Scribbles and Horrors

This post is a formal description/advertisement for a new collaborative Untitled Underworld Project. The project is currently active in Phase I, which will run through December 31st, 2026, and is open for joining.

Shy Owl’s map of Section A, for the first phase.

The basic premise of UUP is that it’s a succession fort, but for pen-and-paper underworlds. Each participant in UUP is caretaker of a dungeon section for a period of months, and while it is in their care the participant has full creative control over that section: mapping, keying, running game sessions, writing fiction, composing laws, developing rules systems, re-stocking, simulating, editing, revising, censoring, updating, retrofitting, preserving, letting go stale, whatever.

At the end of the phase, the section gets handed to someone else, who will themselves have full creative control. The idea is that it’s a growing and living corpus of dungeon-making, a collage of creative styles and aims: a living document. (to use a tired but useful phrase)

UPP is inspired by the authority Microscope gives its players over objects in events and periods (near total control) and the iterative-patchwork qualities of Jerry Gretzinger’s Map.

Phases are 3 months. It’s a long and gently paced project. My projected lifespan for the project is maybe 5 years or so; lots of time.

Being a caretaker for one phase shouldn’t commit someone to caretakership for any other phase, and also it’s not necessarily incumbent on participants to “produce” a great deal. It will be good for regions of the underworld to be dormant or slow-altering.

Untitled Underworld Project is open for new participants! Reach out to me if you’d like to claim a section. I suppose my capacity for managing is about 20-30 or so.

Here is my entry to the Appendix N Jam 2026. I’m pretty happy with it!

Map and Key: Maze_Emerald_Warlord.pdf
Map: MEW_Map.jpg

So have I heard and do in part believe it. —Horatio, Hamlet

Here is Level ETA, The Tomb of Krathyguiar’lkjjin Mirethought, housing the remains and treasures the deified ruler whose reign was so ancient and influential that it is used as a point of comparison to the weeping heart of the underworld. (ETA is only the tomb of Mirethought–a monument placed relatively near the surface. What remains of his former domain is still deeper and more unspeakably vast.)

Location Within Redux

Obviously there are exits North and South to maps which haven’t been drawn yet, but Upwards is The Palace of the Snail Men. You can spot the spiral ramps coming down if you look closely.

Dangers

There are no opportunistic monsters in the tomb; no creature dares enter, save to pass through. It is all finely polished stone, statues and stellai, polished vessels, various thrones. The main danger is becoming snuffed out by the immensity of the place; getting lost, suffocating, starving, etc.

Smells

• Death
• Heavy musty perfume
• Blood
• Halitosis
• Spring flowers

Sounds

• The quiet of peaceful meditation
• The silence after a murder is over
• The apprehensive silence before standing up to someone in power
• The soundlessness of trying to sneak up on an animal
• The silence after giving up on sex
• The silence of paralyzing fear
• (muffled, far away) The edge of a distant sob

Treasure

There are Great Treasures in the tomb–17 for the King, 17 for the Queen–objects of unimaginable power. They are each placed in their own chamber, lining the north edge of the map.

I don’t have any of these worked out yet, but they’re the sort of objects where touching them turns you into a god or teleports you to mars or fills your insides with maggots or allows you for force any man into servitude for ten generations.

You know, the sorts of things that no reasonable person would ever want, and thus which are highly coveted.

Layout

This is the densest map of its type I’ve ever drawn. For the most part I’m pleased with it for what it is. It is much more difficult to navigate than my usual stuff. Unlike my previous maps, dead-reckoning can only get you so far.

I challenge you you trace a path from the big spiraling passage to one of the treasure rooms at the top. It is possible, I promise!

By my count there are 1,254 rooms, so probably close to 300 points of interest.

More than other levels, ETA will rely on something like setting-writing on my part, and will of necessity need lots of maps/hints/instructions for navigating. It’s a place with a strong story, which is somewhat unusual for me.

A 16-page printable pdf of the map is here, which is how I will use it at the table in actual play.

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Redux will be on hold for a while after Monday. I’ve become burnt out, and need to take time away from these games to clear my head. Forget some things, so that I can approach them afresh later. This always happens, where suddenly I can’t stand RPG stuff. I will come back. That always happens, too.

Here’s an adventure I wrote for my Extremely Byzantine 5-room Dungeon Jam

Adventure PDF: gggg.pdf
PNG of Map: gggg_map.png

Here is a further map of my Redux dungeon–This is Level Zeta III (-1,0), a continuation of level Zeta III.

There’s not much to say about this map other than I had the idea and pretty quickly made it happen. I’m happy with most of it, thought the shading kind of falls apart near the top–this is the fault of the alcohol pens I’m using. It took me all of today to draw, which is the fastest I’ve done one of these. Perhaps some of that speed shows up as sloppiness in parts. A good way to spend a Sunday tho.

It is located directly north of Zeta III (0,0); here is them bolted together:

This map is a little less dense than my usual maps, although no less colossal. You might notice that it only has 5 rooms. A 5 room dungeon is incomplete without a key, so here is one:

The Palace of the Snail Men

(The name was coined by enthusiastic human explorers–of course, the Snail Men do not call it that. Nor do they call themselves “Snail Men”.)

The Snail Men are caretakers and denizens of the treasures here. They are 10-18′ tall snails. The Snail Men are divine beings–to strike their shell while they are living, or to touch it without consent, is death (Save or die). HD 6, Mv. 3”, AC 4 (flesh, shell is invulnerable). They are slow, hitting only 1 in 3 turns. They can retract into their shell and remain so for many months. Number appearing 2-24.

4-pointed star — The Shattered Egg Humperdinck

Humperdinck set up a wall, he did,
and clambered himself upon it.
But as he labored a shale-stone slid
and shatter’d poor Humperdink’s bonnet.

Pieces of the shell still tower 15”, althout all the yolk has long since been sucked dry. A pilgrimage spot for wry nobles and vagrant philosophers.

5-pointed star — Strands of Light

This room is webbed with strands of Pure Light, spun by the Great Spider Uxorlantha nearly 3500 years ago. The room is lightly brit, and one finds themselves full of airy thoughts here. Stealing strands of light is possible, but would be a great crime.

6-pointed star — The þ Toad

The þ Toad is spiky and grumpy and knows everything there is to know about slime and muck. Bring the þ Toad a sample of any kind of gross sludge and it will explain at length where it came from, who lived there, etc.

The þ Toad eats giant insects, but will make do with people in a pinch.

9HD, 6”, powerful tongue

7-pointed Star — Empty

An empty room is its own reward.

8-Pointed Star — Myocallix Machine

The machine is 50” tall and is constantly and thunderously motionless. The work it does is constant and overwhelming–one cannot stand to be in the room for more than a few minutes–but it is entirely unclear what it is doing. Lights flash on and off, but there is no product, no input controls. There are no vents, no screws, only monolithic steel and the sense that great work is being done.

Whatever it’s doing, it’s probably best not to try and put a stop to it.

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A friend suggested I start a Byzantine 5-room Dungeon Jam inspired by this map