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Map #29 – Traitor’s Cove

Time for the last map before Christmas. This time I drew a small (tropical?) settlement. I also tried adding a little color in the editing phase, but I don’t think I’m (yet?) very good with it. Check out the alt versions at the end of the post.

Just to give a possible background, the town might have been founded only decades ago by a captain in the imperial navy who either felt wronged or just couldn’t resist the lure of the open sea and promise of riches. In either case, if there ever was an original name, it is already forgotten and the town is now known only as the Traitor’s cove.

The town itself has a small fort and few permanent settlers. However it is frequently visited by less reputable entrepreneurs who wish to trade their cargo of questionable origins or lay low for a while.  

Here are a couple of alternative versions: Without colors and without background.

These versions are free to use according to cc-by-nc-sa, but if you want to tip me (and get first access and higher resolution), check out my patreon page.

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Map #28 – Castle ruins 1

I actually found this map on my hard drive where it had been sitting for a couple of months waiting for the final touches. This was also a quick one and I wanted to get it online without any more delays. Possible current occupants might be bandits, orcs (or equivalents), some undead creatures or even larger beasts (a manticore?).

This might be the last map of this year, but operations will continue in January.

A version without the grid is available here.

These versions are free to use according to cc-by-nc-sa, but if you want to tip me (and get first access and higher resolution), check out my patreon page.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Map #27 – Lava Lair 1

So, It’s been quite a long while without a map here – if you don’t count the #mapvember -maps. This is a really quick one and I didn’t have much of a backstory in mind when I drew this (no planning, no Ctrl-Z, no guiding grid). In any case, it has a small hideout or a study in the middle of a lava stream and I think it could be easily incorporated into almost any dungeon crawl. Hope you like it!

These versions are free to use according to cc-by-nc-sa, but if you want to tip me (and get first access and higher resolution), check out my patreon page.

And if you’re looking for a version with a grid, you can find it here.

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Map #26 – Assassins’s hideout

Here’s another quick map that was drawn without much planning and without sketching first. This has also been out there for a while (on patreon).

While drawing this, I was thinking of the Dark brotherhood hideout from Skyrim and thus this map could very well work as a semi-hidden base of a group of assassins or other shady types. I also wanted to try a drawn grid to see how it works out, so unfortunately it is permanent.

The map is pretty linear and basically cuts trough a cliff to a river, sea or a large lake. There is a small chapel but besides that, the use of rooms is up to you. If you want to have a cult like flavour, the chapel could be devoted to a single deity or it could be a more relaxed place of many gods.

Of course, if you have other plans in mind, there isn’t anything specific in the map that would mark this as a home of a sinister organisation.

Also, I wanted to keep checking out how this kind of a drawn grid would look, so unfortunately, no ‘no-grid’ version this time.

If you feel like contributing to my mapmaking efforts I do have a patreon page. Check it out!

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Map #25 – Ruined keep

Here’s a quick map that I just doodled together. It’s very similar to an earlier one, but I hope you like it nevertheless. It’s actually been available via patreon for a while, but it took some time to get this blog up to date.

This is again old ruins in the woods. This time, orcs or bandits have made a semi-permanent camp on a the ruins and the cellar and caves underneath. There is also a long tunnel leading outside surfacing a few hundred meters from the castle.

A good use for this one would be to have this be a ‘random encounter’ but then have an adventure hook in the dungeon ready to be followed. For example, the current occupants haven’t yet found the secret door behind the chapel in the dungeon. It could be that the original ward of the castle has locked themselves in guarding something – perhaps information or an important item. This type of encounter would suit a hexcrawl campaign quite well.

Also, the grid is permanent this time (I wanted to try how it would look).

If you feel like contributing to my mapmaking efforts (and getting a couple of perks!) I do have a patreon page. Check it out!

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Map #24 – Dwarven Outpost

I had another map almost ready and saw no reason to sit on it, so here it is.

This is a very small dwarven outpost. However, while expanding the tunnels, they very quickly found a nasty surprise even without digging very deep. The nature of the thing at the bottom of the pit is up to you, but I can offer a couple of suggestions. Firstly, the item on the bottom could be an ancient artifact that was sealed away ages ago and it has turned the inhabitants mad sustaining the through magic. I initially thought it could be a sarcophagus and whatever was inside has taken over the the outpost perhaps turning the dwarves to undead creatures or unrecognizable horrors from beyond. Or perhaps the miners were only drive out of the mine and now camp outside looking for help to clear the outpost and resume operations.

Here is a version without the grid.

If you feel like contributing to my mapmaking efforts (and getting a couple of perks!) I do have a patreon page. Check it out!

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Map #15 – Hidden ruins, pt. II

Weekend of many maps continues with an simple dungeon map – see earlier here and here. You can think of it as continuation of a previous map that I’ve drawn, namely hidden ruins. If you want to tip me and get access to higher resolution versions and other perks, consider becoming a patron.

There isn’t much of a story to this map, but I’d like to highlight a couple of parts of it. Firstly, there is a circular ritual room that has partly fallen off facing a cliff. There are stairs that lead to the surface and that have been built more recently. One possibility is that cultist are trying to resurrect an ancient mage or demigod that has been buried in the chamber next to the ritual room.

Secondly, some of the prison cells are equipped with trapdoors so that prisoners can be extracted for more extreme questioning or even sacrifice. Also, one of the rooms has a collapsed floor that allows access to the secret part of the dungeon. There also was an elevator but the collapsed ceilings have rendered it useless. If you feel like it, it could also act as an entry point to the dungeon.

The customary version without the grid can be found behind this link.

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Map #10 – Goblin Caves

This is not a very innovative map (or adventure hook), but classics are classics for a good reason, right? Right…? In any case, this a small cave for goblins (or other creatures/bandits) to launch their terrorizing attacks. The map should be mostly self-explanatory. There is a holding cell and a furnished room with a secret entrance (or exit if you prefer). As per usual, higher resolution and multiple versions are available to patrons.

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