Sometimes your super smart genius players jump down a well looking for treasure and what's this? A cave! How clever of them to find your secret! How complex and detailed your world is!
In olden times it was highly fashionable to build ominous structures deep underground and locked behind puzzle doors, that way you don't have to worry about people coming by trying to sell you things. There is so much we can learn from history.
I bet there's something in the pond that the village people don't want you to find out about, they aren't very subtle about hiding it, and that ought to be concerning for everyone in the party.
It's always a shame when I draw genuinely pleasant maps because it's only afterwards that I remember they're BATTLEmaps and so someone is going to burn something down or get thrown through a tree trunk or punch all the way through someone here right in front of all of the friendly village folk.
Smart adventurers don't mess with stone circles they find in the forest. It might be a fey portal or a cultist.. place. I don't know maybe cultists do something there, like summon things or sacrifice whoever. look, just leave my circle alone.
Hey look, free tents in perfect condition! I don't know what those chumps who left them behind were thinking but their loss is our gain! Look, they even left all their weapons and food behind too, guess they wanted to travel light- lucky us!
This map was made to be perfect for your campaign's decisive battle with the big bad guy, ideal for ultimate confrontations and dramatic conclusions, so long as your final boss is a wolf, bear, or goblin bandit.
I don't really know what druids were doing in Stonehenge but that place looks like a kickass druidic battle arena. Roll up the sleeves on your brown robes, grip your gnarled branch, secure your long white beard in your belt, & prepare for the fight of your life.
This looks like just the kind of place the villagers down the coast are terrified of but actually is home to some guy with a fishing pole and a tent then you go talk to him and he tells you to clear out before nightfall cause thats when all the pirate ghosts come out
It's got a bit of standing water and a small fungus/mold problem but if you're willing to put in a little hard work with a wet-dry vac and set up a dehumidifier then this could be a very homey little cave for you and your brood! Put off by the rough stone walls? I get it, I do- a bit of drywall and a drop ceiling would give it a lovely modern touch and you can still enjoy the location! Honestly, the location is really what's important, and I have to say it has great bones.
Don't forget to take breaks when adventuring, even when you find yourselves deep below the surface. Take a moment and relax on the sandy shores of a massive underground lake, enjoy the rotten spore-filled breeze, listen to the soothing sounds of the man-sized insects as they gather on the cavern ceiling directly above your folding chair, enjoy a slice of watermelon while your hotdogs cook on the grill.
Believe it or not, it took me 5 years of mapmaking to get around to making a forked tunnel battlemap. I'm hopeful that in a few more years I'll get around to drawing maps such as 'Small Hill' and 'Farm' but it's more likely I'll spend at least the next 2 drawing several dozen more cave and spooky forest maps.
An adventure through the tundra isn't quite complete without someone getting frostbite, so be sure to give your party the opportunity to make some mistakes. Anyway, I bet you can't jump that stream!
Be careful on your travels, in the Underdark there may be enemies hiding where you least expect them. Watch out for dwarves painted the same color as cave walls, beholders hiding behind conspicuous paintings with lots of eye holes cut out, and orcs dressed in community theater-quality mushroom costumes.
Have you seen an umber hulk before? Those big muscle bugs look like they were born to suplex an adventurer directly into a bottomless pit. Not a good way to go. You can prepare for this eventuality by wrestling progressively larger bugs, focusing on avoiding and breaking out of their grapples. Start with something easy, like a cockroach, and move on to bigger and yuckier bugs, like those big centipedes from the nature documentaries. If you keep working at it and practice your technique eventually you'll be ready to handle a 7 foot tall, 1000 pound bug-gorilla with a taste for MMA.
Your players may wonder what incredible sights there are to see in the Underdark, realm of sprawling tunnels and massive mushrooms- now you can confidently crack open this JPG and show them that, yes, it's pretty much just rocks and fungus.
Crystal caverns are an ideal place to battle enemies that are attracted to giant glowing crystals, such as wizards, huge moths, & people who shop at places that sell pink Himalayan salt, homemade beaded bracelets, & small wire pyramids for your coffee table.