Author: MattMilby

I don’t have too much to say about the unfurnished version of Ollin’s Borehole, but I have a ton to say about the next map, so let’s talk about that instead.

The Cobalt Flotilla is a home for a nomadic, seafaring community. It consists of a number of vessels, large and small. Now, the thing that makes the flotilla unique is when they come together. They tether their ships to each other, lay out planks and rope bridges to connect them and form a sort of island where they can all get together to trade, make decisions as a group, and so on.

To make it more interesting, I decided that I wanted all the ships to be really different. There will be some European-style ships, of course, but a lot of European ships tend to share a similar basic shape and layout and I wanted to draw some REALLY different ships in there. So I did some research and I found a few. Where did I find them, you ask? Asia. Allow me to introduce some highly interesting ships you may not be familiar with:

• Atakebune – A Japanese warship, largely used as boarding vessels. (Wikipedia)
• Turtle Ship – A Korean warship with a completely enclosed upper deck, covered with spikes to deter boarders.
• Karakoa – A double-outrigger raiding ship from the Philippines.
• Drua – A double-hulled ship for Fijian chieftains.

I’m also going to include some riverboats, rafts, longboats and smaller vessels to give it even more variety.

Also, I’ve decided to draw the ships separately. I’ll make a map of the assembled flotilla tethered together, of course, but drawing them separately means I can make maps of each individual ship as well so you can use them independently. And I’ll make tokens of the ones that are too small to warrant their own map.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know what was happening. I’m gonna go draw some boats!

Ollin’s Borehole is a sapphire mine in the Black Loch. Well, it was a sapphire mine until some duergar bandits found the place, smashed their way in and killed everyone. Since then, it’s just been another hole in the ground. But, as holes in the ground go, I think this one is pretty interesting.

I wrote… let’s call it “the framework of an adventure” for this map. I’m hesitant to call it an adventure because there are a few things missing from it, most notably the monsters. I left them out because I wanted to make it flexible for parties of any level. So, if your players are level 2, this place is full of kobolds. If they’re level 10, it’s full of umber hulks. You get the idea. I also don’t specify the amount of loot to be found, largely for the same reason. Basically, I left out the stuff that I’d typically change when running an adventure that was made for parties of a different level than mine is.

Anyway, it’s called “The Lost Sapphires” and it’s in the DM notes. I’m curious what you all think of it, so I’m giving it away to everyone. It’s nothing complicated, just a single-session dungeon run, but it’s an easy way to get your party into Ollin’s Borehole. I can’t promise you’ll love it, but I can promise it will explain why there’s a big pile of beds at the bottom of the pit.

And I can promise that you will have a 15-minute argument about how much those beds should mitigate falling damage if your party’s rules lawyer lands on them. I apologize for that in advance.

I’ve got an unfurnished version of this map on the way, which I’ll have for you tomorrow. After that, I’ll be drawing the Cobalt Flotilla,  a floating community made up of a bunch of ships lashed together, forming a big, wooden island. And then I’ll be drawing a historical map, the Château de Chenonceau. It’s one of those places that’s straight out of a fantasy map, except people actually built the thing in real life. As inspiring as I found it, it seems like the least I could do is draw a map of the place so it can have a few more battles.

There’s an annotated version of this map available to patrons.