The Circle Battlemap - Launch

Today's launch is a free map, created as a reward for hitting my first Patreon Goal. Thank you Patrons, you are the tops!

With Halloween coming up I wanted to skew this map to be a little more horror related. And so I give you a lonely rocky outcropping, at the edge of a moor, overlooking a swamp. Tick, tick and tick. Now, what we need is a dark ritual and a place to perform it, maybe a stone circle. Tick! And finally we need to just be a few moments to late to stop the said ritual, and it to unleash some unnamed eldritch, tentacled horror. TICK!

Wow, it really does just write itself. Anywho... hope you enough this map! 

The base map, along with the tentacle variant is available to everyone, however I have a few variants just for my lovely Patrons, see below for a full breakdown of the map:

•  30x30 grid map

Downloads:

• VTT (Virtual tabletop) - JPG, 6000x6000 pixels
• Print - PDF Printable versions. Grid and noGrid in separate zip files (Patron Exclusive)

Free Variants (Zip file below):

• Stone Circle
• Stone Circle with tentacle horror

Patron Exclusive
(All files are available in the Patron Exclusive post):

• Night, Torches 
• Altar
• Altar, Night, Torches
• Night, Torches, Tentacle horror

Notes and Tips

Switch out the versions. If you are using this map on a VTT you could have the standard version on top and the tentacle version underneath and at some point in the fight, switch them around (To Back in Roll20).

Players don't need to be trying to stop a ritual, they could be protecting someone performing a ritual while waves of enemies attack.

The path to the left could lead into a dark forest or a windswept moor, DM's choice.

The centre of the portal could (should) spew monsters.

The edges of the portal could be difficult terrain and the smaller tentacles could try to grapple the players if they enter it.

The tentacles could be holding open the portal, only once the players have done enough damage to them can they close the portal.

Glowing doorways open on the sides of each stone within the circle, the enemies jump into them and can appear at any other stone in the circle instantly without taking opportunity attacks. If a player tries to do the same thing they make a wisdom saving throw. If they succeed the doorways work as they do for the enemies. If not they randomly appear at a door and have some kind of penalty, say blindness for a round due to glimpsing something mortals should never see.

Horrific effects! Each round, due their proximity to the horror, the players could have a small chance of getting some minor psychic disadvantage: 

• Blurry vision
• Black and white sight
• Auditory hallucinations

It could get more physical:

• A player character's hand grows suckers
• Their skin begins to change colour or texture to match their surroundings
• They randomly start speaking in abyssal

How permanent these effects are is really up to how evil you are feeling. Oh the possibilities, get creative! Have fun with the map and happy early Halloween!