I draw the occasional D&D map

[Baldurs_Underdark]

I always wonder with maps like this which squares are accessible to players and which are not? Is there a ruling about that somewhere in the DMG, or is it an arbitrary choice made by each DM?

Obviously, there are lots of squares which are completely free. No discussion.
Some are half-free, and half occupied by walls. I usually rule that those are accessible.
Some are 80% occupied by rocks or walls. I generally argue that those are not accessible to characters unless they can climb on a wall like an insect.

Any thoughts?

p.s. Compliments on the art work!

 

[Satyrn]

I always wonder with maps like this which squares are accessible to players and which are not? Is there a ruling about that somewhere in the DMG, or is it an arbitrary choice made by each DM?

Obviously, there are lots of squares which are completely free. No discussion.
Some are half-free, and half occupied by walls. I usually rule that those are accessible.
Some are 80% occupied by rocks or walls. I generally argue that those are not accessible to characters unless they can climb on a wall like an insect.

Any thoughts?

p.s. Compliments on the art work!

That sounds like as good a solution as any other.

 

[Dyson Logos]

Once you are past the wards and sigils that guard the entranceway and have triggered the teleporter, you finally are brought to the archmage’s private sanctum.


The Archmage’s Chambers are hidden away deep underground, below the “comfortable” levels of the underdark to an area where the stone walls seem to press in with relentless gravity and heat. Once a small node broken open by opposing forces of elemental earth and air, the cracked tunnels were then shaped, smoothed and reinforced magically to withstand the incredible pressures down here.


The chambers are hot and oppressive, and without the small nexus of elemental air present, there wouldn’t be a cool breeze to make it survivable (and there would be no fresh air to breathe either).


And down here, the archmage keeps their secrets, their spells cut into crystal decanters instead of spellbooks, their twisted homonculi that carry wisps of ancient knowledge, and the six pillars where they store their favourite emotions and moments, safe for all time from the whimsy of human memory.


Originally drawn by David Brawley who runs Tower of the Archmage, I couldn’t resist sticking the design through the custom “Dysonizer” I have sitting at my desk.


https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/22/the-archmages-chambers/

 

[Dyson Logos]

I always wonder with maps like this which squares are accessible to players and which are not? Is there a ruling about that somewhere in the DMG, or is it an arbitrary choice made by each DM?

IMO: Ditch squares.

They are there for ease of measuring, not for controlling movement and positioning.

 

[Dyson Logos]

A warren of small chambers, passages, and natural caves, the Dark Caverns of Turr were once a set of dwarven mines of the famously unstable Darkshoe clan. But then one day the Darkshoe dwarves picked up and left, locking most of the doors behind them. In the years since, creatures have crawled up from the darker caves below and others have moved in from the surface, and the caverns now contain a veritable Gygaxian collection of creatures that try to live together.


There are three entrances into the warrens.
- The “front door” over to the far right of the map that leads into the original Darkshoe clan hall.
- The “back door” over to the left that leads into the deeper caves.
- The “stone stairs” very near the back door that lead down into the “glittering gallery” that come down from a secret cleft in the back of a small cave overhead.


This map is actually one I drew back in 2010 when running either my Labyrinth Lord or B/X D&D campaign that year. This photo doesn’t do it justice, but it is drawn in VERY light pencil on thin typewriter paper, and was nearly impossible to scan and keep the details looking at all good. But now that I’ve figured out how to get these old maps scanned, I’ll see if I can get the last of the old “Lost Maps” finally scanned and on the blog.


https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/24/the-dark-caverns-of-turr/

 

[robus]

Cool map, pondering using it for some underdark travel, but I’m confused about the secret door off the main entrance. it looks like it leads to a lower level given the dotted lines, but I don’t see stairs anywhere to indicate a level split?

 

[Dyson Logos]

Cool map, pondering using it for some underdark travel, but I’m confused about the secret door off the main entrance. it looks like it leads to a lower level given the dotted lines, but I don’t see stairs anywhere to indicate a level split?

There's almost definitely a slope leading down from that secret door.

 

[robus]

There's almost definitely a slope leading down from that secret door.

Ok, cool

 

[Dyson Logos]

Along the western jetties and piers of the city are the Kobold Docks, a moderately large wooden pier where boats can be purchased or rented from Jotel Vuzen, a “sahuagin out of water” if you will. Jotel acts as the agent for a few shipwrights and Xughon Belpar, a pirate who acquires his trade goods in an entirely illegal manner.


Generally Jotel has d3+1 smaller boats at the pier, and 1d3-2 larger craft in the harbour. He also often has a few smaller stolen goods in his tent on the pier that he sells on commission for Xughon, mixed in with the various apothecary goods that his elven wife Phyehni collects and sells.


Of course, with all these goods of questionable provenance moving through this area, any time that player characters find themselves buying something here there’s the off chance that they will get caught up in some other drama involving people threatening Jotel or his clients to get their goods back (or in a real twist, these are con men trying to get something for nothing based on figuring out Jotel’s dirty dealings).


The pier is known as the kobold docks because the previous business before Jotel set up here was a small enclave of six kobolds who made wickerwork coracles used by some of the local fisherfolk. But the kobolds moved on as the fisherfolk earned more money and were able to purchase or build more sturdy boats that didn’t need regular replacement.


A version of this map also appears in the Kobold Press adventure “Monkey Business” where it is set in the City of Brass.


https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/the-kobold-docks/

 

[Dyson Logos]

A ghost ship haunts the waters out around the Charred Reef. She’s so old that all that remains is her superstructure, and the golden “cage” she carried on her deck. She appears out of the fog along Charred Reef on nights when there is no more than single ship or boat to sight her, slides along silently on the top of the water, and her disappearance back into the night always presages a violent storm.


Within the gilded cage is a potent banshee, the long dead elven sorceress who was within the cage when the ship sank who knows how long ago. The golden cage she is trapped within also changes her song – instead of wailing in eternal agony, to those outside the cage she seems to be singing a long lamentful song.


Entering the golden cage can be achieved through partially collapsed stairs that lead up a shaft from the bottom of the boat’s skeleton through a shaft in the floor of the cage, or by somehow (flying, climbing) getting to the balcony that surrounds the cage and walking in through one of the four doorways. Of course, the moment one steps within the cage, they become subject to the effects of her wailing song.


Any treasures that were once within the cage with the sorceress are long destroyed or lost by ages of frequent submersion, but a secret panel in the floor of the cage leads to a shallow chamber beneath which contains the MacGuffin.


A version of this map also appears in the Kobold Press adventure “Monkey Business” where it is set out in the oceans of flame near the City of Brass.


https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/29/skeleton-of-the-gilded-cage/