The local fishing spot down the river from the docks is really popular among the old fishermen around town. They really use it as a place to sneak away from their wives and drink the day away swapping fisherman’s tales. Arglo, the village elder, is out there each day telling how he almost reeled in “The Monster”. Clean ripped his rod in half. Something that big in the river must be nothing but bluster- Well that or someone should really put a few more nails in these rickety old boards.
The Trials of the halls of runes had many puzzle chambers, most parties never had to worry about the others beyond it. Or anything at all ever again.
The pulsing runes on the wall were the only warning, seconds after each rune with the same symbol would empower, connecting to all other empowered runes directly next to it with a wall of shimmering force. Passing through the hall was a challenge in itself but when the monsters began pouring through the exit the heroes knew it was time to get serious.
When you delved into the hidden dungeon below the academy you realized It wasn't the academy that had changed after the pulse- but you- transported into the far future.
Deep in the guts of the dorian academy of invention a secret arcane laboratory was hiding the dungeon of the Chronomancer. A meddler who’d combined the three major sciences, Arcana, Alchemy, and Engineering to invent the world’s first time machine. But the unstable device send itself and everyone delving there into the far future. Pulsing on and off, sending the adventurers trying to stop it back and forth between a time of ruin and the present.
Every adventurer has their nemesis, but their true enemy… the real BBEG is “THE DOOR”
Look, there is no shame in it. Delving dungeons means stumbling into traps here and there and after one trap you get a little on edge. You start checking everything, touching as little as possible. You expect anything with an obvious solution to be a possible death sentence. And so you slow down, talk everything through. Scrutinize the smallest details so you don't get caught unaware. And when your party comes to a door you become suspicious and spend 2-3 hours poking and prodding what might just be a normal- unlocked door.
Well sometimes you're right. This door wants to beat your ass.
The Door is a phased bossfight encounter I designed (honestly sort of as a joke) to throw against those overly cautious parties. Every anxious dungeon crawler deserves their chance to tell their party I told you so. The obvious next true BBEG map I need to make, ”Scheduling”.
We can survive the blizzard in here! Look, there is even a nice fire burning and strong sturdy doors!
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“You slam the door behind you, the roar of the furious wind in protest spraying a torrent of ice and snow in after you as you do. You’ve survived, but only barely. Another hour in that, and you’d be far less lucky.
Outside, a horrible blizzard threatens to end your lives in frigid isolation, hopelessly buried under bone-white snow. But inside, you are safe, for now at least. You find yourself in the mountaineer’s lodge, the place you ventured this far up the mountain to reach and meet with your contact who was to guide you across the treacherous, unmapped mountain chain. However, only one of your guides seems to be here, but he is slumped in a chair at his dining table. And as far as you can tell, he is in a near-death slumber.
You are cold. You are isolated. And something evil is hiding in this lodge.”
The map is a remake of my first ever published one-shot I made 5 years ago! It’s been updates and reformatted and the map itself is cleaned up and expanded into a full phased map! The One-shot is a 4 hour escape room themed adventure for 3-6 players at level 5!
After a hiking trip I decided to make a phased battlemap inspired by the northern Californian old growth redwoods and Fern Canyon.
When I wrote my book Ida’s guide I was inspired by my memories camping in yosemite park as a boyscout. The otherworldly feelings I got while running further away from camp than I should, and the Redwoods which are the largest trees on planet earth. Some nearly 200 feet tall, which sounds like nothing on paper but in person it gives you vertigo just to look at the tops of them. I never got to revisit while writing the book so I based everything off that childhood memory but this week I went to hike the out in redwood national park to see Fern Canyon. And I knew I had to make a map right away inspired by it and the giant trees surrounding it.
The Phantom coachman never stops, his carriage rolls through the fog of purgatory to collect the spirits of the dead.
The moors of dolver are haunted, its few pine-lined roads crisscross between settlements draped in an oppressive gloom. Its reaching castles filled with what few stalwart souls choose to linger in the lands where the veil of purgatory and the world of the living grows the thinnest. It is here that it is sometimes said the phantom coachmen can be seen with the naked eye moving those whose time has come from the lands of the living to the darkness hereafter. Normally his hauntings pass us by unseen but in places like dolver he is said to roll with his ghostly steeds through walls of fog for the briefest of moments. It is best to ignore such things, they are not for the living to witness. And if his coach arrives for you it is best to climb aboard- no use running the phantom coachman never stops.
The Coachman is my setting, Crudilex’s grim reaper. I wanted to do a sort of gothic horror- carchase type encounter where the players are literally running from death. Something with that frakenstine-ravenloft sort of stink!
The Superbloom rarely happens in the drylands after a season of rain. But when the local chronomancer and the Local Druid had a little- affair. Well. It came a little early this year.
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Even the desert fey play their tricks. Two mages, one of time and one of nature, ventured across the desert on an expedition to find the fabled lake of silver. When after days of hiking through the burning hot desert they came across a fey spirit; the creature took an instant interest, delighting in the turmoil between the two and laughing at their frustrations and struggles. It followed along in secret using it’s enchantments to transform their strained partnership into a sudden romance.
A voice on the wind told the chronomancer that the druid’s favorite flower was a poppy that bloomed here only very rarely. After the druid conjured a storm to cool them both off they seized their moment, literally. The time mage moved them both into the future- that spring and suddenly they were together in the midst of a superbloom. Blossoming like their love-
at least until they left and realized they’d been tricked when the lake of silver was already discovered a week prior.
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I’ve been sitting on this idea for ages, as a native Californian I’ve always been fascinated by the superblooms in deathvalley and how magical and otherworldly they are. Like something in our world that came straight out of fantasy, so I figured why not work backwards! What would a superbloom be like in DnD, Instant! And duridic!
Steel Mill, The factory’s machines are predictable, always moving the same way. But combat is not. So keep your head down and don't get crushed.
The white-hot molten iron fills a giant house-sized crucible radiating enough that walking into the mill feels like passing into a solid wall of heat. The old steel mill kept almost everyone in town employed. You could tell where you were at night by looking for the orange glow in the sky coming off the factory making metal for guns and tanks on the front at all hours. No wonder it was such a target. When the Brazen crusaders advanced into palivier they targeted the factories before the outposts. Turns out that was their plan all aloung- quick decisive strikes at the republic’s manufacturing then retreat. Over and over until their machines and armor outnumbered paliveir’s.
I feel like every 80s-90s action movie had a fight scene in a factory. I wanted to make something industrial and looping for this week’s map. I thought the idea of an encounter in a factory where the map could change fairly quickly in the background but in a way that becomes predictable to the players so much so that they can use it to their advantage would be a really cool encounter.
I hear the TNL VSN pyrotechnics budget alone requires ⅓ of the cut from every concert they have.
“The neo-capital sensation TNL VSN is a four piece synth-punk band made up of hackers known for putting on elaborate stunts at their shows. Hacking a small army of self-driving cars to create a moving blockade around their show. Or that time they hacked the powergrid and had the entire downtown quarter flashing its lights along with their pyrotechnics. They never pull the same stunt twice and if they come to your city, you’ll be sure to hear about it.
Their local Neo-Capital PD is always trying to put a stop to them but the fans defend them in numbers that require Riot cops to deploy and more often than not the stunts are temporary, the mayor's office has quietly asked PD to just let the shows go through the motions to prevent a disturbance of a few hours from becoming a days long series of riots and arrests.
Catastrophic meltdown imminent. Maintain station efficiency. All employees return to work stations until the meltdown is complete. We're a family protocol: Deploying pizza party to breakroom.
The Makatan Terraforming station is one of the most important buildings in all of the Oroko planet colonies. Sending huge plumes of chemical reconstructive compound into the upper atmosphere to transform the chaotic, sulfuric, atmosphere into something more like ancient earth.
Its operators, the Algoric, are a culture of humans obsessed with being absolutely optimal. Nothing wasted, nothing over spent. This odd obsession means they are morally opposed to redundancy, and when the station drops to 98% power the whole station begins to cascade, melting down.
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This map was featured in an encounter in my show Star Progeny. The basic idea being the party is away from their mechs when this culture of algorithm driven space I-pad kids experiences being without their directives for the first time in their adult lives. The do not handle this well and in 24 hours things start to really break down. The R&D and Engineering departments regress to feral animals fighting with spears and wearing ties on their heads. Caveman office employees warring all around them as they try and save the terraforming station from fully melting down!
Huge pieces of metal scrap are thrown all around you as you desperately scramble to shut down the out of control machine spewing fire and smog from it’s Scrapyard Incinerator.
Scrapcity is a sprawling junkyard metropolis where mechs are as common as cars. A rusted maze of broken war machines, salvaged armor plating, and makeshift dwellings welded together from the skeletons of giant long-dead constructs. Smoke curls from chimneys built into old missile pods. Streets are carved between the legs of toppled titans. Ruled by scavengers, tinkerers, and war profiteers, those who thrive on the leftovers of the stalemated conflict.
Nothing metal in the Scrap-City stays dead for long. If it could walk when it died, it walks again.
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Sometimes an encounter is more about avoidance and survival than combat outright. In this map I imagine players trying to avoid the claw and debris it throws around, the smoke and fire all while trying to shut the machine down and achieve whatever goal brought them there. Originally I was working on an airship battlemap with the claw here but I got really inspired, I think by watching Dimension 20’s Cloudward, Ho (best season yet, Imo)
Rouge Wave, 80 feet high like a monolith of tortured water falling over your ship, a crumbling mountain of surf turning everything around you to splinters.
I called to the other men that the sky was clearing, and then a moment later I realized that what I had seen was not a rift in the clouds but the white crest of an enormous wave. I’ve experienced the ocean in all its moods. I had not encountered a wave so gigantic. It was a mighty upheaval of the ocean, a thing quite apart from the big white-capped seas that had been our tireless enemies for many days.
Then came a moment of suspense that seemed drawn out into hours. White surged the foam of the breaking sea around us. We felt our boat lifted and flung forward like a cork in breaking surf. We were in a seething chaos of tortured water and our ship shuddered under the blow.
Castle of Cannons, a cathedral-fortress belonging to a militant sect of crusaders who worship artillery. making war as holy sacrament, Their doctrine teaches that anything reduced to ash becomes one with their goddess of fire.
Traditional Dawnfire scripture venerates fire as a purifier of both body and spirit, the Castle of Cannons extends this belief to an extreme. They believe that each foe struck down by a blade is a soul lost, wasted in purgatory. But a being obliterated by cannonfire is delivered directly to the goddess by sacred flames, their heresy turned to ash and left behind, their purest essence folded into the divine cause of Dawnfire. In death, they are saved. In fire, they are made holy.
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This map dives back into the Crudilex setting, Specifically the central reaches of the world where trench-style warfare and long stalemate wars are fought with seemingly no end. So long that whole structures like the castle of cannons are built along the back lines. I wanted the map to represent a push by the enemies very very close to the artillery cannons where they’ve had to blast their own trenches. Also- I just love making maps where shit blows up.
The entire northeastern quarter of Veirloh Island is covered by the Stone Forest, a vast, jagged expanse of sharp limestone outcrops that make travel nearly impossible on foot. These rock formations are the remnants of ancient fossils, worn away over thousands of years by relentless rainstorms. What remains are long, blade-like fins of stone that rise and fall across the land, forming a maze of stone sails. The dry riverbed that cuts through the center provides one of the only easy passageways through the stone forest but regular storms make it a gamble each time as the flash flooding in the region washes everything away.
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This map was inspired by the Shilin Stone Forest in China and Tsingy de Bemaraha in Madagascar. There are so many places like them in the world that feel straight out of a fantasy story, but funnily enough are hardly ever actually IN fantasy stories. I’ve been working on a series of maps that explores the more magical real-world locations like the stone forests!
Diagonal Akira Elevator, Descending into the mechanical guts of the mechanical bunker. Surely no waves of enemies will jump aboard before you reach the bottom, that would NEVER happen.
Inspired by the decent into the bunker from the cyberpunk classic Akria, and the many many Diagonal elevators in the 90s and 2000s video games likely also inspired by it. A horizontal platform arena that slowly makes its way down a shadowy shaft as enemies pile on or attack from nearby platforms, a staple in sci-fi and science fantasy. There must have been some kind of sirens call developers to design this exact encounter across so many games. I did my best to sell the illusion in top-down, I’m quite proud of it and couldn't find anyone else going for quite the same thing, so now we can employ this wonderful trope in our own Sci-fi and cyberpunk sorts of games!
Crosshaven is a well-known frontier town, with loads of adventurers passing through, which of course means parties butt heads or debate claims over who staked out a dungeon first. Typically these conflicts are resolved with a showdown; the last party member standing wins the rights for their group. However, lately a Dust-fey has become more and more annoyed with the constant parade of chaotic heroes traipsing around in its territory. Seeing the perfect opportunity for a little payback, it rode into town followed by a regular army of spiny dry tumbleweeds to drown all those damn adventurers and their stupid town in!
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Inspired by the tumbleweed storms that rolled through Texas and Utah, covering absolutely everything. Seemed like a perfect, unexpected freak nature event that would make an encounter for a D&D party to try and deal with, maybe while tussling with some nature-controlling foe blowing them around with high winds!
The Orrery, calculating and mapping the movements of magic through the aether for the master wizards of the arcane university.
The Celestarium of the Mimsy is the foremost school for the study of the relationship between the ley lines and the stars, exploring the growing field that attempts to understand how the conditions one is born under shape the future of that person and the essence of their soul. The Orrery was developed to track the nexus of these arcane concepts and calculate them in a measurable way. Six ley lines were discovered, and so six spheres rotate below a map of the cosmos painted above.
There are those, however, who see this device as heretical—believing these wizards are attempting to understand the heavens and the realms of the divine. Fanatics have already attacked the Orrery three times since its creation, and they nearly succeeded in destroying it the last time. After three years of restoration, the study has at last been allowed to continue. The school has hired a small group of heroes to protect it until the important work can be completed.
The Boiler Room had been tinkered with by the repairman for decades. It was only after he vanished that the tenants realized they had never known who he was. Hissing, rattling pipes and hoses dripped hot water from the low ceiling. The network beneath the building was a strange kind of alchemy only the repairman understood. Without him, you’ll have to cross the mess he built and fix the boiler yourself before the pressure gets too high!
I made this map on a complete whim while working on another with pipes. The idea of trying to get into a maze-like boiler room and back out before being cooked by hot steam really sounded like a fun, non-combat challenge that could still be run with turn orders. Putting a complicated problem in front of the players and asking them to solve it with the tools they’ve built into their little murderers can be a fun change of pace!
Wytch's Dale, A single narrow pass between towering frozen mountains. The laws of the coven here say passing through in complete silence is the only way to reach the other side.
Nestled at the eastern edge of the Algēre glacier lies Wytch's Dale, a forest choked by silence. This woodland valley is home to one of the oldest witch covens in all of Crudilex, a sisterhood of Blooded Riven who forged a pact with the Dryad personification of the season of winter in ages long past. Through this pact, the witches gained dominion over the Dale, ruling unchallenged and exacting tribute from all who pass through. Magic and secrets must be offered, and any who cross their territory must pay this tithe or pass their lands without speaking a single word. An unnatural silence hangs over the dale, not a birdsong and animal call to be heard within. Even beasts respect this dominion of the coven.
To loudly cross Wytch's Dale unwelcomed and without paying their tithe is to welcome disaster into your life, perhaps not right away, but well into your future. curses are grown right into the roots of the trees and those who fail to pay their due to cross will find the dale has a way of following you back to where you are going and getting what it is owed.
This map is another feature from my setting crudilex, the covens are a culture in the setting that gathers magic without any regard to its source, believing there is no evil in magic. Some covens align themselves with a single creature like the Coven of Winter here in Wytch’s Dale. The idea was one of those classic video game looping dungeons, where you have to successfully make it to the other side of an area perfectly or be sent back to the beginning.
“It lumbered slobberingly into sight and gropingly squeezed Its gelatinous green immensity through the black doorway into the tainted outside air of that poison city of madness. … The Thing cannot be described—there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch contradictions of all matter, force, and cosmic order.”
Inspired by the classic, the call of Cthulhu, I imagine this map as an encounter where cultists have gathered at an ancient ritual ziggurat far out to sea, and our heroes have to stop them completing their eldritch ritual before releasing a big nasty Cthulhu-like baddy into the world. Classic as it gets!
The Hatchet of Hadar, dreaded airship of the villainous Captain Kane Rotlungs. Unleashing hell in the night over the Capital City.
Rotlung’s infamous ironclad pushes the limits of what a Manabattery engine can keep skyworthy, Covered in layers of pigiron and scrap salvaged from the bones of ships he’s taken from the sky Rotlungs and his crew of mischievous Imps bombard cities into submission and make off with loot and weapons. His ever growing boldness has sent him for larger and larger targets deeper and deeper into Grand Norstidinian airspace. Until one dark night that hatchet of Hadar, silhouetted against the shattered moon, let free hell over the capital itself.
Something no Air Pirate has ever been crazy enough to attempt.
This map Is a Crudilex original featuring the great city below and one of the many famous airship pirates of the setting. Kane plays the part of a sort of Long-John-Silver type. An antihero who calls himself a freedom fighter but is really just a backstabbing treasure hound at his core- Kane himself cuts a broad silhouette for a tiefling, a mountain of a man with a horn littered beard and intelligent yellow eyes. I’ve made tons of airships but a nice scraped together-post apocy looking one just makes sense!
The Unknownwood holds many secrets, its perpetual autumn. The painful silence cut only by the ever present wind. This forest is old and those who live here do not particularly appreciate intrusions. Deep deep in the wood, where only one who is truely lost could reach is the hut. A single chicken leg that glimpse into a cascade of black fur and feathers. Home to the Baba Yaga, first sister of the first coven. If you can handle her tricks and riddles and trails she may even reward your brashness with some of her ancient secrets.
But she just as soon may boil your bones and hand them from her teetering chimney. Depends on the day-
This map is my second shot at Baba Yaga, I did one map for her hut way way back when I first started making phased maps and it was, I think- my worst map. One of those projects you look back on and facepalm. But I’ve grown a lot as an artist since then and I can say I'm super proud of what it eventually became five years later!
All you have to do is cross a room, easy peasy, also don't get crushed, that's important too.
The door slams closed behind, the party looks before them a deep pit with cubes, each marked with arcane runes. The otherside of the room is another door. Ok- reach it. Easy. They take a step and the room jumps to life, the stone cubes slide violently fast across the pit. Not so easy. The floor is littered with symbols, maybe those can help us predict where the cubes move and we can ride them across without needing to navigate the meat grinder below.
Inspired by those sliding box puzzles from platforming games in the 90-00s. I really enjoy making simple dungeon rooms like this and it seems sometimes folks like just a simple functional idea and not a big flashy movie scene like I normally make.
“Your path to discovering Arjun’s Inn begins at the foothills of the Markehsha Mountains, a major crossroads of cultures. The majestic sight of Joramy volcano is just above the horizon.” - Ida Holly
Here lives a rich merchant, Arjun, who has fallen on hard times and has turned his large home into “Arjun’s Inn. The kind of boutique hotel that wealthier adventure travelers might seek out in Dawnfire. Traders, pilgrims, and crusaders have passed through this small, rural village, on a well-traveled road to Seagate snaking through the central north of the lands of Dawnfire. While travelers rest at the hotel, the owner and other families reside there. The décor, as well as the furniture, at Arjun’s Inn is an amalgamation of mismatched artifacts Arjun has collected through his years of travel across southern Crudilex.
Dawnfire culture believes that fire is sacred, The act of burning something is to send it into the divine realms to become one with their goddess. Ash and soot being the portion of that thing that are not sacred, unholy or deconsecrated. All that remains when every holy element is removed from a thing leaving behind only the portions the goddess does not wish to claim. Because of this many cultures throughout Dawnfire see touching of ash as a corruption, like staining your fingers with pure unadulterated unholyness.
The Getaway! You’ve loaded an airship up with your ill gotten coin, now all that matters is outrunning the cops!
“They say the heist of the casino was the boldest ever preformed in the whole of the world. But they forget to add the chase that came after was too” - Ida Holly
“Your listening to Rockthron radio:
This just in! The auction taking place at the cirrus on high floating island casino in Grand Nostridan HAS. BEEN. ROBBED! a grand heist has left the coffers of Enchante herself completely empty and- what’s this?
Breaking news!
A spellship loaded with countless coin come careening carelessly through the hot air balloon show off the side of the island, Roian police skiff in hot pursuit firing their force-chain cannons! Go get’m boys!
This has been Rockthorn Radio!”
The final map in my cirrus casino series. Starting with breaking in, Then the raceway outside, then hitting the vault, and now the getaway! All four maps will be released together in an up-coming One-Shot! Cirrus is a dear part of my Crudilex setting and now that this portion is done I’ll finally be moving to another part of that world to dive deep on!
Living in the Mega Buildings? Oh it's not too terrible, really anything you’d need in there. Shopping entertainments, Most even have a monorail station. But the worst thing about living in the megabuilding is the Gantry lift skips so many floors every stop. I’m up on 170 so I have to go up to the 185 stop then walk down 15 flights to get to my apartment. But I mean for the price it's better than one of the Coffin hotels or living out in the stacks or something. Plus I always get my steps in.
Another Cyberpunk inspired map! When playing 2077 I always imagined how fun it would be to do a combat encounter on the lift up to V’s apartment. Honestly it never made any sense to me that none of their many… MANY enemies ever came for V where they lived, Not like they were particularly careful about it.
“There are few monsters great enough to be mentioned on world maps by name, But it is critically important that the territory of Rahido, the Arcwhale, is known to anyone traveling the skies.” - Ida Holly
The Lost horizon is the fastest, Highest flying twin manabattery Iari class airship ever created. The Drakul Harpoon is the strongest most advanced airship harpoon constructed to date. The crew we’ve assembled is hand picked by Tankren Falstead who’s been hunting Rahido since he was old enough to become an aeronaught. There are no further preparations or equipment hitherto forth available to us. And somehow it still doesn't feel like enough-So, as your captain, best that the lot of you to pray to every devine whos name you know. That's an order. Good. Now- To stations! Full speed into the eye of the storm! Let's kill an Arcwhale!
This map is set in my setting of Crudilex high in the sky featuring the legendary battle between an one of a kind airship, The Lost Horizon, which I featured in a previous battlemap, fighting the world of Crudilex’s greatest airborne monster! I wanted it to feel momentous and epic! Like a clash between Captain Ahab and Moby Dick or an encounter with a leviathan but thousands of feet off the ground!
“I have seen the World Engine. Deep down underground in the Sunless Sea. Its miles across and Its core glows red in the darkness. Which is lucky, because it's very easy to get disoriented in that forest of Oil and pistons.” - Ida Holly
There are machinations we just weren't meant to understand. The surface above the world engine is so simple, human, strife but only on our mortal scale. Below the World Engine runs for the divine constructed by gods and put toward their ineffable goals. We scramble upon its artifice without the ability to fathom its purpose like rats in a wizard’s study. We can guess at the reason the divine built this machine, perhaps it is their means to bring about another devine of their kind, Deus ex machina, God from the machine? Perhaps it will run until the end of time, keeping hours like a great celestial clock. We can only guess. But there is one single consensus, if it should ever stop only upheaval can follow.
For this map I wanted to imagine the whirring insides of a super complex machine, Something like an airship or walking castle the players had to board and take down from inside! I even tried to make the lifts on the right and left move like they are the inside mechanics of a giant walking machine! I was really inspired by Steamboy and Dragonmech.
“Sometimes a quick getaway is more dangerous than just sticking around to fight!” - Ida Holly
Life in silkwind Junction is fast and cheap, Emphasis on the FAST! And the Tho mines are blasting all round the clock and wont even pause for a group of wayward adventurers and hurt their bottom line. Baron’s would say if you stopped for every band of misfits who ran down into the blasting tunnels you’d never have a full day’s work!
Danger, Blasting! This phased battlemap takes you on a minecart chase through the active canyon mines, past exploding dynamite, the edge of a canyon cliff, and into a dam-powered ore grinder! This map is my second minecart rollercoaster map, the last one was inspired by indiana jones, and TAZ 11th hour, this one is more in the flavor of Big Thunder railroad, or Looney Toons! Its a bit crazy, a bit goofy, but sometimes it's a fun time to run an encounter that… flies of the rails? Eh eh?
Silkwind Junction, The canyon mine is always rolling day and night, no time to slow down, cross the tracks at your own risk. Life in Silkwind Junction is fast and cheap, better to work the mines then tussle with the Tho Barons. The locals say If you don’t have a mind for invention then you better have a back for digging or fists for fighting. Down in the canyon it's all or nothing and switches between them mighty fast.
Inspired by one of my earliest maps that was a frogger sort of encounter on a busy street I wanted to set a similar kind of challenge in my canyon city of Silkwind, a gnomish desert city where inventors are celebrities and the rest struggle to survive. This is also a two part map! Next week we’ll see what happens if you jump aboard a minecart and ride down into the blasting tunnel!
“People in glass castles shouldn't throw stones.” - Ida Holly
As you enter the great hall, your eyes run up the black marble walkway to the great Geode throne in the center of the chamber. The throne must tower about 15 feet high, dwarfing everyone else in the chamber, but somehow the figure sitting in it makes it seem too small.
A man built like an Olympic God reclines in it, his opaline eyes regard you thoughtfully, striking a vivid contrast to his stone-like obsidian skin. He stands up, and every other person in the palace of black glass bows low before him, holding their hands up in supplication.
This map was an experiment with light and layers. I've done a few throne room type maps in the past so I really wanted to challenge myself and make something with more dimensionality and levels to play in during a boss fight kind of encounter. With the upper landing, a deep bottomless pit, lots of falling shards of obsidian shattering while the players try and destroy the BBEG holding the place together and get out before it crumbles on top of them!
“See Basanna never run off when their links are undone. It's mostly because they are too dumb, but the point remains.” - Ida Holly
Moving cargo isn't exactly a QUEST, but you have to start somewhere and your party needs coin. So you climb up the wagon and roll off to the market faire. Unloading was easy but loading everything back up in the evening has been a real pain, when suddenly the druid lets the pack beasts loose! “They hate this job” so they say, which would be all fine and dandy if you weren't ON the wagon when it started rolling backwards down the hill! Everyone HANG ON!
This map was a pretty time consuming affair, as are any maps where the platform the players are on is still while the background moves. But In the end it's always worth it! I like to think this could be used as a non-combat encounter as well as a fight if your say wrestling with a thief as they try to snatch something from the wagon, or releasing the wagon intentionally for a cinematic get away from the guards!
‘Twas the dark of midwinter, the hearths burning low,
When out in the village there came a faint glow.
Mari Lwyd has come and challenges you to rhyme,
but if the ghost horse wins she will come in to dine.
The moon, on the snowbanks that shimmered below,
Lit up the dark lanes with an eerie white glow.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a horse’s white skull and a troupe full of cheer.
With ribbons and bells tied to bone stark and bare,
Mari Lwyd had loomed, a sight strange and rare.
Her sockets were empty, her grin wide and grim,
Yet joy filled the air as they sang their old hymn.
"Open your door!" came Mari's refrain,
"Let us best you in rhyming, or here we'll remain.
For blessings and cheer, and a sip of your ale,
We’ll riddle and jest 'til your words finally fail!"
We answered their rhymes with quick, clever wit,
Each line and retort we hoped would outwit.
But Mari was cunning, her verses well-spun,
And soon we conceded, her victory won.
With laughter and joy, no more rhymes left to think,
And in came dear Mari for our food and our drink.
They drank and they danced, their spirits alight,
Bringing good fortune to all on that cold solstice night.
“Critical note: Just because Mimsy sometimes LOOK like stuffed animals doesn't mean they are cute and snuggly and nice.” - Ida Holly
In the dreamlands of Nocturne everything is steeped in whimsy, the theatrical world of sleep. Here the Mimsy, Jester-like personifications of various dreams and desires, live their lives. Their great dreaming city of Avu serves as an anchor point for all the waking world to visit when they are asleep and their minds wander to Nocturne, and at the heart of the city is the Carousel.
With its decorated sheep bouncing up and down as it spins, and its celestial patterned walls and roof, it is an Icon of the realm of Nocturne beloved by the Mimsy. And an ever present target of their enemy, Nod.
For this map I wanted to make something cute and fun, I went for that blue and gold celestial 90s motif that was once super popular. They call it whimsigoth these days. Perfect vibe for a magical counting sheep carousel I think!
You enter a dim chamber, the stone door sliding closed behind you, the room is lit by faint glowing runes one each on every stone between here and the exit. On the opposite side of the room an illusion of one of the runes glows over a plinth.
Collapsing Puzzle Floor, A phased battle map where glowing runes on the floor slowly crumble underneath the heroes. Each rune is foreshadowed by the illusionary plinth, telling players who figure out what's happening which runes they best avoid. After each rune has fallen- the doors open releasing them!
Simple enough- But of course, there is the matter of those flickering shadows waiting to attack on the far side of the room. Surely handling a small puzzle AND fighting a terrible beastie isnt too much for a group of brave heroes!
Inspired by The Last Crusade’s crumbling floor puzzle. I really enjoy making simple dungeon rooms like this and it seems sometimes folks like just a simple functional idea and not a big flashy movie scene like I normally make.
“I’ve heard lots of tales of the adventurers who fly that airship, and really… It's no surprise it wrecked. Honestly, most adventurers shouldn't be allowed to fly.” - Ida Holly
The Affinity was an exceptional airship and it crashed in just as exceptional a wreck. Shattered to splinters hundreds of feet in the air when it tried a daring maneuver through a basalt canyon that was just a bit too narrow. Now it dangles from ropes in the frozen wastes, its treasure and secrets high and unreachable, but always tantalizing those who venture across the tundra.
But someone, someday will come along and make the climb up to the wreck. And they better come prepared. The icey cliffs are hardly safe, but there are rumors that something is roosting up there in that airship wreck.
Dead Man’s Party! When the veil grows thin the dead can return for a brief time to the world of the living, And there are some few who take full advantage until the sun rises!
There are some few with the innate ability to see ghosts, Via Cruse, or boon, blessing, magic, or perhaps even being born an innate medium. But all who truly bear this power will tell you that the personalities of the dead are just as diverse as the living. And when they get an infrequent chance to celebrate, poking their spectral heads back onto our side of the veil, they absolutely get down.
Don’t believe me? Just cast a speak with dead spell on hallows eve at your local graveyard and see what happens. Don’t forget to bring some ale, because decades in the grounds leaves one mighty hankering for a stiff drink!
Inkarnate’s own Mati and I collabed together for a special halloween map! Inspired by the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans and The happy haunts of the haunted mansion at Disney. Mati built the map and I provided the phases!
Find more of Mati’s over at https://inkarnate.com/p/34K9WG--mati/
In the Astral sea built upon the corpse of a forgotten god is built the great City of Tu’Narath. Having reached its cobbles now you must battle through war torn streets, over bridges, and through its gates to climb the cyclopean chains anchoring the skull of the dead god!
“The sea of thoughts is littered with Dead gods. Some might say this shows the most powerful weapon against some of the more malicious, demanding, devines among our pantheon are felled by a bit of careful thought.” - Ida Holly
The twisted gothic buildings frequented by minions of the Lich Queen are slowly being reduced to rubble. Whole towers and sections of rock float, blasted off into the Atherial sea blasted by the raining fire of the Spelljammers above. Red Dragon flights circle and clash above as below the soldiers of both armies clash on the cobbles.
It is your task to reach the Queen’s chambers. But to do so you will have to pass through the active warzone, Cross the high bridge over the city, Breach the gate into the citadel and climb the chains anchoring the skull of the dead god to Tu’Narath.
THEN the battle can begin!
This map is the second of a three part series I’m calling “The Battle of Tu’Narath” which imagines a chaotic clash between the powers of Wildspace all converging on the dead-god city and seat of the Lich queen of the Gith. Part one can be found named “Nautiloid Vs Spelljammer” marks the arrival into the city, and this part is the battle THROUGH the city! Keep an eye out for part three, where the characters will reach the throne room for a final encounter with the City’s queen!
“There are cracks in your authority my king, as big as those in the fabric of spacetime behind you…” - Ida Holly
At the end of all things the Scarlet king awaits. The lord of horror and master of all evils who came after him. His malignant energies have merged with the ley lines and taken root in the very heart of the world causing generations of darkness to bubble to the surface and a legion of minions to rise to his wordless commands. And here, at the heart of everything you have entered his throne room, a simple enough looking man, humble even. But as your indignance continues the Scarlet king casts aside any semblance of humanity. revealing the true horror. no more wasted power on illusions. No more wasted intentions on mercy. After centuries of waiting the final battle at last can begin.
This map is the final battle location for the campaign of a years long supporter of mine! I’ve made something around 50 maps for his games through commissions and it's been very cool to paint all these scenes of his players' stories for a few years now. I've felt like an honorary player invested in their adventure. (Or a secret villain, if you look at the maps I’ve made for them, sorry about all the explosions!) This map is the final final of that game, a proper Cosmic BBEG arena!
“The effects of a legendary beast taking a lair has on the land is not well understood. Perhaps it is a residual bleed from the potent magic within them? All we have is conjecture for now.’ - Ida Holly, On the Primal Beast
“It’s said the creature came from long ago, slumbering in the molten rock below the geysers. And one day the thunder of war roused it, with thousands of years of hunger it ate an entire army in one go before slinking off into that tunnel and making its lair.
Not comes out of that mountain’s maw but steam and the trickling river of rock-stained water. And not goes in but fools like you. There is no justice to be found for the ones who lost their lives to the Primal Beast. Best leave it alone or the river will turn from orange- to red.”
This map is inspired by geyser fields like Yellowstone! I love the idea of a monster layer set above a slumber caldera that slowly wakes up as the legendary effects of a lair grow more and more powerful, causing more geysers to form and eventually- possibly a big eruption the heroes have to prevent. That’s just how I’d run it anyway. What would you put in this monster-lair?
It’s fake. I mean just looking at it statically, if there are that many skiff crashes there shouldn't be any aeronaughts left to fly the darn things! - Ida Holly
The Cirrus Casino, constructed in a cloudy valley of floating island motes, hovers miles above the purple, sandy wasteland dunes below and serves as the playground for the most famous and influential figures in all of Crudilex. It is best known for hosting the Monoskiff Classic.
The casino's mysterious owner, the gorgon Enchante’ Cirrus, has run the Monoskiff Classic airship race four times now, and it only grows bigger and more extravagant with each event. Private booths are now worth a small fortune, and people flock from every corner of Crudilex to witness the spectacle and the renowned racers who fought their way through fierce competition to appear in this grand final. Winning this race makes legends, and from the most despised villains to the people's champions, the pilot-aeronauts are celebrated daredevils of the skies—assuming they put on a good enough show.
This map is my second set at the flying Casino of Cirrus on High in my campaign setting Crudilex. This time it features one of the main events the casino hosts, a high speed high octane airship race. The entire vibe of which is inspired a lot by pro wrestling with stories playing out between races and pilots being high energy characters and villains playing roles and building relationships for the audience to get behind all leading up to the last big race for the title!
Cabin Pressure Warning! Pull up, Pull Up! You know how to fly a plane right? The fuel has been dumped, The Engines are failing, were gliding into low altitude and there are no safe landing sights. So what do we do?!
Hang on!
For this phased map I wanted to do another Indiana Jones inspired map, specifically the plane crash escape scene from temple of doom. But I also was really inspired by the plane fight from uncharted and basically decided to just do both!
"I wouldn’t claim to know what sort of crime one could possibly commit that even the land of ultimate evil would want you imprisoned."
– Ida Holly, On the Void
Some souls, after passing on, are still too dangerous to exist even among the damned. In the deepest pits of the void lies a prison—solitary confinement for those who might seek to unleash their horrors upon the living once more. There, in the blackest depths, the Abyssal Dias houses these spirits for all eternity. Do not meddle in cosmic affairs, nor venture to those depths. If someone you love has been banished to the bottom of Hell—they deserve to be there.
Top of the World! Climbing the highest mountain to witness the beauty and magic that hide above the clouds at the edge of the world. But tread carefully, one wrong move and an avalanche would rain down.
“There must be some calculable proportional number between the beauty of a location and the danger.” - Ida Holly
High in the alpine reaches above the veil of clouds where hides a world witnessed most by gods, Where the heavens and earth meet. Few dare to make the days long climb to the top, fewer still survive to the top.
They say, Palidians from all over the world climb the mountain to reach the aurora which many believe is a gate to the celestial realms. A pilgrimage to bask in the physical presence of the divine realm of their patrons or even, if they are worthy, speak directly with their god. But to reach the gate they must first defeat the challenges of the ascent. Avalanches, Ice, and the cold. To speak nothing of the Roc’s high roosts or worst of all- the Yeti.
But there could be no greater reward than basking in the celestial light of the aurora.
Roots, if given enough time, can shatter steel, and there is said to be magic that can speed up that time to just moments. The forgotten forest gods don't appreciate it when their few remaining altars are trampled.
“There are legends of ancient devines- fallen into a slumber- waiting to be remembered.” - Ida Holly
There stands to the north a dense, ancient forest shrouded in an ethereal mist. Deep within its heart lies the altar to the ancient peoples' forgotten forest god, the Ent Father. Legends speak of the Ent Father's wisdom, and druids often come to this place to commune with nature and seek guidance. Unbeknownst to you adventurers, tonight, the forest is alive. There is 100 hungry spirits in the trees looking down.
Subtle tremor ripples through the ground. The statue of the Ent Father, carved from ancient wood and adorned with emerald leaves, comes to life. Its eyes, once stone-cold and lifeless, illuminate a brilliant shade of green. The altar beneath it begins to pulse with vitality. Vines and flowers crack through the stone, wrapping around the temple. The air fills with the scent of rotting leaves and wet earth, as the magical energy envelops you.
the Ent Father, after countless generations, has awoken.
“The Void of hell is isolation, paranoia, loneliness. I don’t know which is worse. Eternity of torment or eternity of- nothing.” - Ida Holly
What is the measure of a man? The sum of his deeds and his failures, weighed against eternity. Who are the divine to pass judgment, to offer me paradise or damnation? I will not submit, I will not bow. My soul will not be so easily reaped, nor will I surrender the final spark of my essence to a hollow, proud eternal. If you desire my soul, come and take it. Face me here, as a warrior, upon the scales of judgment. Should you triumph, I will consign myself to your eternity. But if I am victorious, my spirit and its power shall be granted the gift of absolute oblivion.
This map I wanted to play with the way we use and think about phased maps.instead of making something sequential this time the map serves as a tug of war back and forth. I imagine the scales tipping one way or another depending on where the bulk of the fighters are, forcing players to make interesting choices as to where they want to be standing to affect the tip of the scales or the battle!
The Henge of the guardian of earth and lava has been completely forgotten, overgrown, and consumed by the jungle. Surely awakening a lava elemental won't cause any problems.
“Moldo Island filled with monsters, Pirates, and ancient forgotten angry elemental gods of land, sea, and sky. I can't wait to go!” - Ida Holly
The Elemental gods of Triton each have a champion. Though they haven't been summoned in the modern age. The myths say their altars can still be found and if they are defeated in battle they offer a gift from their respective patron god.
Deep in the jungles of Moldo, the lost island, the elemental guardian of the land, Arewanna, waits and waits. The throngs of orc who once paid homage to their patron devine of the land long have moved away from the pilgrimage to the island to worship and leave offerings. The shrine has become overgrown. The few elders who remember the guardians' visits grew fewer and fewer until they stopped completely. But Arewanna remembers… and its challengers will one day return. One day.
All we need to do is escape the cell, get out into the yard, Avoid the guards, stay out of the light, sneak down to the dock, and row a few miles through stormy seas! See, breaking out of jail is easy!
The thunder will mask our hammers breaking the wall. So we have to escape during a storm, and it's the end of the season so either we break out now or we are trapped on this hell island for another year- Are odds are bad, horrible really. But it’s go now or rot.
For this map I really wanted to play with light, Shifting the shadows along with the spot lights to create a dynamic environment for a fun stealth encounter. The best thing about this map is it can be run forward and backward over and over to have the lights slowly pan back and forth as the players are sneaking along and avoiding guards. It was inspired by the first dungeon, the forsaken fortress, from Zelda Wind Waker so if your DM runs it they legally have to let you hide under barrels.
“And to think. These beasts aren't even the largest monsters can become.” - Ida Holly
Titan Elemental vs. Warforged Colossus: two god-like giants warring at the heart of the city. Could any power even hope to stop their clash now?
Above you, great giants clash, but the battle rages on! Their duel creates an ever-shifting battlefield as you face your opponents below their feet. You use whatever tactics you can to avoid their massive feet and awesome weapons, as everything in their path is reduced to rubble. Time is running out to end this encounter and escape before they unleash their true power.
Magic vs. Tech! This map is inspired by all the wonderful titanic robot anime I watched growing up, mixed with a bit of WWE and Pacific Rim. The warforged titan (nicknamed Alexander) is an old favorite of mine, and I really wanted to revisit him and give him a Crudilexian makeover—something a little more Dieselpunk. This map was really challenging; it took four sleepless nights in a row to complete. Even if no one sees it, I'm super proud of it. It was incredibly fun to make, and sometimes you have to create the kind of thing you love as an artist. And I happen to love big, huge mechs and explosions!
“Riddles are so common in dungeons from the age of magic that it's actually not a bad idea to bring a riddle expert with you on an excursion.” - Ida Holly
The Flooding Chamber, Deep in the dungeon a mysterious door offers a riddle. But each guess raises the water level. Can you solve it before you drown? The ancient dwarves protected their crypts from the rising ground water with special chambers to contain it. These cisterns provided ample supply of fresh water in the ancient times. So much in fact they started to find creative uses for controlled flooding and water irrigation in the dwarven megacity of Undrum’Kal. But today they really only ever cause problems.
“When the gods shed tears in excess,
And rivers can't hold their embrace,
I march on and never regress,
And submerge all below my surface.
This map is inspired by one of the first ever homebrew encounters I ran, Instead of flooding water the guessing added an additional monster to the encounter, one of my very first- a “Ratspider” Luckily I got more creative with my beasties as the years went on, But I’ll always have a little soft spot in my heart for what is an objectively terrible campy monster. The answer to the riddle is the file name of the Gif. (also in the map files)
“The Outriders have fought against the Empire for one thousand years, while they have not won, They have never for a second considered stopping.” - Ida Holly, On Okugai
An Outrider druid lives among the plains, one with their mount and ever-present in their saddle. They practice ancient magic passed down for generations, originating from the Sky Giants. Proud, patient, strong, they make a formidable foe as a group and a dangerous challenge alone. If challenged, the arena will be formed with hundreds of hooves pounding at full speed in a circle around the combatants.
Legends say their hooves rumble the ground so loudly it calls out in the language of thunder to the sky.
This map of the Outrider's Arena is set in the world of Crudilex, where horses are fairly rare but prized among a culture known as the Outriders. Inspired by the khanate, ancient Mongolia, and the Eurasian Steppe, I imagine this scene where a single powerful foe stands against the party as hundreds of his men respectfully allow the challenge to continue, creating a storm of horses as a battlefield.
“Khan Nimbus was known for two things: barbarism and cleverness. I shudder to think of a more dangerous combination of traits.” ~ Ida Holly, On the Skies of Okugai
Fortress of the Cloud Giants: The ancient keep built upon solid clouds miles above the surface using ancient runic arts that the giants themselves are slowly forgetting. Ancient magics and arts are sliding away generation by generation, replaced with primal fury.
Your party has been summoned to appear before the Khan of the Sky Giants. Guided by their minions and sherpas up the mountains to their peak, where a bridge lies extending into the foggy clouds. Crossing into the mists, a huge, logic-defying fortress is constructed right upon the clouds themselves. Silver-blue eyes watch as you walk in silence but for the howling winds.
You’ve heard their myths and legends: magical acumen, incredible poise, and riches. But now the Cloud Giant Khan’s son sits upon the throne and looks no different than a hill giant, if not for the setting. “My father has been banished. Khan Nimbus walks the ground amongst you smallfolk now. I—Khan Stratus—am Lord of the Sky Horde. Grovel.”
This map is my second shot at making a full dungeon phased map. It imagines a clan of Cloud Giants cut off from their kin and regressed to a primal state, forgetting everything that gave them their identity and following a might-makes-right leader who removes all ties to their past. It's inspired a lot by the ruined fortress dungeons from Skyrim, occupied mostly by bandits who had no relationship with why it was constructed, treating the once-noble castles as little more than a hideout or cave.
The Totemic have been a nomadic culture for one hundred generations, Devoted followers of the god of travel and adventure. They see journey as a form of worship welcoming others into their caravans and sharing their sacred knowledge, the safe routes, and practices for navigating the roads of Crudilex to outsiders and followers alike. And at the center of this unifying spirit is the wandering church.
The Great Vardo serves as a traveling capital building, or religious cathedral. It is usually accompanied by a parade of other carts, wagons, and horseless carriage as it ventures anywhere and everywhere, only ever stopping during large ceremonies and Totemic Holidays. If the great green Vardo pulled by its team of great ox, hear the songs and smell the food you know the caravan is passing and many more are sure to follow.
“The Totemic served an important civil role, aiding travelers crossing dangerous stretches of the monster strewn grasslands of the plains of avarice between the countries of man. They were honored for ages until the train was constructed and today many have forgotten just how much the nomads served the people.”
- Ida Holly, the tragedy of progress
Lmure’s and Gentledevils! Such a shame you all died, But worry not It’s time again for the carnival of vehicular violence! Hell will spit you out if you can out deathrace the Infernal Engines of our champion devils, The 7 deadly sins!
What happens AFTER a full party wipe? the whole team dies, the battle is lost is this the end for our heroes?. Nope! They are sent to hell. Now the trick is getting out! Luckily down on the first layer lives “The Ringmaster” a twisted Devil who shirks his duty to the archdevils to instead rake in the soul coins in infernal engine death races!
He offers to planar shift them back home, but only if they win a race against the devilish reincarnations of all the villains they’ve killed in life! The 7 deadly sins- Hell’s poster children for evil and the once-living BBEGs your party has put away. You beat them once right? Cant be so hard now that they are devils!
“The Tipsy Tavern is a great place to hear a good tavern song. The best part, The clashing cultures sing the same song with the words slightly changed. Funny how a few shifted names can change a songs entire message.” - Ida Holly
The Tipsy is a quite famous sailors tavern and Inn roosted high above the Divwhim peninsula along the rocky bluffs. The tavern is home to all kinds of wayfaring travelers crossing the Fjords and serves as a very active crossroads between cultures all gathering for some respite up and down the coast.
Fights can be common in such places where morals and cultural taboos cross. What could be kind to one sailor could be a curse upon the ancestors to another. This is why the tavern is known as the Tipsy, Always sliding between standings right on the edge. Well that and the 700 foot drop down to the water below!
“Love is an endless conversation that somehow still feels too short.” - Ida Holly
Wedding in the Woods, I’m getting married! This map is my fantasy interpretation of our Venue.
This map is a dedication to my wife. I'm posting this on our wedding day, Time set to release as were at the altar saying I do! What better way for a Cartographer to commemorate their love than to make a map about it, haha. I make two styles of map, Phased and Variation, but for this one I did both!
Thank you for the support everyone has shown me over these years map making, I'm so glad to have the community at my back who has helped me feel secure enough to do something as crazy as planning a whole wedding! It’ll be a little quiet for awhile as Im off to my honeymoon! Cheers!
-Balatro
“The Red Waste is unforgiving, but the rewards for the persistent are great. Careful though friend. They call it Rattlesnake Gulch not for the creature, But for how it coils and winds and often rattles.” - Ida Holly
The mines belong to the Hellcat brothers now, But our outriders are nothing but fair. The Law of Rattlesnake gulch is clear- Who can hold it, is who keeps it. You want my mines to meet me by the river, high noon. No funny stuff, Me- and you- To the last in the chamber. Whoever stands after gets the gulch and the other rides out into the suns never to be seen again. Or gets the gulch forever, from 6 feet under it. What say you?
This map dives deep into the “Rocks fall everyone dies” scene. Nothing spices up a duel at noon more than a sudden rockslide. I guess mother nature wanted in on the action!
The servers handle everything! Employee productivity and workflow, Even The cooling systems, It's all managed by the servers algorithms to maximize profit! Correct; cybersecurity too, Why do you ask?
Welcome to the Credcoin head office! Digital currency is our business. Please follow me and we can begin the tour. Here is our server room, Chilly I know. All digital Credcoin in and the city come through this office! All across the land citizens are Implanting a computer in their heads that handles everything in life including your credfolio(™). It's very simple. You think about investing, Think your access code, and Wala! You just invested! All nural-links in the city connect right to this server room across the network. Is it vulnerable to cyberspace attacks? I think a better question is: Is it valuable to cyberspace- attraction!
Everyone will have one! Haha.ha. But yes, If somehow someone breached into our systems the damage they could do to the economy would undo the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of investors.
Who wants to see the ping pong table in the break room!
In the far off future of 1943, In a strange world not unlike our own! Stupendous Dieselpunk machines of war rampage through bombed out cities and lead the battle for the soul of the world! Punch a hole right through that enemy line! Go get em boys!
“I’ve seen many worlds, many cultures. At some point, everyone invents the tank.” - Ida Holly.
“Well, The Moonwell gasket is leaking. We only have 100 gallons of fuel to get us through this siege and drive it back to base. We're surrounded on all sides, the bridges across the river are bombed out and I haven't had lunch.”
Well… I can fix one of those problems right now.”
Captain Buck said, handing the engineer an MRE. "As for the rest, I leave that in the capable hands of the lord. Stations everyone."
“Cap there ain't no way, All the roads are blocked.”
“Well, We’ll make our own road then, Right through the mayoral Estate.”
This map is actually set in the city of Saradross in my setting of Crudilex. The setting is heavily influenced by Dieselpunk and WW2. While it may not seem like it from the map alone it is in fact a D&D setting just not rooted fully in a medieval world. Crudilex includes technology akin to what might be seen in our world up to the 40s, But is rooted more in fantasy. Experiencing an evolving technological timeline entirely separate from our world, giving it an Anachronistic flair which allows many kinds of stories to play out in the setting.
Like driving a tank through a building for instance!
Don’t be afraid to dream your worlds bigger, DnD can be anything!
“In the realms of madness in the darkness between the stars the beings of pure thought dream up what form they will take when they breach into reality. Horrors literally beyond imagination.” - Ida On the Far Realms.
Equipped with a few potions of water breathing and with the help of their Triton guide the heroes plunge deeper and deeper in search of the lost ship. Silently descending for what feels like hours until the sun grows weak above. Precious few glittering beams of light offer a fleeting comfort as creeping inhuman murmuring begins infecting their minds.
The darkness itself seems to reach out all around the abyssal depths. As you descend ever further into the void the muffled drone of the sea grows quiet and the whispers grow louder. The Thing feels your approach. It knows your sins. And it’s massive- terrible eye opens at the bottom of the cold, angry nothing.
“Power of a leader is derived from their people. Some leaders take that- maybe a bit too literally.” - Ida Holly
High over the desert city, the throne of psychics serves as the conduit for immense power for it’s sovereign. Only a fool would challenge one whose power is drawn from an entire city's worth of energy atop their own tower!
Inspired by Sarlona from the Eberron setting this map imagines an encounter where the ruler of a city has hive minded the population and gathered all the strength together in themselves. Serving as a massive physic beacon and conduit. When challenged by the players they unleash this power sending chunks of their throneroom hurtling off into the sands along with the heroes as they fight the superpowered sovereign.
“Agrakata is a well defended city. Only a fool would try any sneak into the palace of the Phoenix king. And such a fool would need these maps of the city's aquifers, hopefully such a fool has 250 gold.” - Ida Holly
The Sneaking Into the City, Rumor has it the main well connects to an underground river that flows out of the city. Guard patrols out in the dunes are infrequent, Once you're in you’ll need to creep your way to the Palace. Stay out of the light!
One little slip up in an otherwise perfectly defended city. An opening to get you behind the walls and not far from the palace where the crown, your target, is. Now here's the rub. You set off alarm bells and the whole operation is a bust, because we can't just steal the crown we need to REPLACE it with this fake and the royals can't be none-the-wiser. So this is a sneaky quest, in and out in silence, Got that, bard?
Designing the layout of this map I knew I wanted it to be a Mediterranean city, and for it to be beautiful and opulent, a city of plants and art filled with life and for the players to be sneaking in during a rare time of quiet through an otherwise very busy and lively city. For this map I wanted to pull from Turkish/Ottoman architecture like the blue mosque and the terraced houses in Mardin.
“Most fixers have a whole separate list of gigs they know go bad they give to crews they don't like. But if you don’t die, that means getting onto the ‘Reliable’ list” - Ca$he, Japantown Gun runner
It's an easy gig: swipe the car and get it to Japantown. Is it close to the precinct? Yes. Is the payout bad? Also, yes. Is it a bait car loaded with unregistered firearms? No - they are registered. Look, you're a new crew. Good luck finding something better without any rep.
The city doesn't favor the brave or the stupid. It does not favor anyone. Runners have to put in the work for every inch they claim on the streets, and that means taking big risks for next to nothing back. You want to survive? Become useful. That starts here, kid. So steal that car and get it where it needs to go clean, and keep the heat low - well… as low as you can.
Phased maps like this are a special challenge. Since the car doesn't move, the background does, which means I had to make 10 separate phases! It took three weeks of working between my usual releases to finish this one because I made the dumb decision not to cut any corners and made each area a fully realized map. Cool locations you’ll just drive right by during the chase. ;_;
But hey! That means if you wanted to, you could use those locations later with the no-chase variant of the map that removes the cars. (Which also allows for finer control if the players want to get creative with their driving or if an NPC isn't at the wheel.)
This map, while being a LOT of work (close to 100 hours), was so fun to make, and I hope it does well because I’d love to do more Cyberpunk car chases like this! I already have some cool ideas!
“Let's see you get out of THIS one, superdorks!” - Evil Doctor Notida
The villainous lair was easy to find, almost too easy! Entering, there wasn't a guard or henchman in sight. Just a large metal tank and enough explosives to blow up half the city! The alchemical vats and laboratory beakers bubbled, and the only sound was the sudden slam of the iron exit door. Gas filled the chamber, and your vision began to blur; the last thing you saw was the villain's boots as he walked away.
You awake, bound to four chairs next to the gathered bombs, a cartoonishly long fuse leading to a cannon pointed directly at the pile! Your arch-nemesis clears his throat to begin his evil monologue.
"Well, well, heroes! You've managed to uncover my secret alchemical laboratory. But NOW, let's see if you can ever ESCAPE IT! Surely, some capable adventurers like you can break free from a few locks and chains before the fuse burns! MWA ha ha ha!!"
"Between cults building stone monoliths, the heat, and the sand storms, I can't decide what I'd rather do me in." - Ida Holly
Listen up, soldiers! This information cost our greatest spies their lives. The line of obelisks siphons power from all across the land, funneling it back to the enemy's kingdom. Each one feeds the next in an endless line of invisible power, rerouting ley lines, shaping the landscape, and draining everything for the benefit of the enemy!
The chain of obelisks reinforces each other with their arcane energies. Once completed, they are nearly indestructible. However, if they are connected to the arcane link BEFORE they are finished being built, then destroyed, all the power will flow outward into the wastes - like opening a dam as a river trench is being dug.
There is no telling what that much magic released at once will do; the least you can hope for is a bad sandstorm. But it is the one weakness of the chain, and our only hope!
Well of the Golden Serpent: A legendary ruin, once the heart of a great city deep in the jungle. Abandoned and swallowed by overgrowth, only the bravest are said to accept the endless riches the myths promise. Surely without any sort of ironic twist.
“The Serpent god Nisi’Mammo is the patron of green and gifts. Anything you desire can be yours with a visit to her well. But you will forever be changed. Contorted to her likeness forever more.” - Ida Holly, reading ancient writing on the wall of the Well of the Golden Serpent.
Every adventurer has heard the legend, a well the size of a castle whose waters house a giant statue made of pure gold in the shape of a titanic snake - the Golden Serpent. Standing at the edge of the well and asking for eternal wealth is all the price that needs to be paid for more gold than one could carry.
Countless pirates, conquistadors, and adventuring parties have bushwhacked through the jungle in search of the well, and so far, those who return are fewer in number, or forever changed. But the one thing that defines every person who has seen the Well: they will speak nothing of it, no matter how persuasive the questions may be.
This map is made featuring the latest Early Access assets the EA team has gotten to play with, with a Jungle theme! I am very grateful to be among the chosen members to get to experiment with these assets and share them here in first looks with you!
"In the forests of Dolver, there is a city fallen to ruin before its completion, cursed to wait forever for its citizens to return." - Ida Holly.
Everyone perished before completion, building their new kingdom in the unexplored, mysterious pines without discovering the horrors that lurked among the needles. Every citizen either died or vanished, leaving the castle to fall into ruin.
The strange, haunting need to protect its people awoke something in the kingdom. Protective of its citizens who fell before the moat was dug, it lies in wait for their return and grows ever wearier as their homes overgrow and crumble. The castle finally arose when strangers sought to steal from the bones of its people.
As it rose, awakened as an elemental of the ruined kingdom, so too did the citizens. Their skeletons adorned with arms, they returned to defend their home.
“Making it through another year is worthy of celebration. Your birthday for you and the New year for us all!” - Ida Holly
Even adventurers need a break, a festival and celebration now and again. And after a rough year heading off to the capital to watch the local customary magical sphere descend might be just the thing.
This year marks my 3rd year map making,
It's an alternate version of one of my favorite maps, the Deco-city and includes a version without the text, ball, and an isolated ball for your convenience. I'm really grateful for all the patrons who helped support my work this year and going forward, 48 maps a year each with 20+ versions between variations and phases. It's been a huge huge year for me and I’ve never stopped appreciating how lucky I am to do this for a living.
Here's to 2024! Happy new year!
Sand Skimmer, an 11-phased battle map. Crossing the vast deserts poses numerous dangers – exposure, thirst, and, out in the dunes and canyons, the most formidable threat is the Bulettes. In the soft grounds, they can grow... quite large.
“If a Salt Dunes or Redwaste outlaw starts running while holding up your sand skiff, you run too. You’re on the same team now.” - Ida Holly
The dunes, though only 20 miles across, divide the kingdom so completely. No army can march through; no caravan can trade. Out there, it's an empire of monsters and vultures feeding on what they leave behind. That is, of course, besides the Sand Skiffs.
Officially deemed a crime by the crown, Skiffs are considered too risky. One in every 5 skiffs never returns, but that's exactly how the Skiffjocks like it. No oversight, no cargo checks. Just coin and speed. Smugglers, outlaws, bandits, criminals – they all make a good living taking anything and anyone brave enough to skim out under the oppressive sun and launch into the razor winds to outrun the Sandshark Bulettes to the canyon rocks at the desert's heart.
I'm sure you have your reasons for not taking the two-day trip around the dunes; hope it's worth it.
“ You may have dark vision, but do you have horrible blinding light death ray vision?”
- Ida Holly
The coastline is extremely well-defended; the most advanced minds of a generation work beyond its bluffs to ensure the empire is never caught unaware. The only method to besiege these shores that will have any significant effect is sheer overwhelming numbers. But surely no army would mount such an attack; the casualties would be immeasurable!
This map is inspired by the myth-shrouded mirror weapon that historical writings suggest Archimedes used with “burning mirrors” to set anchored ships on fire during the siege of Syracuse. I remember seeing the Mythbusters episode about this very subject and thinking it all made sense to me! Solar beam your enemies! So here’s my D-Day-like fantasy Greek Omaha Beach attack phased map.
Tech may have advanced in the Cyberpunk future but that hasn't stopped corporations from corner cutting construction and bribing inspection officials. Gangs trading explosive rounds hasn't helped structural integrity much either.
In the big city, there are no graveyards. Those fortunate enough to have someone who cares about them are incinerated into ash and disposed of in the mountains of trash. With a good insurance plan, you might even receive a holo-memoriam for a few years. For the rest of us— the nobodies caught in the crossfire as you psychos launch rockets at each other—mass tombs made of concrete and rebar await.
Every flickering street sign and distant siren is a dirge to the struggle for existence in a place where the line between the living and the discarded blurs into a haunting symphony of neon dissonance.
And I'm just trying to get to work on time.
“They say the Queen of Sirens spends her days lavishly lounging on her throne and reading her collection of messages in bottles that will never reach shore like letters from a lover.” - Ida Holly
The Siren's Throne is an inhospitable island chain in the distant stormy seas made up of jagged cliffs above the surf and tangled seaweed strangled around countless rocks and wrecks below. It's bad luck to sail within a mile of it- and worse luck to follow the songs into the heart of it.
Fog on the tide is generally considered an Ill omen in the Triton coast. Hides potential rocks in the surf, Drifting debris, but also- worst of all it covers anything that may wish to swim up close to your craft while you cross between islands.
And you best be careful out past Guillotine Point. Never sail where your chew could snag on rocks. Always wear a token to give to the lost lady of the tides to lead you back if you go over. And stay alert because that's where the Mara’Kahua and the Sirens hunt.
and take care and plug your ears in the cold hours of the morning.
With an airship in pursuit the heroes fall through a cavern opened by its bombardment. Stumbling into an ancient forgotten Magi-tech laboratory. Back against the wall, the only way to escape is to delve deeper into the unknown.
“The world is strewn with ancient ruins left behind by forgotten civilizations. Dungeons deep and vast built to entomb ancient peoples, and forgotten magics.” - Ida Holly
United by a need to rediscover the ancient technologies of the forgotten arcane civilization, you gathered as experts in your field to find and reawaken the powers of old. You were on the verge of success when the Imperial airship admiral captured you. Intent on using the power for evil, he forced you to guide his armada high into the mountains where your research led you. At the 11th hour, you managed to escape, and now, with only seconds ahead, it's up to you to reach the treasure first!
However, it wasn't until the fourth day of searching for the entrance to the dungeon that you began to hear the propellers of the airship on the horizon.
This map draws inspiration from Final Fantasy 14, envisioning a Galarian airship bombing a cavern that houses a late Allagan rebel research facility. I aimed to incorporate various design influences from across the setting, despite not being intimately familiar with it. I made an effort to ensure its relevance to most traditional TTRPG games, and I'm pleased with the final result!
“That Can't Be Good For The Table."
Throughout October, I've been crafting my annual set of horror-themed maps—four in total. This year marks the official third installment of this tradition! Inspired by Laudna this years theme is FUN SCARY!
This particular map, however, veers more towards the fun side rather than pure fright, featuring Howl's Moving Castle! It's not only my all-time favorite movie but also a massive influence on my writing and world building. I've poured extra love into this creation.14 phases that guide players through some of the film's iconic scenes.
The Town of Pottsfield, located somewhere in The Unknown,Over the Garden Wall, Is thrilled to welcome all to take part in the harvest! So long as you don’t trample the crops… If you do, Enoch will be forced to sentence you to... a few hours of manual labor.
For the entire month of October, as always, I'll be creating horror-themed maps—four in total. This marks the third year of this tradition, and it's officially becoming a favorite! This year, we're taking a page out of Laudna's book. The theme of all of them for 2023 is FUN SCARY! Last week was the Addams Family Mansion. This week We’re getting a little lost Over the Garden Wall!
Specifically Pottsfield from episode two! Where perhaps your players don’t receive sucha favorable punishment from the Gord headed skeletons. The encounter is imagined as a clash with the leader of the chamber of commerce, Enoch, who may or may not be a cat inside of a giant autumnal maypole.
Dodging his flailing ribbons, braving the high winds and kicking up, leaf filled dust as the creature flails in a whirling dervish. The map has 12 phases, but phases 8-12 actually loop into each other allowing the boss to continue spiraling as long as the battle goes on!
Atop the tower the wizards' crystal prison contained the Atropal all too well, it could not escape but neither could it be moved and the rotting curse poisoned the land for a generation.
“A wizard did it. Just put a sign up outside of every arcane disaster from now on- nine times out of ten it’s right.” - Ida Holly
Meddling is the great strength of wizards, tinkering on the fringes of the powers of the universe. Mostly their magic is cosmically harmless. But every era or so some mage gets ambitious. An attempt to create a Divine being by a mortal is doomed to failure- but that attempt will always come at a cost. For the case of the grim tower it was the lives of an entire civilization for two generations.
To the wizards credit the being was summoned and created. But it contained none of what makes a creature “alive” in any sense. Devoid of purpose it quickly became an atropal. The last act of the mage was sealing it in a prison it could not escape. Sealing the undead unborn god atop the tower where corruption ate away at everything for miles around.
WARNING! Hull Breach detected! Station pressure dropping. Reactor failure imminent. All engineer personnel report to airlock subsection 3 for emergency repairs. WARNING! Hull Breach detected! Station pressure drop-
We’ve lived our entire lives planet-side. Where you take things like- air and gravity for granted. They say “everything in space wants to kill you” but they should really hammer home how “Everything” includes space itself! The vacuum seems like a harmless novelty when your in a jet-enabled suit but once space finds even the smallest rupture or failure in the hull-
Well suddenly the line between outside and inside gets real, VIOLENTLY, blurry.
This map is for all you Sci-Fi fans! There isn't a huge collection of Sci-fi phased maps out there and what better scene to take on in a space faring TTRPG than a hull breach! I imagine this scene being less of a combat encounter and more of a desperate dash to stop the reactor from exploding.
Which- If I'm honest, I have no idea if any kind of explosions can even happen in space- But its kick ass and that's why we have the fiction part on Science fiction! haha.
Battling a top bobbing Redwood logs you swashbuckle against your opponent is a daring duel, trying to maintain your footing while splitting focus on your opponent and those towering 100 foot trunks shooting down the flume in River Logging Camp a looping phased battlemap.
"Wow! There are enough logs in this river to build an entire forest! And look! A big empty area with nothing but stumps, the perfect place to put it." - Ida Holly, Ida’s Guide to Worlds Beyond Our Own.
Before you is an enormous lumber Mill. The river is filled with so many logs that barely any of the water's surface is visible. You could easily walk across to the other side. The opposite bank of the river slopes steeply upward in tiered cliffs, and a large wooden slide sends logs from the lumber yard above down into the river.
On top of the highest cliff is a small building with a red wooden roof, most likely the place where your contact wants to meet up. No one is around and the only sound to be heard is the rushing water off the Log Flume. But somehow you know- Something isn't right. A suspicion confirmed by the ambushing soldiers waiting in the woods for your guard to be down.
This encounter is another from the Series of maps contained within my book Ida’s Guide! The characters visit this mill expecting to locate some lost loot and instead are attacked by enemies who knew they’d be headed here. This one is also looping! While there is only actually 3 phases you can follow the log from the upper river down the flume and into the lower river over and over forever!
The Water Temple, An ancient puzzle locks the submerged entrance to an underground temple. The party pulls a series of levers to block the river feeding the lake above, and eventually have access. But- that damn doesn't look all too reliable.
Across the nations of the world it’s denoted that many, even, most civilizations build along the sea, for trade and food. As a cartographer I can say without doubt over the ages the seas have crept closer and closer.
Leads one to wonder, What history of the ancient world sleeps under the tide, What volumes could we fill if only we had gills. - Ida Holly
Note: Ancient temple structures are unreliable. Especially puzzles, And double so for moving parts.
The map comes in ten phases; the first few are ideally done out of combat allowing the players to explore and use the levers to dam the water above. Then from phase 6 on the dam begins to burst. At this point the players have a choice where to go, into the cave below the lake or away from the wall of water crashing over the empty lake.
This map is inspired by the Wonderful movie Atlantis: Lost Empire, and the infamous Zelda dungeon from which the map gets its name, and is a Remaster of a map I made 2 years ago. One of my favorite and most popular maps, which I’ve lovingly recreated to keep it up to date with the skill level I have now!
Deep in the deadlands, Poisoned by decades of undeath. At the heart of this evil, barren place. Lies the forsaken steps. A stair climb to the top of a mountain above which hangs the heart of the curse, A mysterious dark star.
“Sometimes, There is nothing to magic missile BESIDES the darkness!” - Ida Holly
It cost so much to reach even just the first stair. The Plaguelands stretches from the mountain all the way beyond the horizon and all that can be seen is death. No plants, no animals. Just the undead waiting for the black star to awaken and their master to return from the darkness beyond.
The doom that has hung over the horizon threatening this world for a generation has at last found the heroes who can undo it. Hopefully.
After they ascend the Forsaken Steps.
This map is a location from my own setting, Crudilex. And was a location of immense historical importance to a nearly world ending plague. My thought is the location where a BBEG might be waiting for the heroes to come face to face can be just as dangerous or important to their wicked plot as the villain themselves!
Too many enemies to fight, your party flees until they reach a vast gorge, The only way across,A rickety bridge. Would you go for it? The Rope Bridge of Doom, A 5 phased battle map inspired by the classic fight scene from Indiana Jones.
“The surprise doesn't come from the fact that it collapsed, Look at it, Of COURSE it collapsed. The surprise was not knowing WHEN or HOW it would!” - Ida Holly
Every campaign isn't complete without a few key adventure scenes, A statue that comes to life, A door you can’t get through, A slowly lowering ceiling, and the Rope Bridge of Doom. This map is my take on the classic battle at the end of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom with the Thuggee cult chasing after them.
And you know,
If Indy could have played as an Aarakocra at level 1, I’m sure the scene would have played out VERY differently.
The Throne of bones, Upon which the most powerful lich who has ever been sits. Their power growing, magnifying. Waiting for the fools with the audacity to challenge them.
“There are terrible things in all corners of the Elseworlds. But when evil convinces the people it is good there is no greater horror.” - Ida Holly
The Queen's chambers have been breached. But after clambering the chains anchoring the citadel to the dead god below you expected an army waiting for you. Not so. The castle gate is open, the courtyard is silent. The only thing that tells you this place is not completely abandoned is the soft wheezing laughter and the faint red glow of magic emitting from the throne of bones.
Vlaakith looks through tattered strands of hair with glowing eyes. The Lich queen speaks slowly…
“Well, You have worked so hard to get my attention, now you have it. Before I add you to my army of the dead I should very much like to hear what you have to say.”
This map is the last of a three part series I’m calling “The Battle of Tu’Narath” which imagines a chaotic clash between the powers of Wildspace all converging on the dead-god city and seat of the Lich queen of the Gith. Part one can be found named “Nautiloid Vs Spelljammer” marks the arrival into the city, the second part is the battle through the city to reach this final map! part three, where the characters will reach the throne room for a final encounter with the City’s Lich Queen!
At the tiered waterfalls where the river meets the sea hundreds of pirate crews gather in the bones of old shipwrecks. connected by rotting rigging and swaying rope bridges. Here no navy would ever dare sail, but still they live in fear of the kraken who sleeps below the bay.
“Keelhaul Falls is a den of horrors. Thousands of ships, more sailing in each day. Murderers, Monsters, and Pirates all living among each other in a bandit camp that grew unchecked to become its own terrible city. Its small wonder the bay is the nesting ground of the Kraken. A fitting throne for the king of horrors”
- Ida Holly, Regarding Triton and the Western Sea.
The Pirate Kings tout that the Kraken never strikes from it’s nest in the bay because they keep it so happy and fed with the sinking of merchant and Imperial ships. They rest easy and drink their rum, play their songs, and fight their fights sparing the growing- world ending monster- left unchecked just a few hundred feet below them.
But nothing is sure in Keelhaul other than chaos. And one day those wakes as the foot of the falls will become choppy. And the glowing yellow eyes will look up and see exactly what sort of prey the surface has to offer when whales and sinking ships stop being enough.
Until that day the pirate kings will continue to gloat about their favorite pet.
Avast there! It be too late to alter course, mateys. And there be plundering pirates lurkin' in ev'ry cove, waitin' to board. Pirates of the Caribbean! A 4 phased looping battlemap inspired by Disney World!
"Aye, 'tis true, mateys. Dead men tell no tales!" ~ Jolly Roger
Nothing ever goes wrong on a theme park ride, This time couldn't be any different!
This battlemap is inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at the magic kingdom, Disney World. And even includes a hidden backstage area! (Though its not strictly accurate.) While I used to be a Cast Member myself I never worked on pirates so I took inspiration from my time at Star Tours. (Mostly by general tone and style not literal layout)
I’m really proud of the 4 phased loop on this map. If you watch a boat at the launch area at the beginning of the attraction, you can follow it all the way through the ride!
Mist Closing In, A 6 Phased battlemap. The players are lost deep in a swamp as an ominous and supernatural mist slowly closes in around them. With muck and water up to the knee and tangles of mangrove roots proving the only surface above the water. And someone or something is lurking… waiting for their moment.
“In the deepest mists, on cold nights in isolated parts of the world it is said the dead can peer through the threshold, and spy upon the world of the living” - Ida Holly, on The Haunted Shallows.
As if being lost and stranded in the Mangrove marsh wasn't bad enough the chill of night creeping in has brought with it a choking mist, for now it hangs low to the water, as if dredging through the muck was too easy, at least now if something jumps out you won't see it coming.
Hopefully it has the decency to make it quick, Dying in the mangrove swamps would be preferable to navigating them half alive.
This map is a variation on an encounter set in my book Ida’s Guide to worlds beyond our own! The world is a fantasy dieselpunk setting and features mechs, called automata. And the players come upon a crew of which is trying to make sport repairs as strange eyes watch in the encroaching mists. You can check out more about this scene and the rest of ida’s guide at balatro.net/lore/#Hauntedshallows
Flight of the Dragons, A 11 Phased battlemap in the skies above the city of dragons. Our heroes become caught in the crossfire of two classing dragons, One serpentine, and the other a tyrannical Acid breathed Ancient Black dragon!
“The Tower was built for dragons, The city was built for their servants. They rule the sky and most mortals live in their shadow- Literally.” - Ida Holly
The Wind dragons have ruled the skies over the city for generations, But the Stone Tyrant of the mountains, King of the earth dragons knew peace would not last forever. And so when the opportunity to be rid of the leader of his rival faction arose, and to cast blame upon the mortals with whom she so Unwisely consorted with, his once in a era chance became clear.
Wait until she was above the clouds, Strike her down, and when her lifeless body crashed down from above his conquest over the human world could begin with all the elemental dragon clans under his wing.
This map was a real test, Close to 100 hours to sort everything out! I finished it only today, as of posting this and it really boiled my eyes burning the midnight oil from 10 to 6am. BUT Here they are! A battlemap where the players hang on for dear life as two dragons attack eachother miles above the surface, Nothing below but a hungry yawning nothingness of sky.
I’m very proud of it! Epic encounters like this always make for a climatic story to have for a game!
Clash of the Ironclads, High in the sky a war is waged. Ironclad Airships fire their cannons making the clouds glow as exploding vessels rain down. Through the chaos two ships lock into a death march opening fire until only one remains in this 15 Phased Battlemap.
“In the ancient prophecies it predicted that the skies would rain fire. I guess we just didn't predict that it would be US in the skies doing the burning.” - Ida Holly.
There was no time to delay. Above the chaotic aerial battle the Admiral's Flagship hung observing from above. The captain spotted him and knew what must be done, Full thrust, full lift. Out of the chaos the Ironclad burst up like an angry whale from a sea of flames. It came around and launched alongside the Flagship. The two captains looked at each other through from their sight decks staring as the cannonports opened.
And hangers and hatches above released a swarm of the crewmen and aeronaughts from each ship who hurried out to board the other. There was no escape this time, Captain Finch would have his revenge or he would crash back to the earth trying.
This map may be the best I’ve ever made, at the very least it’s my favorite. Airships and dieselpunk are both something of special interest of mine and it was such a fun challenge to try and make an all out war scene for a clash of two fleets of airships! I’m thrilled with how it turned out!
“Captain Goldfang. The legendary big boisterous cat-man pirate. I heard a tale that the guards finally caught him by employing a strategic use of Pspspspsps.” -Ida Holly
Here be the last will and testament of the dread pirate king Captain Goldfang Cronen, Terror of the seas and amasser of a horde of treasure that’d make a dragon blush. I lived a life of plunder and gluttony fat on the liquor of the land and never wanting for a single thing but now my time on this mortal land comes to its end-setting sail to unknown waters. Me father always said the Goldfang boys only die at the end of swords or the end of ropes.
So to whoever what reads this here massive I present to you my last dagger in the back of fate. Me treasure is out there at the end of the river rapids with rocks like teeth, through the bones of me old crewmen, and into the guts of me ship rotten now as the hearts of its swabbies. Should you whistle in the darkness the walls will fall and there too you can claim it be yours as I did. That terrible treasure of captain Goldfang.
Yarr! This map is a second shot at my river rapids map I made about a year ago now but this time inspired by pirate-treasure hunting adventures. Specifically, I was inspired by the goonies and one-eyed willie’s treasure, but more in tone and energy than anything else.
“The temperament of nature is calm until it isn't.” - Ida Holly
What sleeps below, The roiling powers of the earth that boil and churn away from our gaze. Inner chaos that hungers for release. The mountain waited for an age, far from mortals who would build their towers and fish the sea, where it could truly contemplate, and consider its turmoil alone, a few thousand years of thought.
Interrupted, a band of misfits comes to disrupt the silence. And at long last, the choice of settle or erupt is made clear. The Mountain chose violence.
This map was created for annex theater’s Kaiju battle arena, where each player in the stream played as a legendary monster and went toe to toe in PvP! This map was set it at the center of 9 50x50 battlemaps and forced them to explore the rest through the eruption! It was extremely fun and can still be watched, and perhaps even soon a second Kaiju battle will happen!
“I was once lost in an underground, not unlike this. Survived by cultivating a grouping of roots and drinking drops from the ceiling. I don’t recommend it.” - Ida Holly
The creeping darkness closes in as the magic candles flicker out. The reliable fixes fail you. Darkvision painted black, Light spells flicker and die. Something isn't right with this darkness. The black of the penumbra seems to call to you. You know in that moment- if you get lost in that pitch black you will never escape.
You flee rushing through the halls of piled bones. Crawling, wading, climbing. Anything to stay in the light of the candles. Until you come upon a door, your only way forward. an inscription above reads ”Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate”
This map is 3rd in my line of Spooky horror movie-themed maps for October. This one inspired by As Above, So Below. One of my favorite underrated horror movies that follow a group of Urban explorers going through Dante’s layers of hell in the Parisian catacombs.
“The real monster was the friends we made along the way” - Ida Holly
It’s Alive! The mad wizard screams as the platform is lowered from the blustering storm above. The body crackled with electricity and the flesh golem is complete. The wild-eyed wizard and his companion smile wicked smiles at your party.
“We appreciate your help! And you will be handsomely rewarded- well those of you who survive the first test.”
The minion throws a switch and the creature is released.
This map is the second of my spooktober22 series. All this month my maps will be horror movie themed! I tried to combine all the greatest labs throughout the Frankenstein mythos, the original, bride of, and even young Frankenstein! (The Abby normal brain is referenced on the desk at the bottom!)
“It came from beyond the stars in the darkness of an eclipse, It drinks blood and offers fame and riches. Oh, and it sings a mean Soulful solo.” - Ida Holly, Field notes from Worlds Beyond our Own.
The Oddities shop holds many artifacts from across the multi-verse. Trinkets collected from the adventures of its eclectic owner and sold to new up-and-comers who wish to explore the many mysteries of this and many other worlds. Truly artifacts have a way of coming into the shop more than leaving it and its role has grown to be more of a museum. One such artifact recently passed hands and ended up here.
A plant, with a mind of its own. Desires and goals. And a single defining craving, Blood.
This map is part of my 4 part October series of horror-themed maps only! Last year the maps were all quite fun so I decided to make it a tradition. This time I’m basing all the maps off of horror movies starting with The little shop of horrors!
“You want me to go to an Island that moves throughput time. that can only be reached by those who wreck, and can only be escaped by those who know how. I didn't get YOU anything!” - Ida Holly
“it seemed finding something yet unknown was your fate. but fate, she is seldom so kind. Months into your nautical journey you heard murmurings from the crew. Moldo, they said, was the island you couldn't reach without first wrecking your ship.
The place where lost sailors wander in the untamed jungle forever. And isn’t that just the thing about legends? they all come from somewhere.
You washed ashore, the massive wave and the flash of lightning striking a shattered mast still burning into your closed eyes. You attempt to stand… sea water and sand rain from your half-buried body. you look up a climbing island mountainscape and back to the sea to see all around the Timbers of shattered ships you know it id true. And now you’re shipwrecked on Moldo.
This map is inspired by the One-Shot releasing at the same time for the 5$ tier members of my patreon. It’s a survival adventure where the players have to save their crew from a coven of sea hags hiding inside a treasure-filled ship using only what they can steal and scavenge from the ship. The catch is the hags are protected by a 5-mile-long stretch of open ocean guarded by an angry sea monster. Meaning our heroes will have to get pretty creative!
“These creatures are hardly creatures at all. It feels more true to call them walking disasters.” - Ida Holly.
What horrors slumber in the soil of our world, resting, waiting to reawaken and unleash a new age of chaos? The Tarrasque has attacked this world so many times yet few remember the last, 1000 years pass after each time it falls before it returns to slumber. Generations of beings speak of it, the tales turn to legends turn to myths. And again it is forgotten, and the world becomes complacent and vulnerable.
That is until the Elven envoy arrives at the King's court, with a dire warning.
This map is another Big ol’ boss fight map! I wanted an epic encounter with one of DnD’s most iconic creatures. Since the Tarrasque in 5e is cr 30 it would be almost impossible for a party to actually face one without some incredible outside help, so that led me to think how can you use on in an encounter? The idea for this one is actually less intended for combat and more intended to be a desperate scramble to simply survive as the creature rampages, perhaps buying time for reinforcements or some massive spell to go off. Either way, the battlefield is designed to try and force the players to get creative and move around a lot! I did include an extra phase with a “sleeping” Tarrasque just in case your players surprise you and defeat this legendary foe!
“Abraham Dune, He calls himself “Snake eyes”. He’s a dwarf stricken with the Yuan-Ti’s curse and he runs that place. I need to talk to him. The thing is- The cost of admission is a bit…high for me. Help me and I’ll help you!” ~Ida Holly, During the events of Shrive Débauche
Infante’s Dice is already the unofficial town hall of Tankren. Ruling from up and down the river and draining the town of all their hard-earned chips. And that is made doubly true during the Week-long festival of indulgence that grips the town every year. Shrive Débauche. A high stakes 3 dragon ante with only the best players the world has to offer is held aboard the Riverboat and lit by magnificent magical light and fireworks!
The week leading up to The Tankren Ante is a special event in Tankren. The streets fill with parties, music, and people. Parades go down the River wharf tossing chips and trinkets to applauding crowds. The cultural saying is the week celebration and debauchery is done as a means to cleanse the spirit. The indulgence of gluttony and vice and seen as an act of release. This way the soul is ready to accept whatever fate has in store when the life is placed up for complete reset at the Tankren Ante, The final event of Shrive Débauche.
This map has been in the works for ages and ages. In the end, was about two weeks of daily work. It includes lots more little goodies than most of my maps. All the decks of the Riverboat, It sailing along the docks past a parade. And even a bonus with it out in a swampy river just to really capture the flair. It's also a Primary location for my Book Ida’s Guide and is featured in one of its big encounters! Hopefully, you can find it as inspiring and useful as I did
“Endlessly fascinating the minds of the creators of dungeons such as these. They never make them impossible to enter- but never safe either. Perhaps the lure of the possibility of success is what brings in more adventurous victims.” - Ida Holly, Lichs and other megalomaniacs
Delving the deeps of the Tomb of horrors or the Tomb of annihilation to simple for you? Well if the rumors are to be believed yet another Lich’s domain has been uncovered deep in the High mountain forests. Locals have uncovered the entrance after a recent flash flood and none have been brave enough to cross the gargoyles at the entrance.
What is inside is unsure- but the town’s wizard has advised the local lord to keep all away from it as they detected a powerful set of four chromatic enchantments within. The kind locked inside crystal spheres. Who can be sure what Foul creature these wards are keeping locked within if they are all collected? Luckily we will never know!
Very happy with this map! It's an 8-phased romp through a collection of classic dungeon traps and tropes. I wanted to give something new a try- this map is meant to be played as kind of a series of small encounters- each room you enter the Dm should hide the other rooms and run all 8 phases in that room! Like a bunch of smaller contained phased maps! The dungeon is laid out around the 4 crystal balls and the main chamber (On the far right) the idea being the players need to obstacle course their way past all the traps in whatever order they want to reach the four and unlock the final chamber.
Updated: This map now includes a remasted variation with the filters creating the blur removed as well as a full intro campus dungeon as a single map.
“Every little Warforged reaches that age when they ask where they came from.” - Ida Holly
The facility has stood in the heart of Cyre for ages staffed by the greatest mages and Artificers. The laboratory existed long before the creation forges were used to create Warfogred and became one of Cyre’s most important locations For thirty-one years, the creation forges churned out numbers of Warforged through processes only scions of House Cannith fully understand.
Specializing in experimentation and innovation to bring about victory! Surely nothing bad will EVER occur here in Cyre, with such powerful and well-defended Eldritch Machines as these?!
Long live Cyre! Long Live House Cannith!
For this map, I wanted to dive into the Creation Forges and play around with what I think they were like in the peek of their use in Eberron! I was lucky enough to get a bit of advice on the design of the map from Keith Baker himself as woefully there are very few references for what an active Creation Forge was like before they were all destroyed.
“Did I say I wanted to explore the oceans? In that? Uh- I think that's a misquote.” - Ida Holly, Who definitely said she wants to explore the ocean.
It is the pleasure of the Submersible Integration Nautical Keepers corporation to announce our latest and most effective magical artifice! The Greater apparatus of the Crab, Unlike the 5-person model of ages past the greater apparatus, is capable of any depth, any pressure, an endless air supply, and still has plenty of room for the wife and kids!
S.I.N.K is proud to be the leading artificers guild building bridges between the merfolk and land dwellers! (All S.I.N.K brand Greater apparatus of the crab are in an invitation-only closed alpha, S.I.N.K is not held liable for equipment failure. Consult your cleric to find out if going to the bottom of the ocean is right for you.)
This map is inspired by one of DnD’s silliest magic items, the apparatus of Kwalish. I’ve personally only used it in a game once and only heard of a handful of people who have so I wanted to make a map imagining a GIANT one you could have an entire encounter in. And I mean I make phased maps so I had to make it sink, haha. The last phase imagines it after the water has settled and fully filled the apparatus allowing the encounter to become a struggle to the surface and a good old underwater battle.
“Some worlds I’ve visited across the multiverse have every possible luxury and advantage and still they discover new ways to suffer.” Ida Holly.
Towering skyscrapers framed in gold, Countless citizens moving across the streets and bridges like insects in a hive. The Metropolis was Utopia for those in proper standing. Lives of luxury, splendor, and decadence all visible from the streets below and always just out of reach.
I wanted to make something that felt Art Deco, with that kid's WB Batman, Metropolis, or streets of New Capenna vibe. I also worked hard to make it an endless loop- even the clouds fading and reforming to continue as seamlessly as I was able.
“It is the most peculiar thing that a creature 5 times my size would be so easily distraught. Who among the gods I wonder decided that the noble horse should be a prey animal.” - Ida Holly
“The beating hoofs of the stallion could trample an adult man to death, But a simple thunder wave spell sends it sprinting full speed away. Even a well-trained horse can get spooked and now what was a simple encounter with a group of roadside bandits has devolved into a highspeed chase all the while attempting to calm the panicking party steed before it flings us all down into the river!”
This map includes a variant with a Horseless Carriage featured as part of my book Ida’s Guide to Worlds Beyond Our Own. However, the setting is more advanced than the average dnd so I decided it best to include a be-horsed Carriage. Both are in the folder however if you have Model T’s in your setting. Haha.
“Druidic magic has always confused me. I suppose I don’t understand how something like a beehive is considered natural where something like a house is not.” - Ida Holly
The wedding celebration was in full swing. Music, Food, two families becoming one. The Druidic covens and the royal houses uniting and settling the years-long conflict between nature and civilization was cause for celebration of itself.
But before the union can be considered official the Druidic father required one last challenge of the humans. And with a wave of his staff, a massive twisting maze grew just beyond the reception.
This map is another map it hopes can be a non-combat encounter. Something players use their skills for more than battle! Each phase changes the layout of the maze in small ways; they impact the route in larger ways. And each is still solvable from one side to the other!
“Nothing in this world is predictable but taxes and tides.” - Ida Holly
“It’s not abnormal for the Tides to flood the canals. But with the coming festival, the kingdom has put forth efforts to slow the flooding as the city fills with merchants. The canals are packed with more gondolas than ever when something shook below the waves.
An island, on the back of a massive creature, rose from below the tides outside of town and displaced an inordinate amount of water rushing into the gullies and canals all across the city! And with it all manner of beasts of the sea.”
I was really inspired by the yearly flooding in Venice when making this map. because there is something incredibly evocative about the sinking of such a beautiful place. I'm so proud of this map, I really think it's some of the best work I’ve ever done!
“The Gates to the hells open first within us, then around us” - Ida Holly
"We have grown so used to the security of our towers, castles, and stone walls. Humans flocked to their cities and watched waves of soldiers smash against these shields. But the arch-devils claim power over the souls corrupted by evil, living and dead alike. And evil exists within, no stone wall can be built around the soul.
The trouble is they can only shape an evil soul to their bidding that they can reach. and evil souls have enjoyed the security of the living world from their would-be tormentors.
But that has changed. The first arch-devil arrived and each corrupted soul shone like a beacon, a source of power, and each source of power a potential gate. And while they cannot reap the souls of the pure-
they can burry a pitchfork into them, And that's just as good."
Trying something a little different this time. This is more of a map series of 4 maps, Farm, Village, Coastal pier, and City Gates. I imagine this being a sort of frantic moving from place to place defending what you can while more and more of these gates open up. Or perhaps spreading them out over the course of a campaign as the rifts become more frequent.
“Just a little snack, guys!” - Ida Holly
“The market attracts people from all over the kingdom, From well outside the city's walls, to come and view its lights and splendors and spend their precious coin. Listen, they came to lose the coin I don't think they’d much mind HOW they go about losing it. Call it a charitable donation to the poor and impoverished peoples of the city.
Just remember the plan. Snatch it and run down the alley, If the guards keep up we swing the crane. If somehow that doesn't slow’m down enough just get up on the rooftops. What could go wrong!”
This map was me NEMESIS. I worked on it for 5 days straight, right up until I'm posting it now. Really it's 9 distinct maps, Each with this semi-isometric perspective, I wanted to give the alleyways a sense of depth and keep climbing and running on rooftops a possibility for the chase. But boy oh boy don't think I’ll do something like THIS again. I still really love how it turned out, and I think phased maps have a lot to offer for chase rules encounters which are rare as it is. Chaser, or chase’ee I think all good TTRPG games should include a solid chase scene!
“Across this infinite Elseworlds. It seems a tragic constant. Men like to kill eachother and make it- very dramatic. - Ida Holly
“Reckon there ain't no way he were gonna survive iffin' the law came down on’m. Seems to me this sort of challenge really puts the favor in the corner of the outlaw. But who am I to say, Iffn' the sharif wants to end the bandit raids in one quick draw with their leader spose he might be onto something.
Ways I see it though, iffn' them their bandits were good’nuff fellers to make good that they’ll leave iffn' their leader drops dead… they’d be good’nuff fellers what not to become bandits in the first place, I reckon.
Anyway back to playin’ piano. This is a new one called “Hello ma baby.”
So this map I imagined the players standing back to back with their BBEG as the shadows fade and the sun reaches high noon, taking their paces as the dust blows. I think I may have- Over done how fast the shadows fade. I guess there just back to back for an hour or so or time speeds up. Haha either way it's great for the D R A M A. While this map is obviously western-themed I tried to leave out enough wild west stuff that it could be used still in a high fantasy game.
“He who fight and runs away, lives to activate the force wall another day” - Ida Holly
“No alarms, no warnings. A ship full of siege weapons and a horrible electrified monstrosity of an airship attack all at once. The entire guard cut down and the port was set ablaze.
The only choice is to fall back, regroup, and try and evacuate as many civilians as possible through the sky dock. But the wards won’t hold and the lightning frigate turns its sights on the wizard’s tower.”
This map was commissioned for an all-is-lost moment, where the player's home base is besieged by the collected forces of their BBEG, unwilling to wish for them to supply and sneak into their lair. I always love splashing in dieselpunk elements into my maps so it was a delight to design a villainous airship that gives off some Warhammer 40k vibes to me!
As always this map includes a variant without the ships or vehicles included allowing for finer dm control!
“So we all agree- next time we pull coin for a wagon that can float?” - Ida Holly
"Crown’s Canyon bridge was the only crossing along the river border between the two kingdoms large enough to march trade across- or soldiers. Its collapse would mean passing far far north to the caverns through the mountain or worse the southern lake said to house a horrible monster in its depths.
It’s up to you by orders of the king to protect the bridge from any brigands who may wish to see it reduced to rubble on the river’s bed. Unless, of course, you are willing to hear out their offers."
I think anyone who makes phased maps is required by law to make a bridge collapse map. Haha. I wanted to play with color on this one and make it feel really vibrant, Also water is probably one of my favorite things to animate with phased maps.
If you ran this map what would you make the cause of the collapse? Explosives? An earthquake spell?
Don’t just stand there! Try and brace it with something! - Ida Holly
The pressure plate clicked, and the whole party held their breath. Nothing seemed to happen after passing through the dungeon filled with falling rocks, Poison darts, and Swinging logs. All manor of Traps, you, at last, arrived in the lich’s tomb, and yet. Not a trap to be seen.
A full second went by before anyone allowed themselves to think maybe it was safe, Then CRASH! The doors slammed closed and WOOSH! All the braziers alit with flame! Dust and rubble cracked and fell from both walls to your right and left. And the whole room rumbled, deep in the sarcophagus you hear a maniacal, cruel, laugh.
This map I’ve wanted to make for ages, Inspired by the ceiling in Temple of doom and the famous trash compactor in A new hope. A classic adventure trope where the whole landscape turns against you that I think can be executed best through a phased battlemap!
I’ll never understand the desire of monarchs to build castles at the tops of mountains. Sure they are safe, but the cold is miserable. - Ida Holly
The climb along the icy mountain cliffs, the snowbanks hiding perilous cavern shafts, and the unyielding wind that leaves ice crystals stinging your skin are all left behind you as you breach the mountain’s top. There it stands- Iverholm keep. A towering forgotten castle left abandoned for nearly a century, its palisades still in place from the war that brought it to ruin.
As you pass the gates into the empty courtyard and begin scouting for a good place to set up camp you hear a voice in the winds. “You are not welcome here. Leave us to rest” The wind kicks up as your party all grabs for their weapons. In the silhouettes of the snow, figures begin to take shape. Frozen phantoms. And behind them growing ever closer. A massive- horrifying blizzard.
This map was originally made for my home game, I usually don't share the ones I make for my own players but I felt like this one was really great and wanted to give you all a crack at it! Originally it included a landed airship and some abandoned bi-planes (My setting is turn of the century themed) I figured I’d make it a bit more accessible but I DID include that version as an alternate in the files!
With timeless lives and boundless intellect I am forced to wonder if our most brilliant minds were not consumed, would we too be this advanced? - Ida Holly, on elder brains.
“The hive was unlike others the historians wrote about, few if any Psyoniccally controlled minions. Its walls were reinforced like armor. Pipes and gaskets all around hissed and the air was thick with chemical smells.
When we reached Xzvel’s Brine pool it didn’t even seem startled. In our minds it welcomed us… and when a massive door behind it opened the dread machine inside- whatever that monster was building- it tore our party apart with fire and acid and light… You mustn’t venture down there, I beg you!”
This is the last map of my April boss fights only series! I did three others, a rotting heart, a pirate raid, and a frozen horror! For this one, I imagined “who led them all” and came up with the idea of a sort of Elder brain BBEG who has been testing the heroes up to this point! If you saw the others you’ll see in each of the vats is a small nod to them- implying this elder brain somehow created them.
The Druid circles are isolated far from the cities. But don’t get it wrong. Out in the woods, they are protecting us all from things we will never even encounter. - Ida Holly
“It grows every day.” the old fishermen says, lugging cages of sickly looking river-life up onto the dock where you stand. “Slow enough that no one seems to pay it much mind. But we notice. Those of us out there along the rivers. Something is making this whole forest sick. Half my haul comes back looking like this.”
“Black Dragon, I’d wager. Made its lair out there in the wetlands.” A fisherwoman chimes in from her own boat. “Neigh- its gotta be one of them Otyughs. You smell it out there?” “Otyuga-what now?!” The whole dock begins bickering back and forth leaving you with little to go on as you head out deep into the woods- following the rot.
This map is the 3rd in my April boss fight series. This time I went for something that doesn't move about- but creates loads of tough terrain and challenges for the players to navigate to reach the heart at the center of the tree.
“You’ll always remember the day, That uhhh… that.. Hang on, it’ll come to me.” - Ida Holly
Your boots barely reach the trap door. The man with the black sack on his head checks the noose. And all through your mind hundreds of opportunities to right the wrongs you’d done in the eyes of the merchant lords play on repeat.
This is the end. The drummers ring out their drums. Wait… that's- not drums. The eyes of the crowd cast out to sea. A silhouette casts a long shadow over the rolling sunset tide, As if sailing out of hell itself there is a hush. Than chaos. The building behind you explodes as cannon fire blares all around you. The Adine’s Sorrow begins its raid and your new life as a pirate begins.
This map is a part of my April series of boss fight maps. For this one, I imagined what it would be like to have a boss encounter with a pirate ship! I treated the ship as I would any on-map boss monster, and included a version without the ship on it for DMs who prefer to have more control. I took a ton of inspiration from Disneyland’s Pirate’s ride, specifically the scene where Barbossa's ship is firing at the port.
I’m a cartographer and a historian. I seek to best understand the world around me. But not all things should be written down. Some things are best forgotten. - Ida Holly
An exposition has traveled deep into the icy glacier cavern, some relics were found from what may have been a ship from long ago- but they haven’t returned in days. Expecting the worst, crossing the ice on dog sleds, descends into the tunnel, repelled by rope and lit by the teal-colored light of the sun through the ice.
A feeling of dread grows further as you delve into the glacier. You should not be here, you don’t belong here. Thoughts like this enter unbidden. At last, you find the ship, around it, bones- must be some ancient sailors. Sailors… with dog sleds.
This map is the first of my April boss fight series! I wanted to put the players against an enemy who was mostly immobile for a majority of the encounter but eventually breaks free and goes absolutely ape. Like all monster-on-map encounters I make, this one also includes a blank background for a finer level of control!
“The city is completely locked down. There is no way in or out. I mean other than their supply trains but the airships guide them in from the farms… why are you looking at me like that?” - Ida Holly
riding atop a wartime cargo train, the skies turn dark, and a storm rolls in. The rain hits you like bullets due to the speed the train is traveling towards The Factory. Cardillo's forces close in boarding the train from small skiffs to stop you, monsters and soldiers alike, The distinction between them grows blurrier every day as the mad machinist experiments bring the dead back to life. Machine guns posted on bridges fire down the tracks as your train passes under.
The storm only grows more and more violent as from the clouds above a massive, black airship descends and casts the train in an ominous shadow.
The second time the blackiron frigate gets a feature in one of my maps! This one is pretty specific to settings but that's the joy of fantasy, It can really be whatever you like, no need to hold ourselves to medieval alone. I went with 11 phases on this one, which is over my normal amount but I had to get that climatic explosion in at the end, If you’ve followed my content you know I love to spend hours upon hours building the most beautiful settings I can than hours more absolutely destroying them!
If you dig this map check out my other maps Monster Factory and Clash with the Colossus, which are meant to be played in sequence.
“The difficult thing about creating maps is shifting borders. This time, quite literally.” - Ida Holly
The dunes they say burry countless secrets. Treasure hunters are always making their way out there to see if they can strike it rich locating some of the ancient cities swallowed by the sand. You’re fools to go out there, Even if such a thing exists what could you hope to bring back? More likely you’ll just be adding more bones to the tomb.
How would I know? Well, let's just say I didn't find this crystal neckless in the stalls of the market. If you want my advice, go when seems the worst time, The heart of a sandstorm. The bigger the better. You’ll be surprised by what the winds unearth…
if you are mad enough to brave them.
This map is another I had been thinking and reiterating over and over. I wanted to create another version of my popular water temple map, Something about a large structure slowly appearing is just so very quintessential fantasy. Perhaps I’ll do a Fire and Air temple and make this a whole series.
“Ghosts doesn't narrow it down. Shades, Haunts, Banshee, Hells even some LICHS are ghosts. I’m going to need you to be a lot more specific.” - Ida Holy
The Riverbend estate has been abandoned for decades, It’s previous lord was executed for toying with “Dark Magic”. And no one has so much as ventured there to trim the hedges. But when the lights in the tower started the locals became nervous. Shades began haunting all along the river and the woods around the estate.
If your meaning to head out there, Do it in a storm. Those shades don't much care for the lightning. That said, Best still be on guard, who knows what old evils got left behind in that haunted place. And worse still who knows WHO has gotten into them.
For this map, I wanted to try my hand at making a phased map that also had multiple floors. I tried a lot of different approaches but eventually liked this one the most. The idea being that as the players are exploring the dungeon The lightning storm is going off in the background. The monsters in the dungeon, ghosts of some kind, are only harmable in light. And as the players explore or in combat, they have to time their actions around the lightning!
Sort of a mini-game approach to a dungeon that I think would make for a very fun encounter and offer loads of creative problem-solving moments for players!
“What unspeakable doom lurks at the edges of our vision. Out where nothing can be known, and nothing can be understood. More terrifying than the danger is the complete lack of reason.” - Ida Holly
You arrive at the Chapple. A two-floored structure with an indoor garden at the center of which a large stone henge sits tended to by many quiet druids. It is not the terror you expected. When you were sent here to “Slay the aberrations”. For a moment you feel silly, Standing in this church in your full plate with a sword drawn.
When all at once the druid's eyes snap to you. In one shared voice from many mouths they say. “You were unwise to come here.” as the walls begin to crack and melt.
I made this map as an encounter in my own home game! I wanted to create an encounter where the environment was the enemy. Letting the players work against the tears into the far realms and try their best to close them as the heart of the challenge. With monsters and combat as a secondary challenge on top of that. I used Nothics as the creatures, But I think any aberration could fit the scene.
What would YOU have in this arena?
“We put a lot of faith in magic, You expect things to always go right- but when you stop to consider just how many monsters are created by magical accidents… well it just puts things in focus.” - Ida Holly
The King, in gratitude for your heroism in protecting the castle, has allowed you to visit the court Archmage and use the Teleportation circle in her courtyard to expedite your trip back home. But when you arrive instead of the elderly woman you were told to meet a teenage boy in an ill-fitting floppy wizard hat greets you.
“Uhhh yes. I am the arch-mage. Uhhh I’m Polymorphed!” He lets out his voice cracking and beads of sweat dripping down his face. But you don’t care to unpack whatever THAT is, Stepping into the circle with your hard-won riches. The teenager begins saying the incantation, When again his voice cracks, and he gives you a look of horror as you begin to vanish to who knows where. You realize as the sounds of ocean sea and creatures climbing out of the waves to gobble up the treat that was teleported to their lair… Ah- an apprentice… Of course.
This map was kicking around in my head for ages and ages. The idea behind its design is an encounter that takes you on a trip through many different kinds of battle maps, Keeping the players on their toes and providing an opportunity for the players to fight monsters who might never be in the same encounter together.
I imagine the phases where the teleporting is happening to be in the Aetherial realm, Giving the beasts the players come across a chance to still get into the circle, keeping the fight on the move!
“See ya later.” - Ida Holly
They say deep in the swamps there is a cult, well they are a druid circle, but once you’ve become convinced that undeath and necromancy are part of the natural cycle… you officially become a cult. They are secretive enough and don't tend to leave the swamp other than during floods…
Thing is, a druid from a different circle came to town, wanted to make contact with them. Headed out on the fan boat to the fishermen's tavern just a few days. And came back looking ghostly pale, could barely make out a word… other than “Aligator god”. No idea what that means. But sure- if you want his fan boat it's parked right over there. Never came back for it.
This map was a cram, but I'm EXTREMELY proud of how it turned out, I honestly think this may be one of my best maps ever. Top three at least! I really got into it and did basically nothing but work on it for two-day straight. Haha, hyper fixation. It includes a variation inspired by Eberron that imagines an air elemental propelling the Fan boat, and a version without the boat and Gator to allow more flexibility for DMs who have “Creative” players.
“So, do you come to the middle of frozen lakes often?” -Ida Holly
This boat has been just feet below the frozen ice for many years. Its crew vanished along with it, and finding its exact location in the massive lake was not easy. Sledding out to it was equally challenging and risky. But it will all pay off when we chip our way down into that cargo hold, The crown sits in one of its containers just as it did 100 years ago when headed to the queen before the everfrost came.
At long last, the curse can be broken. Surely there are none who would summon creatures to stop us from disturbing this, the boat resting place.
Surely.
This map was inspired by a really simple design idea. What if I did a map that slowly got smaller over the fight and really forced the players to be smart and creative with their movement during the encounter! Hopefully, the cracking and breaking of the ice is telegraphed enough that your players can guess where the ice will break next round.
Keeping them on the move, that's the idea!
“You know, This would be a lot of fun! If it wasn't for the bottomless pit… Bubbling lava… unseen monsters.. Oh and were being chased! But I mean, other than THAT. weeeeeeee!” ~ Ida Holly
The tunnels deep into the mountain have been left unmined for many years. The deep depths have long become home to any manner of monster and foul creature. It's really better left forgotten.
But, of course. There are plenty of magically resonating crystals that were never collected when the mine was closed. The kind of crystals particularly dedicated mages would hire sellswords to collect at all costs… The kind that adventurers require for important spells, and Potions.
This map is my first attempt at including a player choice to direct the path of a phased map. A switch along the rail sends the players either along a narrow ledge towards a broken line out from behind a waterfall or in a loop around bubbling lava ending in a screeching halt, tipping just barely over the edge.
The choice comes at Phase 7 meaning phases 8,9, and 10 have options A and B leading down either path! This means this map really has 13 phases!
A were-house? Are we absolutely positive this isn't a miscommunication? - Ida Holly
They say, on a full moon when the stars are dim from the countless lantern lights, deep in the city it stirs. A mimic, Unlike anything else, its hunger more ceaseless and driving. Worse still it never divides, never loses an ounce of mass just growing... and growing...
Its tendrils root into the sewers and latch onto the foundations of other buildings, Its teeth disguised as statues. Unblinking, Unsleeping, It waits for the perfect moment to strike.
The Werehouse.
This map was a challenge to create, I usually try and have a map finished weekly but I recently tested positive for Covid, which has made it a huge challenge. The term "Crushing Fatigue" proved very true for me. Hopefully, it will be easier next week, and after that, this will be a week in the past. Thanks for bearing with me!
“I’ve seen many worlds, many cultures. At some point, everyone invents the tank.” - Ida Holly.
A city besieged, bombed from airships above, and invaded with soldiers and machines the likes unseen in Eberron since the mourning. Krezent lies in ruin, but our hero’s need to get inside.
Assembling their allies and gathering their forces they make a last great push through the entrenched outskirts and into the heart of the city past its magical defenses, massive cannons, and soldiers sniping down the Main Street from atop the clock tower.
This map is inspired by WW1 and 2, and RTS games like Iron Harvest and Company of Heroes. The idea is to have the players run through a chaotic active battlefield into a bombed-out city like a trench runner.
They say in a snowstorm, during the winter solstice if you gather with your companions around a tree and all sit quietly you can hear it. The pallid Loxodonta, who brings the snow.
And if at that moment your host offers a gift, it will come. The white elephant, Shepherd of gifts, and master of the exchange. It will test the bond of your gathering, offering presents.
And if you are brave, you can undergo its trial, a snowball fight like no other. A friendly competition, but that doesn't mean it will be so simple a thing. For only one can be chosen to revive the gift from the white elephant itself.
But that’s just a legend.
*distant elephant noise*
In this encounter, the players and all their friendly NPCs are gathered in a hut to weather a passing snowstorm. When the white elephant challenges them all to a gift exchange and snowball fight, each turn a player can open or steal a magical item, and engage in a snowball fight. Using the gifts is key to being the champion!
SNOWBALL FIGHT MECHANICS
Players and their NPC friends are engaged in a friendly snowball fight. They can gather up a snowball as a bonus action rolling 1d12 on the Snowball table below. Snowballs are Dex+prof and can target anyone you have a line of sight on.
A hit coats the target in snow, if they are hit with three snowballs they freeze and their movement speed becomes 0.
The last player with a movement speed wins.
D12 Snowball Table
1. Snowball: is a ball of snow, has no special effect.
2. Showball: you may use Dex or Cha on this attack, performing a colorful dance charming whoever is hit. (Charm ends if they cannot see any other targets)
3. Schmoeball: target forgets whatever they were about to do and completely changes their next action.
4. Snowman Ball: creates a full snowman that cannot be moved through. Destroying the snowman costs an action but gives you 3 snowballs.
5. Slowball: target moves at half their speed.
6. Glowball: attacks of this target have advantage and they have disadvantage on stealth checks.
7. Broball: removes all negative effects of snowballs, and knocks off one layer of snow. cannot be used on yourself
8. Crowball: can target anyone who can be seen from a birds-eye view.
9. Foeball: Has advantage on any target who has no snow in them.
There is something to be said about teleportation magic, And that something is "No thank you" - Ida Holly.
The Dunwel Fen is foreboding and dangerous, Unwelcoming and unkind to outsiders. Which makes it the perfect place for the Wizard Lorenzo Faberwall to build his tower and perform his dangerous and highly illegal magical experiments. Far from the prying eyes of the empire and their endless shortsighted magical laws.
But then again, NOT opening a portal to teleport a whole magical tower MAY have been one of their wiser laws...
That won't stop Faberwall however, And neither will you! It doesn't matter if all that makes it to the other side of the portal is his singed BONES this spell will be finished no matter your attempts to stop it!
By my patrons vote a portal collapse inside of a wizard tower was decided to be one of the featured encounters in my upcoming book Ida's Guide to Worlds Beyond our own!
"They say bamboo can go up to 4 stories tall! Why not 5 stories? Well... That's another story."
-Ida Holly.
Tigers, Lions, Apes, elephants, Hippos. There are more than monsters to contend with along the river banks of this vast jungle. We need you to head out around the bend and find what you can of the last two boats that went out and their crews. Shouldn't be too hard. But do be careful, the second was sent to find the first.
After three lost skippers, I have to file a report.
This map is inspired by the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland! My second favorite ride. But It does feature my first favorite as a cameo! I challenge anyone who runs this map to have the encounter surround the animals found along the river! Poor beasts get overshadowed by monsters so often, But I would argue a gang of chimps waving around pistols can be JUST as interesting an encounter as your gelatinous cube!
I've often wondered why Megalomaniacs always build their lairs in the most dangerous places possible. -Ida Holly
A final encounter, an evil lord driven mad with power opens a portal to a world unseen by mortal eyes as a last-ditch effort to become a master of the universe. A tale as old as time. Entering the throne room was the easy part escaping with your lives will prove more difficult. FOOLISH HEROS!
This map has 7 phases and ends with a portal to another world opening just behind the throne and whips of volatile magical energy flying forth. Designed as a climactic story ending encounter with the big bad this map is inspired by the ending encounter between He-man and Skeletor in Masters of the Universe 1987! I did my best to faithfully capture the absolutely bonkers throne room and sprinkle in a little of the Balatro trademark chaos, including falling walkways, toppling statues, and an entire balcony that comes crashing down around you to really capture that crumbling temple energy.
Deep in the forest, not unlike this one, There were three little children. Each braver than the next. They all traveled far from home and came upon a graveyard on a hill surrounded by a large iron fence. Too small to see beyond its stone foundation the first child dared the second to peer into the keyhole of the graveyard’s gate.
“It’s just red,” said the second boy. The first boy peered into the keyhole, And he saw the same, Nothing but a deep red. The last child, the bravest girl, peered seeing the dark red than she climbed the fence and looked over but there was nothing on the other side.
“You get down from there” called the groundskeeper don’t need you getting hurt like that other kid.”
“Someone got hurt here?” Said the girl.
“That’s right, died falling off that there fence. Not unlike yourself other than them dark red eyes.”
All the children slowly looked back at the keyhole.
For this map, I wanted to create the kind of setting where the players feel that something is coming, Jumping at shadows, expecting something to happen. A storm slowly grows over the phases as graves rumble and open. Perhaps releasing waves of undead like zombies or ghosts. And in a flash, a lightning bolt strikes the large tree in the center. Which is a call back to the first map I ever made. I think this location would be an awesome place for a final climactic battle scene of an adventure.
Your party finds themselves as the unwilling guests of a powerful Vampire Lord. Kept as little more than pets to entertain this ageless monster. She sleeps now, and you’ve and managed to escape your bonds. You have perhaps an hour to explore as much of this level of the castle as you can and maybe a way out.
When the glowing golden light of sunset begins to bathe over you. The sun has begun to set. Already you hear your captor stirring. The race against time has begun.
This map is the second of my Spooktober map series where I’ll only be making horror-themed maps for all of October. This map I imagined playing something like an escape room, the players unarmed as the clock ticks before the vampire awakes, Gathering what weapons they can, or trying to break into some of the locked rooms of the castle, or finding a suitable place to hide. I think this map would make for a really fun Survival horror style one-shot!
Trapped in an endless loop of its final moments escape the dead-grey fog of the mourning. Cyre 1313’s domain of dread is a personal hell for phantom its passengers.
Our heroes find themselves lost in the deadly mysterious mists of the domains of dread, Wandering its fog when a Lightning rail roars into view. Boarding it moments before it launches full speed out of the fog into a dark forest. Its passengers panic and hang on, Screaming and clutching one another. Crying out as the City of Cyre is consumed by the mourning’s Dead Grey fog, which closes in from behind.
Closing over train car after train car our heroes must fight to the front, where the last passenger. Who held the train from leaving the station, can be found sipping wine, calm as can be. Blissfully unwilling to accept fault for the other passengers being consumed by the fog. Until the fog closes in on this final car. Just moments before bursting through the fog to the other side. A train station. Where our heroes boarded. And all again in an endless cycle, the train launches forward. Endlessly reliving this final moment to punish its last passenger.
This map is the first of my October spooky maps only set! Crye 1313 is so so cool, it’s a real shame all we got about this awesome domain of dread was a single paragraph (page 168 of VRgtR) and some great art! Hopefully, this gets this cool little Piece of spooky Eberron lore into more games!
This set also includes two variations, one with motion blur and one without the Dead-Grey fog!
Locked in an ancient volcano the Duergar constructed impossible, Powerful weapons. But their gates, magically sealed, turned this Keep into a tomb. The heart of the hold was a powerful magical forge that could create weapons never seen, and the secrets of its use were lost with Duergar when starvation drove them to infighting.
A meddler has found a way to break the enchantment on their gates and enter the volcano again with hopes of using the magical forge, But hundreds of years of slumber have not served to make it safe to ignite, and the attempt causes Volcano to begin to erupt. Can our heroes stop the intruder from completing their powerful weapon before they have to make their escape, Or will it be too late!
This map is BANANAS big. [70x70] I wanted to make another full phased dungeon, and I’ll admit it was nearly more than I could handle alone. This was one of the most difficult to make maps I’ve done yet but after many hours I feel I’ve landed somewhere I can be proud of!
Lmure’s and Gentledevils! The wolf howls at the unfeeling moon! Which means its time again for Avernus’s premier winner takes all cross-hell Race! The Soulgorger Classic! A 10 phased carnival of demonic violence. So mount your infernal Warmachine, and rev those screaming engines!
Not all the devils of Avernus are too thrilled to be pawns in the blood war. Some prefer to spend their time with more… leisurely activities. Like betting all the soul coins they have on a death race across the blasted hellscape of Avernus, Classic summer fun! And if they splatter a few demons along the way- well it was all in the name of Asmodeus of course!
If you’ve found yourself as a racer in The Soulgorger Classic, you’re either very lucky, for only a select few infernal Warmachine crews get selected by the Ringmaster, the devil who runs the race. Or very very unlucky, Every race one being who still has a soul is put on the track, just as a distraction to the hungry devils… Guess that’s you this time. Good luck!
This map was inspired when I thought, The Warmachines didn’t get enough of a highlight in decent into Avernus. What if- I made wacky racers meets Mad Max… IN HELL! And thus The Soulgorger classic was born! It’s designed to be an absolute mad house, A cartoonish death race. Of course, the version of the map you’re seeing here is my rendition of events, But if you prefer a little more freedom as a DM included in the pack is every racer’s infernal Warmachine and each leg of the race as a blank background!
Just imagine, a full party wipe, the whole team dies. Are sent to hell, where they encounter The Ringmaster who offers to planar shift them back, if they win a race against the devil reincarnations of all the villains they’ve killed! Sounds rad!
The tides are callous and unkind to those who disrespect them. There is a reason “Here there be monsters” is only marked over the ocean.
- Ida Holly, Balatro’s Cartographer.
Two ships, both equally matched in crew and firepower meet on the tides among a small shallows. Closing the gap they unleash their cannons as soon as they are within range at nearly the same moment, Between blasts, our heroes and villains alike board the other ship and begin to engage in melee combat!
This map includes 3 variants, I’ll be sharing them separately but the simplest breakdown is that in one version the top ship wins, another the bottom, and the third they both sink from a surprise third party attack!
As a cartographer, I must acknowledge that much of my trade is performed for military endeavors. I don't like it nor am I proud of it, We have all seen what devastation war is capable of. Some things of the past are better LEFT in the past.
~Ida Holly
In the final days of the Last War, House Cannith unleashed its mightiest creations: the warforged colossi. These enormous mechanical warriors thundered across Cyre, crushing everything in their paths and leaving ruin behind them. Meant to end the war decisively, the colossi pulverized hundreds of soldiers beneath their feet and incinerated whole legions with beams of fiery light that shot from their chests. This rampage was cut short on the Day of Mourning. The arcane cataclysm that engulfed Cyre destroyed most of the warforged colossi, causing them to collapse into lifeless heaps.
But some survived, and are still out there waiting to be awakened. Cannith artificers are eager to track them down. Powerful men in the world have a vested interest in claiming these wrecks for themselves because the possibility of having one under your command could change the face of Eberron.
This behemoth of a map is a sequel to "The Monster Factory" and is a commission by patron Bishop869 to grow his Eberron game. It is 16(!) phases, the most I've ever done. This battle sets the scene of a final encounter between a BBEG and the party, and as such, I tried my very best to make it feel cinematic and epic! It revisits the Colossus I had created in "Atop the Colossus" but imagines it in Eberron.
They were worshiping a dragon, not even a living one. An actual skeleton, It’s quite sad how badly these creatures want to serve… it would be a lot sadder without a caltrop in my foot though. ~Ida Holly
A whole dungeon that’s also a phased map! In the flooded caverns a den of kobolds has laid their trap, Protecting their lair with collapsing paths, they flood the tunnels trapping the adventurer’s outside as the water rises threatening to down them unless they act quickly!
Deep under the lake an underground river slowly takes water in from above, a series of Blockade walls slow the flow enough that the water can flow out of the cave at the same rate. The Kobolds of the cavern have discovered this and attached a chain around them, giving them a lever that when pulled floods the caves.
Our heroes, tasked with rooting out or destroying this colony of Kobolds now find themselves at the rushing water’s mercy. They are trapped outside their lair protected from the flood by a few controlled tunnel collapses to the kobold's delight.
This map is inspired by the movie Princess and the Goblin if you’ve ever seen it. There is this whole sequence where the underground caves become flooded. And I was thinking about how cool it would be to have a whole dungeon as a phased map instead of my usual encounter area, and how fun that scene would be to run as a DnD game. Just imagine trying to fight an enemy as rushing water threatens to pull you off your feet!
Fortune and Glory await! OUTSIDE!
Real explorer’s in this world are to be given absolute respect, especially if they’re well-aged. That means they’ve survived any number of dungeon traps!
But I suppose it’s not the age, it’s the mileage
~Ida Holly
Our adventurers have found what they came for in the dungeon, and as dungeons often do, things begin to crumble and collapse. As they dash for the exit they spare a look back and realize, there is a sizeable boulder rolling down the halls closing in quick! Stumbling through the unkept jungle-taken entrance they dash as fast as they can for the door, which to no one’s surprise begins to slowly close, at the exact rate to make exiting as dramatic as possible!
This map is one to one inspired by the Indiana Jones intro from raiders of the lost ark. With the download, I’ve even included 3 magic items a Hat, Whip, and Idol. I’ve loved indy for years and have tried to capture that high octane rollercoaster energy in this map. I also did my utmost to make the map useable without directly drawing attention to the inspiration. (But if you don’t make the joke your players will!)
This map is REALLY tall. at 18x48 I wanted to make getting out before things really kick off as difficult as possible. Personally, I'd also make the tunnel tough terrain to avoid those pesky double movements!
To say we scholars wish to understand civilizations of the past isn’t fair, We desire so much more. We wish to walk its streets and be moved by its art. My father used to say that nothing is ever gone, we just haven’t learned how to find it yet. That true beauty leaves its mark on time, someday we’ll know how to read those marks.
And when we do we will bask in the light off of the eyes of our ancestors.
-Ida Holly
In this phased map an ancient artifact “The Paradox’s Orrery” awakens after hundreds of dormant years creating a bubble inside of which the past moves parallel to the present. But nefarious explorers zealously hunt this magical machine for the untold power it might lend to them, the least of which is access to the lost city when its streets were lined with gold.
Controlling the artifact proves no small task, but moving between the past and future must come at a cost. Players will have to wrestle with their enemies to achieve their desired outcome all while handling whatever once roamed these now ruined streets in its ancient history.
This map was a pleasure to create, I hope it sparks a lot of adventure ideas, I’d love to hear how you’d use this map.
You never miss if you’re aiming at everything. Cyberpunk Mech Fight is a Phased boss encounter with a steel giant raining rockets and bullets down from above. It’ll take some pretty creative moves to avoid its Cluster rockets!
“I heard machines are replacing humans in most industries, I guess that includes stealing catalytic converters.”
There are more horrible things than death, So when Cybernet-X LLC sent its kill mech out they considered that a kindness, Not what I would personally consider a fair severance pay but I suppose I’ll have to take the documents I stole and make my money back.
They say when you sign up to be a proper Corpo you die twice, Soul than body. But You never miss it if you're aiming at everything.
My first boss fight phased map outside of the Fantasy genre! I’m a huge cyberpunk fan and just love out insane and over the top everything is- SO I wanted to make a bossfight that felt equally as turned up to 11!
“I consider myself something of a multi-versal explorer. I wrote the book on it. But I draw the line at “Space Clowns' ' - Ida Holly, Author of Ida’s Guide to Worlds Beyond Our Own.
The Vale to the edge of Wildspace pushes right up against the docks, and rumor has it there drifts a massive skeletal dead god. I don’t want to say it’s valuable without having seen one, But I know the Dohwar are sending a merchant fleet to scour it. So- I’m not saying we STEAL anything, I'm just saying we’re closer…
Do with that what you will captain.
As a completely unrelated aside, I’ve upgraded our Spelljammer’s forward thrust.
To celebrate the release of Spelljammer I decided to make a phased map that tour some of the locations we’ve heard about in interviews! I’m super excited to dive and really play with those good good Treasure Planet vibes! I was super inspired by the art we’ve seen so far. I have no idea if everything here will make sense once we know more about the new cannon lore for spell jammer but I knew I had to make something to release in tandem!
Bioluminescent Hightide, The glowing lights radiating from the surf are a sight adventurers travel far and wide to see! Many want a look up close. But perhaps this steadily growing flood is a BIT too close.
“Someone told me once that the Glow in the sea is from Invisible tiny creatures who live in the water and even inside us. I don’t know about you- but Ley Line magic seems a bit more believable.” - Ida Holly.
She was waiting for you knee deep in the water. Her staff at her side and her antlers silhouetted by flickering stars in the night sky. Alice Luvo, The master Druid. her attacks on the coast cities with her woodland beasts at last brought to a close after a long fought battle. Only she remained and having led your party here to the coast she turns “So, You’ve come.”
The water around her glows and responds to her words. Her power over nature made plain. Without another word she turns and lifts her staff and the light spreads up and down the rocky coast line. The Bioluminescence baths the arch-druid in a ghostly blue light
and as you draw your weapons
the sea begins to rise.
The greatest enemy of all adventuring parties. The true BBEG. Doors! Dungeon Door Puzzle is a 7 phase battlemap where the heroes are tasked with solving the riddle on the mural surrounding the dungeon’s entrance to discover what needs doing to open it.
“In my experience the more members of a party the harder a door is to open.” - Ida Holly
At the heart of the mountains, hundreds of miles from civilization and deep in an unforgiving forest was a gulch where the mountains split in two. The towering cliff side was sheared smooth and filled with mosaic tiles, ancient paintings, and unreadable script long eroded all surrounding a 50 foot tall solid stone door.
With the language of the structure not spoken for at least 1000 years there is no way to know other than what can be gleaned from the paintings how the dungeon is opened. What series of tasks must be performed to gain access. That is your goal, because beyond… well it requires your attention.
This map is my attempt at making a dungeon puzzle that can be solved without an external clue. Something a DM can show their players and the group together can come to a conclusion as to what they need to do to open the door. I think it’s close, But just in case I also provided a DM Key as to what each clue hints at, as well as a hand out for the players if they feel too stuck a letter from Ida Holly herself, who managed to decipher some of the text on the mural.
The Elemental Nexus, An ancient lost temple constructed at the meeting point of the four primary elemental Leylines. Where the turning of a lever shifts the behavior of the natural world around you!
“Yes, tampering with the natural order. I’m sure that went great for the ancient civilization who built this temple. Shame they were all mysteriously wiped out by unknown cataclysmic forces.” - Ida Holly
This map was the winner of my December patreon vote. Every month my patrons can add ideas to a poll on discord and then select maps from a poll and the winner is made! Elemental Nexus has been on there for quite a while and at last it gets its time in the sun! The design of this map is actually inspired by the entry temple area from the Indiana Jones ride at disneyland.
Nautiloid Vs Spelljammer, A Giff bombard spelljammer is ambushed by a hostile Mindflayer armada Nautiloid in This 13 phase boarding action battlemap.
“The Illthid’s true strength is not their ability to quickly repopulate a hive, Their tactical genius, or even their psionic abilities. Their power is in their reach and secrecy. It is nearly impossible to know exactly when they will appear and it’s never when you're prepared.” - Ida Holly
This map is the first of a three part series I’m calling “The Battle of Tu’Narath” which imagines a chaotic clash between the powers of Wildspace all converging on the dead-god city and seat of the Lich queen of the Gith. Starting with the first approach to the city itself harried by the Gith’s ancient rivals, the Mindflayer.
Plummet into Darkness, an 8 phased battlemap where the characters are crossing blades with creatures in the dark underground when the floor below them collapses, sending the lot of them falling hundreds of feet into the Sunless Sea below!
“The Sunless Sea is the dark ocean below our world. Below its motionless tides deep below the surface of the world hide countless bottomless caverns and twisting mysteries. It really is the barrier of hell.
Not the kind of place I’d want to take a quick dip to cool off..” - Ida Holly
The drow gathered in the stands looking down on the crumbling arena above the pit. Cheering and roaring with each monster your captured party slew. The gates opened again and out came a colossal Cave troll, its slack jaw and empty eyes told you everything you needed to know. And just as planned with a few carefully dodged attacks the floor shattered and sent all gathered Plummeting into Darkness.
The crowd roared with delight as all combatants fell to what must be their doom. Luckily you arranged for the first match to be in the arena above the Sunless sea. Hopefully it cushions the fall. But about that troll…
For this map I wanted to create an encounter where the players could engage in a free falling combat as they descend to a watery landing in the underground ocean. By the rules of DnD falling is instant and you reach the bottom in one round no matter the height, But I say let's dream a little bigger and offer the players a cinematic skydiving battle in an underground cave!
The Trial of the Four Dragons. A Four phased map collection. Set in the hidden city of dragons which welcomes only the most powerful mortal souls into their great tower. To enter the heroes will have to complete a challenge presented by each of the four elemental Dragons!
“The Tower of the Dragons is a sight to see, even from afar. So few mortals have proven their worth to enter that it is said whole sections inside are inaccessible without flight as it has never proven necessary to build stairs.” - Ida Holly
The pinnacle of the ocean plateaus is not a welcoming place to anyone, but without the powers of flight the heroes will have to use ancient hanging bridges gusts of powerful wind to reach the Temple of the Air Dragon and complete it’s Trial
At the heart of the Crater lake is a tower carved from a single rock, the meteor itself. Standing sturdy and unmoving against the smashing, towering waves like a lighthouse caught in a storm. The heroes must climb this water slick tower while standing against enormous crushing waves to enter the temple atop to complete the Water Dragon’s Trial.
Atop the mountain along a steep climbing staircase upon the mountain's ridge is the path way to the Trial of the Earth dragon. To complete it the Temple must be entered, but as the heroes approach the earth tears open and Boulders rain down from the peak tumbling and shattering stone all around them!
The final trial, the fire dragon's, has the heroes walking though perfectly identical buildings like pillars lined up like soldiers in a vast plaza. Across which lies the temple that must be entered, but the Fire Dragon sweeps between the towers grid lighting fires and leaving cindering coals in its wake!
This map is a 4 part pack, Four phased maps all based around a single city map! The Dragon's Tower. I generally don’t try and put lore into my maps to allow DMs using them to draw their own inspiration. But this time I wanted to play with the idea of offering something more than just a map- but a whole scenario the maps might belong to. By no means is this a requirement if you use these maps, I’d be thrilled to hear about other ideas for these encounters or other ways you’d use them. But I hope the idea of a dragon city humans must prove themselves to enter is a compelling one to you as it was to me!
The pinnacle of the ocean plateaus is not a welcoming place to anyone, but without the powers of flight the heroes will have to use ancient hanging bridges gusts of powerful wind to reach the Temple of the Air Dragon and complete it’s Trial
This map is part 4 part adventure, Four phased maps all based around a single city map! The Dragon's Tower.
I generally don’t try and put lore into my maps to allow DMs using them to draw their own inspiration. But this time I wanted to play with the idea of offering something more than just a map- but a whole scenario the maps might belong to. By no means is this a requirement if you use these maps, I’d be thrilled to hear about other ideas for these encounters or other ways you’d use them. But I hope the idea of a dragon city humans must prove themselves to enter is a compelling one to you as it was to me!
At the heart of the Crater lake is a tower carved from a single rock, the meteor itself. Standing sturdy and unmoving against the smashing, towering waves like a lighthouse caught in a storm. The heroes must climb this water slick tower while standing against enormous crushing waves to enter the temple atop to complete the Water Dragon’s Trial.
This map is part 4 part adventure, Four phased maps all based around a single city map! The Dragon's Tower.
I generally don’t try and put lore into my maps to allow DMs using them to draw their own inspiration. But this time I wanted to play with the idea of offering something more than just a map- but a whole scenario the maps might belong to. By no means is this a requirement if you use these maps, I’d be thrilled to hear about other ideas for these encounters or other ways you’d use them. But I hope the idea of a dragon city humans must prove themselves to enter is a compelling one to you as it was to me!
Atop the mountain along a steep climbing staircase upon the mountain's ridge is the path way to the Trial of the Earth dragon. To complete it the Temple must be entered, but as the heroes approach the earth tears open and Boulders rain down from the peak tumbling and shattering stone all around them!
This map is part 4 part adventure, Four phased maps all based around a single city map! The Dragon's Tower.
I generally don’t try and put lore into my maps to allow DMs using them to draw their own inspiration. But this time I wanted to play with the idea of offering something more than just a map- but a whole scenario the maps might belong to. By no means is this a requirement if you use these maps, I’d be thrilled to hear about other ideas for these encounters or other ways you’d use them. But I hope the idea of a dragon city humans must prove themselves to enter is a compelling one to you as it was to me!
The final trial, the fire dragon's, has the heroes walking though perfectly identical buildings like pillars lined up like soldiers in a vast plaza. Across which lies the temple that must be entered, but the Fire Dragon sweeps between the towers grid lighting fires and leaving cindering coals in its wake!
This map is part 4 part adventure, Four phased maps all based around a single city map! The Dragon's Tower.
I generally don’t try and put lore into my maps to allow DMs using them to draw their own inspiration. But this time I wanted to play with the idea of offering something more than just a map- but a whole scenario the maps might belong to. By no means is this a requirement if you use these maps, I’d be thrilled to hear about other ideas for these encounters or other ways you’d use them. But I hope the idea of a dragon city humans must prove themselves to enter is a compelling one to you as it was to me!
I find Celebrations a fascinating affair, A gathering of many people to venerate a single happening. Objectively positive, Yet when we review the historical record, Celebrations are often the beginning point of great conflict. Hmmm… I wonder if there is a causation.
- Ida Holly, Balatro Foundation’s cartographic Director.
A city of a certain size will have amassed many unique arcane specializations, But none more valued for holidays, festivals, and parades than the illusionist. The power to sculpt a vision so precise many would be fooled into believing it’s real is a power an entertainer can not afford to employ!
For this parade, the crown has spared no expense, and fireworks, Magic instruments, drifting spectral confetti, and delightful manifestations will run the streets to the delight of our citizens! So long as it all goes without a hitch, and that is what we have hired you to assure, this will be a day to remember!
This map is designed as a location where the players need to do something BEFORE combat, or better yet to prevent one. Like there might be someone in the crowd there trying to capture, an assassin who means to harm someone on one of the floats, etc. Included in this set are variants such as Gridless, HD, and Without the crowd. I also added a version with no crowd or floats, and one where only the “Royal float” is left. In case things go sideways so you have a lot of freedom with how you want to run the encounter!
What sort of encounter would you run on this map?
A classic battlemap of mine, while I still hold a special place in my heart for it this map no longer reflects my current skill level and so I’m offering a steep discount at more than half off! Please enjoy! If you really love it let me know and mabye I’ll remake it at a quailty more reflective of my current work!
~Bal
"A wedding is a magical day. Sometimes... too magical."
~ Ida Holly
A pair of love struck heroes have decided to preform an ancient ceremony and honor their love before friends, Family, and their adventuring party. and they take there vows under a local Gazebo... The Dread Gazebo. Ten phase encounter map.
This map is a touch goofier than my normal stuff, but that's the beauty of D&D, it's never wholly serious. The encounter starts with the players taking part in a Local Adventurer's wedding, When at the "I dos" a blustering wind causes a crossbow on the Gift table to fire. Shooting a single bolt over the gathered party goers. Which wakes a long slumbering Elemental. The Infamous Dread Gazebo, Which plows it's way to through the gathered crowd to the back, where it's attention shifts from violence, to cake. We've all been there.
This map was created in honor of my dear friend Chris and his new bride Geena. Both are wonderful people who each have played in one or more of my own games. I'm so glad they found each other. I hope them only the best and a perfect day without incident. (In real life at least!)
The wonderful art that inspired the encounter, was created by the Irreplicable John Sheppard.
I’ve always adored the Carnival, but there is something haunting about creatures of the world being forced to put on a show, It says something about its ringmaster I don’t care for… And perhaps something about the audience too…
~Ida Holly, Balatro’s Cartographer.
Be it the Rakdos, Witchlight, or a simple roadside show for the local peoples. The carnival attracts all kinds. This map is designed with the idea of a boss fight where in a Villainous ring master stands in the center, Orcistratiting a comical battle with the players and putting on a real show for the audience.
As the fight goes on I imagine clown cars unloading waves of jesters- perhaps even Nilbogs- To keep the players moving, Eventually the cages on the far south side of the map open allowing the Performing beasts to run amok.
I like the idea of the ringmaster forcing the players to do minigames, Like Trivia about their last adventure, or Quickly solving a maze before too many rounds pass. And those who fail become charmed. But how would you run an encounter on this map?
A classic battlemap of mine, while I still hold a special place in my heart for it this map no longer reflects my current skill level and so I’m offering a steep discount at more than half off! Please enjoy! If you really love it let me know and mabye I’ll remake it at a quailty more reflective of my current work!
~Bal
I have read of wars and plagues. Of the horrors of man and monster. But I have never known the meaning of devastation until today.
~ Ida Holly
Artificers have built golems of Iron, bone, and clay but the ability to build a Colossus is lost to a forgotten area and with good reason. A lone standing Goliath whose shadow blocks the sun for a mile from its foot has stood silent vigil on the coast for centuries. But something horrible has awoken it. Something with intentions to change the face of this world forever.
The Colossus marches its unstoppable march forward. Forcing the Castle’s soldiers to attack as best they can, Leaping the 100s foot plummet to reach its shoulders and do what they can to return it to its eon’s slumber before it’s too late.
This map was a labor of love, My patrons asked for it and I put everything I had into making it. It was- well it was a lot more work than I realized. It required well over 100 hours and two full weeks to get to where it is now. I intended to include a “Win” phase where the Colossus falls before delivering the final blow, and maybe I will. But I hope artists out there can agree that sometimes it is better to just say “I need to be done”. I hope it’s well-received by the TTRPG community, but even if this dies in new, I’ll be proud I took the leap to make something, way out of my comfort zone, something I think is truly epic.
If you like this map, please consider sharing it with others. Word of mouth is the best way to keep doing insane time-consuming projects like this one.
If you hate it tell your enemies about it, really stick it to them. Everybody wins!
A classic battlemap of mine, while I still hold a special place in my heart for it this map no longer reflects my current skill level and so I’m offering a steep discount at more than half off! Please enjoy! If you really love it let me know and mabye I’ll remake it at a quailty more reflective of my current work!
~Bal
Necromancy is gross, But have you ever seen an artificer try their hand at it... That's a new and exciting kind of Gross.
-Ida Holly
Monster Factory, our adventurers have followed leads of strange monsters all across Eberron centered around a factory nestled in a quiet north side factory district.
A mastermind calling himself Lord Cardillo has been Forging monsters of all sorts with foul alchemy, Forbidden Necromancy, and all the Mechanical wonders of Eberron than secretly sending them out into the world for nefarious enigmatic reasons. cornered now This villain would be happy to see this factory reduced to ruin before besmirching his good name, and will trigger all manner of havoc causing explosions throughout the factory from his well-protected control room all while taunting our heroic adventurers.
Monster Factory is a 7 phased battle map, It is chaotic and very goofy much like the namesake. Cheers to the good good boys. The green Ooze is inspired by "The Dip" from Who framed Rodger Rabbit, My hope is the encounter will become something of a The floor is lava sort of experience as the party fends off the factory's creations and tries and stop them from erupting out of glass chambers and reanimating from the conveyor belt.
A classic battlemap of mine, while I still hold a special place in my heart for it this map no longer reflects my current skill level and so I’m offering a steep discount at more than half off! Please enjoy! If you really love it let me know and mabye I’ll remake it at a quailty more reflective of my current work!
~Bal
Across the nations of the world it denoted that many, even most civilisations build along the sea, for trade and food. As a cartographer I can say without doubt over the ages the seas have crept closer and closer. Leads one to wonder, What history of the ancient world sleeps under the tide, What volumes could we fill if only we had gills.
-Ida Holly
Note: Ancient temple structures are unreliable. Especially puzzles, And double so for moving parts.
The map comes in ten phases; the first few are ideally done out of combat allowing the players to explore and use the levers to dam the water above. Then from phase 6 on the dam begins to burst. At this point the players have a choice where to go, into the cave below the lake or away from the wall over water crashing over the empty lake. This map is inspired by the Wonderful movie Atlantis: Lost Empire, and the infamous Zelda dungeon from which the map gets its name.
A classic battlemap of mine, while I still hold a special place in my heart for it this map no longer reflects my current skill level and so I’m offering a steep discount at more than half off! Please enjoy! If you really love it let me know and mabye I’ll remake it at a quailty more reflective of my current work!
~Bal
“My father used to say that death is just another journey. That always made me think, if the soul leaves the body where does it go? Can a cartographer dream- what would it mean to map the afterlife?”
-Ida Holly
Our adventurers find themselves in need of a medium to contact a person who has died. However when they reach out to summon a ghost, instead something else responds. Something sinister from beyond which attaches to the medium and forces their way back into the world of the living.
This map is a ten phased battle map inspired by the new set in a séance room in which spectral powers grab and swear objects around the room, possess statues and furniture, and eventually pull everything around the crystal ball like a tiny black hole before exploding dramatically- destroying the building in which the summoning occurred.
I designed this map after being inspired by reading van Richten's guide to Ravenloft and it’s wonderful art. made for your Ravenloft avengers, Victorian Sherlock, or Eberron mysteries.
A classic battlemap of mine, while I still hold a special place in my heart for it this map no longer reflects my current skill level and so I’m offering a steep discount at more than half off! Please enjoy! If you really love it let me know and mabye I’ll remake it at a quailty more reflective of my current work!
~Bal
“Speaking from experience, Shipwrecking at sea isn't so bad when you’ve been shipwrecked in the sky. Though that's not one of my theories that I recommend testing.”
-Ida Holly
Our adventurers find themselves crossing a vast dryland on the HMS Affinity. A long journey cargo-merchant airship converted into a personal vessel by it’s captain. With many days of travel ahead they expect a fairly uneventful trip.
That is before they reach the Canyon that marks a border to a nearby Tyrannical empire. One who doesn't take kindly to whom they have declared as Airship pirates. Which, it just so happens, was once true of the Affinity’s captain. Must have slipped her mind, She gives a wicked smile, and recommends you hang on tight, Those new Empire Airfrigates are fast. Look at the bright side, at least it's not pirates!
A battle between two airships descends from high in the clouds and weaves through the narrow canyon below. Trading artillery, Smashing into walls, before ending in two crashes from a risky maneuver, allowing the battle to continue on foot. 9 Phased Battle map.
This map includes
- 9 phased Airship chase.
- Gridless Variant
- No Ship Variant
- Airship Transparent Png tokens (Both ships)
- Open sky tile, just in case.
A classic battlemap of mine, while I still hold a special place in my heart for it this map no longer reflects my current skill level and so I’m offering a steep discount at more than half off! Please enjoy! If you really love it let me know and mabye I’ll remake it at a quailty more reflective of my current work!
~Bal
Adventurers top a ramshackle raft as they are pulled at a violent clip down stream. The map this time moves around the players. the raft itself the focal point so tokens don't need to be moved between phases.
A classic battlemap of mine, while I still hold a special place in my heart for it this map no longer reflects my current skill level and so I’m offering a steep discount at more than half off! Please enjoy! If you really love it let me know and mabye I’ll remake it at a quailty more reflective of my current work!
~Bal
Our Adventurers find themselves locked in a life or death chase down the streets in stage coaches. Taking break neck turns, Smashing through busy markets. leaping down to the busy docks.This map is a sequel to the busy thoroughfare, I had a patron mention "My players would probably highjack a cart and go on a chase"so- I made that!The fun thing about this map is you can be the chaser or the chased depending on your encounter.
A classic Battlemap of Mine, Tipsy Tavern is actually the first map I ever released! These classic maps are not as refined as my current work and so are avaible completely for free, Simply save the immages in the gallery here! If you want to support me work consider buying the Zip of this map for .99!
Thanks
~Bal
A sudden storm strikes the cliff below a overhanging tavern, each round the map progresses a phase, forcing the adventurers to leap the parlous gap while facing there enemies.
It's inspired by the insane combats in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and hopefully forces the players to leap from side to side as the tavern halves tilt back and forth. Dodging furniture attacks from the enemies.
Each phase should only be one round with a total of ten. switching at the end of the round or when things start to get alittle too cozy for the party.
Another Classic battlemap from my early days as a Map maker. These maps are crude and unrefined and no longer reflect my abilties as a map maker but I still have a soft spot for them. We should never forget where we came from! This map is avaible to save and download here in this gallery for free or get them all easy with the ZIP, But if you’d still like to show support for my work please consider checking out some of my other (much better) work!
Cheers
~ Balatro
The showdown with the Spirit of Earth. Each time the boss takes 25+ or a round passes the map progresses, the very land itself fighting against the adventurers.
Mountains of Madness, 9 phased battlemap set in the high peaks of Leng, Below the eons dead Land of the South Pole. At the heart of the ruined city of elder things the Shogoths stir awake.
“Takali-li… Takali-li”
Below the unknown tallest mountain on earth, where the elder things fled into the vast unknown darkness 50 million years before the first vestiges of humanity would crawl from the mud. Below an abandoned city wracked by polar ice as the planet froze over made it uninhabitable.
The howling abyss leading infinitely down, below the mountains of madness. But what is it that howls?
My first call of Cthulhu inspired map! This map is based on what in my opinion is Lovecraft's best work, Mountains of Madness.. The book spends almost all of its length describing the growing mystery of the origins of life on earth starting with as little as a mysterious fossilized footprint and ending with- well the scene I duplicated here as our encounter!
The rise of the shaggoth who built the massive city and in all likelihood were responsible for its ultimate demise.
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