Tags
Crypt, Dungeon, Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, Labyrinth Lord, Maps, OSR, RPG, Tomb
This is the real meat and potatoes of my fantasy games – small underground maps of caves that have been modified for human or subhuman occupation or use.
In this case, the cave has been converted into a set of crypts with a pair of preparatory rooms above and a small shrine in the largest cave, with several more crypts along the walls of the shrine (where the bodies of the high priests are said to be laid).
The crypts have lain quiet and abandoned for years. As Jens Larsen posits:
Were the child kings really… children…? Human children? Of was that just the closest, non-disturbing epithet that their subjects could think of? And why so many tombs? How many were there of these child kings? Was it a long line of rulers that were buried as they passed away? Or do the signs that they all died at the same time speak the truth? Were they in fact an eternal group of rulers that met with a sudden challenge they could not overcome?
Sickness.
A curse.
Invasion.
Retribution.
Maybe the answer lies within.
Maybe it should just stay that way.
An old man still watches over the lower caves from the preparatory chambers near the entrance, but everyone knows he is too frightened to descend any further than those two chambers. According to his tales (all second-hand from people at the tavern) no one ever descends the ancient stairs into the cavern, and yet he hears noises from below on a regular basis.
I really love the visual that you would get form this as you walk over the entrance to the crypt and the players get to look down on the alter from above it as they enter the room.
Pingback: [Tuesday Map] Crypt of the Child Kings | R.P.G. (Runkle Plays Games)
Time to flesh this story out and add it to the collection. I love the bread and butter of your work
Really high quality with the maps. They never look cluttered – something that regularly generates headaches anytime I’ve thrown my eye over maps accompanying published adventures.
Do you mind me asking what kind of graph paper you use? Is it just standard copy that you can pick up in stationary stores? I might be working on a dungeon crawl. Thanks.
No… for graph paper it actually matters on finding good stuff for my maps. The more expensive the graph paper, the finer and paler the lines (generally speaking).
I’ve found that this is a nice medium – affordable, two different grid sizes (5 sq and 4 sq per inch) and pale enough lines that they fade out when scanned:
http://www.staples.ca/en/Staples-Notebook-11-x-8-1-2-Assorted-160-Pages-Graph-Ruled/product_425073_2-CA_1_20001