
So, I have an idea for a new map project and I want to get your opinions on it.
The photos above are from the Initiation Well in Portugal. That isn’t what I want to draw, but I think it illustrates my idea fairly well.
Imagine a large, cylindrical pit in the middle of a small village. The villagers don’t know who made it or how deep it is. But it’s deep. If you drop a rock, you won’t hear it hit the bottom.
Looking down into the pit, one can see walkways and chambers dug into the sides. The villagers didn’t dig them, but they use them as homes and shops. The village tavern is down there, too. Below the village are the mines, where most of the villagers work, digging for copper ore.
The tunnels circling the pit go deeper, but the villagers rarely wander beyond the mines. They know there are giant bats living down there, which come up at night. And there are goblins, or at least there used to be. They haven’t seen one in years.
Here’s a rough outline of what each level of the pit might look like:
- 1-3: The village
- 4,5: Villagers’ mines
- 6: A maze of tunnels and collapsed chambers overrun by mold
- 7: Caverns inhabited by giant bats
- 8: Ancient crypt
- 9: A goblin settlement. Possibly friendly. They eat the bats.
- 10: Caves inhabited by giant spiders. Huge webs strung across the pit (which caught the rock they threw in earlier).
- 11: Rough, partially-collapsed tunnels and chambers inhabited by monsters
- 12: Night Hag’s lair in ruins of an ancient temple
- 13, 14, 15: Ruins of an ancient settlement
- 16: Ancient prison covered in mushrooms
- 17: Myconid colony around a crumbling fountain
- 18: Ancient catacombs
- 19: Ancient oracle and library with a long-abandoned scholars’ camp containing notes about the pit’s history
- 20: Mushroom caves. Below this, the pit is filled with water
- 21, 22: Underwater ruins with undead
- 23: The bottom (Sealed vault? Trash and debris? I have no idea what goes here yet)
That’s what I’ve got right now, but it’s all subject to change, especially once I figure out the story of how the pit came to be and what’s at the bottom. If you’ve got a better story in mind, the whole thing would basically be modular, so you could rearrange the levels or remove the ones you don’t need.
Anyway, is this something you’d be interested in? I’d love to know what you think or whether you have any ideas to add. Right now, nothing is set in stone, including whether I draw it at all, so by all means, if you’re into the idea, please let me know!