Neutral Party

Sheesh, my spooky forest maps keep getting spookier- this one barely even has colors. I should talk to a therapist, this feels indicative of something.

I'd bet the fresh water of this pond draws all kinds of wildlife from around the jungle so this would be the perfect place for your party to encounter a fascinating array of local fauna and battle them to the death. After all, what better way to experience the local wildlife than to taste it?

This altar has plenty of room for your upcoming ritual, sacrifice, or summoning, chairs and tables not included. Yes it is haunted but their unfinished business is guaranteeing you and your guests have a lovely event and recommend this altar to all your friends.

If my past adventures in DnD jungles are anything to go by, in this map you'll get sneak attacked by a crocodile and, while your party discusses how stupid that was, you'll get sneak attacked by another crocodile, having learned nothing.

If you're ever worried about battles not feeling scary enough just call each enemy a swarm but change nothing else about them- your party will be spooked. If I'm fighting 3 goblins I don't care, but if there's 3 goblin swarms then I'm starting to sweat. Yes, the secret is lying.

If you're ever at a loss for what kind of enemies to add in a random encounter, just make the map itself the monster. Those palm trees? They hate your guts and are coming to get you, same with these rocks and that waterfall, they've all got angry faces and are ready to give you an ass-kicking you'll never forget.

This week's map is the Craggy Shore (50x40), a good map for fighting fishermen or sunbathers probably. If your party is too high level to be spending time fighting your average fisherman/sunbather then let's just say they're liches with free time and hobbies. Better yet, how about you just add waves of regular fishermen until the fight feels balanced? I say that but I once had a player clear out huge swathes of an orc army that I never intended for them to fight with a few casts of cone of cold, so play it by ear.. or have them fight something other than fishermen I guess.

This week I drew a cozy little Desert Camp. There are many ways your party could develop this campsite to be a little more comfortable, like a cooler full of white claws and some folding chairs. Alternately, you and your friends can help make it less cozy by adding things like bloodsplatter, arrow holes, and charred skeletons in several discreet locations.

Treat yourself to a cave map on me this new year, you earned it sport.

I'm sorry to say that if jumping on slippery rocks isn't a major aspect of your backstory then you'll absolutely be rolling dex saves to avoid falling into the water while crossing. Fortunately, unless you've written a fatal weakness to water into your backstory, you'll probably make it out alright.

When traveling in the Feywild make sure to not drink the water, not because it'll make you sick or turn you into a pig or something but because it tastes like watered down jolly ranchers and that gets old fast.

You know what, no matter what happens during this combat your party is probably still coming out of this one with a wagon in well-used condition, and that can really turn someone's life around if properly maintained and cared for. Gotta feel bad for the old owners but that's adventurin'.

If you're preparing a tiny battle then you're going to need a tiny map, in which case look no further because my maps are GUARANTEED TO BE SMALL. If your battle could take place entirely on a regulation NBA basketball court, then my maps are the maps for you!

This cave map has more bones per inch than your average cave map, which in my books makes it better than most. BPI is the only factor that I'm taking into consideration here so keep that in mind before making any arguments.

Look, you don't always need big maps- sometimes you get in a lil fight and need something a bit more.. intimate. You don't need 50 square inches of of map when you get into a slap fight with a wizard or play tag with a goblin. If you could describe your fight as a kerfuffle then consider using one of my certified Small Maps®

I'd recommend staying away from little caves like this on your adventures. They might look cozy because I lit it up for you, but they're really just full of the kind of critters who haven't developed eyes yet—though it's near the top of their evolutionary to-do list, right after "make mandibles bigger for better squishing of meaty things that wander into the cave" and "learn how to glow to attract more meaty things into the cave."

This week I drew a tiny dungeon map that you can print on 2 pieces of printer paper- I've never printed one of my maps before but I bet that would be convenient sometimes!