Release the Kraken on the Catacombs of the Flayed Minotaurs (Patreon)

Every month we go through our back catalog of maps and YOU vote on which two should be re-released under the free commercial use license. The Catacombs of the Flayed Minotaurs was drawn and released back in March of 2019 and includes call-outs to several classic D&D adventures.

Beneath the buckled stone floors of the jungle ruins in the Tempest Gardens is a massive set of catacombs guarded by the eternal vigilance of fifteen deathless minotaurs.

Each minotaur has endured the ages imprisoned within these catacombs in their own way, but none are untouched by time or violence. And they are not alone – while they can barely stand each other’s company, many have surrounded themselves with a few creatures that provide them with entertainment, food, or just the comfort of sharing a living space with others – even if (as in one case) they are little more than psionic protoplasmic slime.

In my opinion / experience - the best use for a large dungeon like this is to use it when the party needs something and they can research where it is then go into the dungeon to get it. The size of the dungeon provides a space far too dangerous to explore entirely, and instead the party goes in, runs afoul of a few things, gets what they are after, and gets out. And if the party DOES insist on exploring it all? Reward them with all the monsters organizing an effective counter attack. Basically, assume that each of the Minotaurs is an appropriate Deadly (or just shy of) level encounter on its own... And when the party goes full "loot the whole place", then all 13-14 remaining minotaurs gang up on them.

Part way through drawing this ledger-sized map, I decided it would be fun to stick in an “easter egg” like the classic Quasqueton map showing up in Undermountain – so I added bits of maps from B2, X1 and T1 as I went.

The 1200 dpi version of the map was drawn at a scale of 200 pixels per square and is 20,400 pixels (102 squares) wide. To use this with a VTT you would need to resize the squares to either 70 pixels (for 5′ squares) or 140 pixels (for 10′ squares) – so resizing it to either 7,140 pixels wide or 14,280 pixels wide, respectively.

https://dysonlogos.blog/2021/09/02/release-the-kraken-on-the-catacombs-of-the-flayed-minotaurs/