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The Lost Watch

A wee little watch tower once sat in the blue hills, overlooking a hamlet that was slowly dying. Then Zhole, a hundred other minor godlings, and the 77 Gods Trapped Between breached the division between worlds where a minor priest had begged for succour from the predations of the elves. The small hamlet became “The City of the Gods” and the world changed.

Today the Lost Watch is just another odd building within the walls of the city. While the old stone construction makes it obvious...

Gath-Am’s Beacon

Deep purple light seems to bubble out of a strange tower in the Grim Highlands, the purple magical glow illuminating the area for 20 miles around with dark magical energies. The structure itself appears to be partially cut from an outcropping of stone some 319 feet tall (and the bubbling purple light “source” projects another hundred feet above it like some surreal lava lamp).

Raised from the stony badlands by the dragon Gath-Am Gerrulya’ak using one of the teeth of their beloved ...

The Strangled Imp Tavern

The Strangled Imp is a dark and cramped space, with wooden beams and a slowly decaying roof that leaks into the owner’s apartments above. The air is thick with smoke, sweat, and the smell of ale and rancid meat. The floor is very old stone fieldstone, predating this building by a few centuries. A fireplace dominates the wall opposite the front door, where a spit of meat slowly roasts – the other walls are adorned with rusty weapons and taxidermied animal heads. The tavern has no “bar”...

Backstage Pass - January 2024

Our first backstage pass of 2024 is here! Contained within are 3 versions each of 10 different maps - we have multiple building-type maps this month, with a temple, a church, two taverns, a watch tower, and a strange monolithic structure. These are joined by a couple of dungeon maps, and a regional hexmap!

Thanks again for your support, YOU make these map releases possible!

Last Kraken of the Year

Each month, patrons get to vote on which maps from the back catalog will be re-released under the free Commercial Use License exclusively for patrons that month.

Here is this month's Release the Kraken collection - the zip file and this post will remain on Patreon for the next 90 days or so.

Shrine of Grismal, Guardian of the Underworld
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Monthly Cartography Collection - December 2023

Friends, Patrons, Internet Denizens!

Here is our last monthly PDF collection of maps for 2023.

These PDFs contain all ten maps released this month in their B&W gridded formats, along with the relevant text for each map. The Collection comes in two versions, one set to spreads and one to show individual pages.

For the time being, these are being offered as Patron...

Scavengers' Deep - Map 2

The Scavengers’ Deep is a reminder of the amount of work that went into underground structures during the great war. Generally, the elves only built underground when hiding their breeding and research facilities, whereas the forces of the kingdoms, assisted by the dwarves, were constantly building underground as the elves were unrelenting and would completely raze any surface defences that they defeated.

But the structures now known as the Scavengers’ Deep are atypical, an elven com...

Drake Pit Tower

The wizard Azkalador was an ambitious alchemist who discovered a rare vein of “energized” gold that could be further enhanced to create potent potions and elixirs well beyond their typical craft. Mining for this gold, Azkalador finally discovered what was making the gold so special - at the heart of the vein was a golden egg a full twenty inches across. The egg was hot to the touch and radiated not just heat but potent magical energy - as well as some form of magical influence over those ...

Merry Christmas

Hope the holidays are doing their best for you and yours. I'm on the road for the holidays, so all posts to the blog and patreon from yesterday through to the end of year are being posted automatically on a scheduler, and I'll be back to check emails and respond to posts in the new year!

The Adakite Passage

A cave and passage cut through the volcanic stone between the Rhun Hills and one of the many kettle-like kimberlite lakes scattered about the area. The shores of these lakes are very steep, making them difficult to get to from above. This particular lake, however, is not a natural formation but was once a gate drawing matter from the paraelemental plane of ice - the melt gradually cut a cave into the banks of the lake and this cave was expanded by those eager to access the magic lake itself.<...

Gorgonmouth Mine

An abandoned copper pit mine in the Chalk Hills, Gorgonmouth turned out to be a lot less profitable than anticipated and recently hasn’t even been worth working for the miners in nearby Riverside Downs.

The mine is a closed pit mine built up around a small natural cave that had obvious copper veins in the walls. The cave has been expanded over the years and a significant amount of copper retreived before the veins essentially ran out.

Outside the pit is a small bunkhouse attache...

Final Kraken Action of 2024!

It's that time!

Every month I post a selection of maps from the blog that aren't currently available under the commercial use license. You (my patrons) vote on which you'd like to see released under said license as an exclusive bonus for my patrons. If you do publish adventures and other products, then this is for you. If you don't, then vote on which maps you'd like to see in future commercial...

Gaftur’s Gate

Home to a gateway to other worlds, Gaftur’s Gate was cut out of the rocky hillside with powerful magics to form this small complex, but was then modified by stone crafters of remarkable skill and otherworldly provenance.

There were once two gates here, but one was destroyed when it was opened to some far realm and the mad entity that composed the entirety of the realm attempted to impose itself on the prime material plane. The gate structures are in the lower left chambers – each co...

Specter's Tower 2023

An old watch tower outside of town, Specter’s Tower is (unsurprisingly – considering the name) said to be haunted by the ghost of the last watch who worked here who died horribly after consuming “tainted” food. The watch tower was never re-staffed after that and became home to a necromancer for a short while until the townsfolk tipped off some adventurers to take care of the problem.

These days the tower is used occasionally by local bandits when they need to stash something t...

The Sordid Rhinoceros

Named for the… anatomically unlikely… signage out front, this basement tavern is in the heart of the roughest part of town and is used by “adventurers” of the worst kind as a sort of base of operations when starting whatever skullduggery is at hand.

The structure proper is a mix of a small apartment building and the tavern & inn. The ground floor is divided into two halves with the front half being horribly run-down and often abandoned apartments with broken skylights, piles...

Gnarsh's Domain

Gnarsh’s Domain

The gnoll warlord Karag was granted visions of a lost and razed desert temple that contained a portal that could be opened to the Abyss with the right rituals. The temple was dedicated to an ancient evil ally of Yeenoghu, whom the gnoll demon then turned upon and imprisoned. Karag gathered his followers and set out to find the temple, leaving a trail of corpses and destruction in their wake. Karag had slaves and lesser members of the gnoll pack clear t...

The House of Kalaxar (Linear Dungeon Experiment 2)

Most have forgotten the House of Kalaxar, and that isn’t just strange coincidence. The house was built above a small spring that is believed to be somehow connected to the river Styx, worlds away. Thus it was that Kalaxar the necromancer built his home here and invited a few others he trusted to not try to usurp his power. They had undead minions dig out the dungeons beneath, and used the waters to perform rituals of blood sacrifice and reanimation, creating a small army of near-mindless co...

Pit of the Sand Wraiths (Linear Dungeon Experiment 1)

There are few water sources in the badlands at the heart of what was once Zorisz, but the trickle that comes out of the Pit of the Sand Wraiths is one that is given a wide berth. The waters are not tainted, but only come out in a trickle that is quickly absorbed by the sands around the hole in the rocks. The promise of more within (and the slightly humid air once one enters the tunnel) is enough to draw some fools into the pit… and to the Sand Wraiths.

With pale, leathery skin that ha...

December Backstage Pass!

Backstage Pass Time!

Here's the ten maps that we'll be releasing to the blog & Patreon this month. Each comes in the classic three versions - promotional 300 dpi jpeg, and 1200 dpi B&W PNGs with and without grid.

We've got a number of dungeons as always, as well as a redraw of a ten-year-old tower map (Specter's Tower), and my version of the Vulgar Unicorn (The Sordid Rhinoceros)....

Revised Kraken Releases - November 2023

I did it again. 

I didn't update the spreadsheet properly, and put up a map in the Kraken poll that had already been released (thanks Chris Huth for pointing it out).

So here's a revised Kraken release containing The UnderHive Meeting Place and The Dungeon of the Goblin Lotus.

November 2023 Kraken Releases

The November Kraken releases have been voted on, and here we go!

Two maps are being re-released this month, The Delren Street Sewers and The Underhive Meeting Place.

This post (and the zip file for these maps) will remain here for roughly 90 days before being removed so new patrons won't have access to these back releases.

Monthly Cartography Collection - November 2023

Friends, Patrons, Internet Denizens!

Here is the monthly PDF collection of maps for November 2023. These PDFs contain all ten maps released this month in their B&W gridded formats, along with the relevant text for each map. The Collection comes in two versions, one set to spreads and one to show individual pages.

For the time being, these are being offered as Patron-e...

Labyrinth Lord’s Known Lands Hex Map

With the second edition of the classic Labyrinth Lord B/X retro-clone now in production, I had the incredible pleasure of redrawing the hex map of the Known Lands from the game in my style to go into the new books.

Centred around the city of Dolmvay, the Known Lands uses ten-mile hexes and minimal notation to present an environment that is meant to kickstart your imagination for adventure locales. What treasures will we find in the distant Ruins of Mor? There’s something quite siniste...

November Kraken Voting!

For those that are new here (thank you!), every month we have a poll to determine which maps from the back catalog will be re-released under the free commercial use license - we'll take the two maps that get the most votes and package them up with the commercial license included exclusively for patrons.

So, follow the link to the poll and get krakening!

2023-11-28 14:52:38 +0000 UTC View Post

Scavenger’s Deep – Map 1

The Scavengers’ Deep is a reminder of the amount of work that went into underground structures during the great war. Generally, the elves only built underground when hiding their breeding and research facilities, whereas the forces of the kingdoms, assisted by the dwarves, were constantly building underground as the elves were unrelenting and would completely raze any surface defences that they defeated.

But the structures now known as the Scavengers’ Deep are atypical, an elven com...

Isle of the Iron Huntress

The Temple of the Iron Huntress takes up most of the island of the same name. A small rocky island in the Persimmon Sea covered in a thin layer of volcanic soil that supports scrub and grass but no trees, the island is dominated by the charred black stones of the temple. The temple was built to honor a goddess of war and hunting, but her name has been lost with the deaths of her worshippers.

At some point the warships of Zorisz made landing here, carrying more soldier-priests than the i...

Monastery of the Fire Opal - Upper Levels

The Monastery of the Fire Opal is primarily a two-story edifice, and while it looks solid and defensible, it doesn’t have parapets along most of the structure, instead having peaked roofs to keep snow off them. Only the bastion on the east wing and the tower at the entrance reach higher and have areas for guards or soldiers to fight from. We again see the flying buttresses along the south wall of the structure.

The main body of the upper level is made up of monk’s cells that feel ev...

Monastery of the Fire Opal – Ground Level

Last week I posted the Dungeon of the Fire Opal, a classic dungeon that (according to the lore) sits beneath a razed monastery of evil devil-worshipping monks. This assumes that the Monastery was never razed, or perhaps predates the razing in question. It can also be used as any other fortified mountain-top structure.

The structure features flying buttresses on the south face where the massive stone walls overlook the steep hill leading up to it. There are individual rooms/cells in the ...

Dungeon of the Fire Opal

Most old-timers are more than a bit familiar with this dungeon – but almost every generation of D&D Dungeon Master has probably brushed against it. It originally appeared in the AD&D1e Dungeon Master’s Guide in 1979, and then appeared again in the 3e DMG in 2000, and the 5e DMG in 2014. In the 1979 and 2000 versions, it was also accompanied by a description of what playing through a small part of the dungeon could be like.

For this version, I also referenced Jonathan Tweet�...

Edge Strip Dungeon

Measuring in at 8 squares / 2 inches wide by 88 squares / 22 inches tall, this dungeon map was specifically drawn to be used as a sidebar in a book, rather than as a full-feature dungeon map. If reduced to 11 inches tall (for a standard 8.5 x 11 book) this is an inch wide, and if reduced to 8.5 inches tall (for a digest-sized zine for instance) we come down to just over three-quarters of an inch.

Obviously, this one comes with a commercial use license so it can be used in books as a sid...