I give you: The Caverns of the Deepening Doom
This is a map I kinda doodled together. I was really just working on a crosshatch fill pattern to use and it lead to actually putting a map together for it.
I had fun coming up with names in the map key, I hope they let peoples imaginations run wild. Feel free to interpret them as you will and use this in your game.
I would love to see peoples interpretations here...how would you populate this dungeon? What level do you see this being? Where would you place this in your campaign.
And if you do use it please let me know how it went, thanks!
I totally misread room 5 as "Vaseline Chamber". I did NOT want to know what lived there!
Anyway, I love the map! My neice and nephews have turned on to 2e and I may swipe this lock, stock, and barrel to give them a little more experience before unleashing "Keep on the Shadowfell: 2e" on them! I was trying to see the enlarged version, but my browser got funky all of a sudden.
Hmm, for a plot... the kids are young and the family is among the Faithful, so maybe a group of drow is on a simple expedition to gather slaves since the old ones keep breaking and this is their holding area before dragging them back to the Underdark... Room 8 is where they're being held, and the drow are currently working with an evil cult to scout out likely targets. Then the drow kidnap them in the middle of the night, taking entire families and giving one from each family to the cult as sacrifices.
(I don't like to get too demonic with younger players. No point giving them nightmares like I accidentally did for one player years ago.)
Thanks! Glad you like it. I am kind of torn about adding any more details, I know what I am going to do when I run an adventure in there, but I want to see what kind of imaginative thoughts this evokes in others.
I totally misread room 5 as "Vaseline Chamber".
Haha! I did the same thing. I wondered why there would be a cave full of petroleum jelly, until I reread the description.
Thanks! Glad you like it. I am kind of torn about adding any more details, I know what I am going to do when I run an adventure in there, but I want to see what kind of imaginative thoughts this evokes in others.
some rumors the party may hear or stories they may know ...
- The Doom is a primordial or far-real horror, trapped under the mountain in ages long past.
- Earthquakes are caused by the Doom rolling over in it's sleep.
- Temple Oracle says the Doom will wake up soon, and it'll bring down the whole mountain.
- The Doom Codex in the Magister's library says the Doom is guarded by constructs and a Glyph.
- "Doombait" is local slang for a dangerously reckless person. The Doom's Bait was a treasure that lured the Doom into Undermount and is buried with it.
- The Blackgill Goblins raid ships coming into or out of Kraken Bay.
- Goblins steal naughty children who stay out late.
- Jubal the Mountebank will pay a reward to whoever gets his smuggled art from the goblins.
- The Duke pays a bounty of 1 gp per right goblin ear and offers 100 gp for the head of Cyclops, king of the Blackgill Goblins.
- Some stories say the goblins serve the Kraken, others say a Black Dragon.
- Trolls stalk the foothills and have taken livestock the past few summers.
- A shepherd's boy has recently disappeared. His father went looking for him and also disappeared.
- The Duke's Rangers have tracked the Trolls to the caves that lead to the Undermount.
- Nobody who has gone into Undermount has returned. The Duke will pay a bounty of 100 gp per troll head. The captain of the Rangers will pay 100 gp to anyone bringing back the remains of his men.
- Undermount used to be where the local hill folk got montebello mushrooms and chocolate truffles, which are both valuable.
Heh-heh, "Goblins steal children..." Y'know, in my Magpie Codex campaign, those children would then be eaten! I made them up to be voracious little you-know-whats!
Awesome set of rumors and tempting leads there Leowulf. Already adds a ton more flavor.
I agree 100%. The Doom Codex put my mind in gear for using this map to get my Ancient Egypt-themed game rolling. Only it's not an entity, it's a prophecy. The party is now fugitive and has hidden out in a place riddled with tombs (think Valley of the Kings). The cave is their only shelter from a sandstorm. Inside the cave they find ancient writings alluding to a dark prophecy, of which the recent usurpation of the throne is a part. Of course, they also find mummies of the faithful of this "doom cult". They only get part of the prophecy from this cave system, however, with some clues to hidden locatins of other parts of the prophecy. Can they find them and interpret them before events unfold? Can they stop the dark prophecy from fulfilling itself?
Well, they're gonna try. That's what heroes do, y'know.
Here is the finished map. Please feel free use this in your worlds for the entertainment of your players. It is meant for you, the DM, to populate it with quests and encounters which are suited to your campaign and players.
Sweet! Consider it swiped! What program did you use, BTW?
It's all done in photoshop CS3. Enjoy!
I've stolen this for my adventure! Thanks, Tom Cardin.
The map is great is it suggests encounters and challanges.