While writing my recently published adventure, Ashes of Evensong, I was a little frustrated by the fact I didn’t have a map tailor-made for the Temple of Vigilance featured in the adventure. I found a decent map on DM’s Guild which fit my purposes, but was a little on the large side. That hamstrung me into finding a purpose for every room, and while empty rooms can and should be included to any dungeon (and another party of looters present provided a good excuse for that), you can only get away with so many without making the environment boring. I think I did a good job filling the rooms with interesting things that matched the theme of the dungeon, a vault housing dangerous magical artefacts, but towards the end coming up with purposes for the rooms was a bit of a struggle.
In an ideal world, I would plan the necessary rooms for an adventure and their connections to each other with a flow chart, and then draw a map to suit it. My problem was that I didn’t believe I was capable of making a map I’d be content to include in a published adventure.
Since I plan to write at least one sequel to Ashes of Evensong, and other unrelated adventures, I decided to test my belief that I was incapable of producing a map I liked. When I actually put my mind to it, I discovered I was pretty happy with the results!
This map was intended as a test but I will likely end up using it for something. In the meantime though, I figured I might as well share it with my readers! You are free to use the map below for your private campaigns, but not for any other purpose.
| Dungeon Map © RDD Wilkin / Spilled Ale Studios. Personal use permitted. Do not redistribute. |
