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A map of a dungeon that never was, but may someday be…

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Because project Get The Garage Organized was such a success, I was inspired to spend a little time on a related project, called Get My Office Organized.

In the process of cleaning up, going through stacks of papers and a considerable number of boxes, I found the dungeon map I drew for the title sequence of Tabletop. You only see it for a moment, and even then it’s just a small part of it, but I still drew a whole map like I would have in 1982. I’m confident that I don’t have to explain why.

I hereby release this into the world under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License for anyone who wants to use it (I suggest the original D&D red box rules), on the additional condition that you share with me how you populated it.

 

Some say that an ancient river runs through these tunnels, leading to parts unknown.
This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.

Tabletop returns with all new episodes in January!

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10 December, 2012 Wil

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From the Vault: things every person should have → ← notes on the back page of a script

27 thoughts on “A map of a dungeon that never was, but may someday be…”

  1. Gregg Barnes says:
    10 December, 2012 at 4:57 pm

    I still have dungeons made like this. Whole folders of them. On occasion, I have used them in games.

  2. Alex Blais says:
    10 December, 2012 at 5:02 pm

    Can you give us a little description of each room? That way, I could brag about how you created a dungeon for my group (since they’re not awesome enough to follow you) and make ’em suffer the way it was designed to 🙂

  3. Maksym Volodymyrrovitch Senyshyn says:
    10 December, 2012 at 5:06 pm

    I’ve got a pretty bitchin’ idea for this but I have a question or two first.

    Is this an interior? Exterior? Both? And what is the blacked out stuff? Is 5 underground?

    That was more than two, I owe you a soda.

    1. Wil says:
      10 December, 2012 at 5:28 pm

      It’s whatever you want it to be, because you’re the DM and it’s your dungeon.

      1. Maksym Volodymyrrovitch Senyshyn says:
        10 December, 2012 at 5:37 pm

        hehehe. HEHEHE. HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE.

        Sorry, got excited.

  4. Christopher Jeske says:
    10 December, 2012 at 5:08 pm

    Oh the memories… but yeah, it would have been 82 or 83 last time I drew one of those…. I think my brother the omnipotent DM even deigned to use one of them once.

  5. alien_dave says:
    10 December, 2012 at 5:12 pm

    Quick, memorise this map on the off chance you ever play D&D with Wil Wheaton!

  6. Dan Garcia says:
    10 December, 2012 at 5:16 pm

    Oh man, does that bring back memories. We should build a module around that… Hmm…

  7. Michael Charles Mirantz says:
    10 December, 2012 at 5:25 pm

    i may actually yoink this for this weekend, i need to run a one shot for some friends, i already have the maze ready but i wanted to put some sort of base in the levels below, this looks like it would be perfect for that!

  8. Cameron Gormel says:
    10 December, 2012 at 5:31 pm

    Trying it out tomorrow. Going to be where the group finds the Lost Dragon’s Bane Orb of Karrass. There will be dragons and plenty of minions along the way. Probably some acid pits as well. And if the group is smart enough, they just may be able to run away with a dragon egg or two!

  9. jesseschake says:
    10 December, 2012 at 5:58 pm

    Looks like it has an acid pit …….

    1. Wil says:
      10 December, 2012 at 6:45 pm

      TOO SOON!

      1. Mark Schneider says:
        12 December, 2012 at 7:25 am

        His name is Al AOEFEL!

  10. Boris Killu says:
    10 December, 2012 at 6:13 pm

    The shaded areas are grass, man.

  11. Roy McMillion says:
    10 December, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    I hearby dub thee “Underground Lair of the Vampire Lord” to be used in my next game after the hollidays.

    Thanks Wil, this will work out quite nicely.

  12. Jesse Gardner says:
    11 December, 2012 at 10:22 am

    Looks like a great Unreal Tournament map.

  13. Chris Behnke-Nead says:
    11 December, 2012 at 10:57 am

    Dopplegangers! Everywhere.. dopplgangers!

  14. Martin L. Cahn says:
    11 December, 2012 at 10:58 am

    I have only four letters to type (after these, anyway): ZORK

    OK, here’s some more letters being formed into words: this looks looks a lot like the ones that had to be hand-drawn by players before Infocom put out hint books/maps, or if you bought a copy of one of their games without one. Now, of course, all our wonderful video games come with maps built in (to some degree or another) or you plunk down serious money on game guides.

    Unfortunately, I skipped on all the paper-based D&D gaming, which I sometimes wish I hadn’t. As much as I love my Skyrim, Dragon Age or Baldur’s Gate, it really would be cool to do stuff out of my head again. Ah, brain laziness! 😀

  15. Michael Schroeder says:
    11 December, 2012 at 7:51 pm

    Long time reader, first time commenter.

    Yep, I’ve already started to use this for my next game. It just so happened that my players are headed into a very dungeon-y environment, and just when I thought I’d have to gin up a dungeon, this appeared! So it’ll be a neat challenge to see how it works out and what I can do with the available spaces.

    I’ll post a write-up of the session and the map I end up making from this when it’s finished. It’s for a Pokemon Tabletop game, though, so I’ll have to translate it into DnDese, methinks.

  16. Mark Schneider says:
    12 December, 2012 at 7:18 am

    TABLETOP IS BACK IN JANUARY! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

    That is fitting of its own post, and you tried to nonchalantly just put it down there at the end. That is GREAT news, Have you already picked the games? Are they already in the can, or are you still shooting. More Indie games? Anything that you can reveal to a rabid fan boy? This is so AWESOME.

    Now if there was a Festivus Radio Free Burrito my year would be complete! (wink, wink, nudge,nudge A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh? )

  17. Laxman04 says:
    12 December, 2012 at 12:17 pm

    Totally used it and it was awesome. Almost had a tpk but they weren’t thinking about what they were doing.

  18. Sam Stanford says:
    12 December, 2012 at 1:43 pm

    I still do my dungeons like that!
    Although, my Bro is a programmer so we are making an interactive grid which I will project to a wall.
    Should be pretty sweet, add pictures for creatures and colour changes for terrain. Simple, yet.. Awesome!

  19. Mark Chance says:
    25 December, 2012 at 8:26 am

    Great, old map, sir. It shall become the setting for “Sarpashana Station”, a short Stars Without Number adventure I’m writing, and which should be finished by 19 January 2013.

  20. Pingback: The King is Dead, Long Live the King! « Dyson's Dodecahedron
  21. matt jackson says:
    30 December, 2012 at 10:33 am

    Cool map Wil, I took your map and tried my hand at it. You can check it out here:
    http://www.msjx.org/2012/12/a-map-of-dungeon-that-never-was-but-may.html

    1. Wil says:
      30 December, 2012 at 12:02 pm

      Wow I love that so much! Thank you for sharing it with us!

      1. matt jackson says:
        30 December, 2012 at 12:38 pm

        Thank you! I was inspired by a friend, Dyson Logos (who’s IP seems to be blocked here so he cannot post). His map that inspired me can be found here:
        https://plus.google.com/u/0/105182874766253582958/posts/3Y6qjPast3r

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