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Thassa's Spire

Far from the safety of any shore, in a shallow expanse of cerulean waters, rises a structure that defies the sea’s eternal hunger. Thassa’s Spire ascends like a spear from the ocean floor to breach the surface world, its stone weathered not by waves but by centuries of salt‑laden wind. The waters part around it in a perfect cylindrical void, held at bay by enchantments older than the oldest sailor’s charts – a ten‑foot expanse of open air separating ocean from stone. The void arou...

Chapel of the Drowned Saint

A small temple dedicated to a martyr of the prince of tears – the chapel of the drowned saint is looked upon by most townfolk as a remnant of a bygone time; a time when people still worshiped and made regular sacrifices to the gods of yore.

The chapel itself has a very small congregation now, barely able to fill half the pews on the most holy of celebrations, and often only numbering a dozen or so for most prayers.

Entry is via a dangerously slippery flight of stairs – those w...

The Vault of Echoes

Hidden within the crumbling remains of an abandoned amphitheatre lies the Vault of Echoes – a place where sound lingers far longer than it should, curling in corners, whispering in stairwells, and sometimes shaping itself into something dangerous. The walls, floors, even the air itself, seem to hum faintly, as though remembering every word ever spoken here. Sages speak of a magical organ within the vault that can lift even the most foul of curses and can produce a song that weakens artifact...

The Sporewarden’s Hollow

I’ve been experimenting a bit with five room dungeons again, this time annotating them as I draw them. The goal is to have a collection of quick dungeons in this format that I can grab-and-go and be ready to run with close to zero prep while also being completely system-independent. These more closely follow the classic Five Room Dungeon format regarding the five different “types” of rooms.

The first in the set is The Sporewarden’s Hollow – a set of small caves off the side of...

The Forgotten Hermitage

Nestled into ancient ruins in overgrown woods, this ramshackle structure could be home to a druid, a hermit with forbidden knowledge, or a portal to the mythic underworld attended to by a crone ancient beyond years.

Running with the Mythic Underworld theme we get something like this:

Deep in a forest that the locals avoid (not out of fear, but out of instinct), paths twist unnaturally, birds never sing, and the air is thick with memory. Crumbling stone ruins half-swallowed by moss...

The DreadWarren

Originally built to honour the noble line of House Virell, the DreadWarren was abandoned after a plague decimated the region. Over time, treasure hunters looted the eastern crypts, and recently a small group of bandits have claimed them as a hideout. The western sanctum remained untouched, locked, barred, and protected by arcane seals. A reclusive young necromancer named Thalen discovered the tomb and made it their refuge, drawn by the thematic appropriateness.

The DreadWarren is a buri...

Index Card Dungeon II – Map 12 – Deep Ruins

This is the twelfth map in the Index Card Dungeon II set. This map sits underneath Map 5 (Tower Dungeons) and Map 1 (Tower Base) above that. The access from Map 5 is via the secret door to the south of the main area – the very route that the masters of the Cult of the Fractured Eye left to explore several days ago.

Like much of the dungeons beneath the tower, these ancient passages have been severely damaged with the passing of time. Walls have crumbled, stairs are uneven and unsafe, ...

Index Card Dungeon II – Map 11 – Ancient Cults

[Note: This map has been slightly modified from the version appearing in the backstage pass.]

This is the eleventh map in the Index Card Dungeon II set. This map sits directly underneath Map 10 (Lost Dungeons) and Map 9 (Ancient Sewers) above that. A single set of stairs links this area to the lost dungeons above, and a pair passages to the left lead back up to the west (and to Map 13, which will be posted next month).

The intricate stonework and mosaics of the upper sect...

Index Card Dungeon II – Map 10 – Lost Dungeons

This is the tenth map in the Index Card Dungeon II set. This map sits directly underneath Map 9 (Ancient Sewers). A single set of stairs links this area to the ancient sewers above, and a further set of stairs leads further down into the depths below (and eventually back to the main dungeons).

Sitting beneath the ancient sewers, this section of collapsed dungeons shares the intricate stonework of the level above, but are also very wet and mostly collapsed. Ruined, dripping, and collapse...

Upcoming Patreon Update

The plan is to update this Patreon campaign before the summer is out. Back when I started my Patreon in 2013, the only model that existed was the “per creation” one instead of the flat monthly subscriptions. Patreon phased out that campaign style several years back, and every time they add new features, those features are not available to those of us still using the classic format.

Further,...

Backstage Pass - August 2025

Here is this month's Backstage Pass. In addition to the regular items (Promo 300 dpi versions on paper backgrounds, B&W PNGs with and without grid), this package includes two 300dpi painted versions as I continue working on colour pieces for the Patreon update.

I'll talk about the Patreon update in a second post today.

Thank you for your continued support. You make these possible.

RELEASE THE KRAKEN!

The Kraken is here!

This month's votes went to "The Vault of the Shadow Lich" (which is available as a deskpad in my redbubble store) and "The Ruined Athenaeum of Vicon" (one of the ruins maps released during a full month of ruins in 2022).

These maps are released to you under a patron-exclusive, free, commercial-use license as a token of appreciation for your support.

Scavengers' Deep - Map 21

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...

July Cartography Collection

The July Cartography Collection is here. This is a patron-exclusive perk that I send out every month. After 6 months or so, I post them to DTRPG along with that month's backstage pass for $5.

There are two versions of the PDF - one in standard page format, and one in spreads for easy screen reading on ...

JULY KRAKEN!

August is almost here and the Kraken is coming!

Every month you vote on which maps we re-release from the back catalog under a patron-exclusive commercial license.

I've pulled up 10 maps to pick from this month:

https://forms.gle/gzfhMaxqTwaTth5B8

Reliquary of Whispering Steel

Long buried beneath the fractured remnants of an ancient battlefield, the Reliquary of Whispering Steel was excavated to house the armaments of legendary warriors whose souls were bound to their blades. Over time, these weapons began to whisper forgotten lore and forbidden secrets, attracting those drawn to power and madness alike.

The Shattered Hall

The main entry is a once-grand corridor littered with broken weapons. Every sound here reverberates with ghostly whispers. If you li...

Graxworm - Map 18 - Servitors' Quarters

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. This is our last map in the set – exploring a section of the upper intestines that has been co...

The Pillared Vault of Serathis

Nestled beneath crumbling temple ruins, the Shattered Vault of Serathis is a damp and sprawling complex. Rough-cut stone columns rise from wet stone floors, vaulted halls drip with moisture. Ornate runes glow faintly along cracked walls, hinting at long-forgotten rituals. Alcoves conceal old scrolls now rotted and mildewy.

The vault served as Serathis’s inner sanctum – a secluded priest of the princes of the elemental planes. Serathis slowly went mad and paranoid, and when their par...

Graxworm – Map 17 – The Belly

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. Today’s map is down beneath the Corpsegaard – the great belly of the beast itself. The graxw...

Depths of the Ashen Throne

The Ashen Throne is a dungeon near the Cindermaw – an ancient volcanic caldera. A geothermally heated subterranean river carves through winding corridors, pooling in eerie grottoes that glow with phosphorescent fungi. Scattered throughout are crystalline veins and a lone, pulsing amethyst shard rumored to guide or mislead those who seek it.

Centuries ago, an elementalist named Vaerush carved the labyrinth to tap the earth’s ley lines and amplify their divinatory magic. After Vaerush...

Hexatomb

Outside of the City of Copper Bowls, at the border between the farmlands that support it and the badlands beyond, is the Hexatomb – an old burial site that is the source of ghost stories more than anything else anymore. Inside, it shows signs of having been used for small illicit parties, as a goat shed during bad weather, and at some point, an archery range had been set up here, shooting at the central statue.

Signs of foot traffic in and out of the tomb seem a little too frequent an...

Index Card Dungeon II – Map 9 – Ancient Sewers

This is the ninth map in the Index Card Dungeon II set. This map sits directly to the east of Map 8 (Connecting Tunnels). It has no remaining surface connections, as the city above was razed many ages ago, leaving only a few basements and bits of sewers.

The cult is blissfully unaware of the ancient sewers and have not ventured within. The main interest (aside from adventure) would be the quest for esoteric knowledge about the ruined city while attempting to figure out who lived there a...

Index Card Dungeon II – Map 8 – Linking Caverns

This is the eighth map in the Index Card Dungeon II set. This map attaches to the east side of Map 5 (The Tower Dungeons). No direct surface accesses exist to this map, just the cave on the west side to Map 5, and the ruined sewers and basements that lead to Map 9.

This area is comprised of several low-ceilinged twisting caves with uneven floors. The caves in turn link to much older ruins to the east – there used to be a city here that was razed and buried, and all that remains here a...

Index Card Dungeon II – Map 7 – North Sub-Dungeons

This is the seventh map in the Index Card Dungeon II set. This map sits directly underneath Map 6 (Dungeon Ruins), which in turn is below Map 2 (Northern Ruins). There are two stairways that descend from Map 6 to this map and another set of stairs that lead down further into the depths.

This area has not seen more than a token entry by the cult in the tower, and is mostly a home to various classic foul dungeon denizens (slimes, moulds, rats, giant insects, etc). Many sections are collap...

Backstage Pass - July 2025

Here comes this month's Backstage Pass. You may note that one of the maps in this month's was also included in last month's zip file - that's what I get for zipping it up on a Sunday night and rushing it out... I had 11 maps in that one instead of 10.

So we'll actually release that map this month.

Thank you for your continued support. You make these possible.

Scavengers' Deep - Map 20

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...

Release the Kraken!

The June Krakening is here!

With your votes, we have settled on the re-release of the Serpent Wetlands hex map, and Loreweaver Monastery.

These are released to you under a patron-exclusive commercial use license (as indicated in the license PDF in the attached zip file).

Thank you for your support!

Cartography Collection - June 2025

Here's this months compiled PDF of all the mapswe released along with their text. This is a monthly Patron exclusive that will be released in six months to a year for non-patrons via DriveThruRPG at a cost of $5.

Thank you, as always, for your support. You make these maps possible.

Tallow Bends

A wee little hamlet of some fifty heads along the Wychwood Way on the edge of the forest of the same name, Tallow Bends has built up around the point where the Whispervale Trail joins the Wychwood.

For much of the Wychwood Way, it runs along the River Tallow, including past the abandoned location of the original town of Tallow’s Landing. Twenty years ago, most of Tallow’s Landing slid into the Tallow in a massive mudslide – creating the Tallow’s Ford. Tallow Bends is where the l...

Kraken? What Kraken?

With July rolling in on us, we need to pick which maps to re-release under the patron-exclusive commercial use license.

Here's this month's choices. The top two will be announced a re-released on Monday.

https://forms.gle/AZzH5jyfm17Lx54fA