Hi everyone, and happy New Release Monday! Today, I am launching my newest map for the Saltmarsh series: The Coastal Graveyard.
This is the 26th location inspired by the town of Saltmarsh, which features a very well-kept graveyard for those in town and those sailors lost at sea.
For this map, I wanted to set a more serene vibe rather than a horror one, since I have plenty of horror-themed graveyards. The module book described this as a well-tended graveyard, and I wanted those souls buried here to feel well cared for.
Since the graveyard is both near the Temple of Procan and the coastline, I wanted to create it in a tiered setup to represent the uneven ground it's built upon. Starting with the fountain, there are memorial plaques on the wall of great sea captains who have been lost to the waves. The water pouring out of the hands of mercy from the statue reminds those that the ocean both gives and takes.
The mid-tier features large swaths of graves, stacked tightly together to represent familial plots of burials of more than one coffin stacked on top of each other (or even buried vertically to save room).
There will also be a "no trees" version as well so you can move tokens under the large tree tops.
As you continue up the graveyard, you'll see the central focus: the memorial wall. Here, along the retaining wall for the next tier, as well as on both the interior and exterior of the circular memorial, you will find hundreds of plaques, each bearing the name of a sailor lost at sea.
As you enter the memorial circle, you are greeted by a weeping angel with a base that reads "The sea took their bodies, stone holds their names, memory keeps them whole". You'll notice small, smooth rocks placed at the base of the angel and along the walls. These are collected from the nearby shoreline and placed here to commemorate those lost. The local custom says that stones washed along the shoreline from the ocean bear the souls of sailors being returned to dry land.
Toward the back of the memorial, you will find a wall plaque that contains a real-world nautical quote: "May you have fair winds and following seas, my dear departed".
Finally, the upper tier of the graveyard contains winding paths leading deeper into the grounds, surrounded by grassy fields containing the many graves of those buried here.
I've created a "no trees" variant as well as a "no lights" variant for those darker color moods so you can use this to match the mood you're trying to cultivate at your table. The Sunny Day and Warm versions create a peaceful, serene atmosphere, where the Gloom, Ghostly, or Dark Fairytale versions (Especially with the rain or fog weather overlay) will create a more creepy and darker mood!
Click the download link below for your tier to download all the map files.
The Foundry / Champion Tier Download
The Foundry / Champion Tier Printable PDFs Download
Contains:
4k / 8k Jpg / Webp
Grid / No Grid
Six Color Moods
Weather Overlays in 4k / 8k
Treetop Overlay Tiles in 4k / 8k
Printable PDFs
Access to the Foundry VTT Module once released
The Grand Library Tier Download
The Grand Library Tier Printable PDFs Download
Contains:
4k / 8k Jpg / Webp
Grid / No Grid
Six Color Moods
Weather Overlays in 4k / 8k
Printable PDFs
The Great Hall Tier Download
Contains:
4k / 8k Jpg / Webp
Grid / No Grid
Two Color Moods
Weather Overlays in 4k / 8k
Public Download
Contains:
4k Jpg
Grid / No Grid
One Color Mood
If you're been following my Saltmarsh series, I want to give a special shoutout to Pyram King! Pyram is a content creator who has been doing in-depth and immersive overhauls for both Curse of Strahd and Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Be sure to check out his Legends of Saltmarsh series, where he expands greatly on each of the mapped locations I've done in town to add a TON of extra depth and details to your campaign. You can find Legends of Saltmarsh on his website here.
There are only four locations left for me to create, and I'll have the entire town of Saltmarsh covered (all 30 locations)! I'll be moving on to the other adventures in the book, and I am also planning to create a series of ship maps at different sizes you can use for exploring the surrounding ocean with your players.
Next up for my May releases, I'll be working on a re-work of a very old map I did more than five years ago. This time for Curse of Strahd, I'll be recreating Van Richten's Tower! Be sure to keep an eye out here for updates on that project.
As always, thank you SO much for your continued support. I know there are tons of content creators out there, and DMing can be taxing on the budget, so I am grateful every day I get to do this for a living with your help!
Cheers friends,
DM Andy