Dungeons of Doom

Game: Dungeons of Doom
Publisher: Green Ronin
Series: generic
Reviewer: Wyrdmaster
Review Dated: 19th, June 2005
Reviewer’s Rating: 4/10   [ Just shy of the mark ]
Total Score: 4
Average Score: 4.00

Ed Bourelle is one of the elite cartographers, one of the very best in the industry and his work is often found associated with d20 products. We see that here with Dungeons of Doom where he teams up with d20 experts Green Ronin.

In fact, if you’re used to Green Ronin products then you might not even notice the d20 logo is missing from Dungeons of Doom: A Compendium of Fantasy Maps.

No d20 logo means no d20 stats. This product is simply a collection of cartography. It doesn’t need stats and I’m glad for however many extra maps squeezed into the book as a result of this.

The introduction on page one is the single largest bulk of the text in the whole book and is a waste of space other than to suggest the product is based on a false assumption.

After the introduction, there’s a Dungeon Kingdom map which connects the other maps in the book. The introduction text could tell us about that, make suggestions on how to link the maps together or use them individually, but it doesn’t.

Instead, the introduction suggests that you could have lots of good ideas but, somehow, be thwarted by your inability to design a dungeon. I doubt that ever happens. I think it’s far more likely that would be Dungeon Masters dive on in and sketch out plans (if they need to draw anything at all) without any concern for the geography or logic of the place (just how did that ogre get down there?).

The introduction, by Robert Schwalb of Green Ronin, then suggests the time saved not drawing maps can be used to devise ways to kill characters. It’s a tongue-in-cheek joke, I admit that, but it grates. I’m just not a fan of the combat-skill style of gameplay. True, maps are often associated with combat scenes but these are maps and not floor plans. Instead, the cartography in Dungeons of Doom is better suited to the worldbuilder style of roleplaying where attention is paid to creating exotic and rich worlds and creating heroic tales of adventure and tragedy in it. Worldbuilding is not about killing characters.

Bah. I like the maps but this is a US$19.95 product – it needs to be very good to be worthwhile.

After the Dungeon Kingdom view, we move on to look at the twisty and bog-standard caves of the “Tribal Cavern”. The quirk of note here is the rope and plank bridges over an underground stream.

The primitive burial cave is a splodge shape with square tiles etched on it. As with all the maps, there are titled sections here – Wall of Warriors, the Spirit Ward, etc, but these are little more than inspiration as there’s no further comment. It’s hard to justify why anyone would need professional assistance to design a cave. This is eye candy but it’s unnecessary.

The ancient temple cave is a little better. At least there are some straight lines and some circles to suggest columns in an area known as the altar of the old ones.

The dungeon keep is probably the first cartography in the book where the professional touch really pays off. Here we have two stories, carefully connected and not so straight forward. I like the way the back third of the top half is rather more isolated from the rest of the keep than anywhere else.

Similarly, the kobold lair is complex enough to not be easily recreated. I’m not that clear how anyone could lack the inspiration to draw some wobbly circular shapes and connect them with tunnels but at least these professional maps have the levels drawn on the same scale and connected with steps and stairs in the right place.

There’s a fungus farm – more of an idea than a map – but at least that idea is there.

We go on with a set of underground crossroads, a river town (underground), a clockwork gauntlet, cave town and prison. These work as ideas – especially something as bizarre as a clockwork gauntlet, a collection of water wheels and attached piston bridge and sharp but pointless ‘wave of blades’.

These don’t work as paid-for maps – they’re pretty but I can’t use them as floor plans, can’t use many of them as a generic location (how often will you use a clockwork gauntlet) and don’t even work as a drop-in map for that combat encounter you had in mind (the cave town has pesky distractions like taverns and trading posts).

Thankfully we have more than these for our money. Dungeons of Doom is divided into sections than just the Dungeon Kingdom and the next one up to try and impress is the Great Cave Lake. The ledge introduces the elemental vortex and this is a natural environmental oddity in the region as a great whirlpool is a hugely deep underground lake beyond the ledge. Here we have dire eel tunnels, another fungus jungle, the den of the lost artificer, the ghoul king’s guard posts and the tower of the ghoul king.

Also down here we have got the city of serpents, city of spiders, the crystal domain with crystal prison and domed cathedral. Once again the strengths here really are in the ideas. Tell me about the city of spiders! I want to know who lives here… spiders? Drow? Someone else? It’s even more of a mystery for the city of serpents! What’s the story there? This is both frustrating and useful at the same time.

I love supplements which inspire me and Dungeons of Doom manages to half inspire and half taunt me instead. As for the maps themselves – pretty, professional and something the DM could look at to remind themselves of the macro view of the scene location but not useful as a floor plan nor scene righting aid.

The Fire Top Peak has the predicted mix of dwarf locations and lava (and probably the suggestion of a fighting fantasy warlock). We have got a cut-side view of the mountain to show how the sub-locations might fit horizontally and vertically. The dwarven ruins are much more complex and intricate than the cave plans and as with the dungeon keep it is an example of how it can help to have someone experienced do this hard work for you. The mine tunnels are less complex but are interconnected with the likes of ash caves, dangerous vents and pumps.

The penultimate section of DM only maps is a collection of crypts and tombs. We’ve got a royal tomb, a pharaoh’s tomb, mage’s tomb, the tomb of the dwarven kings, a frost giant tomb (frost giants have tombs?), goblin grave warrens (goblins bury their dead?) and skull crypt.

There’s a miscellaneous collection of labyrinths too. Ha-ha! Here we have a type of cartography that doesn’t have to be on a floor plan scale to be handy to the DM. It certainly doesn’t matter how many bumps there are in the cavern wall between one cave and another but it does matter how many left-hand junctions there are in a labyrinth tunnel. It’s just a shame that there aren’t more of them.

Other than the labyrinths and floor plans there are other types of cartography which are useful to buy. Maps which you can hand out to players are always useful. Unlike a DM’s own copy of a plan, these maps have to be pretty and can’t have any holes in them either! (how often have you, as a DM, improvised a section on the fly? – I often do). There are a handful of these handouts in the back of Dungeons of Doom.

To be honest, if Dungeons of Doom had continued as it had started I would have thrown it on the floor in annoyance. I’d have bought a book of cartography which I’d be unable to use. Even the name is annoying. However, as the book goes on (supported by the unquestionable quality of the actual maps) the complexity (and need for complexity) increases and therefore so does the time-saving purchase of prefabricated maps. To me, Dungeons of Doom is more successful as a source of inspiration than a source of maps though. I could have got much of this inspiration if I’d been sold a list of interesting concepts for $1.99 in PDF form though.

Although the book improves as the pages turn it is hard to imagine that anyone buying Dungeons of Dooms for cartography will be entirely happy with it. It’s an expensive luxury with limited use – but it’s not useless. If you’re a cartography fan then I suppose it’s also a quality addition to your collection.