D&D Maps n' Stuff

-Open to Submissions- Place where I post things I find interesting or might use in my adventures. I will also post some of my own maps and ideas. Only posts tagged "my stuff" belong to me. All other content belongs to its creator/owner.

[dnd-maps-n-stuff]

My latest map: The High Jarldom of Olvheim. A heavily Nordic themed region in the campaign I’m running. The kingdom consists of 7 semi-independent Jarldoms and every 5 years the Jarls choose the High Jarl from amongst themselves. I made the map using Wonderdraft and the crests using Inkwell Ideas’ Coat of Arms designer.

[Full sized image]

[moonlightmaps]

Flower lovers! . I don’t see enough wildflowers in D&D maps, so I’m here to bring you all the flowers in this meadow variant! . Follow my bio link to get your sweet smelling encounter 🌙 . . . . . . #battlemap #encountermap #fantasymap #worldbuilding #dnd #dndmaps #pathfinder #fantasyrpg #roll20 #fantasygrounds #foundryvtt #dndhomebrew #criticalrole #flowers #wildflowers #dungeonsanddragons #dungeonsanddragonsart #dmsguild #critters #cr #dndillustration #critrole #criticalrole #tabletoprpg #dndstories #ttrpg #custommap https://www.instagram.com/p/CDSBT6OhCzS/?igshid=1m974fwdgkaj6

[fantasymapmaster]

Fortress of Dorn - A commissioned map, showing a fortress drawn by a former prisoner.

[ausj3w3l]

New world map of my own homebrew planet

[dnd-maps-n-stuff]

My latest map using Wonderdraft. This map is the starting region for a campaign I’m planning (hopefully playing it soon!) This region is home to the Steelforge Clan of Dwarves and steel refinement is the primary economic driving factor. 

[dicegrimorium]

Greetings!

This week I’ve created a new battle map featuring a bridge as it’s main element. This one however, is one of those frail-looking I’m-about-to-fall-by-the-side hanging bridges. Just perfect for throwing those annoying Player Characters by the cliff-side.

The map is divided into three main areas (four if you’re taking the water into account). The forest area has a few trees and large rocks to use as cover or hide about. The creatures that choose to stay here are mostly safe from environmental harm, but they could still be pushed around by some spells or abilities if not careful.

The most fun area is going to be the hanging bridge though. As we all know if something can go wrong in a session, it’ll probably go wrong. So do make sure to try to make it fall, burn it or anything else that makes your players panic. Fun times for everyone involved!

You can see a preview of this week’s content by clicking here.

If you liked the map I’d be extremely thankful if you considered supporting me on my Patreon, rewards include higher resolution files, gridless versions, alternate versions, line versions, PSDs and more. Thank you!

[rustymaps]

[2minutetabletop]

How to Run Kobolds – 2-Minute Tabletop

Everything you could need to know for running kobolds in and out of combat. Dig some tunnels, rig some traps, and then throw your party in the deep end.

Troy’s How to Run Kobolds just hit our blog! There’s battle maps bundled in, a dash of geeky humor, and enough kobold-content to build a campaign around. 

Come check it out: https://www.2minutetabletop.com/how-to-run-kobolds/

“Everything you could need to know for running kobolds in and out of combat. Dig some tunnels, rig some traps, and then throw your party in the deep end.”

[2minutetabletop]

The Dungeon Jail - A Free Prison Battle Map

A lot of ink went into my latest map, the Dungeon Jail. Please enjoy this classic campaign-starter and TPK-alternative! 

Downloads: https://www.2minutetabletop.com/dungeon-jail-prison-battle-map/ 

I feel like most GMs and players have a good prison story - what’s yours?

[pigeon-princess]

A land once plagued by an age of Endless Night, The Ivorian Empire is now united under the sovereignty of High King Elezar, a descendant of the mighty hero Ivoria, who united the people and vanquished the shadows with the help of his 7 powerful knights. Now political tensions are rising and war is brewing between the once peaceful states, however there seems to be another greater threat just on the horizon and history appears to be repeating itself once more. 

I’m finally able to share the map I made for my DnD campaign! The party’s current mission is to escort a Viperian princess to her royal wedding in Miros, but of course things are not going entirely to plan. 

[2minutetabletop]

The Snake Den

Zealous kobolds reside in the bones of a titanic snake coiled up in its grave. Their shadows are long and dancing, and their chants echo off the walls. Watch for traps, brave adventurer…

I make maps and assets for D&D for printing and VTT, and this is my latest creation. Please let me know what you think!

Downloads and more: https://www.2minutetabletop.com/snake-den-cave-battle-map/

[ausj3w3l]

[partyoftwo]

Free Asset Pack! 

Mansion battlemaps + asset packs with a customizable, empty mansion. 

The link is at the bottom of the post, plus screenies of what goes into this set. This set in particular was super fun to make, it’s like building a dollhouse from scratcn.

For some close ups, check out this post and this post (: 

We’ll be up for a feywild theme next, so do consider joining us for the ride!

[macabrecabra]

Quick map I made for a campaign I’m running on Wednesday. Just created a basic fantasy homebrew setting for players to explore and mess around in c: 

Please excuse my shoddy map-making skills 8D; 

[noblecrumpet-dorkvision]

Noblecrumpet’s City Generator

Hey everyone! I was working on this little side project during Mobtober and it’s finally done!

My City Generator is 15 pages of tables, outlines, and word banks you can use to create an entire city! I originally made this for my own use but figured it would be the perfect thing to make it usable for everyone else, too! 

It also comes with a two-page worksheet at the end of the guide to help you keep tabs on your decisions and results.

As an experiment, I’ve put on the DMs Guild, the first thing I’ve put up there. It’s pay-what-you-want, so have at it!

Download it here!

[crossheadstudios]

I’ve been creating content for Tabletop RPGs for quite some time now and ever since I’ve started I always wanted to launch a platform that made customization of said content a possibility. Not just customizing it but also producing physical copies of this content.

About a year and a half ago, I started talking about the basic concept of building a platform like this with people that I had met in the RPG community online. Finding web engineers was key, obviously, who helped me figure out what the possibilities were of actually bringing to life some of these concepts and where it was best to start. Building maps had always been high on my list, as it was my main focus for quite some time, but as it seemed rather complex to build as a launching platform, after quite some time of research and trials & error, building a playing card builder was the next thing I looked into. The idea seemed much more viable as a starting point and thus began the quest to build our first proof of concept.

Now second on the list was getting this stuff produced. It’s fun to be able to create your own stuff online and have a digital version of your creation, but getting to have them at hand while you’re at the table is just so much better. I had been talking to several local printing companies, and some big-name card companies as well, who all required a minimum bulk of a rather large amount. Selling content on some of the popular print-on-demand websites, however, I realized they were able to produce single versions of a product for a reasonable rate, which made the idea much more viable. So I started looking for companies who specialized in this and found a couple in the US, and after some digging, in EU as well. 

Now that I had finished the groundwork for the project, after months and months of research and prep work, I got to the third step of building my project and that knocking on doors of some of my fellow fantasy artists in an effort to see if they’d be interested in offering up their creations on this platform as well. As a creator myself I was focused on making sure that we’d have a fair deal to offer them, as part of building this system isn’t just about building a cool tool but also a place where creators can sell their work for honest pay. Looking to team up with a selection of my favorite artists that I’d met in the DnD community specifically in an effort to create some premade decks to showcase what the system is all about. Having their content to fuel the system would mean that it wasn’t just hundreds of drawing people would be able to use, but thousands instead. This as just a starting point of our planned launch, in the hopes of getting to collaborate with many more in the future.

I was very fortunate to get an overwhelmingly positive response from my colleagues. Joined by creators like PrintableHeroes, Paper Forge, James Perrett, ItsaDnDMonsterNow and Julio Bencid I had a perfect mix of premade cards to start off with: Combining both popular 5E creatures, NPCs, beasts from the SRD and custom made magic Items + creatures.

Now the next step in this journey is to get the word out for the upcoming Kickstarter that will help launch this platform. Get to talking about it with people interested in what we’re trying to build. Both fantasy artists & stat wizards who’d might want to get their work featured on our site and the DM’s & GM’s who want to use it to create content for their favorite RPG system.

If you’re interested, be sure to check out our prelaunch website:

www.DungeonDraw.com 

and sign up for our mailing list if you want to help us get this project launched.

[noblecrumpet-dorkvision]

Creating Deities and Pantheons

Creating Deities

Divine Portfolios

A deity has a certain realm that it lords over called a divine portfolio. A portfolio contains one or more species, places, things, or ideas that explain what the deity is all about. For instance, the Greek god Poseidon’s divine portfolio would include the seas, storms, waterborne travel, and horses.

Minor deities will only have one item in their portfolio, but major ones could have many. Further, a major deity that wished to delegate its power, perhaps to one of its children, could bestow one of the items in its portfolio onto another deity. Perhaps one deity goes to war with another in an attempt to seize an aspect of another deity’s portfolio for themselves.

New deities could even be created by filling a new role if a divine idea is not currently in any other deity’s portfolio.

Generally, the more power a deity has, the more broad the aspects in their portfolio will be. Likewise, lesser deities will have more specific aspects in their portfolio. For instance, a god of nature will be more powerful than a god of trees.

When creating your own pantheon of gods, try to divide up aspects into deities’ divine portfolios bearing all of this in mind.

Holy Symbol

A deity should have some sort of holy symbol that clerics can use for a spellcasting focus, but a symbol is more than that. A symbol lets mortals rally beneath it and recognize the deity’s followers. It a deity’s free advertisement to their people.

The symbol of a deity should reflect their portfolio in some way, as well as their alignment. It should be something unique that is easy to recognize, but also easy to replicate.

Favored Weapon

Many deities have some sort of weapon that they use and favor more than others. The deity will almost always use this weapon when manifested as an avatar. Wielding the same weapon as one’s deity shows an extra step of devotion to them, even if you aren’t a cleric to that god.

Random Portfolios

When creating your own deities, roll on the Random Portfolio Aspects table multiple times to find a random divine aspect to populate their portfolio. Some aspects defer you to another table to find a more specific aspect.

You can also use these tables as a jumping-off point to create your own portfolios and aspects, as there is no way to have a complete and exhaustive list.

Pantheons

Pantheons are groups of deities. Your setting could have one or several pantheons. Perhaps you include pantheons from a variety of settings and incorporate them all in one place. Maybe different kingdoms or countries worship different pantheons, or just group the same deities in different ways. Our own world has many religions, each with their own god or sets of gods, so why can’t your setting?

While it is possible to have a monotheistic setting where only one deity exists, polytheism tends to be more interesting and supportive. Multiple deities allow for players to choose who their character believes in. If they are a divine caster, they can choose where their powers come from. This choice affects a player’s character and creates additional roleplaying opportunities as they confer with folks of the same or different religion.

Types of Pantheons

Some settings may have multiple pantheons. Here are some pantheons that can easily exist in the same setting.

Racial Pantheon. A race or species could have a whole group of gods to worship that are unique to them. For instance, the elves of your setting may worship their own set of deities. People might commonly refer to the “elf gods” or “dwarf gods” in such a circumstance.

Aspect Pantheon. A broad aspect or domain normally placed in divine portfolios may have its own pantheon. For instance, your setting may have a pantheon of death gods who take on aspects like death, undeath, afterlife, martyrdom, murder, plague, famine, and drought. All the minor aspects should be related to one greater aspect.

Regional Pantheon. In your setting, a certain region like a kingdom, country, or continent may worship different deities and have an entirely different pantheon that hold sway in their lands. Each region could have a pantheon all their own.

Religious Pantheon. Many religions exist in our own world, some of which have their own pantheons of deities. Different pantheons could have arisen in your setting from religions that developed separately. This works especially well if your deities are created through mortal belief.

Creating Pantheons

Myths. Deities in a pantheon often take on different responsibilities in running the universe, or at least take part in its history or its creation. Try to come up with myth surrounding each deity that explain why that deity exists. A deity should have some significance or importance within any pantheon you create, and your pantheon should cover a broad spectrum of created things.

Deific Relations. Deities should have complex relationships with one another to create a robust pantheon. Pick one or more from the Divine Relationships table when deciding how two deities relate, or roll randomly. Trying to justify how conflicting or unusual relationships occurred can create unique and interesting ideas. Is one deity’s son also their lover? Don’t be afraid to tread in the realm of mythological fantasy or dream-logic here.

Remember, existing myths are likely far stranger than anything you can come up with. A Norse cow licked a god out of primordial ice. In Greece, Athena was born of Zeus’s cracked skull after he tried to eat her. The Egyptian ferry to the afterlife has a mast that is the phallus of a fertility baboon-god. So you can get pretty unusual with your myths.

Pantheon Metagame. When designing a pantheon, you should also consider satisfying different elements that exist in the game. Each player could very well worship a different deity that supports their worldview in some way.

A good start is creating gods with various alignments, not just good and evil. With nine possible alignments, you can create some interesting deities. If you are making an entirely random deity, you can roll from the Deity Alignment table to determine the deity’s alignment.

Another game-related thing to consider is creating deities that will cater to existing character archetypes, such as mages, naturalists, outcasts, spiritualists, and warriors. Many pantheons have deities that would be worshiped by different classes. Try to provide deities that are tempting for each archetype to believe in, or ensure that some of your deities are more universal so many different classes would be interested in them. If you are creating a random deity, you can roll from the Archetype Patron table.