DnDungeon

Japanese Mountain Village Temple

Added 2025-03-28 12:03:44 +0000 UTC

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A Japanese mountain village temple battlemap, featuring red maples, a pagoda shrine, roads, a waterfall river, farm bridges & thatched cottages.

Thoughts

Did you ever watch Prince Caspian? You know the scene when the river god shows up? Let’s say the players are stuck in a fight that’s a bit too much for them…
I bet you can see quite a distance if you climb the pagoda’s rafters. I bet something nasty could hide up there, too (they’re typically hollow, not multilevel).
Introduce the players to the no-temple variant, and then drop the Nether Portal variant on them a couple sessions later for a surprise segue. (April Fool’s is coming soon (as of publishing), as a note..!)

Japanese Mountain Village Temple: A little shrine and irregular pagoda structure dedicated to your local deity or spirit, surrounded by red maples, a couple of little cottages, and a rushing waterfall.
Winter: It’s coming!
Spring: It’s over! Cherry blossoms are always a lovely addition to a crime scene. Now you just need a cheating detective.
Summer: I heard you didn’t like red maples. We’re not friends anymore, but I made this for you anyways.
Flood: The kappa dammed up a river for some ludicrous scheme and now everyone’s paying the price!
Drought: Ack, now there isn’t enough water! This village will be impoverished if it keeps up.
Raiders: Oh, well, now the village is definitely impoverished. Quick, put the fires out — and arrest the perpetrators!
Fog: This doesn’t seem good. Lots of things can creep up on you in the fog.
No Temple: There’s lots of other things you can stick up on that plateau there now that I’ve removed the pagoda for you.
Well: Like a well. With treasure at the bottom. Or a dungeon. Or pit-crawling sucker-coated lizards, or something worse and more nightmarish to come creeping out at night.
Nether Portal: …what is this? Does it sound like Hell through there? Or is it just me?
No Civilization: How did that song go? “Civilization? I’ll stay right here!” Actually, it’s a lovely red maple glade and it’s probably fantastic for any wilderness encounter.
Canopy Overlays: Built for VTT canopy usage!
Day/Night Variants: Wherever applicable!