I know I had already started a different map on a different thread in the Buildings and Structures board, but after I had to get to work on other projects, when I came back to my first map idea (a Bardic Lich's Hall), I completely lost my inspiration.

So last night thinking about what I should do about it, I decided to sleep on it. This morning the epiphany of doing a dungeon inspired by my Kaidan setting became an all consuming thought. I dreamed the entire layout of the map having walked it in my sleep.

The Emperor's Playground - unsaid on the map, the Emperor of Kaidan is a Goryo, a noble yurei ghost trapped in the mind and body of a five year old boy named Antoku. On his 500th birthday, his grandfather, the Shogun of Kaidan, commissioned a dungeon to be constructed beneath the Imperial Palace to serve as a great entertainment for the entire imperial house.

Guests are invited to the august presence of the Emperor, though before they can present themselves, they are asked to spend the night in the Imperial guest house, as the emperor has other duties that day. When the guests are fully asleep in the guest house, they are teleported to an identical guest house serving as the entrance to the Emperor's Playground. The guests become the Emperor's playmates.

The guests are forced to negotiate a dangerous dungeon, each chamber serving as the boy emperor's favorite places and things to do. If the guests can survive the ordeal they are granted the audience promised and the boy emperor showers them with gifts. Of course they have to survive to earn this.

This entire map, so far, was all created today. I started the linework during my lunchbreak and spent all my after work hours knocking this out. Of course, as usual, I hand-drew the linework, digitally scanned it, and imported it to Xara Xtreme Pro 4. As a bonus to featuring the various encounters of the dungeon, I decided to include insets of various illustrations I've done for my Kaidan project over the past several months. These serve as notation starts for each chamber with described monsters within each chamber.

I still need to create 7 more illustration insets, but I probably can use those illustrations elsewhere in my Kaidan project so it only serves my greater goals. I should finish this in a day or so.

Note this map is 'lots' bigger than what the OPDC contest requires, when finished I will reduce the map to appropriate 8.5 x 11 at 300 ppi, then export it as a PDF.

Enjoy!

GP

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