[Inktober 2016] Day 20—Quirinklauth's Lair

Quirinklauth's Lair

(Key word: squeeze)

The Drake, Quirinklauth, has amassed a tremendous hoard of treasure in his cliff-top lair. Quirinklauth enters through a small cave that leads to a hole in the top of a one thousand-foot-high subterranean dome.

Other creatures must enter through the winding, narrow passageway; the passage is so narrow, in fact—sometimes narrowing to only a few feet—that human-sized creatures can only proceed at a fraction of normal speed. The passage is also, on average, only three- to four feet tall.

The hoard in the domed cavern is dozens of feet deep, and includes weapons, armor, gems, and coins, as well as art objects. The items are both mundane and magical

[Inktober 2016] Day 11—Portal of Mystery

Portal of Mystery

(Key word: transport)

There are three entrances to the cave complex. Two come in from the South, from the mountainside. The West entrance joins to a secret door from the lean-to belonging to Rog, the crazy Hermit of the Hill.

The complex is guarded by two massive iron golems.

The portal itself is burined far into the complex, behind a well-hidden secret door that is securely locked and thrice-trapped.

No one knows where the portal leads. Occasionally a gold bar or a bag of silver ore will appear on the steps in front of the shimmering doorway. Not a single adventurer who has ventured through the portal has ever returned.

[Inktober 2016] Day 3—The Warrens of Smux

Day Three of Inktober: a quick offering:

The "Warrens" of Smux, the Lonely Kobold
(Key word: collect)

   Smux, the one-armed Kobold, was exiled from his pack-clan for his deformity. He found this small cave "complex" and has claimed it as his own. He is a veritable pack rat.
   The entrance is flanked by large shrubs and a majestic oak. A small stream runs nearby, its source a waterfall.
   Inside, a natural chimney funnels the smoke from Smux's fire ring. A sloping ramp leads to the shelf where he has his nest. A small cache of his "treasures" is hidden under his soiled bedding.
Cache: silver spoons (2); silver fork (1); a marble statue missing an arm; 5 gp, 10 sp, 5 cp.

[Map Monday] Goblin Warrens of Weepcur Glen (Lvl 1)

Yeah, it's Tuesday, but I'm going to still call it Map Monday, because my internet was having fits of frozen rage all weekend. This was the first time I could get this uploaded.

I present for your viewing pleasure today, the Goblin Warrens of Weepcur Glen!

I don't have a lot of background for this map. I'd like to imagine lots of little goblin nests throughout, particularly right in the middle, on the top terrace, using the large stalagmite for cover to rain arrows down upon a bunch of murder hobos adventurers....

To be frank, I'm not sure I like this map much at all. I know, that's a ringing endorsement.... Don't get me wrong; I'm still putting it out here for y'all, and I'd love to hear if you use it. Honestly, I'd like to get any feedback on this, period.

It was more of a project, an experiment.

You see, I don't get to use GIMP as much as I'd like. In my professional day-job life, it's not really even vaguely required. And, honestly, I let so much time lapse between digitizing my maps that I truly forget some of the tricks and tweaks I've used in the past. For example, I've COMPLETELY forgotten how I did the various water effects in the Caverns of the Sceades map from last year. I've seemingly misplaced the graphic I used for the parchment effects on my previous maps. But also, I wanted to try out some new techniques with this map.

I have a confession to make. Maps can be tedious.

To digitize, that is. Especially if you're like me and you like lots of little elevation changes. Those little elevation lines on the ledges? If anyone could tell me a fast and simple way to do that in GIMP or Photoshop, you would instantly become my hero. If you could tell me a fast and easy way to put the elevation lines in the crevasses? Yeah. I may just put you in my will. It takes so much time and energy to put the little lines in, time after time...I think that's why I let so much time elapse between map uploads here.

So, with this map, I used a fine tip Sharpie marker (y'know, the ones that say "fine" but are really quite large and fat?) on 1/4"-graph paper. I uploaded it, then contrasted out the lines, and added in a layer of digital lines. I also created my own "cross-hatch" effect and threw that on their as well. I wanted to see what effects were possible by hand-drawing then simply digitizing, with minimal digital touch-ups and re-draws.

Yeah. Didn't turn out nearly as well as I'd hoped.

I don't like the smoothness of the lines. I don't like re-drawing over my lines after I digitize a map, but I think it may have a more organic feel when I do. I also don't like filling the page with cross-hatch; I'd much rather do a partial fill like Dyson Logos' and Matt Jackson's maps. I know there's got to be an easy way to do this digitally, rather than by hand, but I have yet to find it. And I really don't want to ask these guys about their professional tricks: this is bread and butter to them, after all. (And yes, I've tried it by hand. The results were...well...frightening.)

I also ran into a problem with "transparency." I found it difficult to add colors (like the parchment paper) without over-writing them with other layers. Again, I know I'm missing something, I'm just having trouble finding (or re-finding) the answers. If anyone knows of a good GIMP tutorial, especially in re maps and map drawing, I'd love a reference. I'd also, like I said, appreciate any other feedback or criticism you can offer. Hopefully someone out there can use it in their own world, at least as a hook or an idea. Drop me a line if you do, would you?

The JPG is here and the PDF is here.

[A to Z April]M is for Middlemurk Church (map)

Middlemurk Church

Middlemurk Church is one of the oldest church buildings in Coldtreath. The central portion of the building was once used for religious services. In the later years, and after a large reduction in congregation and service attendance, a wing was added on which now contains the altar and relics as well as the worship areas.

Centuries of members of the Coldtreath noble family, the Middlemurks, are interred in the gated crypts. The Middlemurks are responsible for the financial upkeep of the church and represent the largest percentage of past and current members of the congregation. Recently a pack of ghouls have burrowed up from a set of subterranean warrens, destroying a sarcophagus in the process. They have only desecrated one set of remains...so far. The portcullis on the crypt kept the ghouls from entering the other areas of the church. It is only a matter of time, however, before other remains are desecrated and until they manage to burrow beyond the gates.

The warrens remain unexplored. It is likely that there is at least one hidden entrance from the ghoul warrens into deeper and more extensive subterranean caverns. The Middlemurk family as well as the resident priest are still searching for a suitably brave set of adventurers to enter the crypts, the caverns and the warrens.


Get the JPEG of the map here.
Get the PDF of the map here.

Feel free to use my maps in your home games. You can rename it, modify it, stock it, or abuse it in any manner legal in your particular jurisdiction. If you do use it, all I ask is that you let me know and tell me about it afterwards.

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Previous "M"s:
2012: M is for Myth Voice (feat)
2011: M is for Maerl Dardar (npc)
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[A to Z April] I is for Ice Quartz Caverns (map)

The Ice Quartz Caverns

The Ice Quartz Caverns are a fascinating oddity. The cavern complex itself is not too extensive or convoluted, yet they are not easily explored. Once an adventurer passes through the cavern entrance, down a narrow corridor, the ice quartz reveals itself. Every surface is composed of this unique crystal formation. There are no smooth surfaces upon which to walk, only areas where the crystal is "somewhat worn." Ice quartz is quite sharp; any creature that should trip and fall while walking will suffer lacerations. A fall of any substantial height is sure to be more dangerous, even fatal.

In addition, the crystals themselves have a dampening effect on magic and magic items. The deeper one goes in the caves, the stronger the effect. In the deepest portions, in fact, the caverns become an anti-magic zone.

Points of Interest:
Point A--The area marked as point "A" on the map is a sinkhole, which drops 300' straight down. The sides of the hole are covered in the same ice quartz that is found elsewhere in the cave.
Point B--Between the bottom of the sinkhole at Point A and the area marked as point "B" the elevation of the corridor drops a total of 100 feet. The corridor between those two points drops at an average 27º slope.
Point C--The cliff at point "C" is a 200' drop-off. As with everything else in the caverns, the edge and face of the cliff is composed of the razor-sharp ice quartz crystals.

Rumor has it that somewhere deep in the caverns lives a race of giant spiders whose exoskeletons are composed of crystals similar to the ice quartz. Pieces of these exoskeletons could reasonably be fashioned into pieces of armor which would not only have offensive capabilities due to the razor-sharp nature of the crystals, but would also share the magic-dampening effects of the crystals.

Get the JPEG of the map here.
Get the PDF of the map here.

Feel free to use my maps in your home games. You can rename it, modify it, stock it, or abuse it in any manner legal in your particular jurisdiction. If you do use it, all I ask is that you let me know and tell me about it afterwards.

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Previous "I"s:
2012: I is for Iron Hide Zombie
2011: I is for Innkeeper
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[A to Z April] U is for the Upper Snarl (locale)

The Upper Snarl

A hard three-days ride from Coldtreath, high in the mountains, there is a cave. The entrance is massive, nearly 100 feet across and the same deep. Three tiers or steps each over five feet tall act as a stairway in the mouth of the Snarl.

(Get the color map here or the black-and-white version here.)

The Snarl itself is all smooth, worn stone on floors, walls, and ceilings. No one is quite sure what formed the Snarl; lava tubes, water, or some massive beast’s tunneling–all are distinct possibilities, yet each one has a distinct flaw. Throughout the Snarl, one finds rooms that are near-perfect half-domes, carved or worked out of the surrounding rocks. These chambers are close enough to perfect to be hand-crafted, yet are clearly worn stone.

Whatever its origins, the Snarl has proven time and again to be a deadly maze of tunnels. Wandering creatures who have taken refuge in the Snarl are often to blame, but it is believed that recently the so-called Abyss of Spiders has widened and intersected a portion of the Snarl. This has allowed deadly spiders of all sorts to enter the Snarl and wander its passages.

There are multiple levels to the Snarl, reached not through stairways or passageways, but through holes broken through the floors into chambers below. So far as is known, the Snarl has never been fully explored. It is not known what creatures may exist below; neither is it known what piles of treasure may be found amongst the remains of previous adventurers.

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Last year's "U": U is for Urosh, Temple of
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Map Monday: Caverns of Sceades, Level One

Awhile back...OK, last November to be exact, I posted up level one of the treacherous Caverns of Sceades. THAT wasn't a Monday either, although I billed it as a "Map Monday" then as well. I also promised some dungeon-stocking and keying to happen in the following week.

Yeah, that didn't happen. What did happen, however, over the past few days is a re-imaging of the first level. I suppose it's a bit of a re-imagining too, but specifically a re-imaging.

It's not perfect, and my skills still aren't what I wish they were, but here's the new Level One of the Caverns of Sceades.

And here's the link to download the .pdf for yourselves.

A few clarifications of the previous description: there is still a shaded-out portion of the lake. I called this a "overhang" previously. Instead, imagine it as a solid rock wall that comes down nearly to the level of the water and which stretches across half of the lake. Also, that little statue room up in the upper left-hand corner? The statue is still there, but you'll notice that the walls of the cave are smoother, more polished than before. That's right: the chamber walls are highly polished and completely smooth, in an almost spherical shape.

As usual, the map is free to use. Just please shoot me a link and a note to let me see how and where you used it.

Map Monday: Caverns of Sceades

OK, I realize that it's no longer Monday, but I had some technical issues and wound up using all of my free time for the entire day yesterday just trying to get the map in a digital format.

But here it is: the first level of the treacherous Caverns of Sceades. Click here for .pdf.

Why are they treacherous? Well, that's completely up to your own devious DM mind. I'd like to see what kind of dungeon-stocking and keying you all can come up with. I'll try and post up my own in a week or so.

Just a couple notes as to the map:

1. The "bullseye" in the upper left corner of the map? You see it? There in that tiny, almost-inaccessible corridor? That's a statue.
2. Also, on this .jpg on the blog I've "shaded out" a portion of the lake. If you look at the .pdf, it's not shaded. This is for the DM reference only--it's an overhang that comes down nearly to the level of the water across half of the lake. The walkway only runs around the lake in a crescent and ends abruptly where the overhang sits. The slight 3'-4' slope up from the water proceeds under the overhang and grants a little bit of room between the water and the overhang itself. There is an outflow point in a cave running from under the overhang to the west.
3. Down in the lower right corner is a set of steps leading down to the next level.

All the rest I'll leave to you.

As usual, the map is free to use. Just please shoot me a link and a note to let me see how and where you used it.

L is for Lehman Caves

The National Park Service website has this amazingly helpful and informative description of these caves: "Lehman Caves is a beautiful marble cave ornately decorated with stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, flowstone, popcorn, and over 300 rare shield formations."

Yeah. Doesn't that just make you want to rush right out to the middle of the Great Basin and see the caves? They actually have more descriptive information about the apricot trees outside the cave than they do about the caves themselves. Really, NPS, THAT'S what your marketing team came up with?

I grew up going to Lehman Caves. It's 234 miles from Salt Lake City. That's over four hours the way my father drove. Four hours of practically nothing. In the summer. And rarely did we have air conditioning in those days.

The view from the front of the Lehman Caves Visitors' Center, looking east.

But I loved it.