By Kirkd 
As well as running (trying to run) the Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign, I recently ran the free Call of Cthulhu scenerio ‘The Necropolis’ by Leigh Carr which, at the time i wrote this blog, was available for free online. Since I wrote this (in 2019), it has been edited and rereleased with a different layout. Hence the comments left on this post. The commenter clearly hadn’t noticed the time difference between my post, and the newer verison of the scenario.
Theres a map of the tomb included and I wanted to cut it up and then lay out pieces as the group moved through the tomb. Now I don’t like to use maps in RPG sessions, the players often fuss over their position and facing, but thought it would be useful this time. The problem with the one in the pdf is there is writing all over the walls. There are also hints to things hidden in places that would be obvious, so I warmed up Illustrator and redrew it.
HERE BE SPOILERS
If you haven’t played ‘The Necropolis’, its available (at time of writing) via the Cult of Chaos from Chaosium, find a Keeper and get them to run it as its great short scenerio that gets used as an introduction to Call of Cthulhu at conventions, but also makes a nice short scenerio to kill an afternoon.
Theres a playthrough with some of the How We Roll Podcast team and 1/3 of the Good Friends of Jackson Elias which is a good example of how it can play out.
I’d also advise you not to look at any of these maps, as they will contain spoilers to the scenerio. If you’re a keeper, feel free to download and use as you see fit, I hope they’re useful to you.
After I finished them I did share them on the Chaosium Basic Roleplay forum but recently realised, that was the only place I’d put them. I thought I’d share on here, it makes it easier for me to find as well if I need them again.
If you want to edit the map in anyway, theres lots of links below.
This is the AI file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vhxbbhN29HSM9IWHiXmwG9KPcnVsdrA5/view?usp=sharing
The paper texture the ai file links to: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lwbaICTNw8IT9tT38fRjYKiq1S0ISfX6/view?usp=sharing
You will need a free font called Warm Showers which is here: https://www.dafont.com/warmshowers.font
I’ve run this scenerio twice now and its a fun one to play. If you do use the maps in anyway, let me know if they work for you.
Hi!
Old post, but I just wanted to let you know I recently actually did use your maps. Or well, I considered them. In the end, I found the player’s map included in the book (p. 32) to be superior to your maps, and easier to use. The main reason is that your map reveals secrets, mainly the dog niches in the Passage.
I’m not sure exactly what you meant by “hints to things hidden in places that would be obvious”; but I can’t understand why you put the dog niches on the map since they’re essentially fairly well hidden (in actual play my players never examined those cracks in the walls of the Passage and never found the dogs).
I’m also uncertain about your reorganization of the room entrances. The main point here being that on the original map, the entrance to the Antechamber from the Passage is as far as possible from the entrance to the Annex from the Antechamber. That is (imho) of course on purpose, and played a very important role in actually playing out the scenario, as the players needed to traverse the very full and treacherous Antechamber to move between these rooms.
Another note here is that the original map also is much more cluttered (which again I think is very intentional), which makes it harder for the players to glean vital info from the map. Most importantly, on your map it’s immediately obvious that the two statues in the Antechamber are important. From the scenario description I figured they should be harder to notice given that the room is chock full of treasure.
Other than that though, I really liked your map, the visual style is great, and up until the final prep before the session I thought I would use them. But in the end it proved most effective to simply fold up the player map from the adventure and unfold it gradually as they proceeded into the complex.
So anyway, that’s my feedback, hope it was useful almost 3 years later 😀
Hi, thanks for posting but it sounds like you’re using the newer map from the Gateways to Terror edition of the scenario.
When I drew mine, that hadn’t been published (it came out last year, the free version of the scenario came out 4 or 5 years ago) and the map included in the free PDF looked like it was drawn in powerpoint.
I don’t know what the new one looks like but I based mine on that original layout. I haven’t seen the new version of the map but I’m sure it’s different to that version.
As I mentioned in my post, I designed it to be cut up and placed as things got found. eg, the mummified dogs aren’t visible until I place them on the table. I drew the map with a straight edge at those points so it’s not possible to see where they are. If you put them on the table with those visible because you’ve not cut them off, that’s your call.
Mine was designed how I wanted to use it and I provided the resources to modify if needed. I only use the map as a reference so the players know which room they’re in.
Oh, I also got the seal of approval from Leigh Carr when I posted this on the BRP forum a couple of years ago.
https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/8426-the-necropolis-map/
Again, this was long before the newer version was released.