Tags
Dungeon, Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, Labyrinth Lord, Maps, OSR, RPG, Tomb
A few weeks ago I was digging through my various map papers seeking a map I was drawing for a commission. I couldn’t find it that day (found it the next), but instead came across a partially-complete map that I had started as a bit of an ode to the classic Tomb of Horrors module.
Really, it has very little in common other than the start point being a set of three tombs (in this case all three are “real” tombs, but two of them hide access to deeper and darker secrets). There are also more traps clearly indicated on the map than I usually include – a massive sliding block sealing off a section of the dungeon, several pit traps, portculli, etc.
There is also an apparent elevation mis-match around the central secret room. This is because the southern secret door is mounted 8′ up on the wall of the room it attaches to, and the northern secret door is a climb-up crawl-way into the northern room.
I tried to keep this very non-linear, with multiple entry and exit points and looping circular paths through the construction.
When I first found the map it looked more like this:

Three Tombs Snapshot
And then slowly grew into the map above.
The Three Tombs of Acker was drawn on standard commercial 4-quad graph paper using a 0.7mm Zebra Sarasa Gel Pen. It is presented here free for your personal use under the usual terms (no commercial use, please credit me and provide a link to the website). These maps are provided for your use and enjoyment courtesy of my patrons – people like Luis Velasco, and Lord Karick – who are contributing to my Patreon Campaign so everyone can continue to enjoy free maps.
As of August 2016, this map is made available to you under a free license for personal or commercial use under the “RELEASE THE KRAKEN” initiative thanks to the awesome supporters of my Patreon Campaign. Over 400 awesome patrons have come together to fund the site and these maps, making them free for your use.
Because of the incredible generosity of my patrons, I’m able to make this map free for commercial use also. Each month while funding is over the $400 mark, we choose a map from the blog’s extensive back catalog to retroactively release under this free commercial license. You can use, reuse, remix and/or modify the maps that are being published under the commercial license on a royalty-free basis as long as they include attribution (“Cartography by Dyson Logos” or “Maps by Dyson Logos”). For those that want/need a Creative Commons license, it would look something like this:
Cartography by Dyson Logos is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
I’m curious. How do you get it from graph paper to a graph less map?
I draw using a heavy black gel pen. The result is a very dark line that scans very well. Good graph paper uses nice light lines – in fact some of the better varieties were designed specifically so the blue lines wouldn’t show up on photocopies.
I scan the map, then go into photoshop and increase brightness (which gets rid of the lines) by +20 to +40 and also increase contrast (which darkens the lines that remain after the brightness increase) by +40 to +60.
This is an excellent map – I just need to fill it with monsters, traps and treasures now
Dyson – you are a class act – thanks for sharing
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I’m using this map with my group, it is a fantastic piece of work. I would also like to thank you for sharing it.
That’s awesome! I’m glad you are enjoying it!
I’m using it right now as the former entry point to some mines and now sealed up for centuries as the tomb of the great half-dwarf Sampo (a finnish name, I love finnish names) since the main mine collapsed. My players must enter the tomb to get Sampos legendary sword, to be able to defend a nearby city against a liege-lord who wants control of a newly discovered mithril lode nearby.
I took away the two entrances and tombs to the right but are using the rest of the map with some minor changes — mainly a caved in part on the bottom right top floor.
Unfortunately I’m writing my material in Swedish, but I might post some more info when I’m done.
Sounds awesome! Makes me wish I knew Swedish!