Tags
Assassin, Commercial Maps, Dungeon, Dungeons & Dragons, Kobolds, Labyrinth Lord, Maps, Maze, OSR, RPG, Thieves' Guild, Tucker's Kobolds
When I talk about my dislike for Tucker’s Kobolds, I usually admit that I once ran a Tucker’s Kobolds style adventure in my teens when I thought it was clever to do everything in my power as a DM to make 1/2HD, low-intelligence humanoids into top-trained commando killers just like in that classic Dragon magazine article.
And then someone tells me how much they’d love to see a map designed for such a thing.
The Kobold Circuit
While this map is inspired by Tucker’s Kobolds with many very small tunnels designed for rapid movement of small-sized assailants, it is also heavily modeled on my memories of the Assassin’s Run from Dragon Magazine (which later turned up in an AD&D2e adventure module).
If used as the Assassin’s Run, the object is for would-be graduates of the run to make it from the initial room (upper left side, with the stairs leading up and out of the dungeon) around the whole circuit and back to the same room again without using any of the secret tunnels which are used by the halflings who run the place to move from place to place quickly to mess with the runners.
Kobolds’ Circuit (no grid)
In a more traditional Tucker’s Kobolds style encounter, the kobolds operate out of the larger rooms in the complex as well as the mustering rooms in the smaller tunnels. With their knowledge of the secret doors and secret tunnels, they should be able to move and relocate troops within the complex in short order, as well as keep whatever MacGuffin the party is after safe by bringing it with them.
This map is made available to you under a free license for personal or commercial use thanks to the awesome supporters of my Patreon Campaign. Over 400 amazingly generous people 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 these maps 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.
Dyson's Dodecahedron 
I will admit, long before I had ever heard of Tucker’s Kobolds, I had a tribe of goblins known as the War Pigs pester the hell out of my players. Always showing up at inopportune times, making off with the party’s pack animals, laying traps and ambushes on the way back from the dungeon, etc. The minis I used had 1/35 scale Nazi helmets on them and I (over-)used the Swastika (and other symbols) in the paint jobs. They weren’t exactly the same thing but that mid level party really hated goblins.
After reading the TK stuff, I too drew up a similar dungeon level, but never ended up using it. Oh, well! It’s funny how famous that little article became.
The Assassin’s Run was in the first issue of Dragon I ever bought, incidentally.
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5′ or 10′ squares on this one?
Yes, exactly that. Five or ten foot squares.
Thanks Dyson! A usually manage to make a Dungeon based on your maps, I didn’t know it was your art, ’till I read today “Dyson Style”… They are wonderful!