Rooftop Chase - Waterdeep Dragon Heist - Encounter 5 (All Tiers)

Rooftop Chase. A daring chase across the top of Waterdeep. Narrow ledges, ladders, drops, gaps and seasonal hazards. Multiple paths snake across the map giving lots of options for DMs and players alike.

Map Notes. For the mapping I relied heavily on shadows to convey building height and made them much darker than I typically would. Normally my aim is to have shadows and other features like that blend in a bit more so that the viewer gets the effect of shadows (added depth to the image) without being quite so 'in-your-face' about it. Here though, in order to successfully run this as a rooftop chase, you need to be able to quickly work out what is higher/lower than surrounding areas - so big dark shadows were the solution. This becomes slightly problematic for night time variants (or even fog/snow variants), but I decided to keep the same shadows throughout for legibility even if it doesn't quite make sense - I would explain it as: night = full or almost full moon causing longer shadows to play across the ground; fog/snow - despite the fog and snow, the sun still is dull within the sky, casting shadows across the ground.

If you see a buildings shadow stretching a third or half way across neighboring buildings, you can safely assume it's a story (or two) taller than it's neighbor - DM's discretion). If however you just see a thin shadow beside, it's likely just barely taller and players can easily hop between the two. You'll have to think in 3D a bit as a DM here. Most roofs are peaked - so if the player is at the corner/edge of a roof they might be a full story lower than a neighboring building; but if they are at a peak it might only be the difference of a few feet. I initially tried to put together a bit of a DM elevation guide, but scrapped it and figured you could interpret the image as you like and keep it flexible for play.

I tried to include lots of options for routes and obstacles for both players and DMs, as well as paths that create risk/reward scenarios.  Do they take the shortcut that leads them across the narrow beam or the safer long way around? Do they jump the gap and clamber up the crates, or stay sure-footed on the roof and ladder?  A large building stands in their way - do you cut the end of the rope banners and try and swing around the building?  If they fail, I also tried to give options to get back to the roof at various points across the map.

In Spring, puddles dot the alleyways below, but up on the roofs of Waterdeep a winding path lays before the party.  A heavy fog obscures vision - if the chased get too far ahead the party may lose them forever - so be quick and choose your path wisely as dangers lurk as you dart from rooftop to rooftop. Note their isn't actually a Spring encounter listed in the encounter chains, but you could always add it!

In Winter, patches of snow and ice can be found on the rooftop.  It takes a surefooted pursuer to navigate these rooftops lest they find themselves sliding down into the street below.

Files.  The zip files below are organized in THREE (Summer/Autumn combined) seasons and 3x folders per season: Roll20Free for smaller 70px images; Roll20Paid for larger 140px images; FoundryVTT for 100px dd2vtt files compatible with multiple VTTs. There is an additional folder for the Printable maps which are 140px gridded images in color and black and white.  

Rooftop Chase - Waterdeep Dragon Heist is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.