Category: Temples

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The Mother’s Eye

The Mother’s Eye is a kuo-toan temple partially submerged in the waters of the Black Loch. The part of the temple above water is meant, perhaps surprisingly, to accommodate land-dwelling races.

Do land-dwelling races worship naked lobster lady? No, but they make great sacrifices. And kuo-toa do human sacrifices like Brazilians play soccer.  They love it, they’re great at it, it’s kind of their thing. It’s not their only thing, of course. But, you know, it’s a big one and they work hard at it. You’ve gotta respect that.

The kuo-toa of the Black Loch have big plans and I’ll talk more about what those are when I draw the kuo-toa stronghold, which I’m probably going to do within the month.

But first, there are two things to do. The first is to make an alternate version of this map with the temple on land. I figure that, if I’m going to draw an Aztec/Mayan style pyramid and put it underwater, I should probably make a version that isn’t underwater while I’m at it. It should only take a day to get done.

After that, I’ll be drawing the map chosen by last month’s Cartographic Congress: a tower fortress, similar to a smaller version of Barad-Dûr (from Lord of the Rings).

Anyway, that’s it for now. If you’re a patron and you’ve got an idea for a new location for the Black Loch that you’d like to add to the upcoming vote, you’ve got another week to let me know. Speaking of which, the ideas people have submitted so far are really good. Like, REALLY good. I can’t wait to see which one you go for.

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Altar of the Black Lamb

This map was the demonologist’s tower chosen by the Cartographic Congress. One of the stipulations was that it would have a portal to hell and I decided to go a little… non-traditional with that. “Traditional,” in this case, would be your standard-issue Door of Fire. And the problem I have with that is that it’s boring. It’s been done and it’s not scary. It doesn’t give players the sense of fear they should feel when they’re about to travel to a place where literally everybody wants to torture you to death.

So I came up with something else: a black void in the chest cavity of a rotting, dismembered storm giant. It’s the most awful thing I could think of and, to me, it’s the kind of welcome mat Hell needs. And, since “Create a Permanent Gate to Hell” isn’t a spell in the Player’s Handbook, who’s to say it doesn’t require a dead giant as a component?

I think it works pretty well in the other direction, too. If the plan is for something to come out of the portal to attack the party, it’s going to be a lot scarier after pulling itself up out of that thing. Imagine a pit fiend coming out of there. Imagine narrating that. Holy crap.

Next up, I’ll be drawing a map from the Black Loch. I want to get some serious work done on the Loch over the next few months and I’m going to start with the Abyssal Caverns, a series of caves and tunnels in the sides of a deep, underwater crevasse. I don’t have too much of a plan yet, but there will probably be a kraken’s lair.

Also, I wanted to say one last thing to the old school DMs out there. If you played D&D in the 80s or 90s, imagine using this map and your parents walked in and saw it. They’d be like, “I knew it! I knew you were worshipping satan!” Haha, oh man. I’m glad that’s not a thing anymore.

There’s an annotated version of this map and DM notes available to patrons.

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The Tigers’ Nest Monastery

Some monasteries make wine, while other monasteries make bread. This monastery makes bareknuckle kung-fu killing machines. Or, as they’re known in D&D, monks.

As a DM, having a monk in the party can be a little difficult. Not because there’s anything wrong with the class, but because coming up with useful loot for a monk is tough. They’re like warriors who don’t want magic weapons or armor, but they’re not spellcasters, so they don’t want wizard and cleric stuff either. Bracers of Defense are good and so is a Ring of the Ram, but after that, what do they even want?

One solution that’s worked for me is giving monks abilities instead of items. Have someone teach them the “Iron Palm” and give them +1 on all their unarmed attacks. It’s basically a magic weapon for a character that doesn’t use weapons.

This kind of thing can be good for druids who spend all their time shapeshifted, too, since they’re also pretty hard to find presents for. With druids, I’d present it as the blessing of a nature spirit or something, but the idea is the same. You can do this with other classes as well, but the rest tend to be a lot easier to please.

Next up, I’ll be drawing a map for the Black Loch. This is a new addition that isn’t marked on the map: The Architects of the Awakening. They’re a duergar cult that were the villains of my last campaign and they’ve got a fairly complicated story. The very short version is this:

The duergar race have the psionic essence of the mind flayers within them, but their psionic abilities are nowhere near those of the illithids. A duergar priestess believes she can awaken that essence in her people, granting them the same power the illithids have. She has found a way to do it, but she and her followers must act in secret, as her methods would be considered a heinous abomination by every living thing on earth, the duergar included.

I’ll make a separate post about it in a day or two that explains their story in more detail if you’re interested. Until then, I hope you like the Tigers’ Nest. Let me know what you think!

There’s an annotated version of this map and DM notes available to patrons.

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The Pyramid of Sobek

If you’re looking for a slightly more classic pyramid, here’s the alternate “cool but can you dial that back just a bit” version.

Sobek is the Egyptian god of the Nile and is depicted here a few times. Fun fact: Sobek was history’s first dragonborn. A lot of people thought Wizards of the Coast came up with them in 4th ed. D&D, but the truth is, the Egyptians came up with them around 2500BC. True story, look it up.

The bottom level of the pyramid was inspired by Tutankhamun’s tomb, the red stone sarcophagus being a good example of that. Some of the upper levels, on the other hand, get a little less historical and a little more this guy. That may not be quite what everybody’s looking for, but that’s why I made the alternate version.

I spent some time looking at the insides of actual pyramids while drawing this. Not because I was trying to make it historically accurate, but because I wanted it to have a similar sort of feel. One of the pyramids I looked at quite a bit was the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the largest of the pyramids of Giza. I briefly considered designing this map around that, but that wasn’t going to work. I do still want to draw it, though, and I’ve decided I’m going to do that next.

Let me explain why. It’s not a perfect place for an RPG map, but it has some things going for it:

  1. It feels authentic, because it is. I think that counts for a lot.
  2. I want to draw it as it was before it was looted. This lets you give your players the experience of being the first people to break into the Great Pyramid and I think that would be pretty awesome.
  3. Breaking in without boring a hole through the side (which is what happened) would involve this: smashing a stone seal over the entrance, heading into a tunnel that leads deep underground, finding the entrance to a narrow passage concealed behind a wall, then climbing 150′ (50m) up that nearly vertical passage, which runs through a small, natural cave. There’s more, but are you intrigued yet?

I don’t know if this sounds as interesting to anyone else as it does to me, but I really think this could be an amazing experience and I’ve got a powerful urge to draw the place. In any case, it shouldn’t take that long.

Well, I’m gonna get started. I hope I didn’t talk up the next pyramid so much that people lost interest in this one. In any case, let me know what you think!

There’s an annotated version of this map and DM notes available to patrons.

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The High Temple of Mystra

 

This is the main temple of Mystra, the goddess of magic in the Forgotten Realms. In addition to its religious functions, the temple also houses a massive storehouse of magic in the caverns below. I only included the first level in the map, but there’s a stairway on the left side of the caverns to allow you to expand into another map if you want.

The symbols at the bases of the towers are meant to be glyphs that teleport people between levels. But if you’d prefer boring old stairs, I made another version with those.

My game is starting soon, so I’ve gotta wrap up this post. Next up is more Brazenthrone!

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Mont-Saint-Michel – Fourth Level

Here’s the annotated version, the elevation guide and the DM notes. If you need the free VTT stuff, it’s on the patreon.

It’s been quite a journey, but here we are at the end. Time to chuck the ring into the volcano and start on the next adventure.

To all my patrons, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to make this. I try to draw maps that no one else makes and create unique settings for your games. Hopefully Mont-Saint-Michel will serve you well.

The elevation guide is up there. The French version isn’t, but my French language consultant is coming over for D&D in an hour and I should have it up tomorrow morning. Tonight, I’m gonna DM my game and celebrate the end of this project with fermented beverages.

Starting tomorrow, I’m getting to work on the backlog of Cartographic Congress maps. First up is Predjama Castle, a Slovenian castle built in the mouth of a cave.

There are hi-res print versions and a whole lot of VTT versions of this map available to patrons.

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Mont-Saint-Michel – Third Level

 

Here’s the annotated version and the finished DM notes. The free VTT stuff is on the patreon.

This is almost everything. The DM notes are done too, although I reserve the right to change my mind about that tomorrow. There are a couple things left to do:

  • Color the roofs. Easy, easy stuff.
  • Make furniture tokens. I promised someone I’d make them so they can mod the Mont. Even easier.
  • Stacked floor maps for VTT. Here’s one that’s finished so I don’t have to try to describe them. A patron told me this is how he used Finbarr’s Marsh: he’d use the roof map when players were outside, then, when they entered a building, he’d change to a map like the one there, with all the levels in one. I liked the idea and I’m making them for this. Let me know what you think.
  • The elevation guide. I’m making that from the roof level, so it should be up at the same time.
  • I’m still planning to make an annotated version en Francais, but I need my French friend to check it first, so it might be a minute.
  • Anything else I’m forgetting, which is hopefully nothing. Slap me if I’m wrong about that.
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Mont-Saint-Michel – Second Level

 

First: here’s the updated DM notes and the non-annotated version of the map. And the basic VTT files you’ll need to use this on Roll20 or FG are attached to the bottom of this post.

I’ve talked about the map a lot. I feel like talking about my D&D game today.

So I recently started running a game for my friends again after about a year and it feels good to be behind the screen again. Our group is… a little atypical.

First, it was almost the case that every person in the group was from a different country. I, the DM, am American. The wizard (and my wife) is Irish. The druid is Spanish. The monk is French. And the paladin is Norwegian. But, at the last minute, we went double-Spanish, which ended up being a good thing, since he played a rogue, which is a good thing for any party to have. And since, during the first session, he was the only person who seemed to be able to roll double-digit numbers on a D20, allowing the party to slowly but eventually kill the small number of poorly-armed goblins I’d put before them.

We also later got another Irish player who became the party’s ranger. Which brings me to the second unusual thing: the names. Oh my god.

So, the ranger is, ahem, “Polycarp Manius.” Um. Okay.

The monk is “Morzaninov,” which has something to do with how “more than enough” is pronounced with a French accent.

The wizard has a mile-long super-elvish name that I can’t remember.

The paladin is “Adobos,” which is passably normal.

The druid is “Blyantspisser,” which is the Norwegian word for “pencil sharpener.” Seriously.

And the rogue is “Garrett,” which, in this party, seems so oddly normal it’s almost mundane, like a character named “Bob” or “Gary” would be in most parties.

So that’s the group. They’re making their way through Lost Mine of Phandelver at the moment and they’re getting better at rolling dice. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Mont-Saint-Michel – Ground Level

 

Here’s the annotated version and the DM notes.

This is what the last few months have been leading up to. Hopefully it’s everything you were expecting. There’s still the upper floors to color and a few other little things to do, but we’re almost there.

A few things. First, DM notes for everybody. There are some things we need to talk about with this one and that’s where we’re talking about them. It’s all under “Important Things.” Feel free to stop reading after that if you want.

Second, non-patrons will notice a ZIP file attached to this post on the patreon. If you play on a VTT, you’ll need those. They’re individual sections of the map so you don’t have to try to get Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds to try to choke down the whole island at once. There are more VTT options for patrons, but I want everyone to be able to use this and those files are necessary for that. I care about those of you who aren’t giving me money too, you know.

Third, the DM notes are only half-finished. I wanted to get this posted and I’m not letting a little thing like incomplete DM notes stop me.

Finally, there’s going to be an elevation guide and some other VTT options to come, but those will require multiple floors to be finished, so they’ll come at the end.

Anyway, what do you all think? If you’ve got any questions, just ask. I may not know the answer, but I’ve been living and breathing this place for the last few months, so it’s worth a shot to ask.

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Mont-Saint-Michel – Work in Progress 13 – Les Roofs

 

There she is. A whole lot of trees died to get us to this point. Seriously, I’m gonna post a picture of all the originals at some point. I think this may have taken more paper than Brazenthrone, which is a little nuts.

That reminds me, I need to buy more. Unfortunately, I have to order the paper I use from overseas, which is a bit of a pain, but only the finest French graph paper will do. *adjusts monocle*

All right, I’m gonna grab some more coffee and get started on coloring this thing. My next post will the the finished first level!