Treasure maps are a treasure to both the Dungeon Master and the adventurers. Yet they are barely mentioned at all in either 1st or 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. The only reference that I could find in 1st Edition is in the treasure tables at the end of the Monster Manual. Treasure option W offers a chance to find a map as part of a treasure hoard. 5th Edition mentions treasure maps not at all as far as I can find. Why?
Large Scale Maps
A large world map offers the adventurers a long journey and no certainty as to whether they will actually find what they are hoping to when they arrive. Such a map is merely a tease. Perhaps another smaller scale map will be found. Or perhaps the adventurers must travel to the spot and question the local inhabitants and search for clues to find out where exactly the treasure is.
Smaller Specific Maps
Small and specific maps can give the adventurers exact information. But these come at a price. The price is that the adventurers may not know the starting point to reach in order to follow the map. Assuming that the Treasure Island map above represents a Dungeons and Dragons treasure then one must find the island itself. Perhaps the island itself is not called Treasure Island on any world map or local government or realm map. Perhaps it is uncharted entirely. One might have to go on a long quest for more information or seek out sages for possible leads to it.
The Perfect Hook
Treasure Maps in Dungeons and Dragons serve the Dungeon Master by giving you the perfect hook with which to draw your adventurers into an adventure. They can find the map in town. Some beggar might offer it to them in a city for some coins. Perhaps a dead body might be found with the map on him. Or perhaps a treasure hoard in the dungeon will contain a scroll tube with this map inside of it. It might be lead in to the next great adventure.
Best of all. It relies on one character trait that almost all players have. Greed. Greed for more coin. Greed for more magic items. Greed for greater experience and personal power for their characters.
You won’t have to offer them any buildup. You won’t need to create any elaborate villain or story. All you need is a treasure somewhere. And some nasty things to guard it. The adventurers will supply the rest.
A Map With Little Information Creates a Quest
Give an adventurer a map like this one above and you will cause your players to pull out their hair. There is so little information in it. Where is this island. What is it called? What is hidden there? These questions will have to be answered. And the adventurers may go to great lengths to obtain it.
Finding treasure is an adventurer’s primary goal in life. Treasure makes the world go around. That scene in the Arnold version of Conan the Barbarian is an epic example. After raiding the tower of the snake god Thulsa Doom the thieves blow all of their money at a local tavern until they are caught and brought before the local King. That is what adventurers do. They raid dungeons and then they go to town and live the high life for a while before returning back to the field again once more.
Drop a map in with a treasure hoard some time in your games. See what the players are more interested in. The coins. The gems. The magic sword. Or the map. I suspect the map will create more intrigue. They will want to know all that they can about that map.
The Map is the Treasure
Putting a map in your game will be worth more than most single treasures to your adventurers. They will see that map as a promise of great riches or powerful magic. Somewhere out there is a hidden treasure. And now we have to find it!
Decisions….Decisions
As the Dungeon Master you will need to make many decisions once you put a treasure map into your game. Where will the map lead? What will be found when the adventurers get there? What other information will the adventurers need to find in order to use the map? Who will be guarding this treasure once the adventurers use the map? Will the treasure be buried? Or will it be in a guarded fortification or dungeon? Who drew this map? Some salty pirate? Or a professional? Is it accurate? Is it a red herring?
Why did someone make this map in the first place? Do they want the treasure to be found? Do they suspect impending death? Do they suspect impending betrayal? Are they stranded or imprisoned? Are they mere lackeys hoping to lead their masters back to the treasure?
Treasure Maps From Various Publishers
As a Dungeon Master you can easily make a quick little map for use with your adventures. It could be a map to some place within the same dungeon. Or it could be a map like one of the images above in this article. Either is plausible. There are, however, many products out there from various publishers which provide pre-made treasure maps. Some have adventure suggestions that go with them. None of these are necessarily system specific. You can fill in the details to make them appropriate for your adventurers.
Book of Treasure Maps (Judges Guild)
Book of Treasure Maps II (Judges Guild)
Blank Treasure Maps (Cobra Games)
Trove of Treasure Maps (Kentzer & Company)
Dungeon Crawl Classics: Book of Treasure Maps (Goodman Games)
There are many more out there if you look for them.
Treasure Maps in Dungeons and Dragons
Whether you decide to make your own maps or use some publisher’s product the treasure map is a fun diversion for your players. It may provide hours of play as the adventurers seek to build upon the knowledge that this map provides them. The quests. The journeys to sages. The travel to the map site itself. These things could all provide adventures of their own. Others might even try to steal this map. And in the end….will the adventurers find treasure? Or will it already have been looted? Or perhaps there was never any treasure to be found at all. Or perhaps the map maker considered some personal heirloom to be a valuable treasure. Who knows?
