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This map is released under terms of the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. |
Area Links:
Area A – Howling Tunnels
Area B – Fungal Jungles
Area C – Magma Fields
Area D – Sea of Darkness
Movement on the Map
Movement through the Underwilds map uses the same method as wilderness travel. The terrain categories are as follows:
Large Caverns: These immense cavern networks are large enough to be easily navigable. Travel is at the normal rate. Chance to become lost is 1-in-6.
Dense Caverns: These are labyrinthine tunnels that are difficult to navigate without a guide. Movement here is at 1/2 the normal rate. Chance to become lost is 3-in-6.
Fungal jungle: These represent areas of large and dense fungal growth. Movement is at 2/3 the normal rate. Chance to become lost is 2-in-6.
Magma field: These represent fields and caverns broken by flowing magma rivulets, pools, and obsidian outcroppings. Movement is at 2/3 the normal rate. Chance to become lost is 2-in-6.
Rough crystal: These are geode-like areas with sprouting crystals of various sizes. Movement is at 2/3 the normal rate. Chance to become lost is 2-in-6.
Underground river/lake: These areas may require some form of water conveyance with oars such as a rowboat, canoe, or raft (for rivers.) Eunshiel on the Sea of Darkness employ small, ornate galleys/longboats rowed by slaves, while the ennan have slow barges with steam-powered paddle wheels. Movement varies by vessel. Chance to become lost (Sea of Darkness only) is 2-in-6.
Going off the Map
The Underwilds are vast, perhaps as vast as the world above. There are several areas where the players could feasibly go off-map. In this case, the writer recommends that the GM use a map such as the one suggested in the Original Game (here’s a recreation from Bat-in-the-Attic.) The scale is the same as the Underwilds map (1 hex = 3 miles.) Clear hexes are large caverns, forests are fungal jungles, hills are dense caverns, deserts are magma fields, and swamps are crystal roughs. The GM should pick a starting area on the map that is similar to the terrain on the Underwilds map where the characters stepped off. Towns are the settlements of sentient creatures such as the snake-men and deep fey. Lairs are the homes of monsters, and castles can be the special lairs of unique creatures, the weird strongholds of adventurers same as in the world above, or even small dungeons like the Ovoid From Beyond the Stars (who’s to say there are no other Ovoids?)
Random Encounters (2d6)
2 1d4 dragons of varying type depending on area: Howling Tunnels – white or blue (50/50 chance), Fungal Jungles – green, Magma Fields – red, Sea of Darkness - black
3 – 6 See the corresponding Area Table below
7 Deep Fey caravan (as human merchant caravan, but with an equivalent number of eunshiel or half the number of ennan.) In the Sea of Darkness, this is a deep fey ship (see above) with the same number appearing as pirates or buccaneers.
8 An ennan working camp such of miners or fungal loggers; 4d4 in number
9 A party of 4d8 eunshiel scouts or hunters of the appropriate Clan.
10 Snake-Men patrol or scout force composed of 1d6+3 Myrmidons, half that number of Emissary support staff, and one of the following (1d6): equal number of (1) minotaurs (1), (2) ogres, (3) trolls, or (4-6) twice the number of baern-men (bugbears) with crossbows.
11 NPC adventurers
12 Roll on the Unique Table
A: Howling Tunnels
3 Earth elemental
4 Air elemental
5 1d2 stone giants
6 1d4 hill giants
B: Fungal Jungles
3 1d2 chimera with bioluminescent camouflage (3-in-6 surprise)
4 1d2 manticores with bioluminescent camouflage (3-in-6 surprise)
5 1d4 werebears or wereboars (50/50 chance)
6 Random species of unique and dangerous Underwild flora or eunshiel hunting traps (see Level 4, Room 11)
C: Magma Fields
3 Fire elemental
4 Fire giant
5 1d4+1 fire salamanders
6 2d4 hellhounds (7 HD)
D: Crystal Shores and Sea of Darkness
3 Water elemental
4 1d4 chuul (see entry D6)
5 Hydra (roll randomly for number of heads/HD)
6 2d10 piscepithecan warriors
Unique (1d4)
1 Roll on the Sorcerers of the Underworld encounter table for the City of the Snake-Men
2 1d2 black puddings
3 1d4 vampires
4 1d2 purple worms
Commentary
The Second Wilderness
Like the City of the Snake-Men (Level 7,) I wanted this to be a different kind of dungeon level. I read the module D1 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth for reference and inspiration, but felt the map scale was too small, so I raised it to three miles per hex. This makes for a larger playground where characters can grow in power before challenging the final levels (9-10.)
Trippy Map
If the map looks familiar, it’s because I modeled it somewhat after the map of Minaria from the game Divine Right, which I mentioned back in the Northern Marklands commentary. I think the psychedelic color palate and unique style was perfect to convey the weirdness of the Underwilds.
Elemental Themes
I tried to have each area correspond to one of the four elements, kind of like the Nodes in T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil: Howling Tunnels – Air, Fungal Jungles – Earth, Magma Fields – Fire, and Sea of Darkness – Water. However, I think the needs of the level ended up out-weighing any theme. For example, even though earth-themed, I envision the Fungal Jungles to be more like something out of the movie Avatar, with multicolored, glowing fungoids, and tribal eunshiel hunters instead of the Na’vi, so I moved the earth elemental encounters to the Howling Tunnels. Maybe they are at war with the air elementals?
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
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