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

[Dyson Logos]

The Lantern Crypt

A burial site turned into a hiding place for forbidden knowledge, the lantern vault was consecrated to a god of death, and later defiled by priests turned from orthodoxy to twist their god’s teachings. The magical lantern at the heart of the vault was their greatest tool, a relic that revealed truths invisible to mortal eyes.

Crumbling Mausoleum
The entrance to the crypt is a half-collapsed mausoleum under the ancient graveyard above. The ceiling sags and the walls are cracked. Rubble litters the floor, and the air is heavy with dust. Ghostly lights flicker among the broken crypts, pale flames that drift without heat. The collapse has left the chamber unstable, and loud noises risk bringing more stone down.

Memorial Hall
North of the mausoleum lies the Memorial Hall lined with ten tombs. Each has been defaced by looters, their inscriptions gouged out and their offerings stolen. Twelve statues stand between the tombs, carved in the likeness of long-forgotten nobles. One statue has been smashed, its fragments scattered across the floor. Another seems intact, but its eyes follow visitors as they move through the hall. The statue opposite this one conceals a secret door, leading to the hidden dwelling of the heretical priests. The hall is silent and uneasy, palpable with the weight of desecration.

Guardian’s Alcoves
Between the Memorial Hall and the Vault Chamber are these two alcoves, each containing a sarcophagus. These are guarded by a spectral knight, a figure of armor and shadow bound to protect the crypt. The knight does not speak, but it raises its weapon against any who approach the vault without reverence. The ceiling here is low, and there is little space between the sarcophagi and the guardian. The knight is not mindless, however, and those who show respect for the dead will find that it steps aside for them to progress through the area.

Vault Chamber
The heart of the crypt. Scroll racks line the walls, their contents brittle and crumbling with age. A raised stone platform with a lantern atop it sits in the centre of the room. When fueled and lit and left upon the platform, the lantern reveals invisible writings on the scrolls and walls, as well as any other items brought within the vault. These writings contain fragments of forbidden doctrine, the work of the heretical priests who once dwelled here. The lantern itself is a relic of great power, but it is bound to the chamber. Removing it extinguishes its light until it is returned. Behind one of the scroll racks lies a secret door, leading once more to the hidden dwelling.

Secret Dwelling
Here the three heretical priests lived and worked, their study filled with books, notes, and strange relics. The air is stale, and the furnishings are decayed, but the sense of presence lingers. The priests sought to rewrite the teachings of their god, to turn death into a tool rather than an end. Their work remains scattered across the chamber, waiting for discovery. The dwelling is both a sanctuary and a trap, for the secrets it holds are dangerous to those who seek them, and the priests managed to turn the powers of their deity towards an unending unlife.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 7,200 x 10,200 pixels (24 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 10′ squares) – so resizing it to either 1,680 x 2,380 or 3,360 x 4,760, respectively.

The Lantern Crypt

A burial site turned into a hiding place for forbidden knowledge, the lantern vault was consecrated to a god of death, and later defiled by priests turned from orthodoxy to twist their god’s teachi…

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[Dyson Logos]

The Hollow Spire

Atheron Veyl was a reclusive arcanist who dabbled in strange otherworldly drugs and explored worlds and planes that may well have been the direct result of their hallucinations.

The Hollow Spire was once this mad arcanist’s “wizard tower”, collapsed into itself much as Atheron Veyl did themself when astral spiders consumed the wizard from the inside. The spire itself is made of stones either created magically or drawn here from another world. Under the dust of ages, the stones of the tower are a bruised violet shot through with veins of phosphorescent green. At night, the green veins glow faintly, making it seem like the tower is lit from within. If the detritus of time is cleaned away, the stone itself seems to shift shades when viewed from different angles.

Veyl’s great love was Dreamer’s Ash, the powdered remains of extinct star-moths, inhaled through crystal flutes. Through the Ash’s dreams, Veyl saw visions of infinite staircases in impossible geometries – and then used these visions to travel to other places in quest for more dreamer’s ash. However, the ash also causes the user’s mind to fold in on itself, a collapse mirrored by the spire itself.

The spire itself is a round tower that has collapsed into itself, the various levels of which are connected by a spiral staircase extending up the eastern side of the spire. The ground floor of the spire is a mass of jumbled masonry that has fallen down from above, but a path can be found through it to the stairs at the back. From above one can hear the sound of the wind through the broken stone, moaning and almost sounding like a strange voice in lament. But from below, the moaning is definitely not from the wind, but something trapped still within the cellars of the spire.

At the top of the spire, hidden from view of the stairs on the western side of the structure, is a coffer containing the last of Atheron Veyl’s treasures. The Hourglass of Spilled Moments is a palm-sized hourglass, cracked and badly damaged, filled with sand that seems silver on one side, and brilliant green when on the other. When flipped, the hourglass rewinds a single just-spoken sentence made by the user, allowing the speaker to rephrase or unsay it. The potency of this magic strains both time and the hourglass, and with each use it risks being shattered forever.

In the lowest chambers of the spire, in the dungeons on the northwest side, the mourning herald remains a prisoner of Veyl’s. A once-proud messenger of a forgotten god – this being remains chained by silken webs. Its wings are broken, its voice a constant dirge that echoes through the chambers and up the stairs. It begs for release, but the webs that hold it here are the last magics holding the tower from full collapse…

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 10,800 x 10,800 pixels (36 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 2,520 x 2,520 or 5,040 x 5,040, respectively.

The Hollow Spire

Atheron Veyl was a reclusive arcanist who dabbled in strange otherworldly drugs and explored worlds and planes that may well have been the direct result of their hallucinations. The Hollow Spire wa…

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[Dyson Logos]

The Serpent Lands – Hex Map 1

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. Modern cities can be found in the shells of ancient structures, while others are built around huge monoliths left behind by the fallen empire.

The first map of the Serpent Lands set is the most northeastern edge of these lands – a set of islands along the coast. These islands are known as “the Dragons” to local marine traffic.

The main habitation in this region is the small city of High Plateau on the northwestern island. The city itself isn’t on the plateau, but is nestled against the base of the arid plateau at the head of a small bay. The plateau itself bears the ruins of an ancient city that has been looted repeatedly over the years, and has very little left to offer scavengers and explorers.

The largest of the Dragon islands is an uninhabited forested island with an imposing ring of mountains along the shore. Tales of hidden pirate treasures bring adventurers here to discover that much of the island is fought over by packs of ferocious and carnivorous rock baboons (5d6 per group) who live nomadic lives, occasionally setting up a short-term stronghold in small Serpent Empire ruins.

To the southeast, we have the only other inhabited island in the group – massive mountain structures loom over the ocean here, and the one on the southern end of the island has been converted into a stronghold for the Red Autarch, a sorcerous warlord. Here they hold court and coordinate the movements of their agents through a series of Serpent Empire teleportation portals.

The remaining islands bear a number of strange monoliths of various sizes, and one distinctly appears to be a mouth – a ring of mountains that look very much like teeth. The origin of these teeth is unknown, but they are almost certainly not a natural formation.

The Serpent Lands – Hex Map 1

The Serpent Lands – Map 1 (300 dpi promo, no commercial license) The Serpent Lands are immediately south of the Autumn Lands. There’s no set scale for these maps, and the items on the m…

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[Dyson Logos]

Unearthing the Petrified Legend

The centrepiece of this dungeon is unmistakable, and is almost immediately seen upon entering beyond the initial antechamber. Upon walking down the stairs from the entrance, one comes face-to-face with a petrified medusa of titanic scale – over a hundred feet tall from the chamber floor far below the entrance mezzanine to the vaulted ceiling above. The figure is so immense that no one could believe an artisan could have carved it within the confines of the dungeon. Instead, it is almost certainly the petrified body of a true medusa of immense scale, transformed into stone by some rival power or by her own hubris.

The top of the “statue” was found by a farmer clearing land for new fields, and was later dug out by a team of miners and workers working for a nearby lord. Initially, the large pit around the medusa was held open by wooden buttressing, but left open to the elements. A generation later, a team of masons and engineers descended upon the statue to dig out the dirt and water that had filled the pit, and then built this dungeon around it.

But, of course, that is ancient history. Today this dungeon is “uninhabited”, but a treasure map will lead adventurers here to acquire a magical MacGuffin required for their current quest. And they will of course find that the place is nowhere near as uninhabited as it should be – the whole place is swarming with shardlings. These small, jagged creatures look like chunks of broken stone but animated by malice. Each is about the size of a human skull, with a body of cracked grey stone. Their “faces” are a cluster of glowing mineral nodules that pulse faintly like eyes. Their limbs are long, splintered shards of rock that scrape and clatter as they move, giving them a sound like knives dragged across slate. And they scuttle with unnerving speed, their limbs stabbing into stone as easily as claws into flesh. They can climb sheer walls and ceilings, clinging with a horrible scraping noise that echoes through the shaft around the medusa statue. When they swarm, they move like a living rockslide, tumbling over one another in a cascade of jagged limbs.

The shardlings may be fragments of the petrified medusa itself, sloughed off over centuries. If true, killing them may weaken her... or shatter the curse that keeps her petrified.

Unearthing the Petrified Legend

The centrepiece of this dungeon is unmistakable, and is almost immediately seen upon entering beyond the initial antechamber. Upon walking down the stairs from the entrance, one comes face-to-face …

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[Whizbang Dustyboots]

One of the most atmospheric and inspirational maps you've ever done. I love it.

 

[Dyson Logos]

The Warped Crucible

Veythran Korril is (or rather, was) the duke’s alchemist. But even the duke knows better than to let them remain too close at hand. Famed for their ability to coax impossible reactions from elements drawn forth from other worlds, Korril spoke to the mixtures and potions as though they were children (and some say they whispered back).

Obsessed with creating a living tincture that could heal any wound, Veythran dug up the genetic and alchemical workings of the Kale empire and began experimenting with their methods of producing living alchemical creatures. Veythran’s experiments with living thralls never advanced much beyond masses of flesh with random humanoid body parts, never getting near the level of sophistication of even the base thralls of the Kale.

But combined with the experiments on the living tincture, one of these masses of semi-living flesh refused to be thrown into the disposal pit, and instead consumed the alchemist. It occasionally manifests the alchemist’s face, screaming in horror, but when confronted with new beings entering the crucible, it will attempt to imitate and then consume them.

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) in size. To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for the recommended 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for the traditional 10′ squares) – so resizing the image to either 1,680 x 2,520 or 3,360 x 5,040, respectively.

The Warped Crucible

The Warped Crucible (300 dpi promo, no commercial license) Veythran Korril is (or rather, was) the duke’s alchemist. But even the duke knows better than to let them remain too close at hand. …

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[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This feels like something from Annihilation, especially the movie version. (Although a similar concept pops up in one of the later books.)

 

[Dyson Logos]

r/DNDMaps Banner Map

If you scavenge maps from the incredible resource of the Reddit r/DNDMaps community, you may already have spotted the new banner at the top of the page. The subreddit recently went through a change in management and revision of the rules, and wanted a new front page to go with it. They are using the lovely Deven Rue compass rose cast by Campaign Coins as the logo of the sub, and the new top banner is this map that I drew & painted for them.

I made my usual efforts to make the map useable as well as serving as the banner. There’s a nice variety of rooms and chambers presented, and it is easily extended through several connecting points if you really want to hide the origin in play. We’ve got a cave of mushrooms, pillared halls, a statue gallery, a wide passage full of pit traps, crypts, tombs, pools, underground rivers, a dais and throne, and even a small building on an underground island, all begging to be explored.

The 1200 dpi versions of the map were drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and are 40,200 x 4,800 pixels in size (134 x 16 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 9,380 x 1,120 or 18,760 x 2,240 respectively.

DNDMaps Banner

DNDMaps Banner (150dpi, painted) DNDMaps Banner (150 dpi, unpainted) If you scavenge maps from the incredible resource of the Reddit r/DNDMaps community, you may already have spotted the new banner…

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[Dyson Logos]

Gräfvenhusk Regional Map

I’m putting together an adventure for a Mörk Borg Hallowe’en… And of course I needed a small regional map in addition to the actual site of the adventure. You’ll have to pardon the pseudo-nordic names I used for the Mörk Borg atmosphere. The adventure itself will be centred upon the sinking chapel known as Gråtkyrka (the Weeping Church), one of the last remnants of the village of Gräfvenhusk. The whole area of the village was cursed by something, and slowly sank into the swamp. Neu Gräfvenhusk was built some distance upriver from the swamp on the tallest hill in the area to prevent the same fate.

Even so, Neu Gräfvenhusk is the hollow shell of a town. No noble protects these lands – the last Count was stripped of his title soon after the original town sank into the swamp. Many of the buildings in town are vacant, some collapsing from long mistreatment and rot. With the coming of the end of the world, the fields lie fallow, the farm animals all long ago slaughtered for their meat. The folk are frightened and hungry… and something truly foul is happening at the old sinking chapel.

Other locations of interest on the map are

The Stenbrötter (brother stones) – jagged monoliths streaked with white veins like marrow. The folk of Gräfvenhusk say that they shift slightly each night, forming patterns that foretell good harvests, or lately just famine, plague, and ruin.

The burned out hamlet of Brändskov on the edge of the forest was once a cluster of hovels around a charcoal kiln, now just blackened chimneys jutting from the ash.

The old mine in the hill north of Gräfvenhusk is now known as the Svärtmynne. A yawning cave in the hillside, its breath cold and damp. Weeping can be barely heard from within, though no one who entered has returned to confirm the source.

And north of the Stenbrötter we have the Spindelskarr, a section of the forest where the trees are draped in thick, grey webs that sag like burial shrouds. The ground is littered with the husks of birds, deer, wolves, and the occasional human.

Gräfvenhusk Regional Map

Gräfvenhusk Regional Map (300 dpi promo) I’m putting together an adventure for a Mörk Borg Hallowe’en… And of course I needed a small regional map in addition to the actual site o…

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[Dyson Logos]

The Sinking Chapel

The last standing building of old Gräfvenhusk, this stone chapel is slowly sinking into the swamp that consumed the rest of the town. The whole structure is on a slight angle, and the stonework is gradually succumbing to gravity. If the end of the world were not just around the corner, one could expect that the chapel would collapse entirely in the next decade. Known as the Gråtkyrka (the Weeping Church) to the citizens of Neu Gräfvenhusk, the structure (and the swamp) is generally avoided as an unlucky death trap.

But tonight is the Ossuary Masquerade. As the end of the world approaches, the Hollow King awakens again for the one night before All Hallows when he can host his masquerade again. Once a monarch of marrow and shadow, now a revenant filled with insects, crowned in black iron, and bearing a lantern that burns with stolen souls. He has decreed that one night is not enough. One revel cannot suffice. And so he has lifted his lantern to the heavens and devoured the sun itself, binding the world in an endless Hallowe’en night until the final doom descends.

Above, in the chapel’s ruin, tables are laid with wooden death‑masks; grim invitations to the Ossuary Masquerade. The unwary and the desperate don them, becoming dancers in the Hollow King’s court below. Outsiders come seeking the Lantern of Souls, that dread artifact said to appear only on this night. They find it waiting above the feast table, its glow a promise of power. But it is a decoy – and upon grasping it, the Hollow King reveals the truth as he pulls forth his own lantern illuminating the ballroom in a brilliant light.

Now the masquerade begins in earnest. The dead waltz in their bone‑masks, the banquet of worms is served, and the Hollow King presides from his throne of femurs, lantern blazing with the light of a stolen sun.

The Sinking Chapel

The Sinking Chapel (300 dpi promo) The last standing building of old Gräfvenhusk, this stone chapel is slowly sinking into the swamp that consumed the rest of the town. The whole structure is on a …

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