Tags
AD&D1e, Dungeon, Dungeons & Dragons, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, Fantasy, Maps, OSR, RPG, Science Fiction, Space Ship
Few modules have dug their way into my brain the way Expedition to the Barrier Peaks has. When I pulled the module out to adapt it as the capstone adventure for my first D&D5e campaign, I realized that I still remembered which numbered encounters were which, the sequence of the colour coded key cards and what they signify, and what creatures were still trapped down on the lowest deck…
But I also remembered the hundreds of nearly empty rooms containing dust, bits of ruined furniture, and d4-1 inanimate skeletons of the crew and passengers of the ship.
Return to the Barrier Peaks – Deck I
I wanted to tighten up the whole design a bit. Make the dungeon a bit smaller without significantly reducing the programmed encounters. Honestly, maybe pick up the pacing a little bit.
I had these huge desk pads of hex paper from squarehex and decided on a whim to try them out instead of graph paper – the original design was based around a cylindrical shape, so I went for triangular instead.
For most of the decks, that immediately eliminates 1/3 of the general space as the whole design is now based around three drop tube shafts instead of four. The removal of the curved walls also reduced the number of “extra” rooms that appear around the outer edge.
I did the redesign and ran the adventure four years ago. I felt that the new maps did what they were intended to do, but the style just didn’t match up with the style of maps I usually release, so they sat unpublished for years – and my cats managed to destroy my drawings of decks III-VI in the interim. So over the next three months I’ll be publishing the six decks as I redraw them digitally for posterity.
The maps on Dyson’s Dodecahedron are released for free personal use thanks to the support of awesome patrons like you over on Patreon. Every month 400 patrons come together to make these releases possible. You can help too in order to keep the flow of maps coming and to improve their quality – and even get a map of your own!
Dyson's Dodecahedron 
Cats can be overly-harsh editors.
(I’m thinking that the stylish triangular floor plan might also be usable for high-tech skyscrapers in a modern-day or SF setting, too.)
I ran this with your maps as a Tékumel adventure. What fun. Do you need images of those missing levels?
If you have levels V & VI yes. I have found photos of III and IV (that I sent to you I believe!) and have finished III and am working on IV.
Pingback: Random Encounters are Only Fun for You | Dungeon Master Daily
Just checking… there’s just the keyed .jpgs correct? No ‘player map’ with the keys redacted, correct?
Not at this time, no.
When all six maps are out I’ll make a package that includes unkeyed versions.
Sorry, I’m having a bit of trouble navigating. Did you ever make said package?
I like that you managed to tighten things up without falling into the all too common trap of eliminating everything that isn’t a relevant encounter. Sometimes you need empty rooms in order for a location to make sense, (as opposed to having a “grand catacomb of the dead” without anywhere to put said dead).
Pingback: La ricerca del sacro Graal incontra le Barrier Peaks | Iho's Chronicles
Pingback: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks: My 10 Favorite Illustrations – Wayne's Books
How do you handle the The northern VS southern Hemisphere’s random encounter rolls?
I’m currently working on making DungeonDraft battle maps of each level. The first level is completed! Thank you for the inspiration! If you want to see my work, feel free to message me.