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Miserth Keep – Dungeons

The dungeons beneath Miserth Keep purposefully do not link to the keep proper, instead linking to the gatehouse – this is still not the most secure option, but because of the cliffside entrance/exit, this was a decision made to prevent access to the keep proper without crossing the bailey.

The upper level of the dungeons is centred along a large hall, with access up to the gatehouse tower, and the cliffside. The chamber on the upper right is propped up with a number of wooden joists a...

Miserth Keep - Upper Levels

Home to Lord and Lady Miserth, Miserth Keep is slightly less unpleasant on the upper levels of the keep proper – but still contends with narrow windows, cold stone construction, and a lack of real space for the family and retainers.

The north side of the keep is the gatehouse with the guard barracks above it (never very warm because of the murder holes above the main gate). The gatehouse tower extends higher and contains the captain’s quarters and is topped with battlements for the ...

Miserth Keep – Main Level

Home to Lord and Lady Miserth, Miserth Keep sits on a rocky outcrop outside of the near-ghost-town that bears their name (Miserth’s Ford). These cruel and greedy nobles have little interest in their people, except to dole out harsh punishments to those who fail or cross them. They have a small number of guards and servants within the keep, but they also lack any loyalty to the family and only obey out of fear. The keep is made up of the keep proper at the south end, the gatehouse at the nor...

November Backstage Pass!

And here we are with this month's backstage pass!

Attached to this post/email is the zip file containing all ten maps we'll be releasing to the blog this month. We've got a keep, some dungeons (including a true classic - my version of the Dungeon of the Fire Opal from the 1e DMG which also appears in the 3e and 5e DMGs), a large fortified mountain monastery, a small island and temple...

The Kraken Files - October 2023

Happy hallowe'en! As we wrap up October, we've got this month's patron-exclusive Release the Kraken maps. These maps come with the free commercial use license for you to use as a patron of my work. Thank you again for your support.

The two maps that made the cut this month are the Malachite Coast (a rare regional map) and Spellreach Tower.

License info is enclosed along with th...

October 2023 Cartography Collection PDF

Here are the PDFs of this month's map releases! 

I was hoping to set this up on the Patreon storefront and have them auto-delivered to each patron, but they've changed the early-access store system again and that's not an option with the current iteration. 

I might move to delivering these via DriveThruRPG coupons or something else in time... Still trying to figure ou...

Index Card Dungeon – Temple 1

Down beyond the flooded shallows of the Index Card Dungeon is the Temple of the Dark Rites - home to a small clan of degenerate elves who were once the masters of the few morlocks that survive in the shallows. The elves live in perpetual darkness and self-denial, consuming only food and water summoned magically from other realms. They no longer remember the names of those they pay lip service to, just that there are rites that must be performed in specific ways to appease the dark lords that ...

Halloween Krakening!

Once again, I'm way behind because of the family stuff. I'm in the process of posting this from a laptop set up in a family member's unfinished basement as we deal with everything that's been going on - and on a deadline because in almost exactly one week I'm going in for surgery and need to have everything cleared up at least as far as I'm needed for about 3 weeks according to my doctors.

So, ...

Index Card Dungeon – Tunnels 1

The tunnels connect three other maps in the Index Card Dungeon – Caves Map 1, Dungeons Map 1, and Shallows Map 1. The tunnels are home to things that scurry and ooze, and a few who have been driven out of the other parts of the dungeons but not out of the complex entirely. At the far end of these caves, hidden from view from the rest of the dungeons, is a chamber with a three-tiered dais set with small stone orbs on pedestals. The orbs seem very resistant to being moved from their seats, he...

Index Card Dungeon – Shallows 1

As indicated by the name, this section of the Index Card Dungeon is mostly flooded, but only to a depth of a few feet. Water comes in from a small waterfall in the lower left corner of the map and gradually moves north to Caves Map 1 where it drains out through cracks in the stone of the pond in that area. Morlocks have taken up residence in these shallows, hunting blind fish and harvesting a fungal algae-like scum that grows in the nearly still waters. They live in fear of the degenerate elv...

Index Card Dungeon – Catacombs 1

The Catacombs. This deep map under the dungeons of the Index Card Dungeon is the only one in the set that connects to only one other map (the stairs and shafts up to Dungeons Map 3). These ancient catacombs are blighted with a fowl and dark supernatural “shadow fog” that reduces light sources to one third of their normal brightness, and the whole area is of course guarded by shadows of those who died down here.

But of course, there are grave goods to be plundered by those unafraid o...

Index Card Dungeon – Dungeons 3

We are now entering into the depths of the “Index Card Dungeon” with this sixth map in the set. This map connects to the Dungeons Map 2 above it (via the stairs in the open chamber in that map that lead to the centre of this one as well as the stairs on the left side of both maps) as well as the Caves 1 map via the natural caverns on the right, and finally deeper into the Catacombs 1 map via the continuation of the central stairs and a small passage that passes over two shafts that extend...

Sunken Crypts of the King in Copper

The King in Copper ruled a civilization that adjoined (and eventually was subsumed by) these swamps. While libraries wax poetic about the King’s wisdom, wealth, and magic, they were better known for their arrogance, ambition, and cruelty that lead to forming pacts with foul entities beyond the reach of their civilization. The dark pacts of the King in Copper granted them the ability to manipulate the water, plants, animals, and even the lands of the swamps that extended around their ancient...

The Black Skulls Tomb

In remote and desolate Khervis, surrounded by mountains and ravines, is the Black Skulls Tomb – a small subterranean complex with two entry ways. The first is a stone door behind four standing stones that leads to an antechamber (“the Chamber of the Black Skulls”) with a magically sealed stone door beyond it that shows no signs of ever having been breached. The antechamber is decorated with four massive black skulls (cut out of stone) on a circular black background – two on each side ...

Beneath the Archon’s Tower

There are deeper structures hidden beneath the Archon’s Tower. Those who have discovered these ancient ruins can but assume that The Master at the Table chose this site to build the tower specifically to seal off the entrance. The two-level substructures have their own distinct architectural style, lots of curved corners, a few too many stairs, and a dried pool in the lower chambers that was likely once full of some foul ichor or perhaps even blood.

Of note, there are four ways betwee...

The Archon’s Tower

“The Master at the Table”, said to be a sphinx in humanoid form, once ruled these lands for many miles around. This tower is said to be where he would look over the lands, from the parapets of blue stone much akin to the massive pillars in the distant City of Blue. The Master at the Table was said to infiltrate many regional societies and organizations, posing as a human, an elf, even a dragon, and supposedly even once as a goose. It would then gather information, manipulate events, and i...

Desert ClanHold

Small mud-brick single-level structures are common among the desert clans – usually with a walled courtyard and an open-ceilinged kitchen area. Some richer households devote half the ground floor to animals and move the majority of the bedrooms to the second floor. To reduce heat, these buildings are typically covered in a thin layer of white gypsum plaster – and the second floor will have significant openings to allow wind to blow through.

These clanholds can be free-standing in sm...

October Backstage Pass!

Here we go!

Here are all ten maps that will be released on the blog this month. There are three versions of each map (colour promo, B&W 1200 dpi, B&W gridless 1200 dpi), and one has a further version (with and without annotations).

Please enjoy, and thank you once again for your support!

Kraken Releases - September 2023

And here we are with this month's patron-exclusive "Release the Kraken" commercial re-releases from the map archives.

This month we have Dead Kraken Anchorage (which is an old map without a gridless version, but of course you are welcome to edit it to make it gridless), and the jokingly titled "Long Dungeon is Long" which works well as a sidebar or similar incidental art as well as being a func...

Patron Exclusive: September 2023 Cartography Collection PDFs

Here are the PDFs of this month's map releases along with the full text from the blog. As with last month, there are two versions, one in spreads for easy landscape screen viewing, and one as pages for traditional viewing and/or printing.

Thank you for your support! You make these possible!

Index Card Dungeon – Dungeons 2

Deeper into the dungeons under the old keep things become a little less damaged by age and abuse. This level has a few areas that show where the architecture and masonry have failed to resist the pressures of time, but no extensive cave-ins and collapsed areas as we find above. This level is comprised of larger chambers than above, and is primarily home to old traps and supernatural guardians tasked with defending the area and resetting the traps. The central room is a two-story affair, with ...

24 Hour Kraken Poll!

So, as we've discussed earlier this month, I'm in the middle of a bit of a family medical crisis right now, so things have been slipping a bit.

Here's the Release the Kraken poll to determine which two of our backlog of maps will be re-released under the patron-exclusive free commercial use license. We'll have this up for 24 hours and then tomorrow evening I'll put together the release (along with the PDF compilation of this month's regular map releases) so you'll have them before the e...

Index Card Dungeon – Dungeons 1

The first section of the dungeons under the old keep are in exceptionally bad shape with multiple collapses and cave-ins where the upper structures have failed over the years. This section is dominated by three points of interest – a large hall with a raised centre with five massive pillars reaching from floor to ceiling; a cavern that was here before that the builders decided to keep but smoothed out a “bridge” across the rough floor; and a high-ceilinged side room dominated by a 17 fo...

Index Card Dungeon – Caves 1

Beyond the entrance cavern, one descends deeper into the earth into rapidly increasing humidity and the sounds of dripping water. This section of narrow caves is set around a small underground “lake” (more of a pond, really) that has almost no appreciable current – water flows slowly into the cave from the shallows map to the south and drains out via small cracks in the stones.

The caverns immediately to the west of the entrances point were once used as a camp or lair by some huma...

Index Card Dungeon – Entrances 1

Beneath the ruined keep are caves and dungeons, intertwined in the stones. These portions of the dungeons are in poor shape, partly collapsed and a reminder of the ruins above. A small number of gnolls have taken up the first caves for protection against the elements, but will not proceed further. The dungeons on the other hand are clearly marked by the gnolls above as dangerous – the door at the base of the stairs bearing a large gnoll handprint in dried blood, and the chamber beyond being...

Index Card Dungeon – Surface Ruins 1

Old ruins of a hilltop keep conceal a pair of entrances into the extensive dungeons and caves beneath. A small group of gnoll raiders have taken temporary shelter here, but have not enjoyed what they’ve run into beneath and thus stick to the ruins.

This is the first of ten index card-sized dungeon maps that all connect together. Each is designed to fit on a traditional 3 x 5 index card (at six squares per inch), and you can write up any notes about the level on the reverse of the card...

Lordling's Hall

The great hall of a minor lordling on the distant frontier, this hall is big enough that you won’t mistake it for a farmer’s house, but not so big that it immediately stands out when you enter town.

A large covered porch greets travellers and petitioners, and through the double doors one arrives immediately in the great hall with rooms off to the sides and another covered porch in the back.

Stairs on each side of the great hall lead up to the two upper levels of the structure ...

The Deep Sepulchre

You enter the dark cavern with lantern in hand, seeking treasure or clues to the ancient mystery of this place. The air is damp and cold, and all you can hear is the burbling of the ice cold stream as it descends into the darkness. Near the entrance to the caverns is a sealed stone portal, the archway framing it carved with crude runes likely in a goblinoid tongue.

Descending along with the stream into the depths of the cavern, there are more signs of inhabitants - an ancient statue lik...

Temple of the Divinity in Copper

There are many temples to lost and fallen deities and heroes cut into the cliffs around the Desert of the Gods. Few find it worth the effort to brave the purple sandworms and other terrors of the desert in order to explore these old structures...

But treasure maps can be found that lead to secret alcoves and storage spaces in lost temples to forgotten gods. 

This temple was to some austere faith that did not keep much in the way of catechisms or other indications of their bel...

Pitmann Manse

The Pitmann Manse is a large semi-fortified manse located in the heart of the Silentwood Forest. The manor is surrounded by tall trees and is situated on a hill overlooking the forest. The manor has been in the possession of the Pitmann family for generations.

The manor is a two-story building with a tower at one end that rises above the rest of the structure. The tower has a pointed roof and the windows at the top level are stained glass depictions of gargoyles that seem to be watching...