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Abandoned Mines have become a staple of Dungeon-crawling over the years, but despite how many times I’ve cleared out monsters from them, I know very little about mining myself.

Now I’m in the GM seat, I am planning on using a silver mine in my next campaign (set in Nevada 1866). I would like to like to give my player’s a more authentic practical layout rather than a guessed mess of rails and tunnels.

Does anyone know where I can get a map of a real mine to use as a base, or at least some information about how shafts & tunnels were laid out in order to construct my own ‘realistic’ mine?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Please add a system tag to this post so that we can give useful RPG-specific answers based on how you'll actually be using the maps. We need to avoid running afoul of the problems described in this meta post. \$\endgroup\$
    – BESW
    Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 14:43
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    \$\begingroup\$ Done. Werewolf: Wild West is the system, but since it doesn't have it's own tag I've used Apocalypse with historical-settings. Please change it if you disagree. \$\endgroup\$
    – Macona
    Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 14:54
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    \$\begingroup\$ Bear in mind that to be a suitable question for the site, it should be one RPG experts specifically should be asked (see the meta topic). If you're just after a map of a mine, we shouldn't be the ones you're asking. If you're after advice for finding a mine that's good for playing in, and for how to run a game in a mine and what to bear in mind in the context of your system, that would be an improvement. It's not clear which your question is entirely. You probably ought to make a call to either have this closed or make it clear you're after more than just maps. \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener
    Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 15:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ I’m aware the question seems a little out-of-scope, but seeing how often mines appear in RPGs I thought I would check with the community before consulting non-gamers. I can try to rework the question so it’s more specific to my campaign, but I think that might turn it into something entirely different (which would probably be better posted on a RPG discussion forum). \$\endgroup\$
    – Macona
    Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 15:45

3 Answers 3

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Here are a couple of points to consider:

  • The type of mine is important. Coal or salt mines extract mass quantities of material, so can have large chambers supported by columns. Gold and silver mines typically follow veins, so are very narrow with random straight-and-bend patterns.
  • In addition to the actual extractive sections, mines will have long, straight entry corridors (adits) or shafts, sometimes more than one for safety, more direct access or ventilation.
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Google has a collection of images under "map of mine" that could help.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm not sure why someone downvoted this. Those images are exactly what the asker is looking for. That famous Polish salt mine is an excellent dungeon-able layout too. I know we dislike link-only answers, but for a question like this, there isn't much else that can be said. (If that's a problem with the question, it's not the answer's fault.) \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 16:16
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yeah, that Salt mine layout looks good. The map could even be used as a player hand-out. \$\endgroup\$
    – Macona
    Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 16:38
  • \$\begingroup\$ Amusing that quite a number of them are gaming maps! \$\endgroup\$
    – Paul Hutton
    Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 19:19
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Maps of the Paris catacombs should do the trick. Note that they're mines and not "real" catacombs. You can find more about them on the official site.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Actually they were quarries, does that count as "mine" in English? \$\endgroup\$
    – Boulash
    Commented May 5, 2020 at 12:25

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