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

I think you mentioned 8 x 8 as an original goal. If correct, are you still looking towards that end? That would be, what, 39 more panels? Yikes.

Baron Opal II said:

I think you mentioned 8 x 8 as an original goal. If correct, are you still looking towards that end? That would be, what, 39 more panels? Yikes.

Click to expand...

7x8 so it will fit on a king sized duvet.

The Serpent Lands – Map 3

The Serpent Lands are immediately south of the Autumn Lands. There’s no set scale for these maps, and the items on the maps are not to scale with each other so we can see points of interest like towers, cities, and caves. If you really need a scale for this and don’t want to pick one yourself, go with six miles to the hex.

As hinted at in the Autumn Lands, this region was once the heart of a lizard-folk empire lost to antiquity. Many strange ruins can be found around these regions, some long abandoned, others taken over by new residents. While the Autumn and Midsummer Lands are home to many oddities, the sheer number of ruins and strange prehuman constructions in the Serpent Lands make them stand out as a frontier to be explored.

This is the third map of the Serpent Lands, sitting just to the west of Map 2 (and south of the Autumn Lands). We are in the interior for this map, in an area dominated by a large lake that divides the map into four quadrants.

To the northeast we have the continuation of the forests from the coast. The forests here are thick and dark and the hills beneath them gradually subside until the forest gives way to swamp land on the shore of the lake. Just south of the swamp we have a strange magical confluence that, when the ley lines are right, tears open into a portal that leads to another forest, a forest that appears upside down from this side of the portal. A hex away from the portal is a wizard’s tower with a large telescope that watches the forest on the other side, the wizard within collecting notes on what has been observed on the other side.

The southeast quadrant is mostly hills that break down into badlands as we approach the lake outlet to the west, and into strange curving rock formations here and there among them. A ruined city sits beneath a large unnatural curve of stone, and overlooking that is an ancient stone structure built around the top of a massive stone spire that remains uninhabited except for a few flying beasts now.

In the southwest we have a smaller lake that feeds into the great lake, with a city under a bubble dome beneath the lake. A row of massive stone columns leads from the shore of the bubble city towards the plateau to the south which in turn is home to a small forest and some ancient ruins. A fair-sized farming settlement of humans and halflings is nestled into the hills nearby.

The northwest quadrant is home to another forest that seems to press up against the mountains here. At the south end of the mountains there is a massive statue of a lizard-priest in heavy robes pointing in two directions. Following either of those directions leads to other massive statues that sit on other maps – some sort of strange and cyclopean waymarkers. On the shore of the lake here is a massive blackened stone tower wreathed in flames, visible at night from anywhere on the lake. Evidently the flames here sometimes grow more intense, as the whole hex is just ashes and burned tree trunks.

The lake itself has an island on it with the prow of a mighty vessel broken upon it, surrounded by large stone formations that jut out of the water.

Blackglass Vein – North

This is the first of two linked maps exploring a small abandoned mine. Known as the Blackglass Vein, this was a prosperous obsidian mine abandoned after it was mostly mined out.

The northern map details the entrance to the mine and goes as deep as the “rift”, an underground ravine that only opens to a six-inch wide gap at the top. The gap allows water to enter the rift when it rains, and this eventually rotted away the wooden bridges built to span the rift for the blackglass vein.

The first stretch of the mine includes several side rooms that were dug out to access the first vein of obsidian and then turned into rooms for the miners breaks and for equipment storage. The side door into these rooms has also long rotted away, but the other doors are not exposed to the elements and have survived mostly intact.

While tracks remain from the original mine carts, all the carts were taken when the mine was abandoned. The tracks lead down to the initial areas of the southern portion of the mines (detailed in our next map), but are interrupted on the other side of the rift where the main mine tunnel collapsed, leaving only a small gap that someone could crawl through if they were determined enough (or quite small).

Many of the passages are supported by heavy timber supports that are also showing their age and threaten to collapse at any moment.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 4,800 x 14,400 pixels (16 x 48 squares). 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′ squares) – so resizing it to either 1,120 x 3,360 or 2,240 x 6,720, respectively.

Blackglass Vein – South

This is the second of two linked maps exploring a small abandoned mine. Known as the Blackglass Vein, this was a prosperous obsidian mine abandoned after it was mostly mined out.

The southern map details the areas of the mine that have been made mostly inaccessible by the collapse of the bridges across the rift, and the subsequent cave-in just past the bridge. Accessing this area now involves either climbing through the very small gap left by the cave-in or somehow crossing the rift to the cave mouth on the east side that is about eight feet below the main mine track.

The mine tracks don’t extend far into this section, proceeding along the main dig for a further hundred feet or so, with a spur off to the stalactite cave. This large cave is uneven and damp, with stalactites and stalagmites and trickles of running water across the area. The trickles of water descend down to a ‘sump’ beyond the cave, along the main dig line.

The southern half of the map is where the main mining took place in the last years of the Blackglass vein. There are multiple cuts made here to follow the twisting veins of obsidian through the volcanic rock. A small shrine to a fire demon was built along here, and further into the digs we find a massive vertical shaft – a volcanic vent that descends far deeper underground that still emits foul fumes from the depths of the world.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 4,800 x 14,400 pixels (16 x 48 squares). 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′ squares) – so resizing it to either 1,120 x 3,360 or 2,240 x 6,720, respectively.

Fallen Temple of Sekhmet

The old temple of Sekhmet claws at the barren earth like the ossified remains of a primordial beast, its stones worn pale. Approaching from the south is a sea of ruin where great columns lie in chaotic sprawl across what was once a ceremonial entrance, their broken faces still bearing faint hieroglyphs that speak of a grandeur now lost. These limestone sentinels have created a labyrinthine obstacle course of sharp-edged stone and treacherous shadow to the entrance proper which stands half-obscured behind them; a grand doorway that once welcomed countless pilgrims now little more than a mouth agape in silent, eternal protest.

The eastern flank, devastated by some cataclysm when the temple first fell, has surrendered utterly to entropy. The walls have crumbled into navigable slopes, and the ancient stonework has fractured and been dragged away by farmers to make fencelines.

Within the sepulcher of sand and stone, the chambers whisper their secrets to those possessed of sufficient will to listen. The naos – the inner sanctum where the god-queen once held dominion – remains largely intact, a hollow cathedral of echoing emptiness. Here stands the most profound of the temple’s monuments to ruin: the feet of Sekhmet, those massive stone feet that once bore the terrible weight of the lioness-headed goddess in all her divine fury.

The chamber between the sanctum and the entrance sprawls like a yawning throat, its columns still standing in ragged procession despite the weight of ages. Some bear the marks of deliberate violence: deep gashes in the sandstone, evidence of blows struck in fury or desperation. Scattered fragments of decorative stonework litter the floor.

The subsidiary chambers branching from the main structure offer their own mysteries a small sanctuary perhaps once dedicated to lesser deities or serving as repositories for sacred treasures leading to a larger hollow space, echoing voids filled with the weight of abandonment. Some show evidence of habitation: scratches on stone walls, the remnants of crude fires, scattered bones that may or may not be human. Whether these marks are fresh or ancient, whether they speak of desperate refugees, new pilgrims, or bandits, is untold.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 7,200 x 10,800 pixels (24 x 36 squares). 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′ squares) – so resizing it to either 1,680 x 2,520 or 3,360 x 5,040, respectively.

The Muster Gatehouse

The Muster Gate, on the south side of the city, is where the troops of the Satrapy traditionally mustered when called upon to take action outside the city – such as for the assault on the Knave’s Spire in 1488 or the search for chancellor Kelem last year.

The gate is also one of the main access ways into the city for those coming from the south or east (as the eastern roads avoid the Basilisk Marshes). The twenty-foot-wide gates are a chokepoint for traffic, making it easier for guards to monitor the flow of goods and travellers in and out of town. The gatehouse proper is a sturdy two-story structure with parapets along the second floor connecting to the city’s curtain walls, and further parapets on the roof level.

The main floor of the structure is built up about six feet above street level, with the arrow slits all cut deeply to prevent blind spots at the base of the walls, allowing those inside to see someone trying to sneak past. The west tower is also used as a sort of customs checkpoint – a place for one of the watch to interview suspected smugglers and infiltrators. The upper level of each side is given over primarily to barracks and an elevated mezzanine to look over the approach to the city.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 10,200 x 10,800 pixels in size (34 x 36 squares). 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′ squares) – so resizing it to either 2,380 x 2,520 or 4,760 x 5,040 respectively.

The Greystone Ruins

The Greystone Ruins stand on a weathered rise above a wide, rocky plain, several days travel from any settled road. Beyond the rise, the land rolls away in low, scrub-covered hills punctuated by pale boulders, with only scattered trees clinging to the more sheltered hollows. At dawn and dusk, mist crawls up from distant ravines, filling the dips in the land and leaving the ruins like an island of stone adrift upon a gray, rolling sea. Travellers approaching from afar see the place as a jagged crown against the horizon, its broken walls stark and lifeless under a wide, empty sky.

Within the boundaries of these ruins, the faint remains of streets and courtyards can still be traced. A small lane, now choked with rubble and half-buried paving, runs between roofless shells of what were once townhouses, workshops, or modest shrines. Low walls outline former homes, their interiors open to the elements, their mosaics cling stubbornly to some floors, their patterns shattered. In places, the stone has slumped and cracked, suggesting that some calamity shook the neighborhood from below, tilting columns and splitting thresholds.

A few structures stand more intact than others. The central building has thinner walls, but has held up better than the others with portions of the roof still in place. Around these ruins, narrow alleys twist away in unexpected directions, abruptly ending in heaps of fallen masonry or in open, empty spaces where entire buildings have been erased down to their foundations.

The people who built these ruins belonged to the city-state of Thuran Ves’k, a coastal power built upon a foundation of trade, stonecraft, and the worship of a small pantheon of household gods. Their architects favoured hard, pale rock quarried from inland cliffs, carving it into clean-lined dwellings with flat roofs, internal courtyards, and rain-catching cisterns. The Greystone Ruins were neither the richest nor the poorest part of Thuran Ves’k, but a place of respectable artisans: bronze casters, textile dyers, scribes-for-hire, and keepers of modest shrines where day-to-day petitions were offered in exchange for oil and incense.

Now, only the Greystone Ruins still cling to the hill, the rest of the city lost to landslides and the slow grinding of time. Birds roost in the hollows of fallen beams and shattered lintels; lizards sun themselves on warm stone; and at night the hill seems to climb above the mists like broken teeth out of the sea.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 7,200 x 10,800 pixels in size (24 x 36 squares). 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′ squares) – so resizing it to either 1,680 x 2,520 or 3,360 x 5,040 respectively.

Scavengers’ Deep – Map 26

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 underground complexes dedicated to research, training, and breeding their slave species.

This is the twenty-sixth map in the Scavengers’ Deep series – this map sits directly east of Map 17, and starts a new column along the eastern side of the existing map set.

The main point of interest on this map is the double bastion – one built into the mesa proper (on the south side of the map) and a second built into a smaller stone promontory. Both are two story fortifications with the lower level being slightly higher than the surrounding terrain, and the upper level being a combination of fortified base and parapets along a mezzanine. The two bastions are connected by a stone bridge that passes over the space between them.

The northern bastion has a wooden ladder along the western parapets that the current residents use to climb in and out of the fortification – they are unaware of the secret stairwell that enters the bastion from the north side, and after encountering a few mutant thralls that still live within the structures, they have sealed off the doors across the bridge.

Much of the space on this map is open areas outside of the mesa proper. The area to the left extends down to the fortified defile in maps 18 and 27. The residents of the north bastion use this position to watch the comings and goings of people and… things… especially those using the defile to access the mesa.

Within the mesa proper we have conenctions to the structures south and east of this map. The passage along the southwest side has large ‘windows’ (without glass) that look out over this portion of the defile.