From Gygax to Mourngloom Keep: Old-School Geomorphs Reimagined

Shortly after I was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons in the fall of 1981, I was visiting a friend's house and saw a bunch of products I had no idea existed. I'd only seen the Moldvay Basic Set at that point in time, but this friend had other adventure modules instead of just the copy of B2: Keep on the Borderlands that was included in the Basic D&D boxed set. He also had a copy of the Holmes Basic set and a copy of Greyhawk: Supplement I. This is when I began to understand this game was a lot bigger than I'd known, and I immediately wanted to understand the depth and breadth of product offerings. 

A product that always intrigued me was one called the "Dungeon Geomorphs." These were listed on the back of pretty much every D&D product I'd seen as part of a list indicating that

"This item is only one of the many popular playing aids for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Fantasy Adventure Game product by TSR Hobbies, Inc. Other playing aids for the D&D game system currently include:"

The list would follow, and the Dungeon Geomorphs were always there. I wasn’t even sure what a “geomorph” was, and my confusion wasn’t helped by the fact that I never saw them in any of my local gaming shops.

The original Dungeon Geomorphs were released as a three-part series from 1976 to 1977. Set 1; Basic Dungeons and Set 3: Lower Dungeons were created by Gary Gygax, while Gary's son Ernie helped with creating Set 2: Caves and Caverns. In 1980, all three sets were compiled into a single product with new artwork by Bill Willingham and then reprinted again in 1981. 

I was lucky to be the recipient of the 1980 compiled version of the Dungeon Geomorphs by a viewer of my YouTube channel, who offered to send them to me. 

As the name might imply (although as a kid, I didn't quite get it), the Dungeon Geomorphs aren't adventures in and of themselves, but rather they are modular dungeon map "tiles" - one-sided cardstock pages printed using the classic TSR blue ink with sections of hallways, chambers, stairwells, and more that could be combined and rearranged into a nearly endless configuration of dungeons to be explored. 

In looking through and paying attention to the Dungeon Geomorphs for really the first time in my decades-long gaming "career", it's hard not to be inspired by the maps, and that's really kind of the point. Gary and Ernie understood that sometimes the hardest part of dungeon design is just getting started. As I’ve mentioned on my YouTube channel, Gary’s early philosophy was that DMs wouldn’t want pre-written adventures or settings; they’d want to create their own. The Dungeon Geomorphs are a perfect example of that mindset. They give you the tools and the raw structure — you decide what’s inside and why. (And if you need help with that, their sister product, Monster & Treasure Assortment, could fill in the gaps).

In a sense, the Dungeon Geomorphs are a bit like Lego bricks of dungeon creation — versatile, reusable, and ready for your imagination to fill in the blanks. Flipping through the compilation I just received in the mail feels almost like stepping into a time machine: pure graph-paper nostalgia, thick with the promise of peril and plunder.

From Blank Slates to Boxed Cake Mix

Fast-forward to today, and this modular dungeon tradition is still alive and well — but it’s changed. A perfect example is Dungeon Domains, a series of hand-drawn dungeon sections designed to work together like the old TSR Dungeon Geomorphs, but with a modern twist: they’re already loaded with rich backstory, interactive features, and visual handouts. 

I discovered Dungeon Domains when Bart Wynants from Bolwerk Publishing offered to send me some of the sets to review. While there are dozens of products in the Dungeon Domains line, I'm going to focus on just one of them, Mourngloom Keep, the subterranean lair of Sareth, a disgraced necroalchemist obsessed with distilling the Ultima Letum, the very essence of death. It’s still modular at its core, meaning you can combine it with other Dungeon Domains to create sprawling underground complexes, but unlike the bare-bones TSR tiles, this one comes with:

  • Lore hooks — a detailed history of Sareth, his experiments, and the legendary Red Rubric.

  • Interactive features — like “Magic Eye” optical illusions that serve as puzzle locks for magical portals.

  • System support — stats and notes for OSR, AD&D, 5e, Mörk Borg, Pathfinder 1e, and Forbidden Lands.

  • DM aids — including a Noise Map for sound propagation and VSSTM sensory lines for rapid room descriptions.

A page from Mourngloom Keep
showing the Noise Map
If the original Dungeon Geomorphs were a blank canvas, Dungeon Domains is more like (to use Bart's analogy to me) a boxed cake mix. The base is ready to go, saving you prep time, but you can still add your own icing, sprinkles, or razor-lined pit traps to taste.

I quite like a lot of the features in Dungeon Domains; the noise map in particular was something unique to me but one I could see being very helpful when running the scenario at the table. It shows how far away a loud noise might be heard, by area, and then indicates whether the DM should roll to see if a monster heard, or whether a monster definitive heard. In either case, if a monster hears something, it will com investigate in 1d6 rounds. This easily fits the old-school style of adventure that I prefer, but adds a bit more detail on how to know when to check for noises and what the consequences might be. 

The sensory descriptions that go beyond just sight but also include sound, smells, and other details are also very helpful and something I appreciate, as I use those type of descriptions in my own adventure writing. 

For those who prefer running their games with virtual tabletops, there is a VTT pack includes a lot of well-illustrated pictures that can be uploaded and shown on screen (I don't use VTTs myself but I gather the process would be simple for folks who are more familiar with them). 

All in all, these are some really fun products to help a DM get started with creating a fun and creative dungeon to explore. They take care of some of the more difficult, or at least time-consuming tasks by providing a map, an idea of what's in each area, a good background story, and lists of interesting events. But, it's open and flexible enough for a DM to customize it by adding all the "fun stuff": figure out which monsters and treasure will be found, setting the difficulty of the adventure, and adding interesting NPCs. 

All of Bolwerk Publishing's Dungeon Domains are available on DriveThruRPG. Mourngloom Keep specifically is available for $3.51 as a PDF, or for $8.64 for a combined soft-cover POD and PDF. 

Dungeon Domains: Codex Carcerum on Kickstarter

The geomorph tradition of early Dungeons & Dragons is still with us today, but perhaps it's evolved a bit. Dungeon Domains is one of the most ambitious and easily usable takes on the concept that I've seen. 

While there is a vast library of previous Dungeon Domains, Bolwerk Publishing is currently running a Kickstarter that compiles the library of titles into a hardcover book. Per the Kickstarter: 

"Two years. Twelve releases. Nineteen maps. Over 100 detailed areas. More than 270,000 square feet (25,000 square metres) of dungeon delving adventure...all of this and much more awaits in the Codex Carcerum: the long-awaited hardcover compilation of our first twelve releases in the Dungeon Domains line. Rather than being a simple reprint, the Codex Carcerum upgrades and expands the contents of our earlier releases, updating the look and revamping the layout for improved clarity and utility.
The hardcover will be at least 160 pages (and perhaps more depending on stretch goals) with at least 19 maps. In addition to the standard hardcover, there is a fancy limited edition hardcover with an exclusive design that is only available to Kickstarter backers. 

The campaign has already fully funded so there's no danger of it not reaching its goal, but at this point, any new pledges will help achieve stretch goals that include additional art, paper quality upgrades, and more. And, its creator, Bart Wynant, has run over a dozen successful Kickstarter campaigns that all successfully funded and were fulfilled, so there's very little risk in backing this project from a proven creator. 

The campaign ends on August 31st, 2025, so get your pledges in now if you're interested!

Stay tuned to my YouTube channel in the next wee or so, as I will be doing a short on-screen look at a POD copy of Mourngloom Keep in a bonus section of one of my videos. I believe in supporting DIY creators like Bart and think that we all benefit when we all succeed! Happy gaming!


Hanging: Home office (laptop)

Drinking: Tap Water! (I have a doctor's appointment in a few minutes that required fasting)

Listening: "Rollin' With Leo" by Leo Parker (on vinyl; 2025 Tone Poet reissue)

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