afternoonmaps

Swamp Hag's Shack Battle Map - Launch

Added 2022-01-17 17:57:01 +0000 UTC

Hello Adventurers! January is well on its way and I’ve finally got our next map ready to release to you lovely people! This one is the Swamp Hag's Shack, a small wooden structure in the middle of a swamp, along with a cellar and some caves underneath. Obviously, it doesn't have to be a hag's home, but it does have some odd magical and herbalist-style items laying around.

Next maps

I’ll be creating the Lords Chambers map for the end of the month, with a few different rooms, making up the living quarters of a noble's castle or stately home. You can see a description of what I have in mind below, along with a couple of future maps:

Lords Chambers (Castle’s Private Quarters)
This one will expand on the castle set I’ve been creating. This time I’ll be looking at a wing of a castle/stately home that consists of the Lord’s/Count’s private quarters. It will have bed chambers, a general lounge, and/or a reading room. I suspect there will be some secret rooms with weirder stuff, I’m thinking torture chambers, a mini-laboratory, or a shrine to some forbidden diety.
Walled/Secret Garden (with Folly)
I imagine this could be a formal garden of an estate that's been forgotten or abandoned. Maybe there are some exotic plants and a folly. This should pair well with some of my other maps, including the Castle Courtyard, Ballroom, and Menagerie maps I’ve created in the past.
White Dragons Lair
I want to create a new Lair battle map and I think this would be cool and useful, not just for housing a dragon but for any frozen mountainous dungeon. So I’m thinking this will be an icy cave (cave system), with an entrance open to the side of a mountain. Maybe some ice tunnels, stalactites/stalagmites, glacial formations, cracks, and ice holes. I’ll probably drop in some old ruins to add to the interest as well.

I know many of us are back to lockdowns, so I do hope you’re staying safe and healthy, and getting on with life as best you can. As always I want to throw out all my gratitude to you for your support, it means the world <3 I’m looking at doing a few more collaborations this year, so look forward to a few extras coming down the line. Thanks again, have a wonderful week and as always, happy adventuring!

Map Descriptions

Swamp Journey

The ground feels spongy underfoot, a mixture of fetid black mud and decomposing vegetation. Rotten logs float in muddy dark pools, gas bubbles to the surface in places, creating a mist that hangs just above the water. With each step, your feet sink into the mud, creating indents that fill with water and drag at your boots.

Outside the Shack

Ahead you can make out a small island surrounded by pools of water and tall grasses. An old rotten pier sits at the edge of the water. An overgrown path leads up to a tumbledown shack made from roughly cut timber and moss-covered rocks. The roof is thatched with reeds, while smoke drifts from a stone chimney. Through the windows, you can see the flicker of a hearth or cook fire.

Inside the shack - Living room

The shack is dimly lit, the windows small and shaded by the overhanging roof. The hearth spills an orange light across the interior, creating flickering shadows on the rough wooden walls. Dried herbs and flowers hang from the walls and ceiling, while trinkets and nicknacks clutter every surface, except for the living room table which is draped in an expensive-looking green table cloth, upon which stands a crystal ball and pack of cards.

Inside the shack - Kitchen

The Kitchen is neat and organized, with a number of cooking pots bubbling away on the hearth. Dried herbs and cured meats hang from the rafters, boxes and sacks fill every shelf, nook, and cranny. The overpowering aroma of cabbage and cooking meat fills the shack.

Basement

The Basement is dank and filled with old furniture and rotten boxes. Puddles of water pool on the stone floor. The wooden slats that line the walls are old, waterlogged, and obviously rotting in places.

Notes and Tips

30x45 grid map
This map can work as a Hag’s Shack but would work just as well as a home for a wise woman (or man).
Hag’s don’t have to be simple monsters to fight, they are unpredictable with strange wants and desires! They are also keepers of forbidden knowledge and so are useful for seeding story hooks into your campaign.
Give your party the task of finding out something important from the hag. They need to play nice, at least for the moment. Then really turn up the creepy evil old lady vibe! Boiled sweets all stuck together in the jar, with the odd bug. Extremely overcooked mystery meat (probably not human) and cabbage stew. Offer them tea that is definitely not poisoned or has bits floating in it… use your imagination and enjoy your player's reactions.
Often hags come in threes, have one of the sisters be the ‘front woman’ and the others be off doing other things. She could try to cover up what her sisters are doing below the shack. Banging noises, muffled screams, evil cackles could emanate from the basement sporadically. Have her try to cover up the noises or explain them away.
Hags are just not very nice, they hate mostly everything including each other, have them bicker between each other, even in combat.
This shack looks like an old lady's house but the party finds a rather hairy bedraggled man living there. Turns out he’s a werewolf and has eaten grandma!