Whenever I pull out the random dungeon generator from the classic 1e DMG (which I used to do a lot as a teen and still do on occasion), I’m haunted by the indication that we should have fully mapped and detailed surface ruins prepared before going into the actual act of dungeon generation. You see, I rarely had a surface ruin to start with, just whatever first room I chose from the random generator.

I drew Namurta’s Halls so I would have something that could be used with the generator. Purely coincidentally, it can also be used with my classic mini megadungeon, Dyson’s Delve – the tower in the lower right and the cave on the hillside beneath it are just about perfect for that dungeon setup – leaving you with three additional entrances that can lead to other dungeons (the entrance in the sinkhole, the cave in the upper right hill, and of course the stairs under the old church).

Namurta’s Halls – Surface

I also asked around on my google+ feed for what people would like to see under Namurta’s Halls (if not using a random dungeon generator) and on Friday I’ll post the first result of those requests (there may be more!).

My default assumption for old school dungeons is that you’ve come across the ruins of something huge and underground – something like the ruined cities of the Elderlings buried in the swamps in the Rain Wilds stories by Robin Hobb. It’s the basis I use for all my “random dungeon” rolling.

Here is a small dungeon level set up exactly along those premises – the ruins under Axehead Mound have two entrances – one a collapsed wall section that leads into a chamber, the other a pair of ruin-cluttered stairs that lead into the ruins from a ruined above-ground building.

Ruins under Axehead Mound

The ruins under Axehead Mound were drawn in a single draft (trying to get back out of the habit of doing pencil roughs first) using a Sakura Micron 03 and 01 pens. If you like it, consider checking out my Patreon campaign where patrons support the creation and release of more free maps like this one.

Ruins. Ruins rock my boat and feel like the core of D&D for me ever since the adventure in the back of the 1981 Basic rulebook. Today’s small map is a tower built into the side of a hill and the dungeons beneath.

Rising a good thirty feet over the crest of Hound Rock Hill, Dravid’s tower was built into the rocky flank of the hill and once provided a bird’s eye view of the area. Now fallen into ruin and decay, the upper levels of the tower have partially collapsed, leaving much of the interior open to the elements. Access to the lowest level of the tower is through an old trap door (which has been used by travelers because it is probably the most secure area in the tower). In the lower level, a rusted and stuck iron door leads into the hillside proper. There are obvious signs where people (or perhaps roving humanoids) have tried to pry open the door, but it remains sealed, probably by some enchantment or other magic.

Dravid’s Tower

Dravid’s Tower was drawn in a single draft using a Sakura Micron 03 for the walls and a Sakura Micron 01 for the detail work. It’s made available for your free non-commercial use thanks to Patreon patrons like Roger Brasslett, Paul, Earl and Kalyptein.

This map was inspired by Minoan ruins courtesy of Wayne Rossi (the host of the Semper Initiative Unum blog, and author of the Dungeon Crawl ‘zine for which I drew a map in issue 3). He was looking for a set of ruins based on the Palace of Zakros. It was a lot of fun to take the Zakros floorplan and just go nuts with it to produce this confusing ruined monstrosity.

Ruined Palace

The layout has multiple elevations within the buildings, making the main courtyard and the areas around it about 4-8 feet higher than the rest of the construction.

The map was drawn on 5-square-per-inch graph paper using a 03 and 01 Sakura Micron and takes up a full 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. Unlike most of my maps, this one (and the one to follow this Friday) were originally roughed out in pencil which I then erased after inking and before scanning. After scanning at 600dpi some minor cleanup was done and contrast and brightness were enhanced (+30 brightness, +60 contrast). I use a Diffuse (anisotropic) filter on the 600dpi image and then reduce the image resolution to 300dpi.

The final map is yours to use in a non-commercial manner thanks to the awesome support of the Dodecahedron Patreon patrons like Greg Skinner, Corey Reid (creator of the AWESOME Dino-Pirates of Ninja Island), David Lane and people like YOU who support my cartographic efforts though my Patreon Campaign.

Ever have one of those maps that just REFUSED to sit nicely on a single sheet of paper?

On two?

Initially the goal was for a dungeon with 60 or slightly more encounter areas that would fit under the Minoan palace ruins posted on Tuesday. I realized as I was drawing it that the way I draw maps, I just couldn’t fit that many rooms onto a sheet of 5-quad graph paper. So I pulled out a second page… then I decided I wanted a section that was off the standard 90 & 45 degree angles of the graph paper as given… In the end we have a map spanning a full page and two little bits of graph paper.

Beneath The Palace – Photo

After scanning, cleaning and contrast-enhancement (and a 180 degree rotation) we have the final map for play:

The Dungeons Beneath

I love collapsed areas. The implication is that this is part of a much larger underground structure prior to the collapse. These areas could be found from another entrance, or could be lost for all time (depending on what you want from the region as a DM).

I’m having fun working in three dimensions with areas that are not easily accessible to the average adventurer, thus explaining why extraordinary adventurers are required as well as why these areas have not yet been plundered.

In the case of “Imp Tower”, a decrepit stone tower sits over a hole that leads down to a cave, definitely home to something nasty with wings that the locals don’t have the skills, manpower and bravado to take care of. Sure, someone could climb down the shaft exposed in the floor of the ruined tower, or up or down the cliff face to get to the cave, but the entire time they would be sitting ducks for the beasts that claim these caves as their home.

Imp Tower

Imp Tower was drawn with a Micron 01 and Micron 005 pen on the inside flyleaf of a copy of Dyson’s Delves II (a 6×9 surface). The paper of the flyleaf is much more absorbent than the papers I normally use, meaning I had to use a particularly light touch with the pens to prevent blotting. It is made available for your use thanks to the 152 patrons who support the Dodecahedron through my Patreon Campaign.

Further from the Burren Estate, along the same path as the three hillside tombs posted last week, is the small family necropolis that was used by the now-dead fell wyrm as a nest for a pair portion of his time at the estate.

The Ruined Necropolis

Ruined by the wyrms mass and claws as he sought out comfortable nesting space among the black rocks in this sunny little mountain valley, the crypts of the necropolis may still hide treasures of the Burren family that the dragon didn’t loot.

At the heart of the Burren Estate are the ruins of the structures that were here centuries before the modern estate. These old buildings were supposedly built in cooperation between the earliest members of the Burren line and the elves who still maintained their empire in that era. The old estate structures were already abandoned and in rough shape prior to the arrival of the great wyrm that ate the remaining Burrens and took over the estate.

While the wyrm was in charge he would only make occasional passes by the old estate buildings – spending most of his time in the necropolis and the main estate buildings. This allowed other creatures either foolhardy or stupid enough to risk living in the feeding grounds of a dragon to move into the ruins.

Burren Estate Ruins

The Burren Estate Ruins were drawn using Micron 03 and 005 pens (03 for outlines, 005 for hatching, rubble, and details) on plain white printer paper in a single draft. It is presented here free for your non-commercial use thanks to the awesome patrons of the Dodecahedron who support the site (and me!) via my Patreon Campaign.

It’s starting to feel like “Ruins and Mortuaries” month here at the Dodecahedron with another dungeon suited for the long-term storage of the deceased. Sebastijan’s Shrine is located just west of the city, where it fell into disuse after one side of the stonework structure started to slide away and collapse. No longer maintained by any priesthood, it is instead watched over by a few faithful locals and occasion attempts are made to clean up the mess by travelling clergy.

Sebastijan’s Shrine and Crypts

The only reason the structure hasn’t been completely abandoned is the crypts below it, which include the resting places of many early faithful supplicants to Saint Sebastijan including a few important persons from the foundation of the nearby city and a gnoll prince who fought bravely along with his mercenary tribe against the elves.

We don’t know why the ancients built so may underground structures (perhaps to remain out of the sight of the elves who ruled the lands) – and something about how they built them enabled them to survive for ages beyond what you would expect for stone structures in unstable land.

Regardless, over the ages since the end of their civilization, their ruins have been discovered by countless miners, diggers, spelunkers and treasure hunters.

Cooper’s Hole

This particular set of ruins is partially collapsed and now links to a cave that is home to far too many bats for entry to be a sanitary or safe choice. But behind all that guano there’s a fairly intact set of ancient ruins, along with the odd artifacts that usually come with such. Occasionally a small artifact makes it’s way to the front of the cave with all the comings and goings of the bats, and maybe it will be enough to get the attention of some adventurers with the right equipment or magic to get past all that crap and the gasses it produces to find the ruins beyond.

. . .

Like the map posted on Tuesday, I too a series of shots of this map as I drew it.

Humble beginnings. And beer.

This is how the map started last night as I was waiting to meet Zzarchov Kowolski (author of many brilliant OSR adventures as well as the Neoclassical Geek Revival RPG that I drew a character sheet for). Within a minute of me taking this photo, he showed up, and I stuffed the map into my bag, forgotten until this morning.

Step 2

Here we see the map expanding with some rooms… and googly eyes. Don’t ask, don’t tell.

Crosshatching & Cave-Ins!

Spur-of-the-moment change to the design was the incorporation of collapsed areas in the map. These are fun to draw, and allow me to make a map that looks like it used to be all interconnected in multiple ways without actually drawing most of those connections.

South Side, Represent!

And the south side is basically done here, except for a bit more cross-hatching. I fill in the hatching as I draw normally – basically I go back whenever I hit a block as to what I should draw for an area, and cross-hatch a previously drawn area until something comes to mind.

North Side, Represent!

And here’s the north side of the map done being outlined but without any hatching or any detail of the collapsed sections.

Tah-Dah!

And the whole thing done and ready to be slapped onto the scanner!

If you’ve picked up the 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Starter Box and not run it yet, I really recommend it. The adventure is actually a wonderful little point-crawl with a fairly well setup beginning and end, but with a lot of free choice as to what gets done in what order, what doesn’t get done at all, and so on. It’s actually a great example of how to put together a low-level mini-sandbox environment for a game.

Back in October I posted my remake of the Cragmaw Hideout from that adventure, and in our most recent fifth edition game the party finally made it to Cragmaw Castle, leaving only one major place to go (and a few minor ones that they’ve skipped or got sidetracked from along the way).

Because Cragmaw Castle is fairly easy to scout the general structure of before going in, I figured this would be the perfect time to make a player map that looked and felt a bit like the classic player map from Tegel Manor.

Cragmaw Castle Player Map

To really get the “Tegel Manor” feel across, I printed it on yellowish faux-parchment paper. I also had two versions ready – one I added extra rubble into the path through the collapsed wall on the bottom-right of this map with my pen so if they didn’t spot the side entrance it wouldn’t be as obvious. But they did.

And here’s a version sans grid for those who prefer a clean gridless map:

Cragmaw Castle Player Map (gridless)

I have to stress that the cool design isn’t mine – the map that this is a redraw of was originally drawn by the incredibly talented Mike Schley for the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure published by Wizards of the Coast. I’m just making it feel a little more… old-school.

And here’s a shot of the map in action, about 2/3 of the way through our game session on Wednesday:

Cragmaw Castle Map in action

When the dwarves left this world in their Earthships, they sealed this city by bringing down the front gates and burying the cisterns that provided water to the multiple levels of the city. Other access points remain (for they had built the city with more than one way in and out), but without the water, it could never again thrive.

The Gates (with grid)

Directly above the Hall of Bronze, and connected to it via the Descent (the large cylindrical chamber that links the Gates, the Hall of Bronze and the Iron Hall), The Gates were a much larger area prior to the departure of the dwarves. (I’m thinking I might draw a quick map of the original Gates that can be used as a player handout – something the local thieves’ guild had done up prior to the dwarven exodus).

Once these great halls were lit by sun and hundreds of massive bronze lanterns, and were home to parades and pageantry. Today the gates are a place of somber dust and debris, lit only by trickles of sunlight that reflect down along with feathers and other detritus from the harpies’ domain above.

The lower right corner of the great hall has a collapsed stairwell leading up to “The Tall Watch”, a tower carved into the mountain above. That tower has been taken over by foul harpies who occasionally travel this level and have even been known to fly down the shaft of the descent seeking victims and adventure.

The Gates (no grid)

Once home to 10 mithril statues of the elders of the clans who founded this city, the Mithril hall now appears barren and empty, showing the damage from the destruction of the city gates and cisterns.

Mithril Hall (with grid)

At two places along the 35 foot tall mithril hall stone bridges cross over at a height of 20 feet. The first of these collapsed during a battle here between scavenging groups shortly after the demolition of the gates, but the second remains intact. More importantly one of the great cisterns of the city is reachable through these passages and is only partially collapsed. A trickle of water permeates the old stone here, and the floor of the cistern has been overtaken by a forest of giant fungi.

But the fungi here are different than those in the Mushroom Caves in the distance, for strange intelligence has grown here, and fungal hunters stalk these halls – deadly and poisonous creatures of the dark.

Mithril Hall (no grid)

Both exits from this map lead to the City Gates map. But several other exits can be added to both this map and the City Gates map to expand the dwarven city (typically on later visits into the dungeon when you want to spice things up). I would place a secret magical entrance in the floor of the far end of the Mithril Hall itself that opens to stairs down into many living quarters or lost workshops of the dwarves. And there are definitely larger living areas to the north of the City Gates map that have been cut off by the collapsing of the gates that could be dug out by other forces between visits.

These kinds of changes to the maps as the game progresses is something that I feel is important to a “mega dungeon” experience – not only are the factions within the dungeon not static, but the map itself evolves over time, producing it’s own challenges and secrets.

The Temple Ruins (with overlays)

Ancient temples fallen to ruin hidden deep in the jungle. Sounds like the setup for any number of pulp adventures and one I haven’t drawn nearly enough of (although I’ve run a fair number of adventures over the years with this exact premise… or the “twist” of it being an ancient palace instead of a temple).

I’m not sure how well I got my mental image across in this map in the end. The idea is that the front-most two buildings on the left are two stories tall with their lower stories mostly collapsed rubble, and the central piece being a second-story bridge that connects the two sides. But regardless of the success or failure of getting that multi-level vision across, the final map is still one I quite like and look forward to using in a game…

Temple Ruins (no overlays)

Perhaps the more intact structures on the right are intact because they are not only away from the water, but they are riddled with traps and magics that keep local looters away.

Thanks to the awesome people who support my works through my Patreon Campaign, this map is provided for your non-commercial use. Please enjoy it, use it, remix it and have fun with it. Tell us of the adventures you have had in these lost temples and we will rejoice in the tales.

The Incomplete Palace (with grid)

Prince Eluwerr’s palace was still under construction, the marble of the great fountain still covered under the artist’s tarp when the invaders arrived. The prince was captured and put to the stake. The first to move into the palace were a pair of opportunistic merchants who began selling off the various stockpiles of construction material. But soon they were joined by others and now the Palace Market is a regular stop for those seeking unusual wares.

The maps above and below are of the actual palace constructions at the time of their being abandoned. The upstairs of the great hall is incomplete, just a stone roof (actually not even a proper roof – realistically the floor of the level that was never built) that collects bird shit and rain year-round.

The Incomplete Palace (no grid)

But there is a lot more to the palace now than the bare construction. Over the years since the construction was abandoned more than just a simple market has sprung up here. Collecting old wood from the supplies here and from the city, a cluster of semi-permanent and fully permanent wooden buildings of various qualities have been assembled in the area to support the market and to eke out a living from it.

The Palace Market

And just to showcase how “unusual” the wares can be in the Palace Market, I drew up one final version of the map with the various shops indicated. Now these aren’t completely serious – this is more the kind of thing you would find in a “Goblin Market” or a game with odd flights of fancy than in a strictly medieval European game or even a Tolkien or Sword & Sorcery styled game. This would be more in keeping with a market on the verge of a Red and Pleasant Land or creeping in from someone’s nightmares and dreams.

The Palace Goblin Market

Personally, I love the idea that if you have been sent to the market to pick up something to get rid of the bed-lice you have to wander through a shop selling screaming souls first.

This map is made available for your free use thanks to the patrons of the Dodecahedron Patreon Campaign that keeps me fed and sheltered while I draw these fancy doodads for your enjoyment.

One step further – because of the incredible generosity of my patrons, I’m able to make this map free for commercial use also. Each month while funding is over the $300 mark, each map that achieves the $300+ funding level will be released under this free commercial license. You can use, reuse, remix and/or modify the maps that are being published under the commercial license on a royalty-free basis as long as they include attribution (“Cartography by Dyson Logos” or “Maps by Dyson Logos”).

For those that want/need a Creative Commons license, it would look something like this:

Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Again, this shouldn’t need repeating, but this only applies to the maps in this post (yes, even the silly one – but honestly, you should just take the one without the words and add your own shop names to it instead).

So enjoy! This map is yours to do with as you please, personally or commercially!

Ettin Manor

I found that I had been drawing a lot of my recent maps (particularly commissioned pieces) by roughing them out in pencil and then going to ink afterwards. However that’s not really my style. Until 2014, I basically did all my maps directly in pen and I’ve been missing that organic feel of growth that I get when I lay something down that’s immediately permanent and I have to work from it instead of being able to go back and change it as the rest of the map progresses.

So I decided I should draw a classic dungeon in my traditional style. But I got sidetracked because what kind of dungeon doesn’t have a surface level? (Well, besides most of the dungeons I’ve drawn over the years, but let’s ignore that for now.) So today I give you my direct-to-ink map of the ruins of Ettin Manor which once loomed over this cliff and small waterfall.

Of course, there are a pair of secret doors on the map, which lead into the dungeons of Ettin Manor – ancient crypts or treasure stores that may to this day be untouched by looters and treasure hunters because of well-made secret doors, excellent locks, and maybe a bit of magic and the reasonable fear of deadly traps.

This map is made available for your free use thanks to the amazing patrons of the Dodecahedron Patreon Campaign that keeps me fed and sheltered while I draw these fancy doodads for your enjoyment. Awesome people like Stacy Dellorfano (who does that epically awesome ConTessa with a group of other awesome women), Levi Kornelsen, Andy Action, Samuel Kehoe and over 300 others!

One step further – because of the incredible generosity of my patrons, I’m able to make this map free for commercial use also. Each month while funding is over the $300 mark, each map that achieves the $300+ funding level will be released under this free commercial license. You can use, reuse, remix and/or modify the maps that are being published under the commercial license on a royalty-free basis as long as they include attribution (“Cartography by Dyson Logos” or “Maps by Dyson Logos”). For those that want/need a Creative Commons license, it would look something like this:

Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Again, this shouldn’t need repeating, but this only applies to the maps in this post! So enjoy! The Ruins of Ettin Manor (or whatever name you give it in your games) is yours to do with as you please, personally or commercially!

Some of the most “classic” maps on the blog that really defined the “Dyson style” were fairly small dungeons spread over multiple levels with a side view map to indicate how they connected.

Sparrow’s Fort (with grid)

I realized recently that it has been quite a while since I’ve drawn such a map. So I sat down with my trusty 5 square per inch graph paper and my Sakura Microns and drew up a new one, straight to pen in my classic style (no pussyfooting around with pencil roughs and drafts – let’s make a map!)

Work in Progress

I made this one a little more convoluted than my typical two-view map and had a bit of fun with it – to the point where it didn’t quite fit on the one sheet of graph paper. The only potentially confusing part, IMO, is the ruined tower basement from the side view, which is the room on the lower left with all the debris in it on map section D.

Sparrow’s Fort (no grid)

What goes on in Sparrow’s Fort now? It may look deserted and ruined, but the structure is actually carefully maintained to that appearance by Duke Thorfeld’s men in order to maintain a secret dungeon facility where they can detain and interrogate political enemies and other undesirables, as well as act as a base of operations for their clerical inquisition teams.

This map is made available to you under a free license for personal or commercial use thanks to the awesome supporters of my Patreon Campaign. Awesome folks like Brian from www.NerdsOnEarth.com, Lorne Cooper, Kirt Dankmyer, Ron Edwards of Adept Press, and over 300 other patrons have come together to fund the site and these maps, making them free for your use.

Because of the incredible generosity of my patrons, I’m able to make this map free for commercial use also. Each month while funding is over the $300 mark, each map that achieves the $300+ funding level will be released under this free commercial license. You can use, reuse, remix and/or modify the maps that are being published under the commercial license on a royalty-free basis as long as they include attribution (“Cartography by Dyson Logos” or “Maps by Dyson Logos”). For those that want/need a Creative Commons license, it would look something like this:

Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Many parts of the city are built up over the ruins of civilizations that claimed these lands in ages past. While some forget the roots of the city, others are forced to confront them on a daily basis.

Hamel’s Well

Forty feet below street level in one of the poorer districts of the city, the stairs to Hamel’s Well open up to an underground stream and pool bordered by ancient rooms made of fine stonework. Both doors out of the well room are locked at almost all times, but the southern door shows signs of frequent usage.

Hamel’s Well (no grid)

A gang of thieves (Toren’s Crew) operates out of the deeper ruins on the south side, but avoiding the natural caves down below. Both the members of Toren’s Crew and some of the townfolk who are down at the well most often have seen movement and the glitter of light from the north side structures. Most picture the northern area to be home to a lone hermit or perhaps a few shuffling undead – remnants of those who built these chambers in the shadowy past.

This map is made available to you under a free license for personal or commercial use thanks to the awesome supporters of my Patreon Campaign. Awesome folks like Andy Action, Joe, Matt Maranda, Joe Johnston, and over 300 other patrons have come together to fund the site and these maps, making them free for your use.

Because of the incredible generosity of my patrons, I’m able to make this map free for commercial use also. Each month while funding is over the $300 mark, each map that achieves the $300+ funding level will be released under this free commercial license. You can use, reuse, remix and/or modify the maps that are being published under the commercial license on a royalty-free basis as long as they include attribution (“Cartography by Dyson Logos” or “Maps by Dyson Logos”). For those that want/need a Creative Commons license, it would look something like this:

Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

I often feel that dungeons should be damp, deserted, half-collapsed things. Thus we have Lady White’s Ruins – an old hillside structure, long ago razed by the marching forest army, and the structures that had been cut into the stone behind the ruins.

Lady White’s Ruins (with grid)

Known as Lady White’s Ruins, the old structure and dug-in passages in the hillside have been home to several sightings of a supernatural ghostly woman nicknamed “Lady White”.

There is still a “solid enough” base of a tower standing in the old ruins, although the upper levels are long fallen and the remaining rooms (except for the entrance passage) are open to the elements.

Beyond are two entrances cut into the hillside. Both lead to half-collapsed chambers full of natural debris and ruined stonework. Warded portals lead further into the ruins from the larger of these two chambers, to a long passage where water flows from the old well down to a massive crack in the floor where the marching forest cracked the very ground of the ruins with their roots and entish might.

Lady White’s Ruins (no grid)

“Lady White” herself is rumoured to be the half-elven lady of the manor when it was crushed by the marching forest, seeking revenge against all who would defile her home. But she is actually the spectre of another woman – a foul-mouthed and unpleasant adventurer who was pushed into the massive crack where the stream now flows by her adventuring companions when they decided they didn’t want to split their treasure with her any more. If somehow pacified, she knows the locations of several other treasure troves in the region where her companions hid their loot or were unable to defeat the local guardians.

When it was built, it probably bore some fancy elven name that translated into “Spire that reaches from the soil to the stars” or similar nonsense, today this tower on a hard stone escarpment is merely known as the Ledge Tower.

Ledge Tower

Not a strongly defensible position, the tower has three distinct entrances as well as those created by siege and nature in the centuries since its construction. At one point the tower was probably at least sixty feet taller than it is now, but all that remains is a small ruin that sticks out above the mesa into which it is built.

This map is made available to you under a free license for personal or commercial use thanks to the awesome supporters of my Patreon Campaign. Awesome folks like Lucas, Sean Holland, Chris Sheppard, Alan Jones, and over 300 other patrons have come together to fund the site and these maps, making them free for your use.

Because of the incredible generosity of my patrons, I’m able to make this map free for commercial use also. Each month while funding is over the $300 mark, each map that achieves the $300+ funding level will be released under this free commercial license. You can use, reuse, remix and/or modify the maps that are being published under the commercial license on a royalty-free basis as long as they include attribution (“Cartography by Dyson Logos” or “Maps by Dyson Logos”). For those that want/need a Creative Commons license, it would look something like this:

Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

(And of course, I would love to see what you use it in!)