An ancient ruin abandoned long ago to the frozen wastes, its purpose lost to time…

It’s my opinion that a clear goal that forces your players to move constantly, coupled with elevation changes and obstacles and other interesting features in addition to enemies to fight, makes for an excellent battle. Following that philosophy, the Snowy Sanctum offers an upstairs fight to the top on three tiers of crumbling platform, where [your MacGuffin of choice] must be won before fighting their way back down through the backup forces!

And might I suggest a reality-bending artefact at the top, with the power to pull creatures in from different planes to protect itself? Or perhaps a squad of undead as old as this platform, with no purpose other than to guard it? Or, there’s always the tried-and-true gang of ritualists summoning a powerful creature at an old sacred sight!

I would love to hear your ideas too, so please leave them in the comments!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, thanks to our generous supporters. If you would like to use this map commercially, please contact me 🙂

These icy ruins are free to download thanks to Patreon supporters such as:

Owen Eli Cook, Jackobi Forsyth, Patrick O’Hagan, Nicholas O’Sullivan, Joe Needles @Hi_Average_Joe, Michael Scartaccini, Michael Pace, Andreas Pagitz, Sam Wise, Dantemagnum, Jain Deaux, Brian Barron, Shawn park, Ryan Littlefield, Cansin Akcasoy, James Ball, Joshua Renz, Jeff Sorensen @DelugeIA, Austin Auclair, Glenn, superducky, eddy zrout, Rhea, DawnforgedCast @DawnforgedCast, Matt C. @mc_momo, Adrian Xavier, Håkon Eirik Grønlien, Sheenariel @Sheenariel, Rickard Thernlund, Matthew Kammes, Julien Therrien, Gilwainmok, Wilhelm Lehnhardt @3mporio, Moritz Fornoff, Poptard, dmslayer, Ben Capel, m00am, Chris Logan, Joel McKinnon @joeliemckinnon, Holger Anderson, Tyler Crompton, FreedomXIII, RoninDude, Tiana, Dawnbright., Ashfall Art @Ashfall_Art, Jake Raiju, Felix Jongleur, Stephon Mikell, Cory Trego-Erdner, Peter Fox, Tad Bumcrot, Malcolm Ross, spookyrumba @spookyrumba, Bruce McDonald, Michael R Lynch, Allin Knight, evilhomer10 @evilhomer10, Charlie Crea, Justin Hunter, Sam Mean Man, Maps-4-Snacks, Caleb Longshanks Lee, Tyrian @its_tyrian, Jonathan Petersen, drag drag, Adam Baird, Charles Thomson, Camilla Greer, Brittany Cole, Geoffrey Ingenbleek, Stephen Perkins, Jamieson Mockel, Calvin Clark, Paul, Zachary Robinson, Ronin, Edwin Bryer, Charlie @Linaxtic, Gregory Wallsworth, Ty Hajduk, Dan, Jens Nielsen, Thomas A Hardy, Arcknight @arcknightgames, DeathStarJanitor @DStarJanitor, LeK’s Play @leksplay00, Daniel Gass, Jordan Baker, Amanda Fensch, Justin Foster, Miles Grubbs, Euphonetics, Todd Azbill, Jonathan Climas, yumpy @yumpyboi, Derrick C Hamilton, Aidan G, Mitchell Probert, Capela, Ryan W., Serpentwined, RobinSlee, Philip Ettl, Evan Carothers, Dire Bear Adventuring Company @DireBearAC, Taylor Worthington, Brandin Mader, Abraham Andrade, Jeanette OB, Danny Mendoza @dannyrmendoza, Joel Quadko McIntyre, Josh cornett, Idalys Spear, Christopher Ward, Kristina Coker, David Mckinley @DavidZetavon, Benjamin Busseniers, Sean O’Hagan, Kenneth M Williams, Zachariah Bazeley, Max Bucknell, Derek, Jonas Kotyra, Annie, Ievgen Kharabet, Erika Promislow, Boris Biehl, and all my other wonderful Patrons!