Every sword and sorcery adventure needs an over the top villain in a cool base. The Forbidden Mesa is a harsh lump of black rock that juts up into the scrubland four days ride north-east of Sabre Lake.

Built into the west face of the mesa is a fortress of even blacker rock, once shinning mirror-finished obsidian, now worn to a matte finish by storms and age. But the sorcerer-king who first built this stronghold ages ago is still in residence. Not a man of great ambition, his evils are small, almost petty. But one of his goals is to reclaim the ring that the party recovered several adventures ago, and his plans are coming to a climax.

The Forbidden Mesa of the Vampire Lord was drawn by hand in a single draft in The Holly King, a small notebook I picked up at the dollar store. It was drawn using a Zebra 0.7mm Gel Pen.

If you like the Forbidden Mesa of the Vampire Lord and maps like it, check out Dyson’s Delves, a book of similar maps and adventures.