Today’s map was inspired by this out-of-copyright piece from “Autour de la Méditerranée … Illustrations par A. Chapon, etc” published in 1892.

From the picture I imagined a pirate boat heading into the grotto in order to unload secret treasure, a prisoner, or perhaps to pick something up. It could also make an interesting place to maroon someone who isn’t a strong swimmer. Fresh water coming in from nearby falls into the ocean water on the north side of the grotto, and used to flow in through what has become the small cave complex on the east before cutting a new route.

But where I think it will finally turn up in one of my games is the summer lair of a dragon trying to “escape the heat” figuratively and literally. A dragon that perhaps hatched here or used this as a lair in its youth and has retreated here after its regular lair (more suited to its larger size) was ransacked by adventurers and dragon hunters, trying to recover and keep its head low until autumn when it plans to search out a better lair, further away, and preferably with something tastier than fish to hunt.

I’ve included three versions of the map here – my drawing without additions, one with grid, and one with an additional screen for the water (which I really like).

This map is made available for your free use thanks to the amazing patrons of the Dodecahedron Patreon Campaign that keeps me fed and sheltered while I draw these fancy doodads for your enjoyment. Awesome people like WinterKnight, Don Fuller, Larry L., Yimbo, Scott Philip McClellan, and over 200 others!

One step further – 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 $300 mark, each map that achieves the $300+ funding level will be released 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.

Again, this shouldn’t need repeating, but this only applies to the map in this post!

So enjoy! Still Grotto (or whatever name you give it in your games) is yours to do with as you please, personally or commercially!