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Bog Troll Cave Battle Map - Launch
🕑 Added 2022-03-24 13:42:48 +0000 UTCHello Adventurers! This is the Bog Troll Cave map I worked on earlier in the month as part of a collab with some other fantastic creatives. Unfortunately, they are running a little behind schedule, so I thought I’d launch this map now and update you with their awesome extras towards the end of the month. Sorry for the wait, I’m sure it will be worth it ;) Anyways, I love how this one turned out, it looks as slimy as I hoped, perfect for a waterlogged swamp, or Underdark mud hole full of just the worst things :D
Next maps
I’m currently well on my way to finishing The Crossroads map, which will be out next week, and then I’ll jump straight into the Viking Fishing Encampment.
- The Crossroads - (Working on)
I wanted to create some general use maps along with my more heavily themed maps, so this one will be a useful Highway/Crossroads map, great for simple travel encounters. However, Crossroads have a lot of significance within myth and folklore, so I’ll be sure to provide some encounter ideas around that! - Viking Fishing Encampment (Bart Heird suggested)
A small group of Viking-style huts next to a lake or shoreline. I imagine this would work for a general tribal village. This will probably be a frosty or snowy map. - Drow Surface Outpost (Caerdwyn suggested)
I imagine some kind of bunker, hidden from view, with a place to muster troops, stage invasions, or hold captives before they are transported into the Underdark. This should work well as an entrance to the Underdark for any campaign.
Thanks for your patience with the extra material for this launch. I have written some descriptive text for the map in the meantime, I suspect there will be more of that to come later as well :) Have a great rest of the week, stay safe, and as always happy adventuring! Now let's get our wellies on and get knee-deep in some mud! (Inspiration for anyone that knows what wellies are).
Map Descriptions
The Entrance
The cave's entrance is covered in glistening slime and emerald-coloured mosses. Thick mud covers the floor, the walls seep yellow-stained water, creating rivulets that drain into the cave system below. Decomposing vegetation collects in every nook and cranny, adding to the already heavy stench of decay and rot drifting from within.
- The slippery ground makes moving quickly difficult. Missing your footing can result in slipping uncontrollably into the next area.
- Make sure to emphasise the claustrophobic nature of the caves. The walls are mostly mud, and highly unstable. Collapse is a real threat, hint that concussive spells could cause mudslides, dragging the party deeper and even burying them.
The Caves
Water drips from the ceiling of the caves, a constantly overlapping sound that echoes into the dark. Narrow crevices split the walls, leading back into passages too small to enter. Water trickles from these openings, creating shallow pools in the cave’s uneven floor.
- Describe snails, eels wiggling through the shallow water, white fish with no eyes. Spindly crustaceans hunt the many hoping and crawling insects that cling to the walls of the caves.
- Try an encounter with large white insects or centipedes that skitter from the crevices. Leeches could drop from the ceiling or hide in the water. Or maybe just try a couple of ropers (they look like stalagmites and ambush their prey).
The Gully
As you make your way further down, you arrive at a deep gully blocking your path. An assortment of branches and tree trunks bridge the gully, the wood looks slick and rotten.
- Skill challenge! Getting across a treacherous bridge like this can be tough. Especially if there's something below to distract you. The walls of the gully seem to move, glistening in the dim light. Turns out thousands of leeches are climbing towards the party from below. Now they have a time limit to make plans ;) If someone falls, they can still get out with some help, but the leeches will get a nice meal in the process.
The Sink Hole
Entering the large cavern you find yourself at the top of a steep incline leading down into what seems to be a drained lake, only a small pool of murky water remains. Tree trunks help to stabilise the path, preventing mud from sliding into the mostly empty hole. Ledges of solid ground lead to an alcove on the right side of the hole. Bones are strewn across its floor, a huge club is propped up next to an unlit fire.
- This could easily be the lair of some underground monster, a Troll, Ogre or Giant even. Living off the local wildlife and the odd sheep.
- Some kind of corrupted water elemental could live here. It slowly fills the cavern with water as the encounter progresses.
- I imagine a giant crab covered in moss and slime sitting at the bottom of the hole would be a cool reveal. It could look like a large bolder until it begins to move. Maybe the eye storks pop out at first before the whole thing comes to life.
- This would make an interesting Green Dragons lair. It's surrounded by old evergreen forest, draped with lichen, mist obscuring everything. The Dragon worms its way down here at night, or maybe there is a larger entrance above the ‘lake’.
- Motivations for getting your party to explore this cave system could be anything, from rescuing a person washed down here in a storm, to discovering the whereabouts of some missing sheep. This could be the hiding place of a Were-creature or a rumoured entrance to the Underdark.
Variants
This could work as a gully or ravine, so I created some alternative biomes. Both desert and snow versions would work equally well as caves.
I love this Misty forest version!
Or a desert canyon, for those treks across the deep sands! (This could still be used as a cave system in the desert).
Or maybe you want hot and humid! In which case a jungle is more your speed. Don't trip on the vines!
Or you want to go with cold and frozen, in which case this snowy version is perfect! (Again, this could work as a cave system.)
