The Tollenkar Map

[Shadekeep]

Very likely this has been discussed before, but in converting the Tollenkar map to Shamat format I noticed something again that I had noticed way back when originally running the module in the old days. Namely, that the map seems to wrap.

If you look at the various levels, you will notice that almost without fail where a tunnel ends on one edge, it "resumes" on the opposite edge. I never knew if this was deliberate and that the tunnels at one point were meant to wrap around (via gateways, or perhaps the lair represented the surface of a sphere), or was just a happy accident of the map design.

Anyone else have theories as to why the map is this way?

[Skarg]

Yep. I think it is because Steve imagines people wanting labyrinth tunnels to use but being challenged by preparing them, and thinks this map will be useful to be re-used for various other labyrinths. In Tollenkar's Lair, he mentions (not that it tile-wraps but) that you could re-orient the map or re-interpret it vertically to use for other situations.

The map also appears as an example in the middle of the original In The Labyrinth, where it is printed on two pages such that it does connect to form a labyrinth that is twice as large, yet still connects. I imagine most people did not notice it was the same map twice ...




SPOILER ALERT
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(... and the map in In The Labyrinth is the same map (for tunnel and room shapes) as the one you are talking about (just without the specific details of what things are at the locations). This made me rather nervous as a GM, wondering if the players would notice the map was the same one,)

[JLV]

I believe the ITL map was originally designed that way for the purposes of "geomorphism," that is; that it allowed the GM to make multiple copies of the map, tape them together, and hey, presto! You have a "mega-dungeon" all without having to actually draw one up. Since the tunnels worked either way, you could flip the maps around a bit and the players probably wouldn't notice anything for many sessions of play, and by then, you could draw up some unique levels of your own to overcome the problem. Tollenkar's Lair merely took advantage of the generic map in order to build a complex adventure and was yet another way that Tollenkar's Lair served as a training device for the novice DM.

Put another way, it got the game going fast with a potentially huge adventuring area, with minimal prep time by the novice GM.

[Shadekeep]

Thanks, the replies make sense. The map is indeed easy to stitch and interpolate, so the wrapping effect is logical in that light.