Dark Sage’s Lighthouse Battle Maps - Launch

Hello Adventurers! I’ve been looking forward to this one since a patron suggested it a few months ago. It's a wizard tower with a lighthouse at the top. I’ve tried to give each level enough space to have a reasonable combat encounter, and added some tunnels buried deep in the cliffs below.

Next Maps

The Pool of Life map will come at the end of the month, with The Swarms Nest (a 'creature feature' giant insect map for Spooky month) will be coming later.

• Pool of Life
  I want to create a Fountain of Youth-style pool, perhaps in a forest glade, with a few ruins that feature water welling up, creating a natural pool.

• The Swarms Nest (Creature Feature!)
  For some spooky fun, I want to create a giant insect map. One of my early maps was a kind of Ant nest, so this feels like a good addition. I'll be theming this more on a Wasp nest with hexagonal-shaped chambers, a few different chambers and that cool paper wall construction you see in wasp nests. It should be a super interesting battlemap!

Upcoming Maps

I thought you’d like to see a little further ahead. These, along with a few other ideas I have, are likely to be added to the Next Maps list soon, but I do not have a set schedule for them as of yet.

• Tidal Cave
  I have this vague memory of some sort of cave at the bottom of a coastal cliff, which is flooded by the tide. It may be at Tintangil castle in Cornwall, England. Something like that, which needs a rowing boat to enter and has an open cavern at its centre, should be a fun place for an encounter.

• Courtroom/Courthouse
  Another one of those buildings your party may end up in, especially if they are bad boys and girls :) Now you’ll have a battle map to have a fun courtroom brawl in!

Thanks as always for your support in creating these maps. The world isn’t exactly amazing for artists or anyone else at the moment, so seriously, thanks for helping me continue to create stuff for this hobby (and pay the rent). I’m always looking for new ideas for maps, so please do reach out if you have ideas. And as always, happy adventuring!

Now let's go explore this very dark and brooding tower on the edge of a dark sea. It's also night, and cloudy, making it even darker, perfect! Just to emphasise how dark this dark tower really is, it's very, very dark. Well… except for the blinding light shining from the top, which I’ll admit doesn’t fit with the overall dark aesthetic. However, taking everything into account, we can still call it at least 90% dark tower, with an uncharacteristic light tip.

Downloads

The files, thumbnails, and tags can be accessed on the Map List Page. You must be logged in to Patreon and signed up for 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 get all these in the base Explorer pack, with a few extras for being a Delver Patron!

The Entrance Hall

The Library

The Private Chambers

The Laboratory

The Caves

Map Descriptions

Silhouetted against the bruised purple of the evening sky, the tower waits ominously on the edge of the seacliffs. The myths of this dark tower are so numerous and contradictory that it's impossible to know what really lies within. The winding path, which weaves through the desolate clifftop towards the tower, is, if nothing else, on brand for such a place.

As you get closer, you can finally make out details in the gloom. The exterior is constructed from grey stone, intricately carved with sharp, angular architectural details. Above you are windows, darker than the stone, no light illuminates the interior, except for the very top of the tower, where leaded glass windows emit a gentle orange glow. If you look long enough, you notice a shadow moving in front of the light. It's hard to make out details, but someone or something is still alive in the tower, or at least is moving around.

The Hall

The entrance hall makes up the ground floor of the tower. Around its edges are bookcases and cushioned seating. At the centre of the room is an ornate lift, a brass cage with a wooden floor. Inside the lift are two silk ropes with a small brass talisman hanging from each. One talisman has an up arrow engraved on it, while the other has a down arrow.

The Cave Store

The northern door leads onto a stone walkway. At its end, hanging over the ocean is a brass lift, similar to the one within the tower. However, its brass is dull, and its wooden floor is covered in sea salt and patches of green.

Using the lift, you descend down the cliff wall until you come to a juddering halt. The lift sways in the sea breeze, hanging feet above the ocean waves. Before you, dug from the cliff wall itself, is an entrance to a tunnel.

Making your way into the tunnel, you quickly reach a large cave filled with wooden crates and boxes of varying sizes. To your right is a smaller cave with more crates, some cracked open, others sealed shut; insignia adorn the sides of most of them.

The Library

The lift glides to a halt at the next floor. There are two exits on this floor, to the north and south. Looking out, you can see a dusty library filled with books, scrolls and cabinets. There are a few desks placed around the library, each one covered with books, loose parchments, pens and notebooks. Doors lead out onto balconies on the west, east and southern walls, while the north wall is lined with large windows that look out across the ocean.

The Private Chambers

This floor is divided into two rooms, located to the east and west. The western room is a sleeping chamber featuring a large brass-framed bed, accompanied by a small writing desk and dressers. The eastern chamber is a dining room featuring a large table and chairs, drawers covered with trinkets, and a plush leather seating area.

The Laboratory

This floor is full of strange devices and instruments. On the walls hang tools of every description, from small metal pliers to giant wooden stakes. On the tables and countertops are beakers and glass jars filled with different coloured liquids and materials. There is an acrid, bitter smell to the air, along with a low humming sound with no obvious source. Above the lift is a silvered metal antenna that protrudes from the tower's top. Thick cables run down from it, attaching to some of the stranger-looking devices in the room.

The Prison (Delver Tier)

This floor is filled with metal cages, cells positioned around the outer walls. The glass windows look reinforced, the floor is covered with hay, and the only comforts are roughly made wooden cots with stained, grey sheets. To the north is a torture rack; on the walls hang a number of vicious-looking tools.

The Garden (Delver Tier)

This floor is filled with plants, flowers, and even small trees. The ceiling is tall, allowing for some of the larger plants to grow many feet towards the vaulted arches. Sections of the floor have been replaced with growing beds, along with dozens of planting pots. The warm, damp air is heavy with the natural scents of flowers and greenery. The balconies are open to the air, and yet the atmosphere and temperature on this floor are distinctly different from the outside.

Notes and Tips

• 30x30 Grid Maps

• Each level is its own map. You can use them in any order or duplicate them to create different themes for the tower.

• The Lift/Elevator can be magical or mechanical in nature. The controls may be a simple puzzle. You can also decide how many people can ride it at once. Is it all the party? Or do they need to ride in smaller groups?

• The exterior lift provides access from the ocean and allows for the arrival of a supply boat.

• Moving from one level to another may require the party to finish a task or acquire a key for the next level.

• The distance between levels is not uniform. Some floors/levels may have extremely tall ceilings, others may be barely head height.

• Some of the floors have balconies that can be used to climb from one level to another. However, as you can imagine, climbing up the exterior of the tower will have its own hazards, including: falling to your death, living stone gargoyles and lightning strikes!

• Just a Wizards Tower? This can be a showcase of the wizard and what they’re all about. A perfect way to introduce them as a villain or ally, giving your party an insight into their likes, wants, needs and motivations without just having them monologue. Sprinkle each level with clues to who they are and what they want from the party. The wizard will likely test the guests at each level with puzzles and combat, or just try to kill them, it's really up to you and your wizard!

• The Lonely Tower - A tower sits at the edge of the ocean, its halls abandoned, or so they say. However, on dark nights, the tower's light shines across the water. Someone inhabits the structure, but who? A servant of a long-dead sage keeps the light lit and the mechanisms of the tower working. The now feral and magical creations of the sage roam the tower's floors, attacking anyone who enters (except for the servant, who keeps everything tidy).

• The Lightning Rod - The tower has recently been bought by a mysterious noble. The townsfolk are scared. Unseasonally frequent thunderstorms roll in off the ocean most nights, and the tower seems to attract the lightning. Maniacal laughter can be heard coming from the tower if you are brave enough to venture close enough. So yes, we have our basic mad scientist building a monster from bits, or any other diabolical and unethical experiment that requires MORE POWER!!!!! Mwahahahaha!

Variants

You get day/Lit Night variants of all the maps

I've also created a Prison level to imprison your players if they are particularly naughty!

And a Garden floor, because sometimes even players need a little break... or maybe player eating plants?

And because a lift wouldn't be the same without a trapdoor dropping into a pool full of sharks...