Darkest Maps
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Fort Ruins [22x16]
🕑 Added 2025-01-30 21:22:34 +0000 UTC
Welcome back Fellow Darkish!
Stealthily, you move forward, staying hidden among the trees. From your vantage point, you spot a couple of sentries perched atop the highest parts of the ruins, while others seem to be resting by a small campfire. The crumbling walls obscure your view, making it impossible to determine how many foes lie within.
Time to come up with a plan more refined than just “Fireball solves everything.
REWARDS
22x16 Map
Gridded and gridless versions
Day, Night versions!
22x16 Map
Gridded and gridless versions
Day, Night, Rain Day, Rain Night, Bloodmoon, Haunted, Massacre Day, Massacre Night versions!
Printable PDFs
22x16 Map
Gridded and gridless versions
Day, Night, Rain Day, Rain Night, Bloodmoon, Haunted, Massacre Day, Massacre Night, Winter Day, Winter Night, Autumn Day, Autumn Night, No Campfire Day, No Campfire Night, Fog, Cursed
versions!
Printable PDFs
MAP DESCRIPTION:
Fort Ruins is all that remains of an ancient structure, its purpose long forgotten.
Time and nature have reclaimed the area, covering the stone with thick moss and creeping vines.
The isolated location and crumbling walls have made these ruins the perfect hideout for outlaws—and their stolen treasures.
One can easily imagine how loot plundered from passing caravans and travelers ends up hidden within the deep chasm that splits the fort’s floor.
A careful observer might even spot crates and sacks filled with stolen goods.
Getting to them, however, is another matter.
First, you’ll have to deal with the ones standing guard.
NOTES
Fort Ruins is a battlemap that rewards strategic positioning, making use of walls and elevation for cover.
The partially collapsed walls and multiple levels make it difficult to assess the exact number of enemies at a glance.
Vines covering the ruins may create difficult terrain.
Stealth is a strong option in the early stages of combat, allowing for better positioning before alerting the enemies.
Some treasure chests may be Mimics.
The central chasm is an excellent spot for traps.
The vines hanging from the large vertical stone in the chasm can be used to climb up or down.
Welcome back, Fellow Darkish!
Here we are with this month’s second map: Fort Ruins!
A perfect setting for a sudden quest or a spicy encounter against multiple enemies during a journey!
Traveling between locations is one of our favorite parts of any adventure—you never know what your DM will throw at you (and sometimes, neither does the DM xD).
This time, we went for a central perspective, ensuring optimal use of the space while keeping line-of-sight and spell range mechanics clear. (“Can the enemy see me? Will my spell reach?”) Since dynamic combat is the heart of this design, we wanted to make sure everything flows smoothly!
We usually experiment with different perspectives, but we hope you enjoy this design choice!
That’s all for now, Fellow Darkish!
We’ll see you very soon with this month’s third and final map, which expands on a location you loved and requested more maps for!
Stay tuned!
We wish you, as always, great adventures and NAT20s,
The Darkest Maps Team
![Fort Ruins [22x16]](https://img10.runfaps.com/storage/9/ti/mm/e9630c-019e9044-d329-7b22-8c04-11cb1c489d2b.jpg)
![Fort Ruins [22x16]](https://img10.runfaps.com/storage/9/dz/ea/e9630c-019e9044-d33d-7616-94e5-b35f5c6d2465.jpg)
Comments
Federico Prosdocimi
Hi! DM! I propose another version: without the hole! So when the party is fighting or they searching the evil Dungeon Master could crack the pavement under them and all fall inside (so we return to the original concept). MUHAHAAHAHA
Darkest Maps
Hi! Thank you so much for your feedback! Now that you mention it, we completely understand your point of view regarding the map's size and its usability. We will definitely take note of your advice for future maps conceptually similar to this one and make sure to provide more space around the point of interest, like in this case the ruin, by adding surrounding areas. This way, it will be easier for DMs to introduce enemies and plan the party's approach. Thank you again for sharing your perspective :)
Asherett
Hi Darkest! This map is almost a work of art, no, it IS art, just looks fantastic! But! (sorry, yes, a but)... It's really really hard for to see how to use this map as a GM, because it's so incredibly zoomed in on and cropped around the structure. It would be hard to introduce enemies on the map, because the party would realistically be able to spot them at a distance. It also makes it very hard to have any kind of approach to the map. Ideally, the map would be double the size, with just wilderness around. This is probably the #1 biggest problem with all rpg battlemaps to be honest, so don't feel bad. Remember, it you're thinking it would be too much work making the map double as big, nothing around the edges needs to be detailed at all. Just grass, path, bushes, trees. You could put significantly less time into those edge areas then the central attention - the structure. And it would make the map so, so much better and more useful for DMs.
