Near the centre of Whispering Turtles Lake are a number of small rocky islands capped with trees. The second largest of these has been home to the small settlement of Clover since the lakeside community of Burhuie was sacked during the great war and most of the survivors escaped into the lake in a mix of rowboats and fishing craft.
Until then, the fisher folk of Burhuie avoided the Isle of Clover because of the accursed elven ruins there. Today those ruins have been repaired and massive runes of defense and strength carved into the fortifications by the dwarves who helped settle here (although there are no longer any dwarves on the island, as they were just a single family at the time). No one lives within the fortifications proper, but they are maintained for emergencies and used for storage.
The people of Clover are fishers and farmers, mostly human with a bit of elven blood in the mix. The town has no actual “government”, but a significant voice is given to Acdad Yim, a resident who left the island in his youth and returned with a not insignificant sum of gold, some interesting treasures, and a potent grasp of sorcery.
Old Herlihy Farm has been abandoned for a few years. It was a few weeks since anyone had seen France Herlihy at the marketplace before anyone went out to the secluded farmhouse to find she had expired in her sleep. With no Herlihys left in town, the livestock was split up between a few local farmers, and no one paid the site any more attention as it slowly collapsed.
But now the Gutbound goblin gang has moved in. They are on the run from the most fierce of all things, a goblin paladin trained as a hunter of his own kind. Who knows what crimes a goblin has to commit to be hunted down by his kin in this manner, but the Gutbound goblin gang did them.
Now they are hiding in the secret basement of a burned down outbuilding on the Herlihy Farm. Trying to keep their heads down and out of trouble until the paladin Gomox moves on to hunt for them elsewhere. But the Gutbound aren’t the most clever of creatures, and it isn’t hard to find the trail beaten into the grass where they travel from their secret refuge to the old rain barrels in the collapsed barn to collect water.
Word came back from some fishermen that there was a cog beached at Banana Bay – one of the few decent approaches to Esborough Island. So we loaded up a small expedition to check it out – it is usually pretty hard to get any of the locals to head to Esborough because of all the “haunted” ruins about the place, but their willingness to loot / rescue the ship was enough to motivate them and thus finally gave us the chance to explore the place a bit also.
But the boat was in even worse shape when we arrived – the port side burned through roughly midship, with the ruined interior of the ship laid bare to the elements. As the locals started digging through the wreckage, we climbed up the low cliff face and up to the ruined tower that looks down on the bay. Within we found the burned bodies of a half dozen sailors, and the first of the cinder wraiths. They look like smoke with embers floating within them, vaguely humanoid in form. They travel on the wind, they strike with fierce anger and a fiery hatred for the living.
We left several of our people behind as we abandoned the island again to the burning dead. They can keep the cog, and whatever was in that locked chest in the tower...
Up on a steep face, by the northern fire mountain, we found what we had been looking for – a cleft into the mountain that lead not to a natural cave, but to a construction of the ones we call the morlocks.
The narrow cleft lead to a trapped chamber that struck us with an invisible force from all sides, snuffing our torches and forcing us to rely on the light granted by Zuul, opener of the ways, to progress. The main passage within was round in cross section, but with a flat floor. Metal doors blocked further access within. (Who has such steel that they might use it for doors? surely these are the tombs of the steel makers who already know the riddle of steel – our kin have only just learned the art of iron working!)
The steel makers are probably the ancestors of the degenerate morlocks. Within these tombs we found a number of funerary urns of finest steel and absconded with them to bring back to the people. There were other marvels too – strange gems strung together on copper wires, vast vats of strongest wine, and glass pillars reaching from floor to ceiling. We believe that perhaps the smallest room is a magical access to areas above or below this one – but tomb robbers who explore too much instead of running when they have found the riches they can carry quickly become the entombed, so we left before exploring more.
(Being the description of finding a small and seemingly abandoned high tech structure in the mountains – we are tribesfolk on the cusp of the iron age in Zzarchov Kowolski’s Neoclassical Geek Revival RPG, and find all this exciting and yet mystifying.)
Burial mounds are a staple of fantasy games and stories. Today’s offering is a collection of six more burial mounds for those occasions when you really need to loot a a small tomb or small tomb complex right now.
This set of tomb maps go from simple single-chambered mounds to multi-chambered mounds and finally to a pair of mounds that incorporate multiple crypts and passages such as “Shadow Dragon’s Tomb” on the lower right.
I've redrawn each of the individual Caves of Chaos, then combined them all back into one massive map at 1200dpi in my style.
There are too many awesome pieces to put them all here, and the individual maps are 6 megs each, so I ask, no, I DEMAND that you come to my site to see them!
A few miles from the nearest outposts of civilization, just over those hills to the west of here, are the old estates of the Trent family. Sitting almost smugly on a hill in the midst of overgrown hedge mazes and fallow fields is the manor of “Mad” Fenrick Trent. Sure the first parts of the structure were initially built by his grandfather, and the last Trents to live in it were his great-grandchildren, but Mad Fenrick is the Trent who put the most work into the half-fortified squat monstrosity.
Of course, a massive cobbled together and defensively structured manor like Mad Fenrick’s Manor doesn’t stop with just the main level and a few towers. In the main courtyard of the manor is a set of stairs that originally lead to the Trent family crypt, but that now connects to a small dungeon (as well as Mad Fenrick’s Root Cellar, Mad Fenrick’s Family Crypt, Mad Fenrick’s U-Store-It, and Mad Fenrick’s Large Rodent Repository, of course).
With the manor grounds now abandoned, who knows the sorts of things that crawl about beneath the old manor house. Whatever they are, they are probably very lonely and would love to play with any visitors.
Originally drawn in 2014, Mad Fenrick's Manor has been cleaned up and re-released under a free commercial use license thanks to the amazing people supporting my work through Patreon.
It was the way of the Etturan Dynasty to show the might and connection to the earth of the rulers to dig out underground complexes to serve as tombs. Some tombs were fairly simple affairs, dug down as far as they could manage before the ruler’s death. Others were more massive undertakings – complexes of tombs, crypts, temples and shrines dug into the native stone of the land.
Prince Delan’s Tomb is one of the Etturan Dynasty’s “lost tombs” – roughly 40 tombs who’s locations were lost with the burning of the Tarek Archives. The tomb itself is a style that was made popular by a much earlier Etturan King, with various structures built off a central shaft. During construction wooden scaffolding was assembled in the shaft in order to climb from one level to another. Once Prince Delan was entombed the wooden structure was burned away leaving the central shaft with no easy means of accessing the other portions of the complex.
Much to the chagrin of anyone exploring the site now, sections of the tombs have collapsed, and foul beasts have moved into the bottom of the shaft and live in the walls down there making anything that dangles down to the bottom a danger.
Few (sane) adventurers are aware of the frightening alien intelligences that live on the other planets. Even those that doe are generally unaware that some of these creatures have access to planar travel as well as interplanetary travel. The maddening brain-stealing fungi from Yuggoth are the perfect example of something no adventurer expects to run into on the Astral.
So, what better place to experiment on captive brains?
This free-floating structure is controlled by a massive collection of brains that the Mi-Go have assembled into some sort of brain cluster. A few Mi-Go may be present at any time, as well as a few orderlies (typically strong creatures like ogres who have had Mi-Go brains grafted into their heads). The rest of the population are a mix of kidnapped people lucky enough to still have their own brains; kidnapped bodies used as a chassis for other kidnapped brains; and a few classic “brains in a jar” to round out the mix – all subject to horrifying and bizarre experiments testing the limits of the standard human / elven / halfling / dwarven brains.
While a number of the old shaft tombs of the Etturan Dynasty have been found and explored, there is one that remains a well-kept secret amongst sages, masters of dark arts, and the few adventurers who have been there. Possibly the original shaft tomb of the dynasty, or perhaps a strange discovery that became the inspiration for the ones to come – the Bottomless Tombs seem to have earned their name.
The central part of these tombs is a 15 foot x 15 foot shaft that seems to go down forever. Determining the actual depth has proven to be beyond the abilities of scrying and simple engineering, and areas of both permanent magical darkness as well as areas of anti-magic (as well as a host of hostile inhabitants) make exploring the depths of the shaft an unwelcoming idea.
But this map concentrates on the tombs around the upper portion of the shaft. A total of seven tomb structures have been cut into the shaft at this area, including the Vault of Kezamdomnus which is accessed via the basement of the long-ruined Temple of Shol-Gath. These tombs and crypts are in turn protected by the inherent danger of the central shaft, as well as their own traps, magical guardians, and sometimes even the undead remnants of their inhabitants.
The Bronze Vault is a small, multi-level complex cut into the Jappa Slopes and connected to one of the small cavers that dot the hillsides. Once connected to a small watchtower that was built too close to the edge, getting into the complex typically means climbing to the ruins as the door between the cave and the complex is locked, barred, and now rusted shut.
In-game, the complex fills the role of any classic “dungeon in the wilderness” setting – a place where civilization once held sway but is now home to monsters hiding in the roots of our achievements. In the grand tradition of the Moldvay Basic D&D set, this is where hobgoblins would hide their prisoners captured from the nearby town; perhaps home to a small cult that cannot worship publicly in civilized areas; or the destination for a treasure map that the party found in a previous adventure.
Personally, I like the treasure map angle – making the secret chamber in section B right by the entrance the treasure room, but with the map showing how to get there from the cave entrance instead of the upper entrance.
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… premature.
Today we have nine more crypts, barrows, and tombs for exploration and plundering, ranging from simple single-roomed barrows to small complexes. Combined with the offerings in the previous two “Barrow Mounds” offerings, this brings us to a total of 24 mounds and crypts to explore. A perfect excuse to crack out that d24 from your collection!
“Caves in the hills? Ach, there may be a place – we call em the travellers caves. Twisty, up and down, easy to get confused in. An’ they go deep, way deeper then any sensible person would go. So yeah, if you really think there’s beasties in caves ’round here, that’s where I reckon they’d be hiding.”
The Travellers Caves are a small complex of winding multi-tiered caves and chambers which bear the evidence of several previous tenants over the years – from animal scat and hair to old broken boxes and cold, quiet campsites.
One narrow passage leads down from the complex into deeper caverns...
This map was drawn on fairly dark paper in a lovely little travel notebook using black gel pens. The dark colour of the paper made scanning a little rough and a bit uneven in places.
Once you are past the wards and sigils that guard the entranceway and have triggered the teleporter, you finally are brought to the archmage’s private sanctum.
The Archmage’s Chambers are hidden away deep underground, below the “comfortable” levels of the underdark to an area where the stone walls seem to press in with relentless gravity and heat. Once a small node broken open by opposing forces of elemental earth and air, the cracked tunnels were then shaped, smoothed and reinforced magically to withstand the incredible pressures down here.
The chambers are hot and oppressive, and without the small nexus of elemental air present, there wouldn’t be a cool breeze to make it survivable (and there would be no fresh air to breathe either).
And down here, the archmage keeps their secrets, their spells cut into crystal decanters instead of spellbooks, their twisted homonculi that carry wisps of ancient knowledge, and the six pillars where they store their favourite emotions and moments, safe for all time from the whimsy of human memory.
Originally drawn by David Brawley who runs Tower of the Archmage, I couldn’t resist sticking the design through the custom “Dysonizer” I have sitting at my desk.
A warren of small chambers, passages, and natural caves, the Dark Caverns of Turr were once a set of dwarven mines of the famously unstable Darkshoe clan. But then one day the Darkshoe dwarves picked up and left, locking most of the doors behind them. In the years since, creatures have crawled up from the darker caves below and others have moved in from the surface, and the caverns now contain a veritable Gygaxian collection of creatures that try to live together.
There are three entrances into the warrens. - The “front door” over to the far right of the map that leads into the original Darkshoe clan hall. - The “back door” over to the left that leads into the deeper caves. - The “stone stairs” very near the back door that lead down into the “glittering gallery” that come down from a secret cleft in the back of a small cave overhead.
This map is actually one I drew back in 2010 when running either my Labyrinth Lord or B/X D&D campaign that year. This photo doesn’t do it justice, but it is drawn in VERY light pencil on thin typewriter paper, and was nearly impossible to scan and keep the details looking at all good. But now that I’ve figured out how to get these old maps scanned, I’ll see if I can get the last of the old “Lost Maps” finally scanned and on the blog.
Along the western jetties and piers of the city are the Kobold Docks, a moderately large wooden pier where boats can be purchased or rented from Jotel Vuzen, a “sahuagin out of water” if you will. Jotel acts as the agent for a few shipwrights and Xughon Belpar, a pirate who acquires his trade goods in an entirely illegal manner.
Generally Jotel has d3+1 smaller boats at the pier, and 1d3-2 larger craft in the harbour. He also often has a few smaller stolen goods in his tent on the pier that he sells on commission for Xughon, mixed in with the various apothecary goods that his elven wife Phyehni collects and sells.
Of course, with all these goods of questionable provenance moving through this area, any time that player characters find themselves buying something here there’s the off chance that they will get caught up in some other drama involving people threatening Jotel or his clients to get their goods back (or in a real twist, these are con men trying to get something for nothing based on figuring out Jotel’s dirty dealings).
The pier is known as the kobold docks because the previous business before Jotel set up here was a small enclave of six kobolds who made wickerwork coracles used by some of the local fisherfolk. But the kobolds moved on as the fisherfolk earned more money and were able to purchase or build more sturdy boats that didn’t need regular replacement.
A version of this map also appears in the Kobold Press adventure “Monkey Business” where it is set in the City of Brass.
A ghost ship haunts the waters out around the Charred Reef. She’s so old that all that remains is her superstructure, and the golden “cage” she carried on her deck. She appears out of the fog along Charred Reef on nights when there is no more than single ship or boat to sight her, slides along silently on the top of the water, and her disappearance back into the night always presages a violent storm.
Within the gilded cage is a potent banshee, the long dead elven sorceress who was within the cage when the ship sank who knows how long ago. The golden cage she is trapped within also changes her song – instead of wailing in eternal agony, to those outside the cage she seems to be singing a long lamentful song.
Entering the golden cage can be achieved through partially collapsed stairs that lead up a shaft from the bottom of the boat’s skeleton through a shaft in the floor of the cage, or by somehow (flying, climbing) getting to the balcony that surrounds the cage and walking in through one of the four doorways. Of course, the moment one steps within the cage, they become subject to the effects of her wailing song.
Any treasures that were once within the cage with the sorceress are long destroyed or lost by ages of frequent submersion, but a secret panel in the floor of the cage leads to a shallow chamber beneath which contains the MacGuffin.
A version of this map also appears in the Kobold Press adventure “Monkey Business” where it is set out in the oceans of flame near the City of Brass.
Briar Keep is a border fortress and small settlement that marks the northern boundary of the Satrapy where the Northlands begin. Built only a few generations ago, the keep is in excellent shape and is well maintained and houses a garrison of Satrapy forces. Unlike most settlements in the Satrapy, Briar Keep and it’s environs are also home to a number of dwarves of the Greybeard clan and associated families.
Viktor Hevlod is a person who wears many hats - he is the assistant to the guildmaster of the mason's guild; master of the yellow dagger within the assassin's guild; inner council member of the order of the blue star (who perform a lot of charity work in the city); and he manages to find enough time to actually practice his stonework in all that.
But really, being a high ranking member of both the Assassin's Guild and the Order of the Blue Star (who's charity work is mostly a cover for their other work in the name of the dark ophidian gods of yore), it won't be much of a surprise when his plans or actions come into conflict with any group of local meddlers.
And investigating Viktor will generally turn to his family home, Hevlod Manor. Built entirely of stone (befitting his guild status and the teams of younger masons he employs), Hevlod Manor is a sprawling single-story structure with heavy walls built in a moderately upscale neighborhood. The manor boasts an attached carriage-house, yard, gardens, and several wings for family members and associates. Only minimal staff actually lives here - in the carriage house - with other servants and staff coming and going throughout the day and night.
Since Viktor often entertains here, he keeps the place fairly impeccable, and never allows the secret aspects of the Blue Star nor the Assassin's Guild to be visible to visitors (including those who "accidentally" get lost in the more private parts of the structure). In fact, Viktor Hevlod keeps everything so close the the chest, that the only time you are likely to confirm that he's up to all these nefarious schemes is to run afoul of them in person...
Somewhere in these crypts, there is still the undead remnants an adventurer-archaeologist searching for the obvious secret door into the central circle.
The crypts of the Ophidian Emperor were built around a double-circle motif, designed to feel like a snake curling around the tombs and crypts. To further accent the motif, the circular halls are set about three feet lower than the other chambers and crypts. The various chambers are tombs, crypts, and “treasure rooms” stacked with fake grave goods to accompany the Ophidian Emperor into the afterlife.
All doors within the crypts are fairly thin single-piece stone blocks mounted on metal hinges. All doors and most walls are decorated with frescoes and bas-relief carvings of idealized images of the reign of the Ophidian Emperor, often showing off his mighty golden snake staff and the black Orb of Empire.
The Isle of Clover
Near the centre of Whispering Turtles Lake are a number of small rocky islands capped with trees. The second largest of these has been home to the small settlement of Clover since the lakeside community of Burhuie was sacked during the great war and most of the survivors escaped into the lake in a mix of rowboats and fishing craft.
Until then, the fisher folk of Burhuie avoided the Isle of Clover because of the accursed elven ruins there. Today those ruins have been repaired and massive runes of defense and strength carved into the fortifications by the dwarves who helped settle here (although there are no longer any dwarves on the island, as they were just a single family at the time). No one lives within the fortifications proper, but they are maintained for emergencies and used for storage.
The people of Clover are fishers and farmers, mostly human with a bit of elven blood in the mix. The town has no actual “government”, but a significant voice is given to Acdad Yim, a resident who left the island in his youth and returned with a not insignificant sum of gold, some interesting treasures, and a potent grasp of sorcery.
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/08/09/isle-of-clover/
Old Herlihy Farm has been abandoned for a few years. It was a few weeks since anyone had seen France Herlihy at the marketplace before anyone went out to the secluded farmhouse to find she had expired in her sleep. With no Herlihys left in town, the livestock was split up between a few local farmers, and no one paid the site any more attention as it slowly collapsed.
But now the Gutbound goblin gang has moved in. They are on the run from the most fierce of all things, a goblin paladin trained as a hunter of his own kind. Who knows what crimes a goblin has to commit to be hunted down by his kin in this manner, but the Gutbound goblin gang did them.
Now they are hiding in the secret basement of a burned down outbuilding on the Herlihy Farm. Trying to keep their heads down and out of trouble until the paladin Gomox moves on to hunt for them elsewhere. But the Gutbound aren’t the most clever of creatures, and it isn’t hard to find the trail beaten into the grass where they travel from their secret refuge to the old rain barrels in the collapsed barn to collect water.
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/08/13/goblins-at-herlihy-farm/
Word came back from some fishermen that there was a cog beached at Banana Bay – one of the few decent approaches to Esborough Island. So we loaded up a small expedition to check it out – it is usually pretty hard to get any of the locals to head to Esborough because of all the “haunted” ruins about the place, but their willingness to loot / rescue the ship was enough to motivate them and thus finally gave us the chance to explore the place a bit also.
But the boat was in even worse shape when we arrived – the port side burned through roughly midship, with the ruined interior of the ship laid bare to the elements. As the locals started digging through the wreckage, we climbed up the low cliff face and up to the ruined tower that looks down on the bay. Within we found the burned bodies of a half dozen sailors, and the first of the cinder wraiths. They look like smoke with embers floating within them, vaguely humanoid in form. They travel on the wind, they strike with fierce anger and a fiery hatred for the living.
We left several of our people behind as we abandoned the island again to the burning dead. They can keep the cog, and whatever was in that locked chest in the tower...
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/08/16/the-wreck-at-banana-bay/
Up on a steep face, by the northern fire mountain, we found what we had been looking for – a cleft into the mountain that lead not to a natural cave, but to a construction of the ones we call the morlocks.
The narrow cleft lead to a trapped chamber that struck us with an invisible force from all sides, snuffing our torches and forcing us to rely on the light granted by Zuul, opener of the ways, to progress. The main passage within was round in cross section, but with a flat floor. Metal doors blocked further access within. (Who has such steel that they might use it for doors? surely these are the tombs of the steel makers who already know the riddle of steel – our kin have only just learned the art of iron working!)
The steel makers are probably the ancestors of the degenerate morlocks. Within these tombs we found a number of funerary urns of finest steel and absconded with them to bring back to the people. There were other marvels too – strange gems strung together on copper wires, vast vats of strongest wine, and glass pillars reaching from floor to ceiling. We believe that perhaps the smallest room is a magical access to areas above or below this one – but tomb robbers who explore too much instead of running when they have found the riches they can carry quickly become the entombed, so we left before exploring more.
(Being the description of finding a small and seemingly abandoned high tech structure in the mountains – we are tribesfolk on the cusp of the iron age in Zzarchov Kowolski’s Neoclassical Geek Revival RPG, and find all this exciting and yet mystifying.)
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/08/20/tombs-of-the-steel-makers/
Burial mounds are a staple of fantasy games and stories. Today’s offering is a collection of six more burial mounds for those occasions when you really need to loot a a small tomb or small tomb complex right now.
This set of tomb maps go from simple single-chambered mounds to multi-chambered mounds and finally to a pair of mounds that incorporate multiple crypts and passages such as “Shadow Dragon’s Tomb” on the lower right.
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/08/23/barrow-mounds/
It has finally been done!
I've redrawn each of the individual Caves of Chaos, then combined them all back into one massive map at 1200dpi in my style.
There are too many awesome pieces to put them all here, and the individual maps are 6 megs each, so I ask, no, I DEMAND that you come to my site to see them!
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/08/30/the-caves-of-chaos-dyson-logos-edition/
A few miles from the nearest outposts of civilization, just over those hills to the west of here, are the old estates of the Trent family. Sitting almost smugly on a hill in the midst of overgrown hedge mazes and fallow fields is the manor of “Mad” Fenrick Trent. Sure the first parts of the structure were initially built by his grandfather, and the last Trents to live in it were his great-grandchildren, but Mad Fenrick is the Trent who put the most work into the half-fortified squat monstrosity.
Of course, a massive cobbled together and defensively structured manor like Mad Fenrick’s Manor doesn’t stop with just the main level and a few towers. In the main courtyard of the manor is a set of stairs that originally lead to the Trent family crypt, but that now connects to a small dungeon (as well as Mad Fenrick’s Root Cellar, Mad Fenrick’s Family Crypt, Mad Fenrick’s U-Store-It, and Mad Fenrick’s Large Rodent Repository, of course).
With the manor grounds now abandoned, who knows the sorts of things that crawl about beneath the old manor house. Whatever they are, they are probably very lonely and would love to play with any visitors.
Originally drawn in 2014, Mad Fenrick's Manor has been cleaned up and re-released under a free commercial use license thanks to the amazing people supporting my work through Patreon.
High resolution versions (both with and without grid) and the free commercial use license can be found on the Dodecahedron at https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/08/31/release-the-kraken-on-mad-fenricks-manor/
It was the way of the Etturan Dynasty to show the might and connection to the earth of the rulers to dig out underground complexes to serve as tombs. Some tombs were fairly simple affairs, dug down as far as they could manage before the ruler’s death. Others were more massive undertakings – complexes of tombs, crypts, temples and shrines dug into the native stone of the land.
Prince Delan’s Tomb is one of the Etturan Dynasty’s “lost tombs” – roughly 40 tombs who’s locations were lost with the burning of the Tarek Archives. The tomb itself is a style that was made popular by a much earlier Etturan King, with various structures built off a central shaft. During construction wooden scaffolding was assembled in the shaft in order to climb from one level to another. Once Prince Delan was entombed the wooden structure was burned away leaving the central shaft with no easy means of accessing the other portions of the complex.
Much to the chagrin of anyone exploring the site now, sections of the tombs have collapsed, and foul beasts have moved into the bottom of the shaft and live in the walls down there making anything that dangles down to the bottom a danger.
Grab the 1200 dpi version of this map from the blog post at https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/03/prince-delans-shaft-tomb/
Few (sane) adventurers are aware of the frightening alien intelligences that live on the other planets. Even those that doe are generally unaware that some of these creatures have access to planar travel as well as interplanetary travel. The maddening brain-stealing fungi from Yuggoth are the perfect example of something no adventurer expects to run into on the Astral.
So, what better place to experiment on captive brains?
This free-floating structure is controlled by a massive collection of brains that the Mi-Go have assembled into some sort of brain cluster. A few Mi-Go may be present at any time, as well as a few orderlies (typically strong creatures like ogres who have had Mi-Go brains grafted into their heads). The rest of the population are a mix of kidnapped people lucky enough to still have their own brains; kidnapped bodies used as a chassis for other kidnapped brains; and a few classic “brains in a jar” to round out the mix – all subject to horrifying and bizarre experiments testing the limits of the standard human / elven / halfling / dwarven brains.
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/07/astral-sanatorium-of-the-mad-mi-go-brain-cluster/
While a number of the old shaft tombs of the Etturan Dynasty have been found and explored, there is one that remains a well-kept secret amongst sages, masters of dark arts, and the few adventurers who have been there. Possibly the original shaft tomb of the dynasty, or perhaps a strange discovery that became the inspiration for the ones to come – the Bottomless Tombs seem to have earned their name.
The central part of these tombs is a 15 foot x 15 foot shaft that seems to go down forever. Determining the actual depth has proven to be beyond the abilities of scrying and simple engineering, and areas of both permanent magical darkness as well as areas of anti-magic (as well as a host of hostile inhabitants) make exploring the depths of the shaft an unwelcoming idea.
But this map concentrates on the tombs around the upper portion of the shaft. A total of seven tomb structures have been cut into the shaft at this area, including the Vault of Kezamdomnus which is accessed via the basement of the long-ruined Temple of Shol-Gath. These tombs and crypts are in turn protected by the inherent danger of the central shaft, as well as their own traps, magical guardians, and sometimes even the undead remnants of their inhabitants.
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/10/the-bottomless-tombs/
The Bronze Vault is a small, multi-level complex cut into the Jappa Slopes and connected to one of the small cavers that dot the hillsides. Once connected to a small watchtower that was built too close to the edge, getting into the complex typically means climbing to the ruins as the door between the cave and the complex is locked, barred, and now rusted shut.
In-game, the complex fills the role of any classic “dungeon in the wilderness” setting – a place where civilization once held sway but is now home to monsters hiding in the roots of our achievements. In the grand tradition of the Moldvay Basic D&D set, this is where hobgoblins would hide their prisoners captured from the nearby town; perhaps home to a small cult that cannot worship publicly in civilized areas; or the destination for a treasure map that the party found in a previous adventure.
Personally, I like the treasure map angle – making the secret chamber in section B right by the entrance the treasure room, but with the map showing how to get there from the cave entrance instead of the upper entrance.
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/13/the-bronze-vault/
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… premature.
Today we have nine more crypts, barrows, and tombs for exploration and plundering, ranging from simple single-roomed barrows to small complexes. Combined with the offerings in the previous two “Barrow Mounds” offerings, this brings us to a total of 24 mounds and crypts to explore. A perfect excuse to crack out that d24 from your collection!
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/17/barrow-mounds-iii/
“Caves in the hills? Ach, there may be a place – we call em the travellers caves. Twisty, up and down, easy to get confused in. An’ they go deep, way deeper then any sensible person would go. So yeah, if you really think there’s beasties in caves ’round here, that’s where I reckon they’d be hiding.”
The Travellers Caves are a small complex of winding multi-tiered caves and chambers which bear the evidence of several previous tenants over the years – from animal scat and hair to old broken boxes and cold, quiet campsites.
One narrow passage leads down from the complex into deeper caverns...
This map was drawn on fairly dark paper in a lovely little travel notebook using black gel pens. The dark colour of the paper made scanning a little rough and a bit uneven in places.
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/the-travellers-caves/
Once you are past the wards and sigils that guard the entranceway and have triggered the teleporter, you finally are brought to the archmage’s private sanctum.
The Archmage’s Chambers are hidden away deep underground, below the “comfortable” levels of the underdark to an area where the stone walls seem to press in with relentless gravity and heat. Once a small node broken open by opposing forces of elemental earth and air, the cracked tunnels were then shaped, smoothed and reinforced magically to withstand the incredible pressures down here.
The chambers are hot and oppressive, and without the small nexus of elemental air present, there wouldn’t be a cool breeze to make it survivable (and there would be no fresh air to breathe either).
And down here, the archmage keeps their secrets, their spells cut into crystal decanters instead of spellbooks, their twisted homonculi that carry wisps of ancient knowledge, and the six pillars where they store their favourite emotions and moments, safe for all time from the whimsy of human memory.
Originally drawn by David Brawley who runs Tower of the Archmage, I couldn’t resist sticking the design through the custom “Dysonizer” I have sitting at my desk.
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/22/the-archmages-chambers/
A warren of small chambers, passages, and natural caves, the Dark Caverns of Turr were once a set of dwarven mines of the famously unstable Darkshoe clan. But then one day the Darkshoe dwarves picked up and left, locking most of the doors behind them. In the years since, creatures have crawled up from the darker caves below and others have moved in from the surface, and the caverns now contain a veritable Gygaxian collection of creatures that try to live together.
There are three entrances into the warrens.
- The “front door” over to the far right of the map that leads into the original Darkshoe clan hall.
- The “back door” over to the left that leads into the deeper caves.
- The “stone stairs” very near the back door that lead down into the “glittering gallery” that come down from a secret cleft in the back of a small cave overhead.
This map is actually one I drew back in 2010 when running either my Labyrinth Lord or B/X D&D campaign that year. This photo doesn’t do it justice, but it is drawn in VERY light pencil on thin typewriter paper, and was nearly impossible to scan and keep the details looking at all good. But now that I’ve figured out how to get these old maps scanned, I’ll see if I can get the last of the old “Lost Maps” finally scanned and on the blog.
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/24/the-dark-caverns-of-turr/
Along the western jetties and piers of the city are the Kobold Docks, a moderately large wooden pier where boats can be purchased or rented from Jotel Vuzen, a “sahuagin out of water” if you will. Jotel acts as the agent for a few shipwrights and Xughon Belpar, a pirate who acquires his trade goods in an entirely illegal manner.
Generally Jotel has d3+1 smaller boats at the pier, and 1d3-2 larger craft in the harbour. He also often has a few smaller stolen goods in his tent on the pier that he sells on commission for Xughon, mixed in with the various apothecary goods that his elven wife Phyehni collects and sells.
Of course, with all these goods of questionable provenance moving through this area, any time that player characters find themselves buying something here there’s the off chance that they will get caught up in some other drama involving people threatening Jotel or his clients to get their goods back (or in a real twist, these are con men trying to get something for nothing based on figuring out Jotel’s dirty dealings).
The pier is known as the kobold docks because the previous business before Jotel set up here was a small enclave of six kobolds who made wickerwork coracles used by some of the local fisherfolk. But the kobolds moved on as the fisherfolk earned more money and were able to purchase or build more sturdy boats that didn’t need regular replacement.
A version of this map also appears in the Kobold Press adventure “Monkey Business” where it is set in the City of Brass.
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/27/the-kobold-docks/
A ghost ship haunts the waters out around the Charred Reef. She’s so old that all that remains is her superstructure, and the golden “cage” she carried on her deck. She appears out of the fog along Charred Reef on nights when there is no more than single ship or boat to sight her, slides along silently on the top of the water, and her disappearance back into the night always presages a violent storm.
Within the gilded cage is a potent banshee, the long dead elven sorceress who was within the cage when the ship sank who knows how long ago. The golden cage she is trapped within also changes her song – instead of wailing in eternal agony, to those outside the cage she seems to be singing a long lamentful song.
Entering the golden cage can be achieved through partially collapsed stairs that lead up a shaft from the bottom of the boat’s skeleton through a shaft in the floor of the cage, or by somehow (flying, climbing) getting to the balcony that surrounds the cage and walking in through one of the four doorways. Of course, the moment one steps within the cage, they become subject to the effects of her wailing song.
Any treasures that were once within the cage with the sorceress are long destroyed or lost by ages of frequent submersion, but a secret panel in the floor of the cage leads to a shallow chamber beneath which contains the MacGuffin.
A version of this map also appears in the Kobold Press adventure “Monkey Business” where it is set out in the oceans of flame near the City of Brass.
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/09/29/skeleton-of-the-gilded-cage/
Briar Keep is a border fortress and small settlement that marks the northern boundary of the Satrapy where the Northlands begin. Built only a few generations ago, the keep is in excellent shape and is well maintained and houses a garrison of Satrapy forces. Unlike most settlements in the Satrapy, Briar Keep and it’s environs are also home to a number of dwarves of the Greybeard clan and associated families.
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/10/01/release-the-kraken-on-briar-keep/
Viktor Hevlod is a person who wears many hats - he is the assistant to the guildmaster of the mason's guild; master of the yellow dagger within the assassin's guild; inner council member of the order of the blue star (who perform a lot of charity work in the city); and he manages to find enough time to actually practice his stonework in all that.
But really, being a high ranking member of both the Assassin's Guild and the Order of the Blue Star (who's charity work is mostly a cover for their other work in the name of the dark ophidian gods of yore), it won't be much of a surprise when his plans or actions come into conflict with any group of local meddlers.
And investigating Viktor will generally turn to his family home, Hevlod Manor. Built entirely of stone (befitting his guild status and the teams of younger masons he employs), Hevlod Manor is a sprawling single-story structure with heavy walls built in a moderately upscale neighborhood. The manor boasts an attached carriage-house, yard, gardens, and several wings for family members and associates. Only minimal staff actually lives here - in the carriage house - with other servants and staff coming and going throughout the day and night.
Since Viktor often entertains here, he keeps the place fairly impeccable, and never allows the secret aspects of the Blue Star nor the Assassin's Guild to be visible to visitors (including those who "accidentally" get lost in the more private parts of the structure). In fact, Viktor Hevlod keeps everything so close the the chest, that the only time you are likely to confirm that he's up to all these nefarious schemes is to run afoul of them in person...
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/10/04/hevlod-manor/
Somewhere in these crypts, there is still the undead remnants an adventurer-archaeologist searching for the obvious secret door into the central circle.
The crypts of the Ophidian Emperor were built around a double-circle motif, designed to feel like a snake curling around the tombs and crypts. To further accent the motif, the circular halls are set about three feet lower than the other chambers and crypts. The various chambers are tombs, crypts, and “treasure rooms” stacked with fake grave goods to accompany the Ophidian Emperor into the afterlife.
All doors within the crypts are fairly thin single-piece stone blocks mounted on metal hinges. All doors and most walls are decorated with frescoes and bas-relief carvings of idealized images of the reign of the Ophidian Emperor, often showing off his mighty golden snake staff and the black Orb of Empire.
https://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2018/10/08/circle-crypts-of-the-ophidian-emperor/