Champion Tier - Spider Queen's Swamp Lair - [30x40] (Patreon)

Update Feb 16th, 2024: Hey everyone! Pyram King has created his PDF for the encounter based on this map for the Spider Queen. He wanted me to share it with our community here as well, and I'm excited to include the PDF along with this map pack! You can find that in the downloads section below.

Cheers!

Hey everyone and happy New Release Monday! Today I'm excited to release my newest map; The Spider Queen's Swamp Lair!

This map was inspired by an incredible story arc that Pyram King added to Argynvostholt in the Curse of Strahd module. It features a Spider Queen living in the swamps of Berez and creating minions of Spider Revenants and part of the quest to return the skull of Argynvost. 

You can watch Pyram's Video guide here  (just note that his video features an older map I created a while back). 

For this map, I wanted to go a slightly different route. We've all seen the awesome swamp maps the incredibly talented map-making community has made and shared. But one common theme I see are these maps are very flat, which makes sense for a marshy swamp land. However, I wanted to create a more elevated encounter area to create a sense of journey as your players battle through the Spider Queen's minions (or whichever monsters you place here), and I wanted there to be a sense of risk with the height of each platform and the murky, dark waters below. 

Stoney ruins are all that remain of this once bustling area and stand defiant against the encroaching marshland.

Of course, I understand not everyone enjoys web-filled spider encounters, so I've crated two core variants, both with and without the spider webs (and egg sacs). This way, you have more flexibility when it comes to which base map you'd like to use in your own games. 

For my Champion Tier patrons, you get the following with this map release: 

• 8 Color Variants, including: Dark Fairytale, Ghostly, Gloom, Night, Overcast, Sunny Day, Verdant, & Warm
• 2 base maps: With & without spider webs/egg sacs
• Weather options, including: Sun Rays, Fog & Rain
• 4k & 8k image resolution 
• Grid & No Grid overlay options
• Jpg & Webp file formats
• VTT Sizing Guide

I can't believe there is only one map release left for 2023! As the year winds down and the holidays rapidly approach, I'll be taking some time off for the end/start of the new year. However, I do have one more project planned for the year, and that is making some updates on all my Castle Ravenloft maps. I plan on working on the following this week:

• Updating the color moods to match what I've done for other maps (including bright and sunny variants so you can use the map for other campaigns or even a post-Strahd Barovia with the sun out!) 
• Updating lighting and weather overlays
• Creating a "clean" version of the map, removing rubble, cobwebs, cleaning up the chapel and throne room, etc. This is a more "lived-in" version of the castle
• Creating a variant with a Vistani camp in the courtyard of the castle (for those Vistani spies that lurk around) 
• Creating some third-party edits (like adding the doors on the upper spire from the Lunch Break Hereos guide)
• Creating a parchment version of the map as I did for Argyvnostholt with the floors on a single map (might have to be two maps because of the sheet size)

If you can think of anything else (and I can get it done this week) let me know in the comments below, and I'll be happy to do it! 

Aside from this project, as we enter the new year, I'll be working on the next location of the Saltmarsh series, which is the Empty Net Tavern (very excited about this one), and working on creating the interior locations for my updated Gothic Village map. 

2023 has been a wild year, and we've seen both good and bad out of the RPG space, but I'm super excited for the future, seeing the new RPGs coming out and continuing my work on creating maps inspired by the beloved modules we all have enjoyed running at our own tables. 

Thanks as always for your continued support!

Cheers,

DM Andy