# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Virtual Tabletop/Battlemap Mapping >  Winter farmhouse battlemap

## torstan

Hey there. Life has been a bit busy here, but I have had time to knock up an encounter map for my group for tonight. Here it is:



The outdoor toilet is purely for RPMiller. A present...

This is the first time using the hand-drawn style I've been working on for buildings and I'm really not sire about the results. Definitely room for improvement, but this was a quick map.

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## ravells

What's not to like? It's got loads of character!

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## jfrazierjr

> Hey there. Life has been a bit busy here, but I have had time to knock up an encounter map for my group for tonight. Here it is:
> 
> 
> 
> The outdoor toilet is purely for RPMiller. A present...
> 
> This is the first time using the hand-drawn style I've been working on for buildings and I'm really not sire about the results. Definitely room for improvement, but this was a quick map.


That's pretty darn nice!  The wagon tracks are a real nice touch, but you may want to put in a round about with the tracks in the front yard or around the back of the house as I doubt the horses are able to go in reverse that well with the wagon attached.   :Razz: 

I assume thats a small cliff behind the house?  Very nicely done, though I can't tell which direction it goes.   Looks like you fall down into if from the house level.

Very cool, though I don't know we need to actually SEE inside the outhouse... heh.....

Joe

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## torstan

Good catch about the wagon tracks. I'll fix that. Yes, the light comes from the NW so the cliffs drop down from the house level.

Thanks both for the compliments. As for what's not to like - the trees are a first shot at bare trees and they are okay, but not great. There should be some form of roots beneath them to make them more grounded. Also, some of the lines are too heavy and a few of the rocks look like they are flying. However, I'm mostly happy with this. I am very happy with the snow effect and overall colour scheme. That was probably my biggest concern when I began the map. We'll see how it plays tonight...

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## jfrazierjr

> Good catch about the wagon tracks. I'll fix that. Yes, the light comes from the NW so the cliffs drop down from the house level.
> 
> Thanks both for the compliments. As for what's not to like - the trees are a first shot at bare trees and they are okay, but not great. There should be some form of roots beneath them to make them more grounded. Also, some of the lines are too heavy and a few of the rocks look like they are flying. However, I'm mostly happy with this. I am very happy with the snow effect and overall colour scheme. That was probably my biggest concern when I began the map. We'll see how it plays tonight...


I rather like the trees and don't think that they need root lines.  If nothing else, if there is snow, they would be covered up anyway.  Besides, with the height of the camera, it would be just as likely that any exposed roots would be under the tree limbs as exposed around them.  

As for the rocks, I see what you mean, but I would not worry about it.  I really can't think of any way to clean them up other than perhaps using a much smaller brush to make the rock out lines and at this point, I would not bother.    In any event, the existing lines match with the artistic style of the house and trees, so I don't think you need to worry with changing it the map at all (other than cover the outhouse... I mean come on... heh...)

Joe

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## Ascension

For a quick map it's almost frame-worthy in a gallery.  The color scheme kicks bootay and the tree shadows are sweet.

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## torstan

Thanks for the crits Joe and the compliment Ark. I'd probably need to spend a bit more time on the rock shadows to ground them properly. I think the tonal value on the shaded side of the rock should be closer to the shadow on the ground close to the rock. That would tie them together better. Anyway, the game is done now and it went well. Here's a little screenie of it in use:



Why do players always set fire to things?

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## Redrobes

> Why do players always set fire to things?


You wanna make em pay for the damage - that will stop them pretty quick.

"Thankyou Lord [insert suitably avant-gard fighter name] for clearing out my house infestation. Heres 2500gp... less 5gps per smashed door, 150gps to replace the burnt rugs, 250gps to buy some new paintings, 500gps to compensate my daughters trauma..."

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## delgondahntelius

Fire is FUN!!!
but I haven't the foggiest clue as to why players set things on fire... my players also like to set things on fire... and 80% of the time... it isn't even intentional... lol

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## Torq

How about**: "the flames have almost completely engulfed the roof of the (the next few words are spoken very quietly almost inaudibly) lamp oil repository (back to normal voice) as you approach eagerly searching for any loot. You get within ...lets say (roll a dice and stare knowingly at it regardless of what the result is) 5 feet from the flaming building."

Torq

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## GlennZilla

My players tend to stop burning everything down after a band of orks burn them out of an abandoned farmhouse. Fire is a two way street.

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## waldronate

> My players tend to stop burning everything down after a band of orks burn them out of an abandoned farmhouse. Fire is a two way street.


Two half-ogres in shiny pinstripe suits come to visit the PCs: "We is here to investuhgate reports of non-union arson in dis here area. Youse guys know anytin about dis?" Especially effective on lower-level PCs.

edit: I suppose that should be "non-guild" for a fantasy setting rather than "non-union".

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## torstan

The PCs find another house on a steep slope deep in snow. They torch the house and walk down the slope laughing. The snow above starts to melt. They hear a dull rumble and look up to see a wall of ice and snow bearing down on them.

As they roll up new characters the GM leans back with an innocent look on his face "Well if you will torch _everything_..."

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## Midgardsormr

An avalanche might actually make a fun encounter, and it could be a handy and plausible way to separate a PC from troublesome gear.

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## RPMiller

> The outdoor toilet is purely for RPMiller. A present...


Aww... how thoughtful. ROFL Hey, at least I got you to think about it and I bet it added just a touch more realism to the map overall. It is also probably a good thing that they didn't set fire to it... methane and fire are not a good combination.  :Evil:

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## GlennZilla

> An avalanche might actually make a fun encounter, and it could be a handy and plausible way to separate a PC from troublesome gear.


Two words, "Bogart Rogue". You'll have PC's buying castles to protect thier precious items soon enough.

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## Midgardsormr

Laugh.  Sure, but you can only spring so many thieves on a group before they call "foul!"  And it's always better when they lose as a result of their own foolish actions (setting fire to things).

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## torstan

Yes, I ran an encounter in an avalanche once - almost suffocated the dwarven cleric. The rest of the party had to use detect magic to try and find him under the snow before he died. All good fun.

In 3.5 all you need to do is throw one monster against them with the sunder feat and the parties' net worth drops like a stone. The Nightwalker's crush item power is pretty horrible too. And there's always the humble rust monster.

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## delgondahntelius

> (roll a dice and stare knowingly at it regardless of what the result is) --Torq


This is my all time FAVORITE tactic to really let players know .... how final a result is  :Very Happy:

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## delgondahntelius

> Yes, I ran an encounter in an avalanche once - almost suffocated the dwarven cleric. The rest of the party had to use detect magic to try and find him under the snow before he died. All good fun.
> 
> In 3.5 all you need to do is throw one monster against them with the sunder feat and the parties' net worth drops like a stone. The Nightwalker's crush item power is pretty horrible too. And there's always the humble rust monster.


The sunder feat is GREAT and EVIL and JOYFUL  :Very Happy:

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## delgondahntelius

> Two words, "Bogart Rogue". You'll have PC's buying castles to protect thier precious items soon enough.


I always loved Mordenkainen's Disjunction  :Very Happy:  completely eveeel spell

I did this to a high level party (2e) (approx26+ lvl) ... we spent about the next six hours on checks for their equipment ... and yes.. I made them roll for every single item right down to individual potions... (all like 99 cure serious the fighter was carrying around in a bag of holding... which was undone... spilling those 99 potions... lol)

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