Month: December 2019

Happy New Year Adventurers! Whatever time zone you are in, I hope you’re having a great New Year. I wanted to get The Hacienda map out before the end of the decade (that sounds weird) and I just managed it! Huzzah! I hope you like it.

I went with a somewhat tropical version of a Hacienda because I rather liked the vibe it gave off. I imagine this could work for a villa along a coast, a pirate hideout or a compound of some crime boss up in the mountains. Or simply a place your party comes across that can be used as a small settlement to protect or invade. I think I’ll make a desert version of this as well over the next few days, as I do remember I few of you were asking for alternative maps with that biome.

The next map on the list is The Man of War – Giant Galleon. I’m not 100% sure when that will drop, I’ll put out an update later this week with timescales and a new list of maps for January.

Have a wonderful New Year and now onto the map notes!

Introduction

The compound looks dark from the outside, but it is certainly not deserted. The gate towers loom above you, silhouettes of guards pace along the walls and stand idly in each tower. You see a new silhouette appear behind a guard, with a swift motion they are taken down, you hold your breath, waiting for an alarm to be sounded, but you hear nothing. One by one the guards are dispatched, your friend is very good at his job.

Finally you hear a faint sound, wood grating against wood and then slowly the gates crack open. You move forward beckoning the rest of your party to follow. You enter the compound, watchful for any guards your friend missed. The interior is open, covered with cobbles and terracotta tiles. All is quiet except for a fountain burbling at the centre of the courtyard. Towards the back of the compound is a large building, the targets residence according to your informants.

As you move across the courtyard a flame flickers into life within the dark archway ahead. You watch in horror as a torch is thrown towards you, illuminating your group in a pool of orange light. You look up as silhouettes appear along the roofs that surround the courtyard. In the dark archway you hear a chuckle. “Is this all they can afford to send against me? Pitiful! Guards! Dispatch our guests!”. You hear bow strings being drawn back as you dive for what little cover you can find.

Notes and Tips 

• 30×45 grid map
• There is an entrance to the main house from the roof garden.
• The flat roofs have small walls around them which can be used as half cover.
• Place enemies on the roofs to create threats which are difficult to reach.
• The red roof tiles can come loose if walked on, have your players make Dex checks.
• This could be used as a defensible location to fight off bandits.
• You could attempt to assassinate a crime boss which lives in this compound.
• I think flying creatures would work well here, the roofs can work well as perches for flying monsters such as harpies, wyverns or maybe some kind of giant insect.
• Talking of insects, how about a giant ant invasion? I love the idea of fighting off giant ants as they swarm over the walls like a scene from StarShip Troopers.

Variants

Day Outside – A roof version!

Nighttime lit and unlit versions

Hello Adventurers, happy holidays! I hope you are having a great time. Over the last couple of months many of the best creatives in this community have been working on something special as a thank you to the wonderful people that support us. I’m super excited to finally show it off to you all. Its completely free, I really hope you enjoy it, I had a blast working on my part. And yes, I chose to draw the Tarrasque Rectum map, I have no regrets! Other than maybe the google searches for reference material.

This post contains a full adventure with maps, music and minis all set inside a Tarrasque. This collaboration has been in the works for quite some time now, there are a bunch of map makers involved, including Cze who organised it, along with some other talented creators from the P&P gaming community. It was wonderful to be part of this and I’m hoping to work with many of these lovely people in the future. You can see a full list of creators in the Adventure PDF!

What you get in the files:

A full length dungeon adventure – written by the amazing DMDave.

Music and sound – created by the wonderful MusicD20 and TabletopAudio.

Miniatures – by the talented PaperForge and PaperMage.

Monsters – by the twisted mind of ItsADnDMonsterNow.

Items – by the creative TheGriffon’sSaddlebag.

Full interior map collection – You get a full set of maps for the interior of the Tarrasque with contributions from a ‘truck load’ of talented artists. Full list in the Adventure PDF and in the credits at the bottom of this post.

Butt map – The best rendition of a Tarrasque butt hole you’ll ever see.

Find all the files and a full credits list on my Patron here >

Its December and whether its hot or cold where you live, I decided for our first map of the month to create a winter map for a bit of a snowy festive theme. Hopefully this one will be useful for you all at some point, it should work well for general winter wilderness encounters and even locations in higher elevations.

Thank you all so much for your continued support, have a wonderful weekend, and as always happy adventuring! Now onto the map notes.

Introduction

The weather has turned deadly, what was a brisk sunny winter’s morning has transformed into a blizzard of monstrous proportions. The wind races across the landscape whipping up clouds of snow and draining whatever heat your bodies still maintain. It has been snowing for hours, dropped from thick grey clouds that blanket the sky. Once the sun sets, the temperature already freezing, will drop even further, to levels you know will be your deaths. You must find shelter soon or succumb to the storm.

And then you see it, a dark entrance, a cave opening against the cold stone of a cliff face. You stumble forward eyes blinded by snow glare and the relentless frigid winds. One by one you step into the mouth of the cave. The roar of the wind is cut instantly to a low rumble, darkness replaces the white of the blizzard outside. Your eyes, so used to the snowy whiteness take time to adjust. Behind you someone strikes flint to steel, lighting a torch. The flame flickers, guttering in the wind, they hold the torch aloft illuminating a circle of cave around you. Beyond the light’s reach is blackness, and something else, eyes reflecting the flame like red jewels in the night. You notice a strong musk in the air, a scent of animal and with that comes a noise, a low rumble that mirrors the wind outside. A growl of warning and menace. It seems whatever lives here is not happy to have guests.

Notes and Tips

• 30×30 grid map
• Winter themed maps don’t need to be used solely in winter settings, this could be a mountain pass or be some kind of magical weather.
• The pools and river can be flowing or be frozen depending on what you want to do with them.
• Frozen environments can have many environmental hazards, temperature, ice, deep snow and avalanches. Not to mention snow can reduce view distance and even blind a character.
• Winter animals can be driven to attack the party out of starvation. Describe their emaciated, skeletal appearance.
• Yetis, Owlbears and any number of forest or other wilderness beasts could inhabit the cave. Or some other travellers could be using it for shelter, they don’t have to be human, I imagine a hunting party of humanoid monster (goblins, bugbears) would make for a fun encounter here.
• Larger humanoid beasts could throw boulders at the party as they move along the trail, trying to prevent them from finding their cave.

Variants

Day/Night standard

Winter Crystal – Day/Night
I imagine this could be used for some kind of magical encounter where the weather has some magical origin.

Firelight – Day/Night
For those awkward encounter with someone or something you just don’t want to be encountering in a lonely cave in the wilderness.