Return to Moria: Player Maps

It's Saturday, and I usually don't write a regular post on the weekends, but I thought I'd throw up links to the player maps from the first session. These were done on easel-board sized paper, then photographed, so the quality isn't the best.

First Map

•  The First Map

This map depicts the exterior entrance (top), the cavern complex (left) and the goblin fort (right). Most of this area was explored Friday night.

Second Map

• The Second Map

This map depicts the goblin fort (top) and the passages beyond the "Big Evil" in the pool. This area is only partially explored. Most of this was explored Sunday morning.

Third Map

• The Third Map

This map depicts the area beyond the north gate leading from the goblin fort (right).  The big area in the center is the huge arena the party crossed several times during Saturday's play. Left is the switchback that lead to a miles long passage, while the bottom of the map represents the orc fort and ant colony.

Return To Moria: Some Maps

These are two quick maps I pulled together for my Moria campaign using Open Office Draw to lay them out. Note to my players: Don't be peeking!

They show the main upper halls, the lower deeps, the two gates into the Mines, a number of upper and lower natural cavern complexes, and Durin's Tower, with a few miscellaneous markers up too.

The first one is a top-down view of the main areas of Moria.

The second is a side view showing relative elevations.

Of course there's no real scale here, other than a rough 40 miles between the gates.

One Page Dungeon Contest

What do Chatty DM, Chgowiz, Sham, and Amityville Mike have in common? They're sponsoring a One Page Dungeon design contest.

What do Lizardmen, ghouls, venomous water spiders and carnivorous water lilies have in common? They're all featured in my entry, the Lost Tombs of the Serpent Temple.

A human temple, long fallen and forgotten, once stood guard over burial vaults atop this cliff. The Lizardmen, led by a powerful shaman, now use the site for their sacrifices and rituals. They have taken up residence in the accessible caves below the cliff, while more dangerous foes lurk in the depths.

For my entry I get to pull out one of my favorite monsters, the Lizardman. Nothing makes me happier than a tribe of scaly primitives threatening the party's safety. Because the format is very constrained there won't be a lot of detail in the dungeon key itself. I'm planning on detailing the creatures from my entry right here, but for now you'll have to be content with a preview of the map.

And yes, this is kind of a cheesy cop-out post. I got sucked into this map big time!

Map Hackings: The Beginning

Lately I've been working with Inkscape and Gimp, two freely distributable drawing programs, hoping to improve my mapping skills. The attached map represents a few hours work in Inkscape laying out a multi-layer cavern complex. Writing about non-flat dungeons inspired me to work on something that pushed things both vertically and horizontally.

I'm working on the assumption that this cave complex was originally created by water action. There are three primary levels, the lightest tone top level can be accessed via sink holes at A and B. There are holes / tunnels leading to the lower layers at points C, D, and E. The middle layer has entrances via sinkholes at F, G, and H; and a worked entrance at I, leading to an area that has been shaped by someone or something. Holes / tunnels lead to the lowest level at J, K, and L. A side view of the middle layer would show it as sagging in the middle where massive chamber M forms the core of the complex On the lowest level chambers N and O hold underground lakes, while P is a waterfall leading further down.

This is only a rough layout. Hopefully I can put in some time on this over the weekend to finalize the caves and start marking up gradients, connections, and water. Eventually I'd like to do a side view of this mess too, but I fear my drawing skills aren't up to that yet. In the mean time... enjoy these crude scribblings!

The Things in the Sewers

I found these random tables and sewer map in a set of notes uncovered in my scanning project. They're a peek back into my gaming from the early 80s. The sewers ran beneath the small city of Gujur, and were inhabited by a tribe of Wererats who secretly controlled most of the illegal activity in the city. I never got a chance to run this dungeon, the group it was planned for headed off in a completely different direction. One of the hazards of sandbox play.



Wandering Monsters

01-15 Wererat (1-2)
16-35 Giant Rat (1-10)
36 Carrion Crawler (1)
37 Ghoul (1)
38-52 Giant Centipedes (2-12)
53-55 Black Pudding (1)
56-60 Giant Frog (1-2)
61-65 Green Slime (1)
66-75 Giant Leech (1-3)
76-78 Ochre Jelly (1)
79-88 Muck Worms (1-3)
89-93 Slip Worms (1-3)
94-100 Slime Vines (1-3)

Note the last three entries were creatures of my own making. Muck Worms were giant carnivorous earthworms, Slip Worms were living traps, and Slime Vines were mini-Tanglers.

Things in Pools

01-07 Skull
08-14 Miscellaneous Bone
15-21 Rusty Gauntlet
22-28 Corroded Sword
29-35 Rotten Cloth
36-42 Rotten Sack with 1-8 GP
43-49 Ring 10-100 GP
50-56 Bent Dagger
57-63 Rotten Boot
64-77 Empty Vial
78 +2 Dagger (*)
79 Potion Fire Giant Strength (*)
80 Potion Invulnerability (*)
81-85 Roll Twice
86-100 Nothing
(*) Singular item, ignore subsequent results.

Old School Dungeon Map

As I mentioned here I'm engaged in a big scanning and cleanup project on my gaming archives. I came across this map a few days ago and thought I'd share it. Unlike most of my maps, this one actually has the map key written on the map itself. I don't recall the exact story behind this dungeon. I suspect it was part of a mega-dungeon project that never got used. The entrance is on the far right, the very narrow corridor above the "3rd" notation. Enjoy!