Embers Castle is, at time of writing, my pièce de résistance in crafting battlemaps. It was built to serve as the lair for a vampire necromancer, who was the villain of a 3-year campaign using the Worlds Without Number fantasy tabletop roleplaying game. See below for more info & close-up detail images.
It was important to me to have an impressive and memorable end to our long campaign, and my players had known for months of real-world time that they would have to go here sooner or later to confront their vampire nemesis. I run games in a very sandbox style, where there are no predetermined outcomes or right answers, so it was up to my players to decide on a plan of attack after recruiting as many allies as they could. What followed was a sneaky entry and then a pitched battle throughout most of the castle.
At 65x90 grid squares (representing 325 by 450 feet), it's a large map, but also has 13 layers from sea level to 130 feet high. It wanted the castle to have a strong sense of verisimilitude, such that you could easily believe that a hundred people lived and worked here. Thus, it needed store rooms, latrines, kitchens, stables, a barracks, living quarters, a Roman-style bath, dungeons for the vampire's victims and, of course, a secret room for their coffin.
While I didn't precisely track my time, assembling the map took roughly two work weeks, spread out across several months on various weekends and evenings. Once it was finally complete, I imported all the various layers into Foundry VTT, my personal favorite option for running tabletop RPGs virtually.
This map was created using Dungeondraft and primarily using assets by Forgotten Adventures, although a sprinkling of assets by Tom Cartos and from the (now defunct) Dundjinni forums were utilized as well. Created for personal use only.
Overview & Detail Images
Laboratory Level
Library & Senior Staff Quarters
Great Hall, Council Chamber, & Smoking Room
Gatehouse
Dining Hall & Kitchen
Barbican
