fragmaps

Mansion Library

Added 2021-04-21 13:50:19 +0000 UTC

The Mansion Library is a continuation of my previous month's map - "Opulent Mansion". It only made sense to create this battle map after all, what's a Cyberpunk mansion without a library map for investigative missions?

RPG Map Dimensions

1 sq = 5 ft
Full map size: [16 x 9] squares
Play area: [11 x 6 ] squares
Image size - 1260 x 2240 pixels

Map Design Process Notes

This map was a bit of a challenge to create. The most arduous part was drawing and painting all the books - zoom in close and you'll see the details.

Conceptualising the design itself took around three days of back and forth sketching. I knew that I wanted a structure that was the key focal point of the room, while my Patreon supporters were asking for a secret doorway behind the fireplace. I really struggled to get those two prerequisites to work on the map whilst keeping things pretty.

I tried out quite a few different designs before landing on this one. I was peeling an orange for lunch one day and had an epiphany - a spherical AI home defence system with an outer shell that looked like cut-up orange peel!

I was quite satisfied with the final look of it and the brushed metal of the sphere contrasts nicely with the rest of the art decor styled interior.

This battle map took me a total of 11 days of work to complete.

Map Details

The Mansion Library comes in 3 key variants: Normal, Cyber Barrier, and Secret Door. Night time variants have also been included (see below).

Cyber Barrier

You can get creative and treat this variant in any way you see fit for your RPG encounter. The way I saw it was, this barrier is used to neutralize any cybernetic implants within a 10-15 foot radius of the sphere. This would effectively protect the mansion's owner (some uber wealthy, high society, elite class individual) against intruders whilst at his desk.

So if any characters were to come into contact with the barrier, they would lose all their enhanced abilities for a few rounds, forcing them to fight like normal humans if they want to take on the target.

Secret Door

This secret door lies behind the faux fireplace and reveals a large, steel plated door. The trigger to opening the door could be as simple as turning one of the statues on either side of the fireplace.

For a challenge, you could have the players open the safe in the bookshelf, to trigger the secret door. In fact, your players may just do that accidentally whilst meddling around with the items around the room.

What lies on the other side of the door? That's up to you GM's. In my mind, behind the steel doors is an elevator that goes down to the basement garage. An escape route perhaps?

Variants

Conclusion

Anyway, on to the next map - The Nomad Camp is next! Let me know in the comments below how you like the Mansion Library and what cool encounter ideas you can come up with, especially around the orange peel AI structure.