Welcome to Mini Maps! In this post I share a small dungeon map from my world that is designed for use in tabletop roleplaying games. Today I present the Lost Treacle Mines!

This was in fact my first ever dungeon map, drawn on squared paper in pencil and then inked with a simple biro pen. There are a couple of ink smudges in places and some areas of confused hatching, but otherwise I am very pleased with the final look. I learned a lot both in the design phase and the drawing and inking phase, which I will hopefully apply to future map designs.

Snippet of History

In the mires of the Morslacks, many abandoned treacle mines lie in dilapidation beneath the soil. Once these wonderous places mined the rich veins of hard treacle, created from buried deposits of compressed ancient sugarcane laid down and pressurised by eons of tectonic shift. Following the devastation of the Mage Wars, many a mine owner sold up, moved away or died in the conflict, leaving their mines to fall into ruin and be reclaimed by the wilds. Here lies but one example, its main shaft still exposed and accessible from the surface, but its interior lying in various states of disrepair.

Location Key

1. Hidden Minecart – A rotting minecart pokes out of some overgrown bushes. This may serve as intrigue to attract players into discovering the entrance. Minecart could contain old mining supplies or slabs of old treacle infested with ants and bugs.
2. Mineshaft entrance – Simple mineshaft entrance supported by thick wooden beams
3. Cave in – Part of the main sloping tunnel has collapsed inwards leaving only a narrow gap to squeeze through.
4. Loading Chamber – 15’x20’ chamber where mine track ends. Chamber supported by wooden struts and minecart sits in a corner. This is where minecarts destined for the surface were loaded with treacle.
5. Foreman’s Office – Small room fashioned from a natural cave. Some storage crates dotted about, along with a desk, chair and bookshelf on back wall. Desk could have old moulded mine records or paperwork, crates could contain supplies, loot or premium slab treacle, and bookshelf may contain paperwork, log book or interesting books.
6. Storeroom – Simple large room supported by wooden struts. Contains lots of barrels, crates and chests of supplies as well as slab treacle packed ready to be shipped. Could include items such as mining tools, lamps, oil and rations in the various crates.
7. Smuggler’s Den – Secret door carved from the rock of the back wall leads into a secret smuggler’s den or storage cache. Crates and barrels in here are likely packed ready to sneak out the secret exit and sell on. Could contain premium slab treacle, pure rum from a rum spring or perhaps other rare minerals found down here.
8. Secret Exit – Narrow tunnel leads to an old wooden ladder that leads up out of the mines through a grassed-over trap door in the nearby bushes.
9. Main Tunnels – Series of horizontal mineshafts heading out in either direction, supported by wooden struts. Many have dead ends or have collapsed over time.
10. Minecart Blockage – Simple pileup of three crashed minecarts. May contain mining supplies or treacle slabs. Could have the skeleton of an accident victim beneath.
11. Treacle Lake or Rum Springs – Where temperatures are warm and stable in an area of the mine, the vein of black treacle has melted into a warm pool of liquid treacle. If fermentation has taken place, then the treacle may well have fermented into an impure form of rum, should you prefer a rum spring instead. The thick liquid acts as difficult terrain if entered.
12. Monster Nest – The open access to the surface has allowed a creature to take shelter in the mine and use it as their nest. Perhaps a nest of giant centipedes that feast on the sugary ores, or a family of sabrecats that shelter from danger in the mines but strike out during the day to hunt.
13. The Way Down – A roughly carved staircase blocked off by a tunnel collapse, but easily cleared if needed. The staircase could lead down to deeper levels in the mine should you wish to add extra levels to the dungeon. Perhaps there is a reason the passage was blocked off?
14. The Great Stope – The hint of a much larger cavern where the majority of the mining was done during the heyday of the mine. Both an overhand and underhand stope have been carved out providing a high ceiling and a deeper pit in the floor. You could easily extend this area and populate it with old scaffolding, ladders, winches and cranes. A large cavern provides plenty of scope for larger encounters too, with potential for a large bat colony in the stalactites or some oozes and slimes in the damp pits.

Loot Suggestions

• Slabs of premium black treacle
• Bottles of treacle
• Bottles of natural spring rum
• Mining supplies (torches, lamps, pickaxes, shovels, rations, helmet, rope, pitons)
• Books or other paperwork
• Other rare minerals

Faction Suggestions

• A smuggler syndicate still operate out of the smuggling den. They use the mines as a stopover storage cache and rest stop.
• A goblyn tribe has taken up residence in a ramshackle village fashioned from the scaffoldings and struts in the Great Stope. They raid the surface for food and supplies.
• A rogue glucomancer has set up his workshop in the mines and raises liquid treacle monsters from the treacle lake or builds a treacle golem from slabs of treacle mined from the walls.
• An enterprising merchant company is using hired thugs to clear the mines so they can reopen them and establish a sugar mill on the surface above.

I hope this mini dungeon provides some of you with inspiration or ideas. I have tried to make it so that it can be dropped into anyone’s world and have only given suggestions of how I have integrated it into the lore of my world. Feel free to steal, edit, adapt or add to the map and please let me know if you use it in your own worlds.

What mini map would you like to see next?

Leave a comment below.

Until next time, have a great day!

And don’t forget to write!

Jon