Old School Dungeon - The Necromancer's Garden

[Dyson Logos]

I'm an old-school dungeoncrafter. I also play and run a lot of other games, but when it comes to mapping, I love putting together classic dungeon environments for D&D.

As indicated in my profile, all my mapping is pen and ink on paper without digital work except contrast enhancement after scanning. These particular maps were drawn in a small graph booklet with a 6 quad graph - so a lot of the scans shown here look a lot larger than the original maps do in the booklet.

This is one map set I haven't posted to my blog yet - it should appear in a few weeks to a month at my current release schedule.

This first piece is the least "clean" of the maps in the set, it was a quick sketch of the dungeon from the side to explain how the various sections link together.

[Dyson Logos]

The Surface Level

This is the actual "necromancer's garden". It was a small fortress on a hilltop with a set of four crypts built within the fortress walls. The crypts have been vandalized and in the case of two of the crypts, smashed wide open by some potent force years ago.

Two of the crypts have secret stairwells that lead to the underlevels. One is exposed from the damage (although the secret door remains secret - the walls around the stairwell are missing). There is also a stairwell to the dungeons under the fortress.

This was the original map of the set that went on to inspire the side view and sublevel maps.

[Dyson Logos]

Crypt Level

This area is the ancient family crypt who's stairs are revealed by the damage on the surface level. There is also a secret door on this level that leads to the other secret stairwell and from there deeper into the dungeons.

[Dyson Logos]

The Dungeons

These are the two levels found directly below the fortress proper. The upper map is the upper level, and the lower map is the lower level.

Entrance to the upper level is the stairwell in the upper left hand side of the map, and the stairs in the lower right hand side lead down to the lower level.

Entrance to the lower level is the stairs on the left side of the level, and access to the lowest catacombes level is through the spiral stairs just to the northeast of the entrance stairs.

[Dyson Logos]

The Catacombs

Access to this lowest level of the Necromancer's Garden is via one of two spiral staircases. The stairs on the left are the secret stairs down from the crypts above, and the stairs on the right link to the fortress dungeons.

[Ascension]

You've got a fan in me These are great. How about I bump up that reputation for ya.

[Gandwarf]

Very nice, have some reputation.
I like the side view most... mostly because we don't see many maps like that.

[Dyson Logos]

Very nice, have some reputation.
I like the side view most... mostly because we don't see many maps like that.

I *love* side-views. It's a left-over from the first RPG product I owned - the red box D&D set.

Here's two more maps I've done - one is just a side-view because it's the end result of a game of "How to Host a Dungeon" and the other is a more traditional dungeon map with side-view.

• Death of the Liche Lord
• Lair of the Frogs

[Steel General]

Neat stuff... looking forward to seeing more.

[Gandwarf]

Those two are very cool as well.
Lair of the Frogs