A 32×44 dungeon map that requires a series of valves to be turned in order to lower the lava level and reveal the brimming treasure room…

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This is my most ambitious dungeon to date! It’s a gauntlet of four valves that need turning before you can finally access the treasure room, which itself is guarded by what is undeniably a boss arena.

This dungeon is inspired by the Legend of Zelda games I enjoyed on my Game Boy as a kid. Though the “puzzle” here is very simple, I hope that it invokes the same sense of adventure! The whole thing revolves around lowering the lava in the central room.

What would be a suitable monster for that boss room, and all the other minor combat rooms? I’d love to hear your selection in the comments below. 🙂

Walkthrough

Opening The Main Gates

The adventurers arrive via the tunnel in the south and are met with enormous stone doors standing before them. These require the turning of two valves to open, and each one can be found in the wings which branch off to the east and west of the antechamber. You might force them to be turned simultaneously, for a little added complexity. Turning them causes the great 4×1 foot stone doors to slide to the side and reveal the central, lava-filled chamber.

These rooms (and the halls beyond) might be home to automaton defenders, burrowing parasites, or wandering ghosts. For these wings – and every other room in this dungeon – I will be leaving the combat design to you!

The Central Valve

The 10-foot-radius valve in the center of the main chamber can be turned anticlockwise in order to drain the surrounding lava and reveal walkways to a series of new rooms, culminating in the boss room and main treasure vault.

When the adventurers arrive, the main chamber is brimming with lava up to the edge of the central platform. Turning this valve will lower it one level – enough to reveal the door to the east – before *clunk* it locks into place and can be lowered no more.

The eastern wing features three sub-rooms intended for combat encounters. At its end is another minor valve, and turning this will loosen the central valve and allow the lava to be lowered another level. Next will be revealed the western wing with its own series of rooms and valve. Turning this one will allow the lowering of the lava one more time in order to reveal the main vault.

Lava Levels, in Order

These images are provided in the download ZIP as 16×16 JPG files. The base map depicts the main chamber in its ‘drained’ state, and the other images are intended to be stacked on top of the base map and hidden one-by-one during play as the adventurers progress.

Entering The Main Vault

Behind the northern doors of the main chamber is a 70×55 foot ‘boss room’ with four pillars, four pressure plates, and some elevation to mix things up. It’s up to you whether or not you utilize those pressure plates, but I like to think of them as the final key to the treasure room, requiring all four to be pressed in the same moment for the mechanisms to activate.

Regardless, be sure to pick an appropriate guardian to challenge your players here!

Behind the final doors is a room scattered with treasure, featuring a large chest at its center. Whatever the dwarves left here must be valuable enough to warrant all these steps, so be sure to take the opportunity to spoil your players. 😉

Alternate Maps

Looking for something other than dwarves and lava? Here are some of the map variants I made for the $5 patron pack…

• Jungle. The interior of an overgrown ziggurat perhaps, hiding things cursed or valuable.
• Desert. Sandstone halls and ancient defenders.
• Sewer. A vault hidden in the dank depths of a city, where few would even think to look.