slave races.

This is the second map in the Scavengers’ Deep series – sitting just south of Map 1. This map extends along the mountainside with a tower overlooking the area (although the mountains get significantly taller as we head eastwards). Between the tower and the barred windows into the chamber south of it are four narrow “windows” into the corridor beyond the stony walls. Water comes in via these holes from rain and winter melt, and flows through the grate to the area below where it is moved to much deeper cisterns.

As with Map 1, most of this map is on a single “level”, with a few areas extending above or below the baseline. There are two sunken rooms (upper right, middle left) where you can see the lower chamber from the level above, as well as the aforementioned tower, and the water filtration area under the gratings.

Access to this map is either via the tower, getting through the narrow windows by the grates, or getting past the barred windows south of the tower. More likely, it will be explored by coming from map 1 to the north, from the sloping passage to the south, or the massive cavern leading to the old breeding pits that is on the very eastern edge of this map.

Expect more maps of the Scavengers’ Deep over the coming months, probably at a rate of one map per month.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 14,400 pixels (48 squares) wide. To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for the suggested 10′ squares that this is designed around) – so resizing it to either 3,360 pixels wide or 6,720 pixels wide, respectively.

Scavenger’s Deep – Map 2

Scavengers’ Deep Map 2 (300 dpi promo) The Scavengers’ Deep is a reminder of the amount of work that went into underground structures during the great war. Generally, the elves only bui…

dysonlogos.blog

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Great map, as usual!
Question - are those lines creeks/water features? Or topographical lines?

Eyes of Nine said:

Great map, as usual!
Question - are those lines creeks/water features? Or topographical lines?

Click to expand...

Topological - if you zoom in you can see the shadows indicating what side of the line is "down"