Tags
Cave, Cavern, Commercial Maps, Dungeon, Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, Heart of Darkling, Labyrinth Lord, Maps, Megadungeon, OSR, River, RPG, Ruins, Underdark
In the late summer I introduced the Heart of Darkling series of maps. Unlike my other ongoing megadungeon (the Tekumel Undercity maps), the Heart of Darkling series is being released for commercial use as the maps are drawn. The goal of the project is to produce 20 maps that are all tied together by a single underground river and lake.
The Cove of Coals
The Cove of Coals is one of the last points of interest before reaching the Darkling Lake. At a confluence of the Darkling River and the Goblin Rill are ruins reminding travellers that these underground waterways have been in use for untold ages.
The structures here are of an imported (or transformed) volcanic stone, a glass-like black stone that reflects and distorts light, giving the place its name from the red glints and reflections of explorers’ and travellers’ torches.
Voyagers and adventurers who lack allies along the Darkling often set camp on the northern of the three portions of the Cove of Coals, using the raised section of stone as a fort and spot to watch other river traffic. Few remain for more than a day, moving on to places where food can be found and that aren’t thought to be “haunted” or perhaps worse, hunted. Because of course, something foul lives in the secret passages on the west side of the cove, and travellers are tasty.
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 this 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 
Completely off-topic — big news rumbling through the Fantasy Roleplaying community this week — Steve Jackson has the rights to The Fantasy Trip back, and is planning to re-publish them! Currently he’s considering a Kickstarter for Melee “with LOTS of miniatures!” sometime in 2018.
One of the problems with original TFT was that the mapping system was pretty screwy; tried to do everything with hexagons (which works well for cavern complexes, but not so much for more traditional dungeons or above ground structures). This might be a an opportunity for experimentation and input to Steve on a subject that no one has figured out how to do cleverly, thus far — if such a thing intrigues you at all…
I see ‘clever’ PCs ending up doing two things with this after they clear out the current occupant:
First, using it as a forward base to store supplies and valuables. Perhaps using some amount of illusion magic and/or fake evidence of attacks to keep the locals thinking whatever was there is still active.
Second, selling/trading the fact that it is now safe, (internally at least), to re-occupy to some local power. Perhaps as a way of earning themselves a place in some largish community, if not as members then at least as accepted guests.