Deep Forest [22x16]

Welcome back Fellow Darkish!

Suddenly, you hear a rustle.

Looking around, nothing seems to be watching you from the hidden depths of the forest.

Another rustle, this time closer, makes you realize something is following you from the treetops! Looking up, you see a multitude of small, evil eyes gleaming among the branches.

REWARDS

DOWNLOAD LINK

• 22x16 Map

• Gridded and gridless versions

• Day, Night versions!

DOWNLOAD LINK

• 22x16 Map

• Gridded and gridless versions

• Day, Night, Rain Day, Rain Night, Fog, Haunted, Massacre Day, Massacre Night versions!

• Printable PDFs

DOWNLOAD LINK 1

DOWNLOAD LINK 2

• 22x16 Map

• Gridded and gridless versions

• Day, Night, Rain Day, Rain Night, Fog, Haunted, Massacre Day, Massacre Night, Camp Day, Camp Night, Winter Day, Winter Night, Spider Day, Spider Night, Fire Day, Fire Night versions!

• Printable PDFs

MAP DESCRIPTION:

Deep Forest is a small clearing in the forest, where walking is easier and light penetrates the thick foliage.

The area is extremely exposed to danger, and the increased brightness only makes anyone passing through a visible target.

The tall trees allow creatures and people to climb, and for some, they are a perfect elevated path from which to ambush the unwary who might relax too much.

NOTES

• Deep Forest is a basic encounter map, but it adds tactics and variables to otherwise simple encounters thanks to the elevations and the possibility of hiding.

• The trees can hide enemies capable of following and attacking you from above, such as spiders or wood elves.

• Being surrounded from above the rocks can prove to be a very uncomfortable situation, making even normally manageable enemies dangerous.

Welcome back, Fellow Darkish!

A new year is about to begin, and with it, many new adventures!

We ourselves have just started a new campaign, and this map was inspired by our first battle!

Our Dungeon Master gave us an initial encounter in a forest against giant spiders and… didn’t use a map!

At the end of the session, he pointed out that all the forest-themed maps we had created were a bit too epic and not very usable for quick, random encounters, more suited to being a specific and particular objective rather than a generic encounter map.

He was right, and we decided to immediately remedy this problem with the brand new Deep Forest! We tried to create a versatile map that a Master can use at any time and suddenly without having to elaborate too much narratively.

It’s also easy to manage in size, so you can quickly set it up on the table: the entire map is made up of 4 A4 sheets!

We think the top-down view but within the tree branches gives a lot of immersion to the encounter, offering a nice sense of danger.

What do you think, do you like this kind of map useful in really all adventures?

Would you like to see more maps of this type, where we explore small, not too characterized areas and more focused on bringing to life those random encounters that we all experience over and over again?

Let us know in the comments!

That’s all for today, Fellow Darkish!

We’ll see you very soon here on Patreon for the last map of 2024!

We wish you, as always, great adventures and NAT20!

The Darkest Maps Team