Along the lines of the map I posted on Wednesday, this detail map of the Secret Chambers of Ilsan was an experiment in map-doodling. During the B/X game, we had followed a treasure map to these secret chambers within an abandoned gnome complex now somewhat overrun with goblins (and even though we are levels 5-7 now, a tribe of 90 goblins makes us think twice before just hacking our way in).

Shortly after mapping out the complex of secret chambers and dealing with the few inhabitants (two living statues made of jade – a variety we had never seen before, a giant spider that nearly killed the cleric, some giant rats and a spectre that cost our elf yet another experience level), we sat down to figure out the puzzle of the books in the secret study and the altar in the ‘room of worship’. In the meantime, we as players took a 30 minute pizza break.

During that break, I redrew the basics of the small complex of chambers from being a 7 square by 7 square area on a sheet of graph paper into a half-page map of the four rooms and the rat warrens. As we continued the game, I went back to the map when I had spare time and finished off the little details seen here – in total I spent probably just under an hour on it.

I love all the little details and how it makes the map come alive. It might be fun to try mapping out a whole dungeon at this scale, but I worry that I’ll just burn out completely part-way through.

Regardless, here’s the detail map of the Secret Chambers of Ilsan – your Friday Map!