Ever just need a nice little map to run your combat on? Something to inspire you and your players to really roleplay through the scene? Maybe you don’t feel like making your own? 2-Minute Tabletop makes these creative, colorful, and hand-crafted looking maps that are perfect for spur of the moment scene-setting needs. And they’re super cute.
The maps are the creation of gamer and artist Ross McConnell, who has a Patreon set up here which helps fund the endeavor. Most of the creations on the site itself are a $1 each, but there’s a nice little ten map starter bundle that’s free. The maps come in color and b&w versions, with grid and hex as needed, all for that $1 price. The site advises plopping them in the middle of a battle map so you can draw out the rest of the area when the PCs inevitably head off the mapped area, which is solid advice. People sometimes laminate them or put them on heavier card stock. The set pieces seem ready to be slapped together into useful little ships, wagons, and battle turtles. Since they’re also images you can use them as background maps for online play as well.
Overall, this is a steal for the quality of the illustrations and the utility that these bring to the table. You can print out a dozen or so and keep them in your DM binder. Maybe write up a few monsters on some note cards to go with them. This way you’re ready for whatever off-the-rails curves your players throw you. You’ll look like you planned for that encounter.
Here are a few to take a gander at.
Glowing Cavern
You can find this beauty here. It could obviously be a pretty little setting for a cave battle, but the cool colors make us think of underwater as well. This could be the bottom of a trench where the magic sword fell into the sea. Or it could be the stomach of a much larger creature the party has been eaten by.
Trade Port
We can’t tell you how often we need a nice dock map to do battle on. Let’s just say fights happen at dockside taverns a lot. It’s great to have a ready map for the next time someone pokes a sea dog in his one good eye and a battle over the latest treasure haul breaks out. Great for thieves guilds, piratical action, and even chase scenes involving the night’s watch.
Cavern Fungiwood
This is actually just one small piece of a much larger cavern they’ve got for you. So many ideas. Fungi, crystals, blobs. Oh, Nerds candies spilled on top for added depth! And what’s that figure at the end? A statue come to life? A cultist hallucinating on purple mushrooms?
Tropical Island
So, this could be a stop off for your adventuring vessel, a spot the pirates leave you to die, or a nice vacation locale for your retired barkeep character. We also like the idea of using the hex map for large scale movement and employing this as more than just a combat location. A vast island to explore that just happens to have three gigantic trees on it as the only food sources.
So hop on over and take a look at these fun little maps. Maybe snag a few for the road and be sure to tell us what you think of them in the comments.
Featured Image Credit: 2-Minute Tabletop
Image Credits: 2-Minute Tabletop