This post is part of a series about building terrain for encounters from the D&D Adventurer magazine: you can read our guide to the first encounter: The King Under the Hill here.
The Forgotten Vault
The Forgotten Vault is the second encounter from the Dungeons & Dragons Adventurer magazine and it’s found in the second issue. It sees your heroes delving into their first dungeon in search of treasure hidden within a ruined elven villa.
Our Ruined Monastery is a flexible terrain kit that can be used for more than the name implies. In this case we’ve found that it is a great fit for creating immersive terrain for the ruined villa in the Forgotten Vault D&D adventure. In this article we’ve built the set to match the maps provided in the encounter, to give you the inspiration to give it a try for yourself.
We’ve also asked Ben, our resident DM, to provide some tips for running the Forgotten Vault scenario. See the boxout for those.
Looking for or even more inspiration? Join our community on the Battle Systems Terrain Facebook Group.
DM tips
- Wilderness encounter: the scenario means that the PCs have to camp in the wilderness. It doesn’t cover it in the magazine, but I’d like to show my players that travelling off the beaten track is dangerous. A great way to do this is a random encounter table, like this one.
- Signpost traps: for a seasoned player checking for traps is second nature, but it might not be obvious for new players. I like to give players a clue that they should be on their guard. For example, you could describe the skeleton on an unlucky creature that triggered a trap already.
- The ‘where are the toilets?’ problem: You might not have noticed, but Skyrim famously lacks toilets. Details like this spoil the immersion by making you stop and wonder why. This scenario has a similar problem – there is no explanation for why there are a bunch of traps, which makes it obvious that they only exist for the game. I’d leave clues around, perhaps just an old note, explaining why the elves, or some later occupants, set them.
Setting up terrain for the Forgotten Vault encounter
This terrain set up for the Forgotten Vault encounter was created almost entirely using the terrain found in the Ruined Monastery set.
In addition, we’ve used some floors from the Fantasy Village terrain for the underground rooms, and walls from Core Space First Born for the passages (although you could easily substitute those for something else that you have). The river and roads came from the village set, but you can also buy them separately in the Roads & Rivers set.
For a final, and we think important, touch we’ve added some moss and trees to add a little extra realism.
This post is part of a series about building terrain for encounters from the D&D Adventurer magazine: you can read our guide to the first encounter: The King Under the Hill here.
Ruined Monastery
The Ruined Monastery terrain is a modular kit which makes it a versatile addition to the collection of any Dungeon Master or Games Master. As with our other terrain it doesn’t need painting, is sturdy and durable, and packs away neatly into a box when you’re done adventuring for the day. The tutorial video above explains how to get the most our of this flexible kit.
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