Hermit’s Retreat Battle Map - Launch (Patreon)

Hello Adventurers! Here is our latest map release, this one should be useful for most fantasy settings. It's an old shack, a Hermit's Retreat, that sits at the edge of a moor. I love Moorland as a location, it's so moody and bleak, with plenty of potential for atmospheric encounters.

VTT Foundry Scene files!

I’ve started adding Foundry VTT Scene files to the Delver Tier releases. I’ll be setting up lighting and walls for all my maps in the future. It's going to be a slow process to get the old maps updated, but I’ll keep adding them as and when I have time. I’m new to Foundry so if you have any feedback on how I’ve been creating them let me know. I believe the newest 3 maps have Foundry files available (more coming soon).

To use them you simply:

1. Download the VTT file (It will be listed as FoundryVTT_MapName in the downloads)
2. Open your Foundry Client
3. Open your Campaign
4. In the Scene Tab, select the Create Scene Button and create a new scene. (It doesn’t matter what the scene is called or the settings, they will all be replaced later).
5. After making the scene, Select Import Data for the new scene.
6. Select the ‘FoundryVTT_MapName’ file and import. You will get a new scene with the map name you imported, BUT you will not see the map yet!
7. Select Configure for your new scene.
8. Update the Background Image by clicking on the icon to its right and browse to your map image.
9. All map scenes should have lighting and walls.

For those that asked, I’ve looked at Moulinette, it's cool and something I may look at in the future but currently I want to get my Foundry Scene files uploaded here first.

Next Maps

I’ll be creating the Dire Beavers Dam for the end of the month (that's going to be so fun), with Beacon Hill coming next month.

• Dire Beaver Dam/Lodge
  Imagine a huge beaver dam blocking a river. It's a great place to cross but oh no! Giant beavers! And they are out for blood! They could make for a great wilderness encounter.
• Beacon Hill
  I want to create a lookout post at the top of a hill. The first defence against danger, it's a great place to set a battle encounter with something attacking a settlement. Or maybe the fire must be lit and your party is tasked with doing it before time runs out!

Thanks so much for your support! Please take a look at the Foundry VTT files if you are interested and let me know what you think. Have a wonderful weekend and as always happy adventuring! Now let's go explore this lonely old ramshackle hut on the edge of the moors. Ignore the howling in the distance, it's probably just werewolves or something.

Map List page

Download the map files on the Map List Page here. Remember you need to be logged in and be a member of the correct Tier to access the downloads.

Map Descriptions

Exterior

The twisting path weaves through scrubland and up along a rocky slope. As you crest the top, moorland spreads out ahead of you, at its edge is a lonely shack nestled between grass-tussocked mounds. Its roof is covered in long grass with a single stone chimney peeking through the green. A wisp of smoke drifts from the chimney into the brooding grey sky.

Interior

The interior of the shack is dimly lit by a hearth fire in one corner, its stones blackened by centuries of use. The uneven walls are made from stone, mud and timber with two small windows, shuttered with makeshift wooden slats. The mud floor is covered in hay and ashes from the hearth. Placed around the room are pieces of roughly hewn wooden furniture. There is a table in the centre with cabinets and shelves along the walls, filled with everyday items. Pots and pans hang from hooks over the hearth, while dried herbs and food are stored in boxes, jars and bowls of every size and shape.

Notes and Tips

• 30x30 Grid Map
• The rocky slope up to the shack can be as steep as you wish. The party could climb it or they could be forced to use the path.
• Moorland is a very brooding and evocative location:Things are often shrouded or cloaked in mist
  Cries/Howls of unseen creatures echo across the desolate land
  Tangled gorse grows around ancient stones
  The sky is always grey, the clouds heavy and brooding, except at night when they break to reveal a full moon.
  
• The Moors were a place for bandits and criminals to hide out, if your players are looking for someone, this is as good a place as any to find them.
• A Howl in the Night: The party sees a man off in the distance, silhouetted against the sky. He does not respond to their hails and vanishes. The party finds an old shack with the hearth still warm just as a storm blows in. Do they shelter for the night? A howl is heard outside, it's a werewolf returning to his home and finding guests.
• The Barghest: The Hermit that lives in this shack is haunted by a creature that prowls around his shack at night. He believes it is a Barghest, a hellhound sent to drag him to hell for some crime from his past. The barghest is a ghostly hound from British Folklore, seeing one was a portent of death, yours or someone close to you.
• The Safe Shack: At the edge of a moorland away from prying eyes is a lonely shack, a place for people to be hidden away. A witness to a crime is housed here and it's the party's job to collect them and return them safely. Assassins or corrupt guards have other ideas.

Variants

You get assets for the roof, both moorland and snow versions.

Day/Night and Lit version for all map variants

A Snow version for those Northerly campaigns

You also get a version without a shack, I've added a Burial mound that's been looted instead.

You also get this with the snow version as well!