Flatiron Building Map as Dungeon Level

 Turned a map from the Flatiron Building in a single-level dungeon with 30 rooms (so I could add a d30 table or two to go with it—to come in a future post).

Free PDF Download... Sandbox Resources: Hex Map Pack

Since I've had a couple of requests for alternate ratios for the Hex Crawl Worksheets from the d30 Sandbox Companion, I've put together a free d30 Sandbox supplement - Sandbox Resources: Hex Map Pack. It's got the Hex Crawl Worksheet in 4:1, 5:1, and 6:1 ratios (4:1 is the ratio that's been on my free download page for quite some time, 5:1 is the old Judges Guild Standard, and 6:1 is what appears in the final d30 SBC). There are also geomorph-style blank hex mapping pages (which, should you choose to do so, could be printed, cut out, and "pieced" together).

Download the Sandbox Resources: Hex Map Pack PDF for FREE from RPGNow.

Free Map

While combing through Archive.org yesterday in search of public domain images, I came across the book Prester John, an adventure novel from 1910 by Scottish novelist (and Canadian governor) John Buchan. The novel tells the tale of David Crawfurd, a young Scottsman, and his adventures in South Africa, where a Zulu uprising is tied to the Prester John legend of Medieval times. In the front of the book was this cool Tolkien-esque map. So I pulled the image, cleaned off the wording (including that pejorative South African term that starts with a "K" that I hate so much), and am making that cleaned up version available for you at this link!

So here's the "before and after" version (the one on the right is the one at the link).


And here's how I've adapted it for something I'm working on...
(BTW, the font I'm using is Morris Troy, a font designed by William Morris.)

Temple of the Darkmoon Sun (TBD)Free Map Today; Encounter Key Wednesday

While Welbo and I put the finishing touches on Valley of the Five Fires I needed a "short-term" distraction. I decided to do sort of a themed week, but not necessarily make a big deal about it. What I've got is a small adventure entitled Temple of the Darkmoon Sun. This has nothing to do with the Temple of the Darkmoon Talisman map from September of last year, other than I like the sound of the word "darkmoon." Today, I'm just posting a JPG of the map, but later this week (aiming for Wednesday) the encounter key will follow.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I have a killer new monster, which I have to post before the encounter key (since the encounter key includes the variants of the new monster). When I sent the preview of the new monster to Welbo, I commented that it was "one of my most inspired monsters yet," to which he replied, "ooooh ... that is cool!" It was actually the new monster that got me inspired to put together this quickie mini-adventure; plus I haven't done one in a while and felt like it was due.

So where was I? Oh yeah... today is the map, tomorrow is the new monster, Wednesday is the encounter key, and Thursday will be all the NPC information. (I might flip Wed. and Thu.) Then, if all works out as planned, I'll have a free PDF version ready for download on Friday (probably through RPGNow). So, feel free to copy today's map and tomorrow's monster and the rest of the week's stuff and assemble it yourself; but by the time you get it done, the free PDF should be ready.

Valley of the Five Fires: Update and "Ad" Preview

To cut to the chase, I made the final revisions/updates The Valley of the Five Fires on Friday. The major item was converting some of the clerics to the new steppe shaman class; oddly enough, most of the spells stayed the same, and only the weapons and armor had to change. Speaking of armor... I tell you what, that AC Cheat Sheet sure as hell made it a snap to check (and revise) the armor information for all the NPCs, and there are 34 of them! Now the PDF is in Welbo's hands for a proof review, and then I need to give it another read, and it should be ready to release.

Coinciding with that release, I'll be offering a free PDF of the shaman class through RPGNow. And the final page of that PDF will be a shameless bit of self-promotion for the module itself. For the ad, I really wanted something that felt like it came out of the pages of an old Dragon Magazine, so I opted for B&W in lieu of any color. Below is where I ended up; I think it captures the spirit of those old ads pretty well. (BTW, the "blurry part" is the print/PDF pricing/availability; I'm still working that out, and didn't want to commit to anything via this post.)

Update to the Player Handout Mapfrom Valley of the Five Fires

I reframed this from the earlier version of the player handout map for The Valley of the Five Fires to visually concentrate on the areas where the pre-generated adventures are placed, not to mention where most of the adventure seeds point.

Preview of Player Handout Mapfrom Valley of the Five Fires

A-to-Z Challenge Day 26 Free PDF Download...Map to the Lost Catacombs of Kadmos

So here it is... one month after I started this A-to-Z challenge and I've essentially written an adventure one post at a time. And so, there's nothing left but the map. So... here 'tis!

Be forewarned, there will be some inconsistencies between what was written over the last month and the map that appears here (and is downloadable via the link below). Also, I know there is no legend on the map, but each square equals 5' and when reading the type in its proper orientation, the "top" of the page is north. Also, the map is "incomplete" to some degree; for example, you will note some rooms have specific floor tiles that are marked. The intention at some point is to have additional support images within the DM's encounter descriptions, as well as having a set of player "handouts" (via an "illustration booklet" a la Tomb of Horrors).

Please note the PDF is 2 pages and contains both of the pages previewed below.

Click here to download a free PDF of the maps
to the Lost Catacombs of Kadmos (from MediaFire).

A-to-Z Challenge Day 25: 24 Cursed Magic Items(Treasure List for Eggs of Vice)

Entry 25 for The Lost Catacombs of Kadmos

Just a reminder: the Greek alphabet has only 24 letters, so the A-to-Z posting finished up for me on Saturday. I am, however, using today (and tomorrow) as an "addendum" to the challenge.

As promised in Saturday's post of the Omega (Ω) Room, below are the treasures imparted by the eggs from the Omega (Ω) Room on the Path of Vice. (For information on the Path of Virtue and the Path of Vice, see Upsilon (Υ): The Paths of Vice & Virtue.)

I had originally intended that the 24 eggs in the Omega (Ω) Room on the Path of Virtue contain 24 different magical boons, but have since decided that all of the Eggs of Virtue will impart the same magical boon... a permanent 1 pt. increase to the characters lowest ability score. This boon is granted to each character as they crack the egg they choose and are teleported outside the catacombs. This way, none of them know what's inside the eggs (and will think that they are individually choosing their reward, since other members of their party will disappear before the PCs remaining in the room know what was inside the previous egg).

The Eggs of Vice will transport the characters in a similar manner (but put each PC at within a 100 mile radius of the catacombs at a disparate location from the others). While the boon for the Eggs of Virtue are all the same (per above), the treasure granted by each Egg of Vice is a different story...





BTW, don't forget tomorrow is the complete map of the catacombs.

Before and After: Stupa of Divine Madness

It's always interesting to me to compare my initial sketches with my finished work. The images below are both of the "Stupa of Divine Madness" location from The Valley of the Five Fires. The image on the left is my "2nd" initial sketch and notes (I didn't have my original sketch when I found time to detail the levels and worked from memory), and the image on the right is the final map page from The Valley of the Five Fires

Deadline Extended! Win Prizes!

William at the Ramblings of a Great Khan blog has extended the deadline through the weekend for his Roman-themed adventure design contest.

NEED AN IDEA?
Try my 2-page d30 Adventure Seed Generator (Part I is here, and Part II is here). There's also my post about Roman-themed adventure ideas.

NEED A MAP?
For a dungeon, there's always Dave's Mapper.
For a city or town, use Inkwell's Random City or Random Village Map Generators.
For wilderness map, try Isomage's Wilderness Map Generator.
Not sure what you want? Try Paratime Design's Creative Commons Licensed Cartography site.

NEED SOME ROMAN MONSTERS?
How about the cacus (a fire-breathing giant), or the striga (a sort of vampiric harpy). Also see this post from the Wizards site regarding the Roman Empire as a D&D setting.

NEED SOME NAMES FOR YOUR NPCs?
Try Ted's Roman Name generator (just plug in your name, or somebody else's). There's also the Roman Name Generator at fantasynamegenerators.com

Mongolian Adventure Map

I'm making slow-but-steady progress for the Mongolian adventure design contest over at William's Great Khan's blog. This is the map that goes with yesterday's wandering monster tables.

I've got a good start on the clan/tribe backgrounds, and a weekend road trip ahead of me, so I should have ample "passenger time" to get done most of what I want to get done before the deadline.

And if William extends the deadline, I might add some more to what I've got, or do a stand-alone item or two that supplements it.

Mid-80s Map Porn!

The maps below were created by me circa 1983-4 and, for most of high school, filled the bulletin board over my bed. See... those colored pencils I had to buy for my high school geography class came in handy... just not for the geography my teacher intended.

Announcing d30 Sandbox Week + d30 Sandbox Companion Update

Honestly, with work and life being as crazy as they've been, it seems the only way I can keep committed to my bloggingly duties is to force myself. So I'm doing another themed week (which pretty much forces me to post every day from Monday through Friday).

In the background, I've been making pretty good headway on the d30 Sandbox Companion, but many of the charts are very involved and require some real thought/consideration to: 1) keep the charts really valuable (as opposed to a bunch of fluff/filler), 2) make them really effective (giving a lot of "bang" for each roll, reducing the required rolls as much as possible), and 3) make them relatively simple to understand without too much explanation. For example, I've been working on a 2-page system for hireling/henchmen recruitment that incorporates: 1) the size of the settlement where the recruitment is happening, 2) the amount and kind of advertising being done, and 3) the number and type of respondents to the ad (e.g., the number of human heavy footman and elven archers)—a chart which also incorporates the weekly cost of said respondents. I've been working on that chart off-and-on for about four months.

One of the decisions I've had to make (and a VERY tough one, at that) is to really limit the encounter charts I'd originally intended to include in the book. I realized that by the time I created all the monster encounter charts I'd wanted to (e.g., themed undead and sylvan charts, as well as other areas by geography and climate), and included all the stats for those creatures, I would have a book about 150% the size of the original d30 DM Companion, and it wouldn't even include (IMO) the most important Sandbox stuff (e.g., terrain, settlement and NPC generators).

And please don't think I've forgotten about the Community Geomorph Project. I've been getting some nice submissions, but knew this something that I would have to intentionally set time aside to work through. Given my current client demands, I'm targeting September as "Community Geomorph Month."

So what's in store for this week? Here's the plan...

MONDAY: FORAGING & HUNTING BY TERRAIN & SEASON
What you'll find in this one is a comprehensive ("single") d30-based chart "similar in nature" to the foraging and hunting charts from the 1e WSG.

TUESDAY (New Monster Day): TBD
I have some thoughts on this, and most likely it will be a vegetation generator similar to the "Molds, Slimes, & Mushrooms" charts from the d30 DM Companion. (Yes, I know that's a very loose interpretation of monster, but see my note above about limiting the encounter charts.)

WEDNESDAY: TAVERN ACCOMMODATIONS
This is a secondary component to the Tavern Name Generator that let's you know the size of the tavern, the sleeping accommodations, what they're known for, and what's on the menu.

THURSDAY: QUICK NPC MAGICAL ITEM DETERMINATION BY CLASS & RACE
Need to know what that 5th level Cleric is carrying but don't want to have to roll on the weapons chart and hope a sword doesn't show up? No worries, your prayers have been answered! (Pun intended.)

FRIDAY: 30 NAMED MAGICAL SWORDS
Inspired by some of the great swords of history, legend, and literature, this chart includes 30 magical swords ready for inclusion in your game world. (BTW, Excalibur and Sting will NOT be on this chart.)

Also, as the week goes on, some of my individual posts will include other notes about the d30 Sandbox Companion content, so keep an eye out for those.

PICTURED ABOVE: Portrait of Louis Guéymard in the title role of Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera Robert le diable by Gustave Courbet (slightly adjusted, of course.)

Some Free Maps You Might Have Missed

In the earlier days of this blog (which wasn't so long ago compared to some around these OSR parts), I didn't have too many followers (not that just under 100 is "many", but it is way more than 25.) As such, many of my earliest downloads may have gone unseen by many of you (especially because they are WAY down now in the archive of this blog).

These days, I'm smart with my posting labels (i.e., "keywords"), and my blog is now on the roll of many another blogger, as well as great sites like ADDGrognard's Eternal Keep (and I can never thank him enough for all the work he has and continues to put it into that thing.) That means newer posts get seen by many, and downloads like the Hex Crawl Worksheet can go from 0-60 downloads in a matter of hours.

As I've reworked this site (you may have noticed all the new links at the header of this page), there were some old downloads that I've left off the new pages either because A) I just haven't quite figured out where to put them, or B) there's just no room for them... yet. This includes a series I started called "Discovered Dungeons" (one of my earliest starts and abandons on this blog.) I've reposted them here until they find a new home.

Undertemple #1 A map I drew in 1981-2. Read the story Download Undertemple #1	Wizard's Keep Another map I drew in 1981-2, that formed the foundation of Module SK1: The Mysterious Mist of Foxpond Download the Wizard's Keep	Wolvesey Castle Based on the actual ruins of Wolvesey Castle Download Wolvesey Castle

Announcing the Community Geomorph Project

Inspired by Matthew Schmeer's "The Trouble With Troglodytes" community project over at Rended Press, I've been inspired to start one at these digs as well.

Visit the Community Geomorph Project page for the deets.

Hex Crawl Week Day 5: d30 Hex Terrain GeneratorFree PDF Download

Today's d30 Feature is a d30-based Hex Terrain Generator to accompany
Monday's Hex Crawl Worksheet (the fastest-growing download in the history of this blog!)

Click here to download today's free PDF of the d30 Hex Terrain Generator from MediaFire.

Click here to download a free PDF of the Hex Crawl Worksheet.

Hex Crawl Week Day 4: Free PDFNimmerland Background and Adventure Seeds

Yes, I did! I actually got it together! Today's Hex Crawl Week entry includes all the content to accompany yesterday's map. Included are background information, adventure seeds, and wandering monster charts for the following areas: Nimmer Isle, the Lower Jungles, the Upper Plains, Pirates Cove, Vamwalye Forest, Bear Canyon, Mermaid Lagoon, Aglar Bog and the smaller surrounding islands (Rock Island, Gold Island and Skull Rock), with seeds for plenty of possible lairs, caverns and ruins, not to mention a hobgoblin tribal war (albeit a small one).

Click here to download today's free PDF of
the Nimmerland Background & Adventure Seeds
(map not included) from MediaFire.

Need to download yesterday's free PDF of
the full-color Map of Nimmerland? Click here
to download it from MediaFire.

Hex Crawl Week Day 3: Free PDF Map of Nimmerland

As I mentioned in Sunday's post, I had chance purchase a vintage copy of Peter Pan: A Game of Adventure and, as promised in that post, I've converted it into a hex map ready for crawling.

At this point, my intention is to post some basic info on the areas as a download for tomorrow, but work may preclude that. So be forewarned that what was listed for Thursday (in Sunday's post) as "TBD" could easily become "MIA" for a few days.

BTW, there are a few jokes in some of the names on the map. But I'm holding those back for now.

Click here to download a free PDF of this
Map of Nimmerland from MediaFire.

Hex Crawl Week Day 2: Oe/1e/BX Stats for 71 Lycans!Free PDF - Monster Index: Lycanthropes

AN EXHAUSTIVE INDEX OF LYCANTHROPE INFORMATION!
I've combed a couple of decades' worth of 1e, 2e and BECMI editions, manuals, appendices, and Drag-mag articles for stats and information on all the lycanthropes I could find, and filled in the blanks with a couple dozen new were-types. In this 4-page PDF you'll find stats for 71 different lycanthropes, including treasure type, alignment, and locales in which they're found!

PLEASE NOTE: Blood not included (it's just for effect in the image.)

Click here to download a free PDF of Old-school Adventure Accessories™
item MX1, Monster Index: Lycanthropes from MediaFire.