Illustration by James RPG Art
Each month, I try and pass along the generosity you show me by employing or collaborating with other artists to create a variety of illustrations, portraits, magical items and other works of art that can be used in your games at home, whether they be homebrew or official modules.
This week, I wanted to highlight one of those pieces -- the Pirate's Fort from the Isle of Velkarta series of maps released several years ago.
This battle map depicts the Northeastern quadrant of the island, home to an old fort that has been taken over by a Pirate King/Queen and her crew. Running the island from this location, the pirates enjoy not only the spoils of their adventures, but also a portion of every ship and crew that passes through Velkarta's ports.
As mentioned, we also have a great animated scene from James RPG Art to pair along with the location, as well!
James' RPG Art makes animated scenes to help players visualise environments and add immersion and tone to your games. He has created over 300 scenes from official WotC adventures and many unique locations that are often found in a D&D adventure. He releases 4 new locations each month for his patrons.
Here are a Day/Night variant of the scene:
This map includes all [3] floors of the Pirate Fort of Velkarta, an old castle overlooking a small bay located on a tropical island. The map has been updated for more modern approaches to lighting, coloring, shading and sizing.
I had also commissioned a rough map of the entire island to be done, which shows the pirate fort on the northeastern side, by John Ric Deto-on:
Here are the [3] levels of the location (available as attachments at the bottom of the post):
Outside of the fort is a small dockside village with an Inn, harbormaster and quarters for crew/mercenaries that have not yet been branded into the pirate family and must prove their worth.
How would I use this map?
Players might need to gain audience with the Pirate King/Queen and seek their permission or aid in furthering a quest, finding a precious item, identifying a lost location or some other such bit of information they may have collected.
You may want to use this location as a starting location, quest hub or destination for your coastline or pirate-themed campaign.
Players may need to sneak into the depths of the old Pirate Fort to rescue a comrade, informant, captured agent of the Crown or other valuable person.
Players may be captured by the pirates and need to discover a way to break out and escape the fort, as well as the pirates themselves, then find a way off the island.
Players may be invited to dine with the Pirate King/Queen, after tales of their exploits reach the Fort by way of the Pirate Port itself. Once there, the Pirate King/Queen may have a task for the party to achieve of their own for a handsome price.
These [3] levels can be combined for all kinds of great narratives, and I hope that you can use them to create some great adventures and/or memories with the group! =)
If you're not yet a Patron, consider joining to help support other talented artists! =)
Best,
Jeff @ Morvold