Crime Lord's Hideout Battle Map - Launch (Patreon)

Hello Adventurers! Sorry for the late release of this map, I’ve been dealing with a lot this month including a stinking cold, which wasn’t fun. However it's done now and I’m happy to say it should work for many different hideouts and guilds, from Assassins, Thieves, and Crime Bosses to secret organisations of every flavour. I wanted a meeting room with a long table as the centre of this map, a place to plot with your henchmen and plan world domination. I added a large fish tank with poisonous sea creatures (octopus or sea snakes) and a terrarium that could house a snake or two. And we have the aforementioned Alligator pit which would work as a great location for an encounter with any number of monsters.

Next Maps

As I mentioned above, this month has been rough, so I’m a little behind where I’d normally be. I’ll be going full tilt on the Old Troll Bridge for the end of the month, but it's likely I’ll end up releasing it in the first few days of December. The Deep Woods Workshop will come a little later that month.

• Old Troll Bridge
  An old stone bridge over a river or chasm with something living under it. I like the idea of something coming up from below a bridge as the party crosses ;)
• Deep Woods Workshop
  I'm thinking of a workshop in a winter forest. Imagine a cabin with an adjacent woodshop. Maybe a stable with a sleigh, the whole place is rather magical looking, but in a rustic, hedge magic kind of way. It could be the home of some magical forest deity (Father Winter), or just a reclusive artisan renowned for their craft.
• Mummy Lord’s Lair (Desert Tomb)
  Gustavo suggested a desert tomb of some kind and I must admit I jumped at the chance. Sand-filled tombs, collapsed tunnels, broken statues and traps to prevent grave robbers just sound so much fun to make and run an encounter through.

Map Suggestions

I could do with more map ideas from you lovely people, so please post your suggestions in the comment section below this post, or message me through Patreon. I collect all your ideas in a private doc which I use when coming up with new maps. I’ll try to credit you if I use your idea :D

Map Prompts and Themes

I also got some great suggestions from a Patron (thanks Chris) and wanted to add ‘Map Prompts’ into the mix. You are all very creative people, so the idea is to come up with a 2-5 word prompt for a map. The more obscure and esoteric the better. I’ll pick some I like and try to come up with a map that fits the theme. Here are a few examples I put together: Vale of the Carnivores, The Abyssal Path, or Enemies from the other side. So basically some descriptive elements but with plenty of wiggle room for me to interpret them. I think its a fun idea and could spark some awesome maps :)

As always I want to thank you for supporting my map-making endeavours, you really do make a difference. This map simply wouldn’t exist without you and your fellow Patrons. Have a wonderful weekend and for those celebrating thanksgiving all the very best and happy adventuring to you all! …also, does that floating log have eyes and why is it smiling at me?

As always you can find the download links on the Map List page (only available to Patrons) here. Map List Page 

Map Descriptions

NOTE: I’m adding suggestions for each room, remember the theme for this hideout can be almost anything.

Reception

Making your way down the stone steps you find yourself at an iron gate, behind which is a mostly empty room with a simple desk at one end. A small man sits behind the desk looking at you impassively, while two large men flank him on either side.

• The receptionist will ask for all weapons to be placed in the racks behind him.
• The two ogre guards will remove weapons from anyone that refuses to comply.
• The gates can be magically locked. The key can only be used by the receptionist… alive or dead?

Meeting Hall

The hall is large and echoey, its walls covered in paintings depicting ancient wars, warriors and civilisations long forgotten. To your right, along the wall is a giant tank of water, filled with exotic-looking fish and sea creatures, to your left is a terrarium so full of lush greenery it’s hard to see what may live within. At the centre of the room is a long table, with black leather chairs on both sides, at its end is a larger, almost thone-like chair. There are doorways leading to other rooms on each wall.

• The fish tank and terrarium can house poisonous creatures, maybe large enough to be a threat if released. Octopus, sea serpents, snakes, spiders, vampire bats, or more monstrous creatures.

The Study

Behind a red curtain is a pair of elaborate wooden doors. As they swing open you see a plush study filled with books, map scrolls and writing paraphernalia. Along the back wall is a huge fireplace with elaborate stone carvings. An old wooden writing desk sits before you, papers stacked neatly on its green leather top.

• This study is the private chamber of the ‘boss’. There is a safe in the wall, a comfortable place to play cards, maybe some cloaked figure is sitting in that corner, while the boss sits behind the desk.
• The small rug in front of the desk has a trap door below it, which drops into a pit of snakes.
• There is a secret passage behind the fire. The Boss can jump into the fire and vanish through the flames. This passage has entrances in the Meeting Hall and an escape into the caves.

Torture Room

The room is dark with a musty smell of soiled hay and metal. A smouldering brazier with hot coals illuminates the walls with a dull red light. Strange tools and devices hang from the walls and sit on stained wooden shelves. To your left is a set of two iron-barred cells, while a table with thick leather straps sits at the centre of the room.

Tidal Jail

Walking down the stairs you notice the stone become slick with green slime, and the cool smell of salt water fills the air. You enter a cave with iron-barred cells on either side built into the rock. At the far end of the cave is a pool that gently ripples.

• This is both a Jail and a place to torture captives. The tide fills the room almost to the top twice a day. As the tide comes in the cells fill with cold water almost to the top… maybe it's a high tide today?
• Or this is not connected to the sea and the pool is home to leeches or other disgusting creatures that come out to feed on the prisoners.

Notes and Tips

• 30x45 Grid Map
• This could be used as an Assassins headquarters, or Thieves' Den. It would work as a cultist's base or bunker below a castle with an escape through the cave system if needed by boat.
• Assassins HQ: The Assassins guild uses this place to plan its operations and keep its records, which are stored in the study. The party must get into the study by any means to either destroy a particular record or change a contract.
• Upperclass Thievery: The gentry of the city run the thieves guild, controlling the organised crime of the city while in public pretending to root it out. The party must find evidence of these acts and bring them to light.
• Cult of the Scale: A Lizard/Snake cult is kidnapping people and feeding them to something in the pit. They keep Sea Snakes in the tanks and constrictors in the terrarium.

Variants

Lit and unlit versions of all the maps.

A Forest version (could be temperate or tropical).

And an Underdark version for some Dark Elf action!

Each map also has a Fighting Pit version for when you want to shout FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! at your players :)