Ice Breaker Battle Map - Launch

Hello Adventurers! I love creating ships, as they fit nicely in almost any fantasy setting, so I’m pleased to add another one to my collection: the Ice Breaker. This ship was designed for exploration, something similar to the Endurance (Shackleton’s Polar Explorer). Smaller than my Man of War and sleeker than the research ship that transports the Bathysphere. The Lower deck contains lots of stuff for exploration and enough space for a decent combat encounter.

Next Maps

I’ll be working on the Bakery for the first part of the month, with the Pillars of the Wind coming later.

• Bakery - It's a joke in my DnD group that modern DnD is half about baking and food. With that in mind, I feel you’d all love a Bakery setting where you can live out your fantasies of getting up at 3 a.m. to knead dough for hours before selling your products for a few copper pieces each. The dream! Seriously though, this should make a great setting for an urban encounter.

• Pillars of the Wind - At the end of a long mountain pass is a location of power, which can only be reached by crossing a natural wonder, the ‘Pillars of the Wind’, pillars of stone connected by rickety rope bridges. It's a natural obstacle that could be the setting for some fun encounters.

Thanks as always for your support. Please suggest ideas for new maps! I’m always open to ideas. As always, have a wonderful week and happy adventuring! Now, let's go on a three-year expedition to the unexplored north. Remember to bring your thermals, and I hope you all like Pemmican!

Downloads

The files, thumbnails, and tags can be accessed on the Map List Page. You must be logged in to Patreon and signed up to the correct tier to access them. Remember, you are only charged for map releases; you can download all the old maps at no extra cost!

You also get the layers on separate maps.

Map Descriptions

Huge blocks of sea ice push against the sleek wooden hull, making it creak alarmingly. Every surface is covered in frost. The ship’s sails have been furled, tied to prevent them from catching the bitter winds that blow across the frozen sea. Its two masts point heavenward, silhouetted against the grey of the snow-laden sky.

Salt and sand have been sprinkled across the deck to keep it clear of ice, to little avail. The deep cold of the frozen ocean penetrates everything. A large cargo hatch runs along the length of the deck. To either side are boxes and barrels secured by rope. Towards the stern of the ship is a raised platform with a wheel and two large crossbows. Double doors below the platform lead down into the lower decks.

The lower decks are gloomy, lit by small portholes filled with thick, foggy glass. At the bottom of the stairs is a galley with an iron stove fixed securely to the deck and a simple kitchen table with racks of spices and canned goods fastened to the walls around it. On the other side is a dining table with tin plates and cutlery laid out. Behind a locked door is a storeroom filled with supplies.

Moving towards the bow, you walk past four small cabins, each fitted with a swinging cot, desk, and sea chest. Beyond is an open area with storage for a number of different items, including tools, cages for livestock and dogsleds. Hatches along the floor of the deck presumably open into the storage hold. Further on are two open rooms filled with hammocks, sea chests and personal items belonging to the crew. At the far end are two small cells, making up the brig.

Notes and Tips

• 30x45 Grid Map

• This ship is loosely modelled on the Endurance, a polar exploration ship that became stranded in sea ice. Its crew spent months stranded while slowly running out of supplies.

• Finding an abandoned ship locked in ice would make for a fun encounter, or your unlucky party could be on a ship trapped in ice.

• Everything is frozen! The doors are stuck because of ice, and the locks are hard to pick because they are frozen. Items are frozen to the deck, and the party's footing is never completely stable.

• Wind gusting across the deck, along with ice, could make for some fun unintended movement.

• Getting wet is deadly without warmth!

• With two levels to explore, this map works more like a mini-dungeon. Think of it that way when designing your encounter.

• The Dog Ain’t Right: OK, so look, we can take inspiration from the media, so go full ‘The Thing’ and have some kind of changeling or mimic disguise itself and hide on the ship. Maybe it's a sleddog, maybe it's a crew member. The fun part is the players don’t know. Even better, take each player aside for ‘reasons.’ Really amp up the paranoia.

• The Great Tusk Horror: Ships have been going missing along the ice coast, and your party has been tasked with finding the reason. Rumours of sea monsters have been spreading. The party head out on a vessel equipped with balistas. After the ship is trapped in ice, it is attacked by one or more giant walrusses.

• Abandoned but not forgotten: The party finds this ship while trekking across a frozen bay. It's been trapped in floating sea ice for what seems like years. At first, the ship looks like its crew is still trying to sail it, but as the party makes their way onboard, they realise the crew has frozen while trying to free themselves. The captain is frozen to the wheel, and the crew are frozen in the rigging. More crew can be found below decks. At this point, a blizzard whips up out of nowhere, and the party must shelter on the ship. It becomes clear the crew are, in fact, undead and begin to ‘reanimate’ once they sense the warmth of the living.

Variants

Day/Night versions are available for all the variants that need it.

 An ocean sailing variant for when you need to be on the move.

 A skyship variant because they are cool.

And a Spelljammer variant because they are cooler!

 I've also gone a bit 'overboard' with assets and other versions of the layout. You get cutouts of the layers.

 You get layered variants for all the themes: ice, ocean, sky and space.

I've also collected the backgrounds for these, which are all in the assets zip. With this collection, you should be able to create just about any ocean, skyship or Spelljammer encounter.