Tomb of Shaddad

This is a reproduction of a map for the Al-Qadim adventure/encounter “The Genie’s Terror” from the City of Bones sourcebook.  The basic story is that the PCs are walking along a wadi (dry desert river basin) when a storm comes (sudden storms in the desert often lead to flash floods which temporarily fill the wadis).  The storm has washed away some mud in a nearby cliff face to expose a set of steps descending into the earth.  They will soon discover that this is the tomb of a powerful Shi’ar and a dozen shadows.

The map is made with CC3 and utilizes textures from CGtextures.com and several objects from the Dunjinni forums.

 

and…due to popular demand from the Profantasy forum…here’s the version with a Scimitar (modified from version found on the Dunjinni forums) incorporated into the title.  The “Cyclone of the Four Quarters” is the name of the magical scimitar utilized by an ancient Sha’ir buried within the tomb.  Obtaining it is the real prize of this encounter.

Palace of the Twisted King

Since my PCs are frequently roaming about the desert, I thought it would be cool to have some more complex random encounters for them while their making their way from city to city. I stumbled upon side-quest type encounter in Dungeon Magazine (#116) “Palace of the Twisted King” that seemed to suit this purpose. Although I remained pretty faithful to the original layout, I made some modifications to the original design to suit my own aesthetic.

The plan is that they would seek shelter from a vicious sand storm in this ruined way station. However, the real terror for them begins that night as a group of “Meenlocks” torment them from their secret basement tunnels.

Here is the tunnel system that runs below the ruins. Its a very tight tunnel (only a couple feet wide and tall) and at the end is a cave where the Meenlocks dwell when they aren’t torturing unsuspecting passersby.  The * mark the spot where a secret entrance can be found in the ruin map (beneath the sand).

Both of these maps were made with CC3 and utilize objects which can be found in the CSUAC and Dunjinni Forums.  I also quickly combined the two in Photoshop.

“The Treasure Pit”

This map is derived from “The Treasure Pit” adventure provided in the “Cities of Bone” 2nd edition source book (by Steve Kurtz).  As with my other adaptations of Al-Qadim material, I tried to remain true to the original design but made several structural modifications along with vastly expanding the dungeon dressing.  The map was made with CC3 and utilized objects derived from the CSUAC and Dunjinni forums.

The basic story is that our adventurers have stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient fortress.  Unbeknownst to them, their guide is a were-hyena who is in the business of luring unsuspecting adventurers into the dungeon so as to make the kill that much easier.

More of the story to come as I finish working on the other maps needed for this adventure.

*Here is a small map that can be used to run the last encounter in this adventure.  It shows an 80 foot perimeter around the entrance to the dungeon.

“Nine Flawed Sapphires”

This is a map derived from the “Nine Flawed Sapphires” adventure provided in the “A Dozen and One Adventures” Sourcebook (by Steven Kurtz). I tried to remain true to the original but made several modifications. The story is that this complex is serves as a warehouse/production center/hideout for someone who is illegally distributing wine (alcohol is illegal in the Al-Qadim world). The hideout is hidden behind “Sakina Falls” and can be accessed by uttering the magic words which shift the waterfall to the left. The entire place is magically illuminated (hence the reason why you will find no torches).

Since the PCs will not know the magic word, the best plan to gain entry is to ambush someone as they come out.  To facilitate that, I’ve created this rather large encounter map.

Both maps were made using CC3 and a variety of objects derived from the CSUAC or Dunjinni Forums.

“The Lost Oasis”

My players have requested that I incorporate a desert flavor into the campaign and since I’m pretty new to world creation, I decided to base this on 2nd edition Al-Qadim. I plan on constructing a bunch of maps for some of the pre-made adventures for this series until I get a better grasp on designing a desert campaign of my own. I thought a good place to start was “The Last Oasis” provided by Dungeon Magazine (Issue 51). Players are hired to escort a caravan and stumble upon the “Borderland” which is a spiritual way point between the living and the dead.

This is a map of the Oasis which can be found in this “Borderland” region. I followed the basic map provided in the article pretty closely (but the original lacked detail, so I had to modify it a bit). I’m pretty sure that most of the symbols can be found in the CSUAC (buildings were constructed rather than stamped in) and the map was made with CC3. Font can be downloaded from Al-qadim.com.

 

I have also created a simple encounter map for use with this adventure.  Our players encounter an Obelisk and several corpses resting upon a dune.  Unfortunately for them, these corpses are not “dead”.