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Fury of the Emerald Hawk

Someone summoned something furious and powerful within the “secret” headquarters of the Emerald Hawk Society. The building is now scorched ruins, the roof blown off the secret library, the grand hall torn open, and the front entrance reduced to rubble.

The least clandestine of the secret societies in town, the Emerald Hawk Society’s headquarters and library was a heavy stone building that was once a “small” guard post for a much larger estate within the city walls. The society had co...

Tower of the Blind Seer

Along the surface run of the Darkling River (where some still call it the Sunset River) a blind seer is known to live and occasionally listen to guests and give them advice, inklings from the future, and occasionally send them into extreme peril.

The blind seer is an ancient medusa who wears a blindfold of fine decorated silk to hide the horrible injury to her face that has taken her eyes. Now she sees through the eyes of her snakes, and through her magical powers that often fail to keep her v...

We need us a November Krakening!

November is here, it is getting mighty chilly around these parts, and we need a kraken to liven things up a bit!

Head on over to the link below and vote on which maps you'd like to see re-released for commercial use.

https://goo.gl/forms/RLZx0B8WV1mOIw1A2

Heart of Darkling - The Weeping Outpost

In the late summer I introduced the Heart of Darkling series of maps. Unlike my other ongoing megadungeon (the Tekumel Undercity maps), the Heart of Darkling series is being released for commercial use as the maps are drawn. The goal of the project is to produce 20 maps that are all tied together by a single underground river and lake.

Those travelling along the underground passage of the Darkling River tend to avoid this small fortress. While several of the stops so far have included methods ...

Backstage Pass - November 2017

I'm going to talk about this a bit on my blog in the next few days, but since you get the backstage pass, you should probably read all about it now since it changes the contents of the pass.

After a bunch of fiddling with graphics settings with the help of S. John Ross (the man behind Risus and so much amazingness at Cumberland Games & Diversions), I'm transitioning from 300 dpi jpeg images for my maps to 1200 dpi PNG images.

For maps that are essentially Black and White, this resu...

My Private Jakalla - Map 1P

Down below the streets are not only the basements and crypts of temples and clanhouses, but also the ruins that remind us of the many ditlana the city has been through to become the wonder it is today (A ditlana is the ritual destruction of the old city or part of the old city to build anew – a time of major change, but one that allows the city to grow and adapt to the times.)

This is the sixteenth map in the “My Private Jakalla” project to make a set of maps that inter...

Tever's Fort

The fortifications of Tever’s Fort were erected quite recently along the Dragonfly Channel and local farmers and tradesmen quickly moved into and around the fort. The region south of the Dragonfly are wild and dangerous lands officially under the massive land claims of the Satrapy, but uncontested, unmonitored, and unprotected.

 Erozel Tever built the fortification as she retired from adventuring. A woman of late middle age, she’s still skilled with the blade, but spends more of her t...

Under the Dungeon!

[A Note to all Patrons: This map was NOT included in this month's Backstage Pass because I drew it this past weekend and scanned it this morning.]

Exploring the dungeons beneath the ruins of the Vampire King’s palace is fraught with dangers. Monsters seem to come out of nowhere and foul terrors stalk us as we seek the king’s treasure rooms.

Beneath the dungeon itself (which was posted last Friday) is another selection of sprawling corridors, storage rooms, a...

Into the Dungeon!

Only recently have we rediscovered the location of the palace of the Vampire King. As the old stories and sages described, the palace had not only been besieged, but torn down stone-by-stone and scattered down the hillside into the Valley of Blood. Beneath the ancient and battered obsidian throne a well-worn secret passage was found, leading to a gallery under the castle which then leads to the various understructures of the palace – torture chambers, crypts, armories, libraries and even treas...

Four Demon Temple

At the edge of the woods behind the manor house is the old family tomb with stairs leading down to the crypts below. Except the stoneworks beneath are evidently not a family crypt.

What we find under the old tomb is a reliquary of objects and remains of those dedicated to various dark masters through the history of the family. In the four “corners” of the reliquary are statues of demonic creatures fierce and bizarre – each with descriptions of their names and alternate forms, how to cont...

The Poisoner's Tower

The Poisoner keeps to himself and is a hard man to find. Few know that the studious sage in the tower outside of town is the old assassin and that the plants he grows are almost all poisonous, venomous, or both.

Most people coming to visit the tower do so seeking the sage’s advice – officially usually political or botanical, but often looking for access to the assassin’s guild or to acquire poisons and antitoxins.

The structure contains large window boxes for growing poisonous plan...

Critical Mass

It took a while to hit "critical mass" with my maps, but it finally happened this year. I figure a couple of dozen products showed up or are in the pipe for release this year alone with my name in them - probably as many products had my name on them in total a year ago - and some big releases are still coming along for 2018.

The weirdest small thing? This year I added a folder on my google drive next to my "Commissions" folder called "Purchase Orders". And it is approaching 30 entries.

M...

Sirenhearth Docks

Most adventurers coming to the Manticore Peninsula arrive by boat and land northeast of the fortified town of Saryer’s Overlook in the small dockside community of Sirenhearth Docks.

Aside from the watchtower overlooking the docks, the construction here is entirely of wood because the people of Sirenhearth are ten minutes down the hill from the safety of the Saryer walls. The people who live here are a mix of teamsters, fisherfolk, farmers, the owner of the Sirenhearth Inn, and a few folk who...

Saryer's Overlook

Sometimes you just need a little map of a place. Saryer’s Overlook filled that need during a one-shot B/X D&D game last month. A small fortified community on the Manticore Peninsula, it looks down on the ocean below and is usually the first sign of civilization for those coming on boat to explore the ancient ruins of the deep forests beyond.

At first the name applied only to the small castle and the walls thereof – occasionally called Salyer’s Fort on some maps of the local area. Ove...

Heart of Darkling - Swiftwater Monastery

Swiftwater Monastery is cut into the caves where a smaller and faster tributary of the Darkling River joins it.  The monastery has a number of cells for monks in the central section, the main entry in the left section, and library, master’s chambers, and meditation room in the lower right. Each section is built around a “courtyard” with a high ceiling for training, practice and meditations. The sections are connected by bridges which pass above the two rivers – ten feet above for th...

October's Backstage Pass

I honestly did NOT expect to get this out this month after the massive commission I just polished off last month.

But here we are, October has arrived, and we've got another Backstage Pass with nine new maps!

A tenth map MAY show up as the month progresses, but we'll see when it happens.

Release the Kraken on Aurelon's Keep!

Hey hey! Another month with over $500 funding means a second Krakening! Our second release this month goes back to the very early days of the Patreon campaign – Aurelon’s Keep.

A victim of a fairly recent power struggle, Aurelon’s Keep was besieged by a small attacking force and rapidly conquered with the assistance of a few earth elementals who built up the ramp leading to the destroyed wa...

Krelava Manor

The fortified manor of Grumbrek Three-Fingers Krelava stands in the middle of the old estate, a squat three-story stone affair that seems to glower menacingly at the well-appointed homes in the area.

Grumbrek Three-Fingers is a fairly well-known dwarf in town – one of the few who doesn’t spend most or even all their time with dwarven kinfolk. Instead Grumbrek kicked, defenestrated, and broke bones up through the criminal underground of the city and is now a feared, rich, and scarred.

My Private Jakalla - Map 1O

Beneath the city streets are the sewers, of course, and the basements and lower levels of important temples and clanhouses. But also the ruins of parts of the city that were here before the last ditlana (the ritual destruction of the old city to build anew) – some parts kept because it was just easier to build over them, others because of the political clout of the organizations using them.

This is the fifteenth map in the “My Private Jakalla” project to make a set of maps that interconn...

Release the Kraken upon Dawnharbor!

It's time to start releasing the chosen maps from this month's Kraken poll - and we are starting off with one of the best cities I've ever drawn - Dawnharbor!

Facing east towards a volcanic island just over the horizon, the fortified city of Dawnharbor earns its name because of the astounding sunrises seen from the mountains along the region. Dawnharbor itself is tucked into a low outlet where the Hero’s Branch river crawls out of the mountains and into the sea.

2017-09-25 19:01:50 +0000 UTC View Post

Hritlà, The Smugglers' Cove

On the mysterious southern continent there are two competing colonies from the major powers in the north – Linyaró (which I posted a map of previously) and the more fortified colony of Nuróab. Between the two, in the gulf of Teriyál, is the smuggler and pirate haven of Hritlà.

Built into a narrow bay surrounded by cliff walls, Hritlà is well protected from both the elements and from easy notice from passing traffic. For the ne’er-do-wells who use this small port it has an additional b...

September Kraken!

So, I've got this massive commission chewing up ALL my time and things have been getting away from me.

So here's a late Kraken poll to see what maps we release this month from the back catalog. I'll leave this up until Monday most likely, so head over there ASAP to vote!

https://goo.gl/forms/PYLcnwsuekquj2Dn2

There probably won't be a backstage pass for October, because I've only got four maps dra...

Collapsed Tomb of Mosogret

The tombs of the Mosogret estate were among the structures collapsed and destroyed when the place was overrun by the forces of the city of Tuath and the dwarves of the EarthShip Krohku. The estate lay quiet for a few decades, but the slate quarry was reopened by enterprising locals and parts of the estate are being converted into housing for the quarry-men.

But Jonas, one of the quarry workers, had taken to grave robbing some of the minor sepulchers of the estate. But under one gravestone, he ...

We'll take the baby to the goblin city!

What kind of magic spell to use?

Between here and the goblin city is a great underground maze. Well, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But there’s a maze. And it is underground. And while most people entering it will be looking to get out the other end as soon as possible, there are chambers within the maze with their own hidden tricks, symbols, and messages.

And of course… the goblins. Not regular goblins, of course not. That would be convenient. Instead we are deali...

The Poisoned Chambers

Somewhere beneath the old ruins is the space where the angel Araqiel fell in combat with the feathered serpent demon Quxaccoaw. The dungeons here are scattered with the deadly toxic feathers of the demon and the mixed blood of the two combatants, making the very environment hostile to explorers.

Even with only a half-dozen chambers in the dungeons, only one expedition to find the remnants of either of the combatants has returned. The dungeon walls and floor seem malevolent now with the ichor o...

Church of the Huntress in Umber

Priests of the Huntress in Umber maintain this stone church in the woods where the village of Spaldingfield once stood. Wandering through the woods around the church, one will find the few remnants of the old town – fireplaces and low stone walls where houses were before fire consumed the whole place.

Tales (propagated by the priests) are that the Huntress in Umber pursued the invading forces that burned the place down and killed them one by one until none remained. A demon or goddess of ven...

The Dungeons of Kal Odun

Downhill from the old ruins of Kal Odun, the dungeons remain the one intact part of the dark fortress. The dungeons were used to house political prisoners and as the home for the Bound Prince – the mummy lord that lead the elite troops of the fortress.

The entry to the old dungeons is just behind a spring-fed sulfurous pond. A small stream leads from the pond into the dungeons proper, where it runs down the wall of a 30 foot drop to the lower levels. On rainy years, the drainage well fills u...

Heart of Darkling - The Waystation

Last month I introduced the Heart of Darkling series of maps. Unlike my other ongoing megadungeon (the Tekumel Undercity maps), the Heart of Darkling series is being released for commercial use as the maps are drawn. The goal of the project is to produce 20 maps that are all tied together by a single underground river and lake.

This stop along the Heart of Darkling is a small “village” put together by a team of mercenaries and bandits (more of the latter than the former). They deal with th...

Backstage Pass - September 2017

Hey wow! Even after the mad rush of everything when I got back from camping half way through last month, I managed to get this backstage pass together in time. Well, almost in time!

Enclosed herein are the 9 maps that will be released this month. 

I can't guarantee a backstage pass in a timely manner next month, because I'm working on a project that has me chained to my desk for most of the month. It is HUGE and I can't wait to share it with you, but that will have to wait a few mon...

The False Tombs

Lord Dranoel was the kind of mad king that of course would get buried with all his entourage, advisors and hangers-on when he finally died at the ripe old age of 27. Since taking the throne in his teens he had been planning for his eventual death – hiring the assassins needed to ensure that he was well accompanied into his elaborate tomb, as well as getting the work done on the tomb proper.

As per his...