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

[Dyson Logos]

Deeper Beneath the Finger

Now deep beneath “The Finger” these substructures were used as tombs by the followers of the “Somnolent One”. But on these levels the weird lights in the walls fade away and the stonework appears much older. The map on the top half of the page is the third level beneath the surface structure, and the lower half is the fourth level – but it is not connected to the third by any traditional means (passages, stairs, ladders, etc).

The upper of these two levels was repurposed from prior constructions and is used as a tomb by the Reverie Collective. The main tomb chamber (the 30 foot wide chamber with niches on the north and south walls) is decorated with an intricate, sprawling web of fine silvery threads that glimmer faintly in the presence of a light source. Each thread vibrates with a faint, almost inaudible whisper – and touching them causes the whispers to intensify. Listening closely, the whispers describe forgotten moments from the listener’s past – or fictitious events that feel unsettlingly real and probable.

The chamber on the upper right side of level 3 has two large mirrors facing each other from across the room. They don’t seem to be quick in sync with our timeline though – things dropped in sight of the mirrors might drop normally in one reflection, while taking another 3-5 seconds to drop in the other. If a character touches their mirrored self, they feel themselves being pulled into a world where everything is reversed (colours, emotions, intentions) and if they fail a saving throw, may find themselves subtly altered by the experience.

Access to the next level down is either by crawling through the narrow tunnels created by some sort of giant rodent with black teeth that have distant stars in them like the night sky – not truly dangerous themselves, these rats can cut through stone (and most materials) at a prodigious rate with their strange teeth. The other access to the lower level are a pair of secret elevators. It seems the strange thrumming throughout the complex might not really be the magic of dreams, but the thrumming of machinery still deep beneath us. There are two such 20′ x 20′ elevators on level 3 – both only accessible via secret doors. The elevator on the west side of the complex descends past level 4 to level 5 (which will be detailed next month) while the elevator near the centre of the complex links levels 3 & 4.

Level 4 of the complex loses any sense that this is the domain of a dreaming god. This area feels like a long abandoned warehouse or other storage space. There are raised cut stone platforms that once held a lot of stock (and now mostly hold bits of stone and wood debris, and some empty wooden boxes), and a room divided by a large set of metal shelves with a number of empty barrels along one side. Access to level 5 from this level is only via a secret ladder on the south side of the level – the elevator between levels 3 & 4 does not go beyond this point.

These levels lead to their own plot hooks – a map to this ancient industrial site would now lead to the enclave of the Reverie Collective. Or perhaps a key to the elevators has been found and legend lore has directed them to this location to use it. And of course, the classic treasure map would describe how to find the elevator hatches in order to descend much deeper underground and find whatever the map leads to.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 8,400 x 10,200 pixels (28 x 34 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 the image to 1,960 x 2,380 pixels or 3,920 x 4,760 pixels, respectively.

Deeper Beneath the Finger

Now deep beneath “The Finger” these substructures were used as tombs by the followers of the “Somnolent One”. But on these levels the weird lights in the walls fade away and…

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[darjr]

OK I ran your hand maps as a Shadowdark Gauntlet last year. Called Gauntlet of the dark. And it was filled with monster hands.

This year I’m going to use these and call it the Finger of Death. And you’ll have to play it at GaryCon to see what’s in it.

 

[Dyson Logos]

OK I ran your hand maps as a Shadowdark Gauntlet last year. Called Gauntlet of the dark. And it was filled with monster hands.

This year I’m going to use these and call it the Finger of Death. And you’ll have to play it at GaryCon to see what’s in it.

That sounds awesome! Fill me in afterwards!

 

[Dyson Logos]

Building 12 – General Goods Store

Back to the shops along the intersection of Market & Random. Based on a Patreon request from Mark Clover, I’m drawing up individual floor plans for shops, stores, vendors, and businesses along a single market block. As I draw these, I also have the overhead views drawn out on a map of the city block as I go, so when the series is complete you can use them on their own, or as a fully mapped out block of shops.

This is our twelfth shop on the street, a true anachronism for medieval environments that is found in most fantasy RPGs – the general goods store (these might exist in frontier environments, but the concept of a general goods store in an established city is a very modern thing).

Everything’s Good is a small general goods shop set up on Market & Random after Alric “Old Boots” Greystone “retired”. After decades of running the general goods store in the tiny frontier settlement of Timber Hollow – braving harsh winters, rowdy (and often sticky-fingered) adventurers, and the occasional goblin raid, Alric moved to the bustling city to retire gently into the night.

Except he got bored. The fast life of the city made him restless, and he missed the stories and barter of shopkeeping. So, with a hearty laugh and a twinkle in his eye, he decided to bring a slice of Timber Hollow to town by opening a new store. Now, Alric thrives on connecting with customers old and new, sharing tales of his frontier escapades, and occasionally bartering with adventurers for rare and unusual items.

Alric’s voice is gravelly but warm, and he has a knack for making even the most jaded customers feel at home. Everything’s Good stocks an eclectic mix of a general outfitters with additional practical items and peculiar trinkets, reflecting his past on the frontier.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 8,400 x 5,100 pixels (28 x 17 squares). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) – so resizing the image to 1,960 x 1,190 pixels.

Building 12 – Everything’s Good (General Goods Store)

Building 12 – General Goods Store (300 dpi promo, no commercial license) Back to the shops along the intersection of Market & Random. Based on a Patreon request from Mark Clover, I’…

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[Dyson Logos]

Black Star Gaol

Beneath the ruins of the Iron Maw is the Black Star Gaol – the citadel’s small and very well-organized dungeons. Designed to hold four dozen prisoners at any time, the gaol has been abandoned since the fall of the Iron Maw.

The Black Star Gaol was commissioned by the lord of Kaelrendir, who feared otherworldly incursions from the Kale empire. The Fractured Order, a group of eccentric scholars and jailers, designed the prison not only as a holding facility but as a “fortress of research”. They believed studying the anomalies and paranoias of their prisoners could lead to breakthroughs in arcane and planar knowledge. One wing was built with circular domed cells because it was found that captured Kale could occasionally be traced by their kin who would send assassins or aid (but more frequently the former) that would unfold out of the corners of the more traditionally shaped cells.

The fall of the Iron Maw is directly linked to this research – an event recorded as “the unshackling of the blight”. An ambitious researcher tried to tap the energy that summoned these strange unfolding assassins and instead managed to pull through something else entirely – a miasma of raw chaotic energy that corrupted the very air and stone of the prison and citadel above it, driving the inhabitants to madness. The citadel fell and the gaol was sealed magically to prevent further contamination.

But as all things do, the seals upon the prison have begun to weaken with age – allowing odd phenomena to creep into the world. Local farmers and landowners have reported unnatural storms, strange crop blights, whispers in the wind, and shadowy figures “unfolding” from the shadows.

A group of rogue arcanists have taken up residence within the gaol, drawn by whispers of hidden knowledge and the secrets of the Fractured Order. They are attempting to break the seals on the final six circular cells (where the unshackling of blight occurred) to harness the energies for their own purposes.

Unfortunately for all involved, those cells do contain the fractured remains of mad creatures from beyond this world – desperate for freedom after centuries of imprisonment.

This map was drawn for the Gaxx Worx adventure “Wrath of the Sea Lich” (based on an earlier map from the Gaxx Worx adventure “The Heart of Chentoufi”). The text and descriptions in this post are unrelated to that work, and are based on ideas that struck me while I was drawing it.

The 1200 dpi version of the map was drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and is 10,200 x 12,000 pixels in size (34 x 40 squares). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for 10′ squares which work better with the furnishings as shown) – so resizing it to 2,380 x 2,800 or 4,760 x 5,600 pixels, respectively.

Black Star Gaol

Beneath the ruins of the Iron Maw is the Black Star Gaol – the citadel’s small and very well-organized dungeons. Designed to hold four dozen prisoners at any time, the gaol has been aba…

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[Dyson Logos]

The Labyrinth of Avarice

This small extradimensional space was crafted by Zitharion the Thaumaturge – obsessed with capturing the very essence of greed. He believed that greed was more than a mortal flaw, even more than one of the defining natures that change people into dragons, but a living, sentient force that feeds on the desires of the avaricious. This structure was one of many attempts to capture that entity.

Entry to the Labyrinth is available magically from Zitharion’s old workshop – a golden plate mounted to the floor shifts those standing upon it and uttering the command phrase (I seek riches).

As an extradimensional space, there are no obvious exits for those now trapped within. When “leaving” the map via one of the 8 side passages, roll a d6 to see what passage the characters come back through (using the six passages not on the same side of the dungeon as the one they used). The “exits” are all filled with a grey mist that blocks vision after about 10 feet.

Once, this place was filled with the illusions of treasures along with many real riches. But over the years the actual treasures were stolen, and the illusions have begun to fail. But among the illusions are those that are heard and not seen – the labyrinth seems to whisper promises of power and wealth directly into the minds of those who travel these halls. These whispers eventually overpower rational thought – with saving throws required at irregular intervals to continue resisting the urge to get away from the others within the labyrinth and to claim all the treasures for themselves… or even to turn upon their companions.

There are only two treasures that remain here, a pair of beautiful rubies of great value. However, the only way to exit the labyrinth is to place those two jewels in the hands of the statue in the central room. When that is done, all in that room are returned to Zitharion’s workshop – and the jewels teleport to other locations within the labyrinth.

There are also several people trapped within this place – driven completely mad by the whispers and promises of treasure, they hide from each other and hunt those who intrude into this domain. Each has a room near the central room, where they try to pretend that they are not creatures driven mad by their own greed.

This map is based on the map from the classic TI-99 game “Munchman” (back when every home computer system had their own version of PacMan) and was requested during a stream by one of my patrons.

The 1200 dpi version of the map was drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and is 8,700 x 7,800 pixels in size (29 x 26 squares). To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for 10′ squares which work better with the furnishings as shown) – so resizing it to 2,030 x 1,820 or 4,060 x 3,640 pixels, respectively.

The Labyrinth of Avarice

The Labyrinth of Avarice This small extradimensional space was crafted by Zitharion the Thaumaturge – obsessed with capturing the very essence of greed. He believed that greed was more than a…

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[Dyson Logos]

Graxworm Map 16 – Corpsegaard

The Graxworm is a massive dead dragon of mythic scale, several miles long and large enough to contain a town in the mouth. Creatures have set up here to “mine” the massive corpse for its valuable materials – leather, scales, ichor, tendons, and more. Practically every bit has some value to someone, and in the long term the expectation is that nothing will remain, not even the massive bones. In the very heart of the corpse (well, technically all AROUND the heart of the corpse) is the “Corpsegaard” – a secret city that is the true heart of the Graxworm, as opposed to the smaller trading town in the mouth of the dragon.

The trading town is the “public face” of this necromantic megadungeon. The fiction presented there is that the Graxworm is home to a mixed group of humanoids who are farming it for parts. Now deep within the wyrm’s corpse, we discover that the heart of the Graxworm is in fact not just overrun with but under the control of bizarre sentient giant maggots – the spawn of a god of death and decay with no other home than this mighty corpse. As they carve out the decaying body, their numbers keep increasing… and eventually, they will run out of dragon parts to consume…

I’ve mapped the structure of this city wrapped around one of the petrified hearts of the mighty dragon from two perspectives – an overhead view of the “main level” of the city, and a side view showing the extended structures that extend into the corpse from there. The large voids on the overhead map are the ends of the beast’s lungs – used now to circulate air through the complex.

The Graxworm Megadungeon was proposed to me by Gallant Knight Games – a dungeon set within the corpse of a dragon some seven miles in length. If I were to map out the whole thing we’d be looking at a good 100+ maps, so instead we’ll focus on points of interest as a sort of “point crawl” megadungeon setting. We are finally approaching the end of this project, with only four maps remaining to complete the main points of interest.

Graxworm Map 16 – Corpsegaard

The Graxworm is a massive dead dragon of mythic scale, several miles long and large enough to contain a town in the mouth. Creatures have set up here to “mine” the massive corpse for it…

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[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Boy, that's really cool, but please put that map on the table, at least in parts, DM. Your players will 100% murder you if they have to explore each nook and cranny via theater of the mind.

 

[Dyson Logos]

Boy, that's really cool, but please put that map on the table, at least in parts, DM. Your players will 100% murder you if they have to explore each nook and cranny via theater of the mind.

I mean it is a city map - how many times do players explore every nook and cranny of a city?

 

[Dyson Logos]

Whispers from the Abyss

Centuries ago, a secret temple was constructed to revere Xal’keth, a God of Shadows and Secrets. The clandestine cult obsessed with unraveling forbidden truths and harnessing the power of shadows to manipulate reality quietly constructed it deep under the City of Cries. Their belief was simple – all knowledge, no matter how dangerous, must be unveiled, no matter the cost.

Many strange rituals were performed here over the years in utter darkness. However, the cult’s hunger for forbidden knowledge led disaster. A catastrophic ritual to summon Xal’keth’s essence into the material plane went awry, unleashing a wave of crashing energy that consumed the cult and shattered part of the temple where the ritual was performed. The temple was abandoned, shattered and broken, the horrors within left to fester in silence.

The chamber where the fateful ritual was held is long gone, an abyss leading down into the depths below the ancient city. The entrance to the temple collapsed along with these ritual chambers, but a small crack opened up leading to the dry sewers of the City of Cries, damaged and empty from the earthquakes that rack the desert here.

A few lingering souls of the destroyed cultists still wander the temple as shadows trapped in torment. They are mindlessly angry at all who trespass here. The chamber with the stone ring hums with residual energy from the last ritual – a fragment of Xal’keth still trapped within it. This shadowy power might be tapped by those who figure out the cult’s secret rituals… or this may re-trigger the horror of the cult’s doom.

But deep below the temple, down into the abyss, there are much more ancient ruins to be explored – hopefully containing treasures from truly ancient empires.

This map was drawn for the Gaxx Worx adventure “Wrath of the Sea Lich” (based on an earlier map from one of the Gaxx Worx Chentoufi adventures). The text and descriptions in this post are unrelated to that work, and are based on ideas that struck me while I was drawing it.

The Whispers from the Abyss

The Whispers from the Abyss (300dpi) Centuries ago, a secret temple was constructed to revere Xal’keth, a God of Shadows and Secrets. The clandestine cult obsessed with unraveling forbidden t…

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