Gloom Marsh Battle Map - Launch

Hello adventurers and welcome to our last (third) map of the month. This is our wilderness map and for this one, I went with a swampy stinky map, emphasis on stinky. I do love a lush vibrant nature map and this one certainly has a lot of greens and browns in it. However, I wanted this to be dark, grimy, and decayed as well. That means lots of rotten tree stumps, pond scum, and floating debris.

New map suggestions, please!

Once in a while, I’ll ask for new suggestions for maps. Many of the maps I create each month are themed around ideas sent to me by you wonderful people and I’d love to get some new ones! Try to stay quite general in your suggestions, they should be useful to as many people as possible. I’m specifically looking for mini-dungeon ideas for next month, but wilderness maps and building ideas are also always helpful as well. Drop them in the comments below or send me a private message if you’d prefer :)

As always I must give a heartfelt thank you for your patronage, without you wonderful people I simply wouldn’t be able to create maps for this fantastic hobby. I’ll be posting a new map schedule for next month shortly. Until then have a great week and remember to keep on adventuring! Now, who has the mosquito repellent? And by mosquito repellent, I mean the fireball scroll :P

Introduction

Traveling through the marshes is hard going. With no obvious path you make your way from one patch of seemingly solid ground to the next, never sure of the way forward. Your clothing is sodden and covered in filth, everything up to your waist is dripping with stinking mud. The shortest members of the party are faring worse, in places having to wade up to their necks in cold fetid water. Marsh gas bubbles to the surface in places, adding to the mist that hangs over the water. The air is also heavy with swarms of biting insects, constantly searching for exposed skin.

What is most unsettling about your journey through this cursed marsh are the lights. Distant flickering flames dancing through the mists around you. Never close enough to get a clear view, they seem to follow your progress. As you travel deeper into the marsh more lights appear, tracking you on either side, pale blue flames that wink in and out, lighting up the mists.

Ahead, you see ripples in the muddy water and a glimmer of light below the surface. Slowly a dark humanoid shape drags itself from the marsh, blue light burning in its chest. It stands silent, knee-deep in mud, swaying slightly as water drains from its decayed form. You watch transfixed, unsure what to do next. After what seems like an age the apparition speaks in a low raspy whisper. “Join us... Join us...”. It continues to speak these two words while around you, from the mists, the same whisper is echoed. The lights in the mist begin to move in your direction, drawing your weapons you take a defensive stance on a small island and wait.

Notes and Tips

• 30x30 Grid map
• This is a very wet and muddy map. With that in mind, there will be places that count as difficult terrain or may need dexterity or strength checks to traverse easily.
• Getting stuck in the mud! The muddy areas of the map can have extremely sticky deep mud. Getting stuck there can reduce movement or completely stop movement until the player is free.
• Marshes like this are great for a more spooky encounter with spirits, the undead of many kinds, or Will-o’-the-wisps.
• Taking inspiration from tLotR, this could be a place of some ancient battle. Here, the dead sleep, corrupted by the evil nature of the land. They seek to drag all who enter the marsh to a watery death.
• A simple encounter with marsh or swamp wildlife can often be quite fun. Giant frogs, alligators, or crocodiles can make for a themed encounter with surprisingly dangerous mechanics. Having a player dragged underwater or swallowed is always fun… for the DM anyway :P
• Snakes! Snakes work very well in these locations. Have swarms of them attack from the water. Or go with a huge constrictor snake.
• Bullywugs are small humanoid frog monsters quite like goblins. They can breathe underwater, love to stealth attack, and can leap up to 20 feet! They work best for low-level groups and use ambush tactics. For a harder fight add a Froghemoth into the encounter, Bullywugs sometimes worship these giant frog monsters.

Variants

A simple swamp for a daytime encounter.

A cursed marsh full of bones and fungus!

A tropical swamp!

And a version at night with mist rolling in!