Skylight Cave, Adept (Patreon)

I'm back again, but just barely- it's been an exhausting month. This map is the Skylight Cave (30x40), a strange little cave map in that the only entrance is through the roof. This sort of thing is a tricky little puzzle for low level parties who've fallen in, especially if you're DMing for players who haven't played before this scenario will often make for unhinged solutions. 

1. I went into this map while still dealing with the aftereffects of a nasty stomach flu, barely keeping food down and hopped up on dayquil. I finished it last week Wednesday and didn't have it in me to post it then, so I put it off til now. Honestly, no clue what I was thinking when I made this, the layout is a bit unusual with a strangely shaped bend to the cave at the top, it doesn't feel exactly natural. I even shaded the sketch to indicate the ceiling was open. Wild stuff. 

One thing of note: I sketched the walls much more jaggedly than usual, which I think feels more cavernous. The layout doesn't particularly emphasize the jagged walls, but I think I could make something where this would look pretty cool! 

2. Onwards to outlines. I had some trouble with the forested part of the cave, the trees are arranged a little stiffly and the little rock ledges feel pretty awkward as well.  Simplicity might have been preferable here, fewer trees and flatter terrain likely would have come across better. 

I also decided at this point to rethink the dark part of the cave, which I originally was planning on filling with spiderwebs and eggs. Instead I swapped it to water and mushrooms, which I felt would be more visually exciting (or at least contrast nicely against the green forest area) and make for more interesting combat/exploration than a plain ol' cave. Feel free to add a mushroom-covered skeleton to the furthest edge of this area for extra mystery! 

3. Colors? Usually I would go for my typical cave palette, but the addition of direct sunlight and trees changes things. Instead I used the effects/colors I've been using for the Haunted Forest maps, tinting the lighting in the water-filled area a pleasantly cave-y teal. Also, somehow the Haunted palette doesn't look particularly spooky in a cave? 

 The only tricky thing was ensuring the lighting successfully expressed that the ceiling is open while making sure that the rest of the cave wasn't too dark in comparison. This took a lot of fine-tuning, and even now I think some corners might be just a little too shadowy.