Worlds Beyond the Arches and Dwarven Forge VTT Backdrops
Hello friends! I have two new gifts for you fine patrons this month.
First, I've added two new pages to the City of Arches called "Worlds Beyond the Arches". These ten short descriptions shine a light through the arches to the worlds beyond! These descriptions might come up as lore while the characters explore the arches, origins for the creatures stepping through the arches, or even destinations for high-level characters!
Second, with Dwarven Forge's blessing, I now offer a handful of Dwarven Forge VTT backdrops you can use in your virtual tabletop of choice! These backdrops are intended to serve as an abstract map for your game; a way to make it feel a little more like you're playing at a physical table. I was heavily inspired by the Japanese roleplaying game Fantasian which used physical dioramas for the backgrounds of their video game.
I've used these abstract backdrops a few times in my own games and my players and I all enjoyed it. The main thing to keep in mind is that they're not intended for perfect gridded play. Import these with the grid turned off and use them in conjunction with my guidelines for using abstract maps. If you use them, let me know how they work for you.
As always, you can find all of your Sly Flourish Patreon rewards here.
Comments (5)
Hey Mike, Thanks for the consistently fantastic content - I just finished my first scan through the Lazy DM’s Companion, and I’m excited to bring some of the tips from it into my weekly game. My question is about making exploration fun. I have no trouble running fun combat and social interaction. However, I struggle to make the exploration side of things interesting, especially when it comes to a classic dungeon crawl type scenario. If there aren’t NPCs to interact with, I tend to get kind of bored (both as a player and a DM), and I inevitably present my players with a series of fairly bland rooms without many interesting choices to make. I can describe a room with some funky features, but I struggle to lay out interesting choices in said rooms if there aren’t NPCs or other social aspects going on at the same time. My actual question: how to you create interesting choices for the players when there aren’t social elements in the environment?
Thanks for everything! I really love the added stuff you added. One quick question; is there a plan for a topographic map instead of an isometric map of the City of Arches? I was wondering as I was wanting to expand it a bit with campaign-specific locations and this would be very helpful. If not then maybe i can try to put something together myself.
Hi Ken! I don't have any plans for a further map. Right now it includes a top view and side view. Sorry!
thanks mike
Love it