Hello everyone, and happy New Release Monday! I have a very special release for you all today that I worked very hard on. Last Thursday, I posted a sneak peek showing the difference of 5 years of map experience and growth, and it was a great milestone marker for me to look back on. Five years ago, I posted my original Van Richten's Tower, and so today, I get to look back on that journey and visually see what five years of near-daily map work look like with my updated Van Richten's Tower v2.0!
I know many of you came here in support of my CoS maps and this is one of those fun locations that adds a little charm to an otherwise dreary game (at least temporarily). It has so many fun encounters that will delight and challenge your party, not to mention the potential for a TPK with Ezermerda's Wagon.
I hope you all enjoy this re-work of one of the classic locations from CoS!
First off let me dive into the different variants I've included here:
Tower Exterior
1st Floor
2nd Floor
3rd Floor
4th Floor
Ruined Tower
Each of those levels does not have Ezmerelda's wagon baked into the image since I know many of you utilize the wagon in very different ways. In order to keep the release manageable, I decided instead to provide a wagon token .png file, which you can add as an overlay in your various VTTs, or print and cut out for your in-person sessions. This allows you to place it on other maps as well as remove it entirely should her wagon explode.
I made the wagon in all six matching color moods so you can color-match it to the map (Or simply use the one you like best!).
Now let's dive into each floor!
1st Floor
For the magical sigil on the door, I created it to match the description from the CoS Reloaded guide and the artwork provided in that guide. I think it's close enough to match both CoS Reloaded and the RAW version from the book, since this is such a tiny feature. I didn't add any door handles on the door to allude to the fact that it must be opened with the correct sequence.
I added the scaffolding outside on the upper edge of the tower walls so that you would have a clean surface to move tokens about and not be impeded by any of the perspective angles. This is great for any fight that might break out on top of the scaffolding, since this is the most surface area (the ladder at the end is a two-story ladder connected to the small bit at the top leading to the 3rd floor).
For the Clay Golems inside I went with suits of armor to represent the Clay Golems. I thought it matched the Gothic feel of the tower and the overall setting perfectly, and I love the image of these silent knights pulling up / down the elevator chains.
2nd Floor
There is not much going on here from the module itself, but I know Lunch Break Heroes added probably one of my favorite features here: Buster the talking magical bust. I added his bust to a collapsed pile of rubble along with some of the books around the ground. I had a great time roleplaying buster in my own game and it added a lot of laughs and fun to the overall vibe of the encounter. If you're not running Buster, the scattered rubble just adds to the general decrepit feel of the tower.
3rd Floor
Again, in the book, there is not much going on with this floor other than the entry point for the wooden scaffolding outside. I did, however, add the ruined crib as detailed in the Reloaded guide. And like the 2nd floor, if you're not using any of these supplemental guides, it just acts as more rubble and even some visual storytelling!
4th Floor
I added the elevator platform to the 4th floor (since it's impossible for me to know which floor it should be on, I figured the default would be the 4th floor). Here you will find all manner of items held by either Van Richten or Ezermelda (both are fitting for the vampire hunter vibe). Including: wooden stakes, a whip (little nod to Castlevania!), some herbs, a satchel, parchment pages and scrolls, some food, plenty of firewood, and even a small telescope to keep an eye on the surrounding area. I added the suite of plate armor as well, standing as a silent watcher as your party rummages through this area.
Ruined Tower
And of course, for those parties who were just not cautious enough about the magical protections here, I've added a ruined tower version should the entire building collapse!
I hope you enjoyed this updated map and I can't wait to hear what fun encounters your party had here.
Click the download link below for your tier to download all the map files.
Public Download
Contains:
4k Jpg
Ezmerelda's Wagon .png's
Grid / No Grid
One Color Mood
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
Floor overlay tiles (2nd floor, 3rd floor, 4th floor and roof tiles)
Ezmerelda's Wagon .png's
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
Ezmerelda's Wagon .png's
Weather Overlays in 4k / 8k
Printable PDFs
The Great Hall Tier Download
Contains:
4k / 8k Jpg / Webp
Grid / No Grid
Two Color Moods
Ezmerelda's Wagon .png's
Weather Overlays in 4k / 8k
The Hearth Tier Download
Contains:
4k Jpg / Webp
Grid / No Grid
Two Color Moods
Ezmerelda's Wagon .png's
Weather Overlays in 4k
I hope you have enjoyed May's releases so far. I was very happy with how the Saltmarsh Graveyard came out, and I was SO excited to share the Van Ricthen's Tower updates with you all. For the rest of the month, I am planning another outdoor CoS: Reloaded location along with another installment in the Lothburgh series. Thank you all for your continue support of my craft! I am truly humbled each day I get to wake up and do this for a living.
Cheers friends,
DM Andy
“DM Andy Maps 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.”