dysonlogos

The Orcus Pit

The dead stir.

Investigations at the graveyard and nearby give no reason, but the dead refuse to remain where they belong. Guards have been posted, brave souls have spent the night watching for the foul necromancer that is bringing them back... but to no avail.

If anything, the constant paranoia about the graveyard and the local undead makes things easier for the ancient Orcus cult in the city. They gather nightly now in the basement of the Travenis Estate under the guise of a gr...

Release the Kraken - Episode 3

Ouf. It's been a heck of a month at the Logos household - family wedding, unplanned illness, and settling into a new home. 

Which is a long way of saying - "Hey, this is late, I know."

So here it is - it is TIME to pick the next map from the back catalog to be released under the free commercial license thanks to the "Release the Kraken" goal we've achieved here.

8 maps have been curated from the collection, which will make it out to the world?

Lair of the Harpy Sorceresses

A pair of the foulest harpy sorceresses ever to fly the badlands settled into these caves and excavations about 20 years ago. The rocky mesas and shattered stones of the badlands extend for days in every direction - a mix of natural erosion, heaving land, and the warring of ancient titans creating the plains of shattered rock, gullies, and canyons.

Although not obvious from above or from the entrances to the lair, these caves were also once home to someone who took the time to f...

The Warden's Riverside Hold

The Warden is a master of the wilderness east of Grant’s Town – some would call him a ranger or just a guardian who keeps the humanoids and monstrosities of the wilds from infringing too much on the commerce and lives of more civilized folk.

The Warden’s hold is roughly two days on horseback east of Grant’s Town; dug into the side of an unnamed estuary of the Holden River. Not much of the structure is visible initially to those traveling past – the front shows a two-t...

The Temple of Red Waters

One of the least imposing of the structures along Temple Hill is the Temple of Red Waters. While a fair sized temple in its own right, at a mere 16 feet tall and slightly over 100 feet across, it seems to be but a small shrine among the sanctuaries of the other priesthoods of the hill.

The temple is dedicated to a god of wine and animal husbandry who’s name is all but forgotten aside from the priesthood that works the site. His worship is linked in turn to that of the mountain river god ...

The Corrupted Water Temple

Nested in the mountains above the Ironflow River is a temple consecrated to a water goddess – a path leads up to the temple from the west, but from the south face you can see not only the two temple structures cut into the face of the mountain, but also a long section of stairs leading between the lower and upper temples.

The temple is essentially divided into three sections – the lower temple, the upper temple and the secret temple.

The lower temple is all that mo...

Geomorphic Business Cards 2 - Dungeon Boogaloo!

Ever wanted a business card that both announced your geek cred AND worked as a quick game aid? Get these printed as the backs to your cards and you can slap them down as a dungeon on the fly!

Each geomorph piece has an exit on the centre of each facing, so you can either lay them down end to end and side to side, or make a basketweave pattern with them to make a quick dungeon when you need a dungeon you hadn’t planned.

By printing them on the backs of your business c...

Release the Kraken: Roots of the World

(This is a free post - not one of the twice-weekly map posts - thanks to the Release the Kraken initiative that we've unlocked through Patreon funding)

After a VERY tight vote last month, the Roots of the World ( http://wp.me/psUVp-Wy )just squeaked past the early leader - Axebridge over Blackbay ( http://wp.me/psUVp-1sQ ). Tomorrow or Wed...

Geomorphic Business Cards

After a few requests and then a discussion about format, I hunted through my stuff to see if I could find any of the business card sized maps I had done a few years ago. I had taken traditional laser printer business card stock and started drawing dungeons on them, each with a single connection in the centre of each face of the card.

I drew up about a score of them and handed them out at various events and mailed a few off. Each was unique and I hoped people would get together a...

Backstage Pass - Season 3 - #6

June?

JUNE?

How on earth did it become JUNE already?

Well, this past month was crazy busy as we moved to new digs and I worked on a few commercial projects. But I did not forsake thee! Not only does this month have a nice round-up of new maps, but based on a few requests and some discussions I put together a set of maps specifically designed to be printed on the backs of business cards and then you can put the cards together to make dungeons!...

Time to GET KRAKEN!

It the last chance to get your vote in on the next map from the back catalog for release! Eight different maps were selected at the beginning of this month and are yours to vote on. The form lists the eight maps with links to their posts on the blog, and then shows a picture of each one. Once you've selected the map you want to release, the SUBMIT button is way at the bottom of the page, after all the maps.

So, if you haven't voted on which gets released yet, follow the link below and mak...

Beneath the Great Library

Once again - I recommend going straight to the blog post (http://wp.me/psUVp-2h6) for this one as Patreon doesn't handle multiple images in a post well and there are two maps for the Great Library basement and sub-basement.

The Violet City, like many of the older cities of the lands, is built up over the ruins of the structures that came before it. While many buildings boast basements, they are o...

The Great Library

First of all - you probably want to head straight over to the blog for this one. Patreon doesn't handle multiple image posts well, and today's map is spread over three different images for the three different levels of the Great Library.

 On the Guilder’s Way in the Violet City, the Great Library stands out not because of its massive stonework and height, but in the simplicity of its exterior when compared to the ostentatious structures of the five great...

The Octagonal Station

In the Empire of the Petal Throne setting, there is an ancient planetary transit system dug deep underground that links into the underworlds of many major cities and to some places unknown except to those who have ridden within the tube cars that travel this system. As these were built over sixty thousand years ago, many elements of the system have been destroyed or rebuilt in the styles of more current societies.

This is the surface access point to such a link into the system. The double-...

Wet Passages beneath White Crag

In the side of Merman’s Bluff beneath White Crag Fortress (which I posted on Tuesday) there is a small entrance into the rocky crag with a worked stone wharf leading into the dark choppy waters. This postern gate to White Crag Fortress is intended to be well guarded, although the original door has been removed after it got stuck too often from rusting hinges and lock as well as swollen oak from the constant battering from the sea. In time it should be replaced by a properly oiled and tarred do...

White Crag Fortress

No more than a generation ago did Hender, Warlord of the Two Realms, build the white fortress at the end of Merman’s Bluff. A small and fiercely held chunk of white granite looking over the dark and choppy seas where once the local fisherfolk made deals with the merpeople of the Octopus Kingdom.

The fortress has never fallen, but has changed hands with the winds of politics and the changing fortunes of those who have tried to hold it. The current “castellan” of the fortres...

The Quizling Duck Tavern and understructures

Ah, the Quizling Duck, a small tavern where you can get a nice drink and sit around in a quaint little bar where no one will bother you and everyone seems pretty deep into their cups.

It’s the kind of place where you don’t expect anyone to talk to you, try to entertain you, or even comment on exactly how much of an alcoholic you are. It is, of course, also linked pretty tightly with the local thieves’ guild (the Hander’s Road Business Association).

The main structure of t...

The Sundered Tomb

The tomb of Heighnor the Strong had been sealed, both physically and magically for 228 years since both he and his two daughters were slain in the great war. A mighty elf probably from another world entirely, Heighnor and his kin were massive for their kind – Heighnor being recorded at nine and a half feet tall and over 900 pounds.

Two years ago the tomb’s doors were thrown open by an earthquake that cracked the land around it – the same event is recalled in town when look...

The Tomb of Eight

Near the ruins of the ancient wizarding school is a cliff that is home to a clever and hostile clan of hippogriffs. At the base of the cliff, now well concealed by the trees that grew from what were once decorative hedges along the path here, is the entrance to the Tomb of Eight.

The Tomb of Eight was constructed in the last decades of the school, after the great battle that presaged its eventual collapse. In that battle eight of the students died fighting against the besieging ...

Ransom & Flotsam

The city of Ransom is just about what you'd expect from a city with the name "Ransom". It was built by pirates and raiders as a landing and repair site for their ships in unfriendly waters. And with the huge amount of trust exhibited between the various factions involved in criminal oceanic activities, the city spread out quickly onto the various islands and hills around Ransom Bay. Structures rarely adjoin for fear of fire or just that one night your neighbour might kick down the wall between y...

Backstage Pass - Season 3 #5

It's that time again!

Thanks once again for the support you've shown for my work and maps. As with every month where I manage to get a Backstage Pass out, this is going out to all patrons at the $1 level and above. Thank you so much for making this continued work and improvement possible.

Here's a zip file of the maps going up on the blog this month. Tomorrow starts off with the Archipelago, and we'll see what order I release them in after that.

Releasing the Kraken

Your votes are in and were tallied, and the map that is being released this month under the "Release the Kraken" program is the Turning Tower. Voting was pretty tight between two of the maps, so expect the other one to return to the poll in the months to come.

I've released the map on the blog as of today, making it available under the free commercial license. You can read more about it here: 2016-05-02 22:13:10 +0000 UTC View Post

Kraken Reminder!

All patrons are eligible to vote on what map from the back catalog gets released at the beginning of May as part of the "Release The Kraken" milestone.

If you haven't voted yet (and the voting is pretty close between two of the maps, with a whopping 0.8% difference), head over to 

...

Sunken & Buried Ruins

Outside of the Yellow City proper is “the old city” – or more precisely the ruins thereof slowly sinking into the swamp. This particular map explores a building that is partially submerged because the much heavier and larger library behind it has fallen completely below the level of the streets bringing the rear end of this building down with it.

Of course, it is hard to think of a better place to be sent on a quest than an ancient stone library that has sunk into the muck and ru...

Behemoth Lookout

Built in a crook in the red channel (which was then partially diverted around the structure to form a moat for the ensuing moathouse), Behemoth Lookout was constantly assailed by black goblins during its later construction and expansion. Of the assaults on the structure, the best known by locals and those garrisoned here was the battle which finally gave the moat house its name. The goblins came boiling down from the hills once again, but this time they were accompanied by the most massive and f...

Return to Durahn’s Tomb

Let’s set the wayback machine for 7 years ago. Just like now, the One Page Dungeon Contest is taking submissions, and I figured I would give it a shot. I tried and tried to draw a decent isometric map for the tomb idea I had, but I just couldn’t get it to work. So instead I finally surrendered to my lack of cartographic skills and drew a simple overhead map.

I topped it off by using a horribly derivative name for the dwarf entombed therein (I hadn’t read the Hobbit since I was te...

The Fevered Caves

There are places where foul essences seep out of the depths and into the light of day. While the purifying light is usually enough to destroy the humours and disperse the foul gasses, there are places on the borderlands between the depths and the lands above where the dark miasma remains, dilute but persistent.

There is a field near Gladecrest Village where the cattle is never sent to graze. It's said that those who did gave sour milk and birthed six-legged monstrosities. On that stony hil...

Warcton Hold

Two hundred years ago the foul giant Auruxvor terrorized the lands along the western shore of the Krumpt Basin from his fortified lakeside "manor". Padreth Warcton and a group of mercenaries and adventurers put an end to the giant's reign of terror and with powerful magics they tore his house asunder.

Two of Padreth's acolytes remained at the site of the old manor and assisted the locals in building a few small fortifications from the stony debris left behind. Over a few years the fortifi...

Crypts & Sewers

There are times when I don’t know quite what I want to draw and I just start to doodle a map – letting the pens and the back of my mind wander around the page creating stuff. Of late it seems that my pens and that quiet part of my brain have a thing for crypts and tombs.

Here we have a set of crypts associated with two different churches. In total there are three entrances to these catacombs from the surface – the upper two both linking directly to churches which use the catacombs to...

The Caravanserai

As the guy with all these maps, you would think I would have a map ready for just about every occasion in-game, right?

In our Dungeons & Dragons 5e game that I’m running, we’ve had two sessions where a small caravanserai outside the city walls has been central to the game. Two whole sessions where I’ve been describing it without a map. So, now that we’ll most likely not be needing it much more, I finally drew it out. (Although my players should note that the one in our game is ...