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The Yeti's Cave Battle Map - Launch
🕑 Added 2019-12-14 17:06:16 +0000 UTCIts December and whether its hot or cold where you live, I decided for our first map of the month to create a winter map for a bit of a snowy festive theme. Hopefully this one will be useful for you all at some point, it should work well for general winter wilderness encounters and even locations in higher elevations.
I’ll be creating the Hacienda map next week and getting that launched before I’m off for the holidays. Thank you all so much for your continued support, have a wonderful weekend, and as always happy adventuring! Now onto the map notes.
Introduction
The weather has turned deadly, what was a brisk sunny winter's morning has transformed into a blizzard of monstrous proportions. The wind races across the landscape whipping up clouds of snow and draining whatever heat your bodies still maintain. It has been snowing for hours, dropped from thick grey clouds that blanket the sky. Once the sun sets, the temperature already freezing, will drop even further, to levels you know will be your deaths. You must find shelter soon or succumb to the storm.
And then you see it, a dark entrance, a cave opening against the cold stone of a cliff face. You stumble forward eyes blinded by snow glare and the relentless frigid winds. One by one you step into the mouth of the cave. The roar of the wind is cut instantly to a low rumble, darkness replaces the white of the blizzard outside. Your eyes, so used to the snowy whiteness take time to adjust. Behind you someone strikes flint to steel, lighting a torch. The flame flickers, guttering in the wind, they hold the torch aloft illuminating a circle of cave around you. Beyond the light’s reach is blackness, and something else, eyes reflecting the flame like red jewels in the night. You notice a strong musk in the air, a scent of animal and with that comes a noise, a low rumble that mirrors the wind outside. A growl of warning and menace. It seems whatever lives here is not happy to have guests.
Notes and Tips
- 30x30 grid map
- Winter themed maps don’t need to be used solely in winter settings, this could be a mountain pass or be some kind of magical weather.
- The pools and river can be flowing or be frozen depending on what you want to do with them.
- Frozen environments can have many environmental hazards, temperature, ice, deep snow and avalanches. Not to mention snow can reduce view distance and even blind a character.
- Winter animals can be driven to attack the party out of starvation. Describe their emaciated, skeletal appearance.
- Yetis, Owlbears and any number of forest or other wilderness beasts could inhabit the cave. Or some other travellers could be using it for shelter, they don’t have to be human, I imagine a hunting party of humanoid monster (goblins, bugbears) would make for a fun encounter here.
- Larger humanoid beasts could throw boulders at the party as they move along the trail, trying to prevent them from finding their cave.
Variants
Day/Night standard
Winter Crystal - Day/Night
I imagine this could be used for some kind of magical encounter where the weather has some magical origin.
Firelight - Day/Night
For those awkward encounter with someone or something you just don't want to be encountering in a lonely cave in the wilderness.
Comments
Afternoon Maps
Oh awesome :D Thanks Kieroman!
Kieroman
This was the very first map I used when we moved to online dnd due to the quarantine. Hadn't realized it was yours! Really nice map.
Afternoon Maps
Thanks Neil :)
Neil Tandon
Amazing map! I love this one so much! Keep up the great work!
Afternoon Maps
Thanks Kai G, the Hacienda should be a fun one :)
Afternoon Maps
Sorry you didn't like this one Espen. I'll take the constructive criticism to heart next time I create a snowy scene. Snow can be a bit tricky to define levels as its just so white. As for the cave and its thickness, I've been experimenting with different styles for rock walls and how to depict them clearly, obviously I need to do a bit more work there as well ;) Thanks again for the feedback much appreciated :)
Asherett
This is your first map that I'm not a fan of, simply because I have a lot of trouble reading and understanding it. At first glance, where is the cave? I guess it's in the lower right? Does the cave have like super thin walls near the entrance? Where's the solid rock that the cave exists in? Looks very weird, more like a "cracked eggshell" or just rounded stone "walls" with an opening in. I think technically here the problem is understanding which elevation the map is at. Most maps depict the area like 10-20 feet above the ground, but this one, I have no idea. It's also really hard to see which areas are elevated, and I had to study the map for quite a while to understand that there's a stream running from the top right, down through waterfalls/rapids, into a pool, under the path (somehow?) and then on to the left. It also looks very weird that everything is "just white", while there is no real sense of snow or ice. It's like it's a summer area spray-painted white. If it's meant to be a light dusting of snow I'd expect some non-coated areas. Anyway, I hope you can use this feedback for something constructive :)
Kai G.
This map looks awesome! I can't wait for the Hacienda map, I was super stoked when I recommended it and so many people voted for that one. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
