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The April Kraken Poll is Late!

Whoa, we are somehow three weeks into April and I haven't posted the poll where we decide which maps from the back catalog are going out this month under the free commercial use license!

Time to fix that!

I've pulled 10 maps from the back catalog, which is your fave?

https://forms.gle/89yBqyaPg6GCMbeQ9

Temple Ruins & Froghemoth Nest

These lands were not always swamps and jungles. The rivers were re-routed, the lands flooded, the forests allowed to become dense jungle all during the falling days of the great civilization that was here before.

In the jungles and swamps you can find many remnants of what is now called the bullywug empire (not because the bullywugs were in charge back then, but because they are nearly ubiquitous within the old ruins).

This ruined temple complex stands out because of the solid pyr...

The Bloodied Stones

Deep in the woods, followers of the old faith still perform their blood sacrifices to appease ancient evils. These are the druids of the Bloodied Stones.

This druidic circle appears to be exactly what most PCs seem to expect from the archetype – reserved nature worshipers who prefer their own kind and will only be a problem to those who would defile nature.

But they guard nature (and the nearby forest) for a variety of reasons, the most important one being that the forest acts a...

The Bloodied Warrens

The bloodied warrens are a small set of caves that were converted over the years into a complex by the Coalbone dwarves before they moved to the Dormont Hills. They abandoned this complex when the underground stream became tainted – running a pale red as if there were blood in the water.

While the Coalbone dwarves sealed off the complex before they moved on, it wasn’t long before a bandit warlord hired some people from the nearby town to reopen the entrance in order to repurpose the...

The Minotaur's Maze

Mazes. You would think that, as a dungeon cartographer primarily, I would love them. But mazes as dungeons generally suck.

There is no easy way to convey the sense of isolation and being lost in a maze when working with a map. The whole “take a wrong turn, end up in a hallway that feels just like the one you wanted, but isn’t” confusion.

Generally speaking when I have a real maze in a game, I ditch mapping it entirely and game play switches to what is essentially a skill cha...

Beneath the Marching Tankard

One thing you can trust is that retired adventurers will always add little “somethings” to the businesses they acquire. In the case of the Marching Tankard, Gunter Grohl split the sub-basement into two sections, one cellar accessible from the large basement, and one only accessible by a secret stairwell.

The secret side of the sub-basement includes a small chapel (most likely to one of the patron gods of the Empire, but potentially to one of the gods of chaos if you want Gunter to b...

The Marching Tankard Coaching Inn

A lovingly maintained coaching inn, the Marching Tankard is more than most travellers expect along the back roads servicing a few small settlements.

While the Tankard’s history goes back a few generations, the current ownership brought it up to the standards it holds today. In his years as a roadwarden, Gunter Grohl saw the tankard as his perfect retirement spot – a nice sturdy compound & inn, far enough off the beaten track that it doesn’t get too busy or crowded, but still b...

The Vault of Dahlver-Nar

It isn’t like the Vault of Dahlver-Nar was ever lost… more the opposite – everyone with reason to know where it is knew, and enough books and documentation exists to pinpoint it for anyone who feels the need to visit it. And thus it has been ignored for decade after decade for who would put anything of value in a place so well known?

Of course, that was before the recent recovery of several of the legendary teeth of Dahlver-Nar. Now people are on the hunt for clues to the location...

Release the Kraken on the Barrow Mounds of the Lich & Famous III

Every month we go through our back catalog of maps and the many amazing supporters of the blog over on Patreon vote on which two should be re-released under the free commercial use license. Today we are grabbing a set of barrows that I originally drew two years ago.

One of the most classic tropes of fantasy RPGs in my experience is delving into the tombs of the dead (on purpose or by accident) where their grave-goods prove to be helpful and often the accounts of their deaths somewhat…...

April 2020 Backstage Pass

Thanks for your continued support in these difficult times. YOU make it possible for me to focus on producing free cartography instead of full time freelance work or a combination of freelance work and a day job.

I also understand there is a LOT of income disruption and instability right now - and in times of crisis my RPG maps are not the same priority that they are when thing...

Return to the Barrier Peaks - Deck VI

This month we are closing out the set of remakes of the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks maps with the release of the entertainment deck, Deck VI. This is the deck that delayed the release of these redraws time and time again. I’ve redrawn this deck at least a dozen times and haven’t really been happy with any of them.

In short, this is the one deck in the set where I REALLY prefer the original design. This deck would probably work best redrawn with the Theater and the Auditorium com...

Release the Kraken on the Cinder Throne

Every month we go through our back catalog of maps and you vote on which two should be re-released under the free commercial use license. Today I had to dig deep into old archives to get this map that was drawn and scanned 8 years ago.

Cut into the outer edge of the Pyrestock Caldera by ur-goblin magics under the command of the Bonekeeper Nagas, the Cinder Throne links to existing caverns and the clear waters of the caldera lake.

The three Bonekeeper Nagas rule the area around Pyr...

Return to the Barrier Peaks – Deck V

This month we are closing out the set of remakes of the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks maps with the release of Deck V today and Deck VI early next week.

Deck V, like Deck II, is a maintenance deck. While Deck II is memorable for Gary’s “signature” built into the deck plan and an intellect devourer wandering the premises, Deck V is less exciting structurally, but I found it more memorable in play because of the leakage of water and molds from the garden deck above.

The cent...

The Fantasy Trip: The Crumbling Oubliette Maps

These two 600dpi maps are designed to be printed on Ledger or Tabloid sized paper (11″ x 17″) to produce a small map for the Legacy Edition of the Fantasy Trip. If you “shrink to fit” to print them on letter paper they will be slightly smaller than the standard 1″ hexes for traditional Fantasy Trip games. Optimally they would be printed at 67% scale to bring the hexes from 1.5 inches to 1 inch, but this ends up being slightly over the 11″ max for a letter sized page.

If you ...

Vault of Skushuut, the Baleblight Ravager

Once a paladin of renown, Skushuut locked himself away with his treasures when the dragon transformations began to overtake him. His greed and envy for gold and treasures not only pulled him from grace, but rewrought his body into something else.

Locked in his vault for twenty years now, the transformation has never completed – the Ravager underestimated how much treasure was required and consumed every last coin and gem in the vault. He failed to leave enough treasure to bask in and ...

Creeping Sands

Sand swept desert ruins give way to the remnants of a multilevel subterranean complex that is slowly giving way to the sand as the weight of ages lays upon it.

Sections of masonry have given way over the years and the sand creeps in where these walls have collapsed – a reminder that the complex may have been built on deeper stone, but the upper sections were made of stone blocks set above the bedrock and then covered by the endless sands.

2020-03-16 20:16:22 +0000 UTC View Post

Pits of the Fallen Legion

Below the looted ruins of the Temples of Shadows are a number of substructures and underground complexes that have at least partially escaped the ravaging of the temple complex – hidden under broken masonry, collapsed structures, and secret accessways.

The Pits of the Fallen Legion was once the end of the Amber Hall that stretches under most of the ruined complex. A few teams have attempted to excavate their way through the collapsed Amber Hall to reclaim and loot the pits, but the ma...

The Hydra's Alehouse

The Hydra’s Alehouse is the reason that every other inn and tavern in town has something positive going for them. If you ask townfolk for the best thing about “the Hydra” the standard responses are “the stables” (for an establishment without stables) or “the sheer quality and quantity of lice – all at good prices!”

Deveras the innkeeper is the filthiest and most bedraggled of elves. Like a sick beanstalk, his six foot frame is always bent, his lanky hair hanging down int...

Church of the Oracles in Onyx

The Coalbone dwarven clan are an isolated group of families in the Dormont Hills. Their priest caste all blacken their skin with makeup that stains them for weeks once removed and that acts as a slow poison that destroys their eyesight over a period of decades. The elder priests are all blind, and generally have stopped painting patterns of the black makeup on their skin, instead covering themselves roughly from head to toe.

2020-03-09 23:10:53 +0000 UTC View Post

The Lost Temple of Aphosh the Haunted

A classic single-entrance dungeon composed of a sprawling network of rooms, chambers, crypts, and of course caves. Set beneath ancient surface structures (either ruins, or possibly a more recent construction over those ruins), a single spiral staircase of blueish stone descends to these structures.

Although the finished structures are in extreme disrepair (with several areas having collapsed entirely), they aren’t so old that you cannot but marvel at the brightly coloured tilework tha...

Bloodied Axe Shrine

Bloodied Axe Shrine was supposed to be the resting place of the Gratham the Ravager’s mighty magical axe. And it served as such for a short while before Gratham’s son smashed his way in, claimed the bloodied axe as his birthright, and stormed off to be promptly slaughtered in the battle of the wisp.

The portcullises within the structure are all rusted into place and the machinery for lifting them long fallen to corrosion – thus accessing the shrine of Gratham the Raver at the entr...

Release The Kraken!

It is time to select which maps we'll be re-releasing under the free commercial use license in March. I've picked out a dozen likely suspects, and perp-walked them into the lineup room where you can point out which ones deserve to be Krakened! 

Don't worry, the other maps won't know you didn't pick them. 

ht...

March 2020 Backstage Pass!

I really need to update this graphic... it's been years since Patreon stopped using that font and logo...

But enough about how I am rarely up to date with stuff, because here's this month's backstage pass! Featuring the last two decks of the Barrier Peaks maps, another tavern, some maps for The Fantasy Trip, and a few half-page and index-card sized maps.

This month is also the 11th annive...

Release the Kraken on Jacob's Spur

Every month we go through our back catalog of maps and you vote on which two should be re-released under the free commercial use license. Today we are looking back seven years to Jacob’s Spur

The city of Jacob’s Spur was once a pirate haven, but gradually became more and more civilized as the years passed and it became involved in the politics and wars against the Kale empire. It was sacked and almost razed on two occasions during the wars, and the damage from the final battles rema...

Return to the Barrier Peaks – Deck IV

The Gardens.

By the time adventurers get to Deck IV, they already know what is in store for them. The garden deck is completely overrun with alien flora and fauna – a deadly ecosystem collected from other worlds.

And, honestly, if it weren’t for the odd structure on an island in the lake on this level, there would be no real reason to subject yourself to this curated cross-section of various death planets. But that island base has a call that is irresistible to most adventurer...

Return to the Barrier Peaks - Deck III

Continuing the remake of the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks maps, this is the rebuild of Deck III, the deck that overlooks the garden deck below.

Deck III is where adventurers discover that this massive structure of steel also contains a massive alien garden gone wild. This level is meant to overlook the garden, but has started to become overrun by it, with vicious alien vines climbing up to the balconies here and ropers hanging out “fishing” for food from the gardens below.

...

Release the Kraken on the Dungeon in Twelve Parts!

Every month we go through our back catalog of maps and you vote on which two should be re-released under the free commercial use license. Today we are looking back five years to the Dungeon in Twelve Parts.

It’s been over a decade since I posted my first geomorph to the blog as part of a series of 100 geomorphic posts (that since increased to who knows how many by the end). This particular map was drawn five years after that, and shows a distinct improvement in my drawing ski...

Greyfalls Cave

I was asked what features I liked best in a dungeon map, and after a bit of conversation and contemplation, I decided a multi-tiered chamber with a statue and some sort of water feature would fit the bill. To show what I meant, I drew this small cave / dungeon map. The main chamber is four tiers – the entrance leads to the top tier, with stairs down to a mid tier with a statue, and then again down to a lower tier. Below the lowest tier is the flooded cave floor, with the water reaching up t...

The goblin village of Ormarsa

The goblin village of Ormarsa is not what most expect when they think of goblins - instead of excrement-caked warrens crawling with excrement-caked goblins, we have a palisaded village of wooden huts complete with gardens, fields, a blacksmith, and a "greathouse" for the ur-golbin's family and retinue.

A decade ago the goblins collected enough treasure to bring in a pair of ogres to help build a stone and wood bridge beside the village gates (and then help work moving stones into place ...

Duzig's Hold

A small roadside caravanserai and personal hold of a retired adventurer, Duzig’s Hold was established in the heart of beastfolk territory in the Elk Woods as part of an effort to both remove the local menace to trade and travel and to provide a base of operations for a team of rangers searching for the Dark Goat of the Woods.

With the beastfolk menace now pushed to the far corners of the Elk Woods, Duzig’s Hold still houses a few rangers that patrol the forest (and Duzig herself for...