dysonlogos

Temple of the Seven Heretics

These lands were once the territories of the god-king Zueshel who was struck down by the Culling Blade wielded by each of the Seven Heretics in turn. Through the blade it is said that they each gained a portion of his power. Modern heretics say that this runs against the very beliefs of the Seven Heretics, who struck down Zueshel while announcing that he was no god to begin with.

Regardless, with the end of Zueshel’s reign, the people turned their worship to the Seven Heretics and a n...

Brenovale Castle

A small fortification near the Hewbank in the Eagle Hills, Brenovale Castle was abandoned a few years ago when plague struck. By the time help arrived, those left behind were dead and bloated, surrounded by foul insects that appeared to carry the infection.

Constructed rapidly through wizardry, the castle remains effectively untouched today – the only sign that anything has changed is the lead plague seals on the front doors have been broken, and no sign of the infected dead can be fo...

Lorean's Manor

Part of a much larger estate that has fallen to advanced decrepitude, Lorean’s Manor sits on a hillside rank with overgrown weeds and brush. Somewhere in the untended brush are a number of collapsed and half-collapsed outbuildings including the kitchens and staff buildings, coach house, and so on.

Standing before these overgrown gardens and ruins is the Lorean’s Manor. The lowest parts of the structure are hidden by errant trees and heavy ground cover, but the high arched roofs and ...

Release the Kraken on Paradise Control

The votes for February’s “Release the Kraken” have brought us to a piece that I think would be a perfect fit into any Waterdeep: Dragon Heist campaign – Paradise Control.

When I was asked for an underground casino map for a D&D game, I immediately had a flashback to the classic Operation: Sprechenhaltestelle adventure that came bundled with the 1980 & 1981 editions of TSR’s Top Secret RPG by Merle Rasmussen. One of the organizations hidden beneath the streets of the ci...

Quellport and the Isle of Seven Bees

A small settlement in the Thendrake Archipelago, Quellport sits on an unusual lagoon in a cluster of islands. Except for the Isle of Seven Bees (the elongated forested island to the upper left of the map), all the smaller islands are generally just referred to as Quellport or the Quell Islands.

There are a total of four settlements on the Quell Islands as well as a number of towers and smaller edifices –

Quellport itself is essentially in the centre of the map sitting on the gen...

March Backstage Pass (or lack thereof)

So, I'm in the middle of a big block of work for my biggest client who will remain nameless (nudge nudge, wink wink). What this means is that I've only got 5 maps of the ones I need for March release. I'll definitely get the March maps done so we get a full release set during the month, but they won't be done in the usual timing of getting the full set out in time for the first of the month.

So the backstage pass next month will likely show up about half way through the month, once I ge...

The Halls of Ghuldesh

Originally a small fortification on a rocky outcrop, the Halls of Ghuldesh were magically formed out of the rock beneath the fortification by an order of druids. The old fortifications are but a few stones atop the hill now, but the druids’ work and standing stones remain.

https://dysonlogos.blog/2019/02/25/the-halls-of-ghuldesh/

Release the Kraken on the Portal Nexus

The votes for February’s “Release the Kraken” have dug up a wonderful piece from 2015 – The Portal Nexus!

The Portal Nexus is a set of odd interlinked towers with no ground floor entry (but a few upper level doors that lead into the towers from walkways and balconies). Enterprising thieves and those with means of flight can access the nexus via these upper level entries, but the design of the structure assumed that all persons entering and leaving the nexus would be doing so via...

The Citadel at Sabre Lake

From 2008 through to 2013, Sabre Lake was the centre of a number of campaigns that I ran – using B/X D&D, Advanced Labyrinth Lord, and D&D3e. Each campaign focused on different elements of the region – although two of them shared the same intro arc starting with Goblin Gully and then dealing with the horrible thing that was inadvertently released while exploring that site.

The namesake city of this map is a cheap crib of Sanctuary from the Thieves’ World novels – down to...

February Krakening!

It is time to record your preference for which maps we'll be re-releasing this month under the free commercial use license!

(I desperately want to make some twist on this statement to imitate the old Banzai! show... place votes now! VOTING ENDS NOW!)

Anyways - voting is here, now!

https://goo.gl/forms/0OkJfbGGFsuNyDXn2

Adventures in Cromspoint

I’m playing in an awesome Neoclassical Geek Revival RPG campaign right now called “Age of Myth” where we are one of two PC groups competing to achieve the “victory conditions” of the game setting – in this case to form a kingdom by first uniting three iron age clans into a tribe, and then uniting three of these tribes into a kingdom. (The last campaign we played was also competitive, and while our group was the first to discover the location of the end-point of the campaign, we we...

Temple of the Mad Titan

I’m often asked about the scale of the maps I post. In truth, I don’t include a scale on my maps because either it is pretty obvious (when drawing houses and similar structures – where a square is 3 to 5 feet), or more likely because I want the end user to pick a scale that works best for them. In the inner workings of my head, you can assume that I’m thinking at a scale of 10′ per square when drawing most of my maps as that is the traditional scale for D&D maps which is where I...

Beneath Rose Point Manor

The cellars of Rose Point Manor still show the damage from the fire that destroyed the original manor house. The stone stairs and sections of the walls are scorched and cracked from the heat. The extended subterranean structures beyond are untouched, but long ignored.

The pair of iron doors that lead to the catacombs are both rusted and long unused – the first is in exceptionally bad shape having held the fire back on the night that most of the line of Heare was lost. The locks are se...

Rose Point Manor

At the end of Rose Lane is Rose Point Manor – home of the last of the elven line of Heare and their three servants. Keeping with the name, the manor house has a number of rose bushes around it and the window shutters are painted in a rose motif.

The original manor was a much grander affair, but burned down nearly 200 years ago. The new manor was built over the same foundations, and if you were to find your way into the basement, the stairs down are still cracked and charred from that ...

Vault of the Blue Golem

Up in the hills is a small crater-like depression with a mostly smooth floor and a pair of heavy metal doors that lead to some place in the hillsides.

The doors open twice every 6-9 months. Once to allow the Blue Golem into the crater to begin its wandering, and once again exactly 10 days later when the Blue Golem returns.

The Blue Golem walks the lands nearby seemingly at random for those ten days – usually just walking from one place to another and then moving on to the next. ...

Backstage Pass - February 2019

Hey! I knew I forgot something before posting up today's map!

Backstage pass time! Here's the 9 maps that will be showing up on the blog this month thanks to YOUR support. Yes, you specifically. Thank you.

Strange Ruins at Karst Ford

As you head north along the Brown Goblin river it cuts deeply into the badlands, making it very difficult to cross. Boat traffic becomes prohibitive also because of the speed and roughness of the river up north. Karst Ford marks the last point where a boat can travel upriver - a ford where the river has cut through the local dolomitic stone leaving a path of hard stone that pedestrians and careful horse riders can cross while the river runs swiftly through runnels underfoot.

Overlooking...

Release the Kraken on Izzel's Folly!

The votes for January’s “Release the Kraken” have brought out a more recent map for commercial re-release: The Many Chambers of Izzel’s Folly

A dense complex of odd chambers and nonsensical halls, Izzel’s Folly is home to at least one foul fiend normally only found in the third glaucous hell and is in turn overrun with foul little humanoids that seem to spontaneously erupt through from their particular hell to accompany (and feed) the fiend.

Izz...

Release the Kraken - Cliffstable on Kerstal

Lets set the time machine for 2014 and grab an old city map for the first commercial re-release of 2019. Welcome to Cliffstable on Kerstal –  a small city that has gradually grown up where the Brown Goblin River meets the Kerstal.

The original name of the settlement goes back to when a single horse breeder maintained a stable on the raised cliff area in the south-eastern shore. Travellers and traders would come by the Cliff Stables to acquire excellent and affordable horses. Whil...

Mayer's Fort

Mayer’s Fort is a small mountain village backed by a fierce stone walled keep. Initially a small mountain keep for a retiring adventurer, the addition of a monastery outside the keep walls slowly encouraged a small village to build up around the keep and across the river on the grassy verge.

Mayer’s Fort lacks an inn or tavern, and instead social life in the small community centres around the open garden at the monastery (the H-shaped building in the bottom middle of the map) and th...

Dry River Caves

Once the source of a small river that ran through these badlands, these caves are still home to the river, but it remains underground now instead of working through the nooks and crannies of the slate fields.

Broken up into multiple elevations throughout, these caves have been home to beasts and men alike seeking water and refuge from the badlands. Now they are home to Mohkath, a reclusive mantisfolk necromancer. He uses the space to study and is attended to (and defended by) a very str...

... and the Warlock

“The Warlock himself was a sorcerer of great power. Some described him as old, others as young. Some said his power came from an enchanted deck of cards, others from the silky black gloves that he wore.”

Once you have crossed the underground river (across the rickety bridge, by boat, or swimming in piranha and crocodile infested waters), the areas under Firetop Mountain feel… different. Where the earlier portions contained many guards, once you get past the immediate stru...

Firetop Mountain...

“You have in your possession a sword and a shield together with a rucksack containing provisions (food and drink) for the trip. You have been preparing for your quest by training yourself in swordplay and exercising vigorously to buildup your stamina.”

The very mountain is menacing – it seems to have been savaged by the claws of a massive beast. Not an actual volcano, the top of the mountain is covered in strange red vegetation that gives it its name.

2019-01-21 20:59:09 +0000 UTC View Post

The Seven Spires

Raised by a talented Wizard-Noble of old Phalorm, the Seven Spires is a small ornate castle made of seven overlapping towers set on the edge of the Neverwinter woods.

The small castle was used officially as a research space for the wizard-noble, but also served as an escape from court politics in the young war-based nation of Phalorm, and as a watch point over the growing orc menace in the region. Being fairly close to the settlement of Neverwinter, ties were maintained with that growin...

HollowStone Bandit Camp

Home to the elven bandit Illsong and their dozen-or-so fellows, the Hollowstone camp sits atop (and cuts into) a small rocky promontory in the False Loch Woods.

HollowStone is slowly developing into a small fortress. If Illsong remains untroubled in their occasional banditry and adventuring pursuits, HollowStone will gradually be built up into a potent little keep with its shadow extending over much of the False Loch and perhaps into the bordering principalities.

For now through, ...

Arcane Waters

This small “dungeon” is home to a circle of elementalists who focus on water magics (who call themselves the Blue Warlocks). Excavated and expanded upon from a small cave that linked to an underground river, it now serves as workshops, training and teaching space, and as the repository of a small library of elemental lore.

As the name suggests, the waters here are magical in their own right – the Blue Warlocks use these waters to both enhance their magics and potions, as well as i...

Brentil Tower

A small asymmetric square tower, Brentil Tower stands alone overlooking Banrior Chasm where the hordes of modronic rats once came crashing into these lands.

Currently secured and locked down by the the Sorcerer Lord Iosselmon, barring the use of magics to break in, the only way to unlock the doors are the magical keys distributed to the lieutenants of his Red Rangers.

On the nights of the new moon, you can sometimes see the luminous form of someone pacing in the enclosed balcony o...

Palace of the Sands

We trekked across the Dry Reaches, searching for the lost Ziggurat of Mur. On the fourth evening we came across the ruins of an old palace or temple, slowly being conquered by the sands.

Originally we aimed towards it as an obvious location for a night camp to keep out of the cold desert wind as well as to conceal our fire from other (less friendly) explorers. But immediately we spotted the signs of habitation – trails in the sand, scales, and buried dry scat. We explored quietly but ...

January Backstage Pass

This is officially Season 6 of the Backstage Pass - not that I've been labeling them as such for a long time... but today I called up my "Blog Map Posting Schedule" and the top of the file started with "Season 1, #1" so I thought it would be fun to check where we are at now.

So yeah: Season 6, Issue 1 of Dyson's Dodecahedron Backstage Pass is here with nine more maps for your enjoyment.

So, thanks again everyone for your support as we roll into the sixth year of this Patreon that ...

The First Krakens of 2019!

Well, as usual December turned into a massive time-sink and this time I completely blew the whole "release the kraken" thing (last year I didn't manage to get the poll out, but I ended up releasing a slew of maps in the last week as a Christmas Kraken event... but this year... ech...)

For the many new patrons here, once a month I do a poll where I list 8-12 maps that you vote on. The top voted maps are then re-released on the blog under the free commercial-use license to make them acce...