Making Maps for the Cosmere RPG: Part 1, Roadside Camp

Every seasoned Game Master knows that the difference between the good and great campaigns are the levels to which you can prepare for an bring a well throughout session to your players.

This preparedness a broad range of tools, and today I hope to add one more to your belt.

Over the next week, I will be creating brand new Cosmere RPG maps inspired by community feedback on the Cosmere RPG subreddit, as well as ideas from my own campaigns and content.

You can check out what's already been suggested on the Reddit post!

You can download the map here, and learn about the process of making the map below.

Roadside Camp Map

Reddit user Klutnusters had requested a map that featured a camp and a road - a situation almost all adventuring parties will find themselves in eventually, and a great place for a Game Master to stage a combat encounter.

What I like about this map is that it really is a blank slate. You can have it be a simple encounter that happens at your party's camp, or set it up so that could be an ambush while your party is traveling on the road.

I wanted to create a map that was both an easy plug-and-play for a Game Master who needs a quick map, but also something that could tell a grander story.

And this is what I came up with:

A couple of things to point about with the map.

I would recommend using a 5ft scale for the layout. The download link includes no grid versions if you want to import a copy in to your VTT of choice to use their grid system.

The map features a winding road that travels around a lait carved out from a crem-lined wall, presumably somewhere near the Shattered Plains, but really you could run it anywhere.

I wanted to capture the look and feel of Rockbuds and other fauna finding anywhere it can in the shelter the rock embankment creates. This was really inspired by the scene in Words of Radiance when Shallan finds a similar lait, and explore the life teaming within.

Some ideas on combat encounters you could run on this map:

Ambush!
As your party travels down a winding path they become under attack from an unseen camp of bandits. The party will need to fight there way up the hill and into the lait in order to flush out the enemy.

The other way around
Maybe its your party who has set the trap! The tall cliffs give a great vantage to spy on and ambush would be travelers.

A quite place for a rest
A natural lait like this would be a great place to rest while traveling on the road, or a safe haven when otherwise unprotected by the storm.

More to come

Stick around and subscribe to Invested in the Cosmere to see the rest of the amps I'll be making for the Cosmere RPG, along with the rest of the resources, guides, and Cosmere Lore content I make... whenever I feel like it!