Here Be Dungeons 21: Ataaz Muhahah

My final draft design of Ataaz Muhahah - the "Laughing Gorge" - developed for Wizards of the Coast's "Tomb of Annihilation". Oh, how I wish I'd come up with that name myself.

Here Be Dungeons 20: Camp Righteous

Click to make big

My final draft design of Camp Righteous and the House of the Crocodile, developed for Wizards of the Coast's "Tomb of Annihilation".

Here Be Dungeons 19: Kir Sabal

The aarakockra monastery of Kir Sabal, developed for Wizards of the Coast for the "Tomb of Annihilation".

Here Be Dungeons 18: Firefinger

click to make big!

My final design for Firefinger. Developed for Wizard of the Coast's "Tomb of Annihilation".

Here Be Dungeons 17: Yellyark

Click to make big

My final design for the Batiri goblin village of "Yellyark". Developed for Wizards of the Coast's "Tomb of Annihilation" hardcover. I had a load of fun coming up with the concept of a Trebuchet Village!

Here Be Dungeons 16: Port Nyanzaru

Click to make big! 

My final map for Port Nyanzaru, the "Gateway to Chult". Developed for Wizards of the Coast's "Tomb of Annihilation" hardcover.

Here Be Dungeons 15: A District of Mulmaster

Click to make big

The district of Mulmaster that is locked down following the assassination of a senior member of the Brotherhood of the Cloak (final map for my Adventurer's League module "DDEX2-10: Cloaks and Shadows").

Here Be Dungeons 14: Falling Stone Mine

click to make big

Falling Stone Mine: an ancient shrine to Grumbar that has been conquered by the Cult of Black Earth (final map for my Adventurer's League module "DDEX2-4: Mayhem in the Earthspur Mines").

Here Be Dungeons 13: King's Pyre

Click to make big

Player's map for King's Pyre, meeting place for the Outlaws of the Iron Route (final coloured map for Adventurer's League module DDEX1-9 "Outlaws of the Iron Route").

Here Be Dungeons 12: Icewind Dale

Click to make big

The DM's map for conducting the hunt for Isarr Kronenstrom: the so-called "King of the Wolves" (Dungeon 220: "King of the Wolves").

Here Be Dungeons 11: Path of Blades

click to make big

"The Path of Blades", a deadly set of trials designed to test the assassin devils of the "Stygian Masque" (Dungeon 219: "Blades of the Stygian Masque").

Here Be Dungeons 10: Hall of Tragedies

click to make big

"The Hall of Tragedies", gothic hideout for a clan of assassin devils named the "Stygian Masque" (Dungeon 219: "Blades of the Stygian Masque").

Mapping Omu

Omu was a once-great city that faded into ruin following a self-inflicted separation from the rest of Chult. Now inhabited by monstrous warring factions, the city is ruled by an unelected government of snake people led by a dying ruler hellbent on self-destruction.

I chose Britain as the outline for my map.

There was an interesting, historical reason for doing so. Omu was inspired by I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City, which was memorable to me for its isometric city map. I'm a big fan of pictorial maps, and I loved the idea of presenting players with a handout map of the city when they arrived on the scene.

In researching Dwellers, I found a thread that suggested the original map's outline was based on the state of Alaska. I don't actually think it was, but as a Brit, I thought it would be fun to do something similar for Omu. For the outline, I just flipped Britain on its side. This provided an organic shape for me to trace in SketchUp, which is my preferred program for blocking out city maps. With the outline in place, I extruded some buildings in 3D to sculpt the basic shape of the city.

 

Initially, I thought I'd differentiate Omu from Dwellers by placing it atop a high jungle plateau surrounded by sheer cliffs. Chris wasn't keen on the idea though, so we stuck with the ravine layout. His brief for designing Omu was very flexible: it needed to have nine trickster god shrines, and the Fane of the Night Serpent underneath. The Tomb of the Nine Gods was originally supposed to be under the fane, but I thought it was more compelling to place the entrance within the city itself (primarily so I could present an Indiana Jones-style race for the puzzle stones against the nazis *ahem* red wizards).

TRPG cartography is a tricky mix of design considerations: gameplay, visual aesthetics, clarity on the page, and an interesting theme. For Omu, I wanted the city to look exotic and full of adventure. I flooded a large part of the settlement (as per the original Dwellers), and then collapsed a section into a lava-filled rift. I loved the idea of steam coiling up from where the water plunges into the lava, cloaking the city in hot mist. I also had an idea that the lower levels of the tomb would be a bit like Temple of Doom.

Replicating the rival factions of Dwellers was very important to me: it's what made that adventure so open-ended. I added a ruined market for my shrine-repairing kobolds, placed some grungs in the swampy section, created a palace district for the yuan-ti, and put the red wizard camp near the entrance so players could encounter that faction early. The "King of Feathers" was a nod to one of my one-page dungeons: Island of the Lizard God, which was set on an Isle of Dread-styled island and featured a roaming, godzilla-sized T-Rex (I was also keen for Chris to include a feathered dinosaur to represent current thinking on these species).

One of the first things I settled on were the raised boulevards. I wanted something that would provide quick travel through the city, but also expose you to its monstrous inhabitants: a classic, risk/reward choice. Thinking about how to navigate the city also gave me the idea for Bag of Nails: a crazed tabaxi hunter who came to Omu to die in combat with the most fearsome beasts he could find. His predicament (and his final treachery) were somewhat inspired by Laurence Fishburn's character in Predators.

While I was working on these features, Chris requested that I flip the map to portrait layout. This distanced the map from Dwellers, but made better sense for layout. I exported my map in wireframe from SketchUp, printed it out in blue ink (so it could be erased later in Photoshop), and began the process of fleshing out the final draft in pencil and black fineliner. Here's what I ended up with:

 

Such detail would probably have been fine for the cartographer to work with, but colour adds much-needed clarity. As with all my best maps, I leaned on my fiancee Stacey to give the finished piece her magic touches! Here's the final draft we supplied to Chris:

This final version was then passed to the cartographer, Mike Schley. I've had a few of my D&D maps worked up by Mike (my first ever Dungeon mag adventure had his expert hand all over it). He's one of the best RPG cartographers out there, so it was an honour to have him tackle the maps I drew for Chult. Best of all, studying his work led to many improvements in my own, as I could see first-hand how he modified my drawings to improve them. This was his final version of Omu!

Drawing Omu also inspired me to tackle Chult's original lost city, Mezro. Using similar techniques, Stacey and I created the following map for my Ruins of Mezro Guild Adept supplement. I think it's one of the best maps we've ever made!

 

I couldn't end this without sharing the amazing model version that Mat Smith (aka czarofhappiness) made for the live game set in Omu. When I saw this for the first time, I almost fell over:

Next time, I'll try to offer a glimpse into one of my other contributions: the Tomb of the Nine Gods. 

Until then, Merry Christmas! 

Here Be Dungeons 9: Ragatromo's Store

click to make big

Ragatromo's store: the premises of a mirror-merchant in the city of Sigil ('Blades of the Stygian Masque', Dungeon 219).

Here Be Dungeons 8: Dragon's Lair

Click to make big!

Fort Jeban - a ruined fortress entombed in the heart of a salt karst - now the lair of the ancient blue dragon Sacrademus (Dungeon 215). My first offical blue dragon lair - my second was Imryth's Lair from Storm King's Thunder. 

Here Be Dungeons 7: Well of Stars

Click to make big

The holy Well of Stars, where supplicants would dive down into the cool waters of the oasis to receive mindbending visions of the future ("The Rolling Tomb", Dungeon 215).

Here Be Dungeons 6: Rolling Tomb Exterior

Click to make big

Exterior to the Rolling Tomb (Dungeon 215)

Here Be Dungeons 5: Rolling Tomb

Click to make big

This was my final draft dungeon map for the "Rolling Tomb" (Dungeon 215). My first Epic-tier adventure!  

Here Be Dungeons 4: Bog Hag's Lair

Click to make big!

This was the interior of Rotten Ethel's cottage from my "Glitterdust" pixies adventure (Dungeon 211). I was very pleased that Rotten Ethel was later cited in the 5E Monster Manual under the description for hags!

Here Be Dungeons 3: Glitterdust

Click to make big.

This was the overview map for "Glitterdust" (Dungeon 211), my second proper adventure in Dungeon magazine. Since publication, this adventure has become one of my go-to adventures for convention play!