I draw the occasional D&D map

[Dyson Logos]

Briar Keep is a border fortress and small settlement that marks the northern boundary of the Satrapy where the Northlands begin. Built only a few generations ago, the keep is in excellent shape and is well maintained and houses a garrison of Satrapy forces. Unlike most settlements in the Satrapy, Briar Keep and it’s environs are also home to a number of dwarves of the Greybeard clan and associated families.


https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/10/01/release-the-kraken-on-briar-keep/

 

[Turgenev]

Great stuff, Dyson!

Cheers,
Tim

 

[Dyson Logos]

Viktor Hevlod is a person who wears many hats - he is the assistant to the guildmaster of the mason's guild; master of the yellow dagger within the assassin's guild; inner council member of the order of the blue star (who perform a lot of charity work in the city); and he manages to find enough time to actually practice his stonework in all that.

But really, being a high ranking member of both the Assassin's Guild and the Order of the Blue Star (who's charity work is mostly a cover for their other work in the name of the dark ophidian gods of yore), it won't be much of a surprise when his plans or actions come into conflict with any group of local meddlers.

Investigating Viktor will generally turn to his family home, Hevlod Manor. Built entirely of stone (befitting his guild status and the teams of younger masons he employs), Hevlod Manor is a sprawling single-story structure with heavy walls built in a moderately upscale neighborhood. The manor boasts an attached carriage-house, yard, gardens, and several wings for family members and associates. Only minimal staff actually lives here - in the carriage house - with other servants and staff coming and going throughout the day and night.

Since Viktor often entertains here, he keeps the place fairly impeccable, and never allows the secret aspects of the Blue Star nor the Assassin's Guild to be visible to visitors (including those who "accidentally" get lost in the more private parts of the structure). In fact, Viktor Hevlod keeps everything so close the the chest, that the only time you are likely to confirm that he's up to all these nefarious schemes is to run afoul of them in person...

https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/10/04/hevlod-manor/

 

[Dyson Logos]

Somewhere in these crypts, there is still the undead remnants an adventurer-archaeologist searching for the obvious secret door into the central circle.

The crypts of the Ophidian Emperor were built around a double-circle motif, designed to feel like a snake curling around the tombs and crypts. To further accent the motif, the circular halls are set about three feet lower than the other chambers and crypts. The various chambers are tombs, crypts, and “treasure rooms” stacked with fake grave goods to accompany the Ophidian Emperor into the afterlife.

All doors within the crypts are fairly thin single-piece stone blocks mounted on metal hinges. All doors and most walls are decorated with frescoes and bas-relief carvings of idealized images of the reign of the Ophidian Emperor, often showing off his mighty golden snake staff and the black Orb of Empire.

https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/10/08/circle-crypts-of-the-ophidian-emperor/

 

[Dyson Logos]

A set of small stony islands jut out of the waters near the the northern reach of Alders Bay. They contain a number of small ruins, likely linked to the ruins of the castles and forts that have slowly been overwhelmed by the encroaching swamps on the northwest shore of the bay.

Difficult to land on, the islands are surrounded by ship-killing shoals and much of the land is atop tall red cliffs. Most make landfall on the sandy extension that nearly forms an isthmus between the two eastern islands – although the Oni pirate Vurd Skullbow has been known to bring his vessel in through the southern access and anchor it between the three islands.

Each island has its own point of interest. The large island has a ruined watchtower on its peak, but also has a cave system beneath it that was expanded at some point, likely by the builders of the tower. Those caves are used by Vurd to stash treasure and hostages on occasion.

The northeastern island bears the marks of many landfalls and small campfires. The long beach is littered with detritus – much of it charred firewood and empty bottles and casks. On the rise of the island is a set of fairly recent standing stones – no more than a hundred or so years old – the stones all appear to have been scavenged from the other ruins on the islands.

The small island to the southeast still sports a standing watchtower, although the wooden roof has long rotted away. The island however offers no means to get to it – the top of the island is a solid fifty feet above the waters below, with treacherous cliffs on all sides.

https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/10/11/redrock-cays/

 

[Dyson Logos]

Prince’s Harbour is a small bay along the Flindhome River long ago wrestled from control of the local humanoids and now slowly being converted into agricultural land. The community of Prince’s Harbour is self-reliant and independent – a collection of small “outpost” farmers, woodsmen, miners and so on built up around the small community of Prince’s Harbour itself.

This map focuses on a small forested area to the southwest of the community proper and is considered to most to be the furthest point that is still “Prince’s Harbour” instead of the old Flindlands. A small gold mine along the Gnoll’s Ear river is the anchor to this area, with a few supporting farms around it. The road to the east eventually leads to the community proper.

Adventurers are most likely to be interested in this area because the virgin forests still may be home to the remnants, descendants, or lost treasures of the beastmen who once had lordship over the area – or of course because of Jendson’s Mine which is certainly going to attract some attention as last year it looked like they had exhausted their small vein of ore, but are suddenly bringing in more gold than ever.

Each hex on the map is roughly 100 feet face-to-face. This map is also the first full map released on the blog that was drawn entirely digitally in Photoshop – which has been a learning curve for me. One thing I learned was to increase my resolution a lot – this map is only 300dpi and I had to save it as a jpg to keep file size under control, but I’ve learned a lot of tricks in the month since I drew it and any future digital maps will be back at the more recent 600 to 1200 dpi and file sizes are also kept down.

There is already a second map in the set drawn for release next month, and a total of 9 maps will be in the set when it is finished.

https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/10/14/princes-harbour-map-1/

 

[Dyson Logos]

The Holy City has a slight necropolis issue. For most of the history of the city, old mines and caverns beneath the hills of the city have been used as crypts and tombs. Some areas were expanded by churches specifically to inter the deceased, others just adapted as the small silver mines that helped found the city were worn out.

The reason it has become a problem is there can be no proper sewer system built beneath the city as long as the churches and temples regard the catacombs as sacred reliquaries. Further, the thieves that used the massive interconnected structures of tunnels and chambers to get around the city have been known to bury their own (and possibly their victims) down here without proper rites and rituals – leading to a small but steady growth of undead prowling the catacombs. The upside of this is few thieves use the catacombs anymore, but the churches have had to start setting guards to watch over their sacred tombs and crypts to keep prowling ghouls away…

Like the Dark Caverns of Turr that I posted last month, this map is one from my history books. I drew this map in December of 2014 while researching the catacombs under Paris and Rome. I really got into it and crammed all this material onto a single letter-sized page. And then never posted it. I did, however, send a scan of it to Mike Monaco and Paolo Greco for use in Burgs & Bailiffs: Trinity. So here we are, 4 years later, and I finally dug the original out of my old folders while organizing my office and have scanned it for your games and mine.

https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/10/16/catacombs-beneath-the-holy-city/

 

[Satyrn]

Oh sweet. Those catacombs will work perfectly as the "residential quarter" of my ruined dwarven city.


I'm just gonna crumple up my own rough draft.

 

[Dyson Logos]

Oh sweet. Those catacombs will work perfectly as the "residential quarter" of my ruined dwarven city.


I'm just gonna crumple up my own rough draft.

I would say "never destroy a map"... but I honestly toss at least a few works in progress every month.

 

[Dyson Logos]

Supposedly once home to a demented prince of alien demons, the walls of the cursed galleries are decorated in mad texts painted in bold black on every available inch. These texts speak of other worlds, demonic powers, and foul creatures from “beyond the veil”.

The galleries are beneath the Benmiria Academy of the Arcane, and are not only locked, but boarded shut. Those who try to study the walls often awaken somewhere else with no memories of the intervening time – somehow controlled or possessed by the texts they read, or if one experiment is to be believed, by either the galleries themselves or something foul still within them.

But when the diabolist arrived in Northvale and summoned the demon Xag’tharon to destroy the king’s armies, sages noted Xag’tharon is one of several demons who’s names are known to the Benmirian archives. And the locked texts of course indicate that they were in turn translated from the mad scribings in the galleries.

The kingdom needs a clever wizard or cleric to brave the galleries to find out more – and they should not travel there alone, for who knows what other foul powers the galleries can manifest as you attempt to unlock the secrets contained there.

https://dysonlogos.blog/2018/10/18/the-cursed-galleries/