The Ghost Tower of Inverness

Dak

Hi Everybody,

I've gone back and done the maps for another classic AD+D Dungeon. The Ghost Tower of Inverness.

I have run this module in a campaign, and I think it is the perfect representation of early modules.

Upper ruins

Dungeon ruins

Air Level

Earth level

Fire Level

Water Level

Jewel Room

Wyvern

You mean you're not doing the cross-section drawing as well?! 😉

Might be worth thinking of having breaks in the wall lines of the upper ruins map, as I think these were meant as gaps in the original, rather than more rubble. You could keep the current rubble markers, but set them below the walls, so it would look like they're collapsed areas once there are breaks in the wall-lines.

Dak

Thanks Wyvern,

I was going to do the cross-section at some time when I can figure out how best to present it, and thanks for the tip regarding the rubble, I think I'll probably change it.

The breaks in the wall though are for display, the holes are actually breeches in the walls at various heights. The top of the curtain wall is still intact, but your idea seems a better way of showing this.

As an aside, did you know the upper level covers an area of 10 acres, and has four towers, 4 doors, a curtain wall with portcullis, and a pile of rubble. Nothing else in this immense area, no workers camp, no stables, no barracks, no gate, nothing. Just a huge empty space to house a rock the size of your hand. Gotta love AD&D.

JimP

Finding that rock though... I used this dungeon as a one shot at a convention. I covered the rock with dirt. :-)

Dak

I ran it as part of a campaign and I'm thinking of running that campaign again, in part because I'm going to tackle the illogical idea of why older dungeons are filled with random creatures that seemingly have no relevance to each other.

In the tradition of modern comic book writers; don't ditch the idea (however bizarre), give a reason for it and make it epic.

Wyvern

Yes, that enormous size for the upper level is quite something! I wonder if the original designers didn't just add a scale as an afterthought at times. There were often issues with those early maps and scenarios, though that was true of the original D&D rules too; we just made up stuff to cover what wasn't there or didn't work!

Even the dungeon level has loads of empty space - think of having to excavate all that rock and cart it away down all those long corridors, and then up spiral stairs, if it were real!

Random dungeon design came out of helping get folks started with something that had never been done before; thinking about why things were like that only came gradually to most of us at that stage, because it was all so new and innovative. I soon became a fan of coming up with ideas for why things were as they were after that though. If there are 40 kobolds in that broom closet, someone must have put them there, after all 😉

Dak

I've come across that problem in the hear and now. I'm running Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and in that adventure dwarves have started to mine nearby, and if you read the notice board they have some jobs that players can get involved in. With the description of those jobs though you get the impression that the mine is huge and very extensive.

Now I'm thinking, what the hell did the dwarves do with all the material from the mine? Somewhere nearby logic tells me there is half a hillside lying around, probably dumped in the sea.

Perhaps I should ask Mr. Schley if he would do us a slag heap terrain or symbol.

Allen Hammack

Awesome job, very attractive! :)

The ruins are empty NOW, but there were once wooden structures to house the few guards, cook, and other servants the mage needed. The wooden buildings long since crumbled to dust, and the residual magic kept plants from living. After all, these weren't persons, they were just SERVANTS, to paraphrase D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers!