Riverlands Reach

An experiment in using PowerPoint to create RPG maps

RPG Maps in PowerPoint

These are free Microsoft PowerPoint files that demonstrate how easy it is to create your own Role Playing Game (RPG) maps in PowerPoint. The intent is not that you should use my content, but that you should use these examples to help you create your own custom content.

Because I figured my maps would be more interesting if there were adventures to accompany the maps, I wrote a few adventures as well. Again, the idea here is just to give you an MS-Word template for writing your own adventures.

Any content created by me is Creative Commons CC-BY-SA. Use it to your heart's content; I did this just for fun. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

The Village of Woodlands Crossing

Demonstration of creating a small village in PowerPoint. There are no imported textures of shapes in these files: they're all built-in, native PowerPoint shapes. Cool, huh? The trick is to use lots of cloud shapes. With these PowerPoint assets, it should be easy for you to make your own village.

The Wizard's Estate

A wizard's manor house with a huge garden. The wizard has a secret: he's keeping a cavern of flumphs in the woods! With these assets, it should be straightforward for you to make any kind of estate or manor house.

Batterstorm Keep

A military keep at the edge of the sea. With these assets, it should be easy for you to create any kind of keep, castle, or fort.

The Abbey at Aerie Grove

An abbey, also at the edge of the sea. I have a confession; I just wanted to see how many buildings I could create that end in -ery, -ary, or -ory. That's why it's called Aerie Grove. It was fun!

The Whistling Caverns

I was going to make a cave system, but then I thought: wouldn't it be fun if the caves went down instead of sideways? The deeper you go, the hotter (and harder) it gets. Lots of climbing involved. Maybe a good concept for a simple dungeon crawl.

Riverlands Reach

All of these maps are intended to be setting-agnostic, so that you can work them into your existing settings. But I needed to see if I could create a large-scale topography map in PowerPoint. I took the eastern coastline of England, flipped it horizontally, and...voila! Riverlands Reach. I will admit: for this map I hand-edited shapes in PowerPoint to get the coastline. Still, this file shows you how to use PowerPoint to make your own topo maps.

Rivercrest City

Honestly, I didn't intend to build a city; it just kind of...happened. That just shows you how easy these maps are to make.

I have to warn you though, the native PowerPoint file is huge; like 460MB huge. With over 600 identified shops and other establishments, this city is ridonkulously detailed. Don't try to open that PowerPoint file unless you have a big beefy computer; it opens fine (albeit slowly) on my M1 Mac Mini.

This city should really be in a GIS system. Note that Google Drive might give you a warning about the file size being too large to scan before downloading; the PDF should be okay on any reasonably-powered computer though. If your computer is really slow, as a last resort use the zip file instead to get individual PNGs for each district in the city.

Content warning: there are "red light districts" in this city, but I kept the content very tame.

Rivercrest City.pptx (The native PowerPoint file, 460MB, massive file size!)
Rivercrest City.pdf (The PDF version, 532MB, fully detailed maps)
Rivercrest City_main.png (Just the main map of the city, at 20,000 x 10,000 pixels! A 88MB PNG.)
Rivercrest City_compressed.zip (the last resort: a 142MB zip file, where each district is its own 3000 pixel x 15000 pixel PNG file)
Shops of Rivercrest City.xlsx (a list of almost 600 specific shops)
Shops of Rivercrest City.pdf

Useful Tiles and Textures

Why didn't I just use Google Slides instead of PowerPoint? Because modern PowerPoint has a rich array of textures and artistic effects. Maybe someday Google Slides will too.

Why not just use an illustration tool? Because these files are fast & easy for anybody to edit. Of course Illustrator of Inkscape would create prettier graphics -- the point is ease of customization for you, dear reader.

Adventures in Riverlands Reach

I wrote three adventures to accompany these maps, generally around level 5-ish, just for the fun of it:

The Mystery of the Weary Peddler. It starts in Woodlands Crossing, but it ends at the Wizard's Estate.
Carrier Pigeon. You must find the pigeoneer for Batterstorm Keep before it's too late!
The Haunting of Aerie Grove. You must interrogate monks and search for clues to solve this haunting mystery.

These adventures are all in a single, very long (131 pages) Microsoft Word file.

Adventures in Riverlands Reach.docx (I like the MS-Word version of the file better, because the table of contents preserves the hyperlinks to specific sections of the adventures).
Adventures in Riverlands Reach.pdf

I'm not trying to make any money of this; this project was just for fun & education. Any original content by me is Creative Commons CC-BY-SA. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Anything D&D-ish (Dungeons & Dragons) is Wizards of the Coast Opening Gaming License (OGL) https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document Anything Pathfinder-ish is Paizo Open RPG Creative (ORC) License.
Copyright (c) 2023 Jim Northrup <-- that's just so the CC-BY-SA has an anchor; feel free to use these maps and files for your own adventures; that's the point.

Tips & Tricks

You don't have to stick with the default PowerPoint page size; this isn't a business presentation. Go to the Design ribbon and use Slide Size to get the size and shape of slide you want.
You're mostly going to use just two shapes: the PowerPoint rectangle shape (for man-made things) and the PowerPoint cloud shape (for natural things, such as trees, shrubs, ponds, soil, etc.). The key to making these maps look good isn't having the right shapes, it's having the right textures.
So let's talk about textures. You add a shape, go to Shape Fill, and at the bottom of the menu you see a list of texture options. It seems like a short list, right? It's actually a much fuller list of options than you realize. First, select a shape fill, then go the Picture Format ribbon and look at all the Artistic Effects, Colors, and Corrections you have available to you. It's still a finite list, but it's a huge number of possible combinations!
And whether you're in the Shape Format or Picture Format ribbon, don't forget about all the Shape Effects that are available to you. Things in nature aren't hard-edged, so use the Soft Edges effect to make borders blend. I can't imagine how I'd ever use the Glow effect in a business presentation, but when making an RPG map, a custom Glow color is a great way to create blended borders for natural objects such as rivers and roads. For man-made objects, the Bevel effect can turn a simple rectangle into a spire or wall segment. For things that are tall, such as trees, use the Shadow effect to give them height on your map. Want your stairs to look like stairs? Put a shadow on each step, and suddenly you have depth.
These PowerPoint slides get complicated fast, with hundreds of objects. When my computer would bog down, I'd start a new slide and Paste as Picture the previous work. It's a little tedious, but it retains the high-resolution, and makes complicated slides easier to work with.
Don't forget that in addition to shapes, PowerPoint also gives you a library of built-in icons. Dragons, swords, shields, bow & arrow, all sorts of animals, all sorts of people icons, bones, campfires, farmhouses, djinn lamps, ghosts, stacks of books, bowls, spoons, needle & thread, bread, pie...it's all there. Go to the Insert ribbon and select Icons. "Why didn't you list a wheelbarrow among our assets in the first place?" - Wesley from The Princess Bride

Shops in a City

You know, one of the funnest parts of this project was making up shops for Rivercrest City. Here's my list of shop types, for use in the city that you make:

Shop Category Shop Type

Boating & Fishing Anchors & fittings

Boating & Fishing Boatwright

Boating & Fishing Fisher

Boating & Fishing Nautical supplies and charts

Boating & Fishing Net maker

Boating & Fishing Rope maker

Boating & Fishing Sail maker

Boating & Fishing Tar, pitch, varnish vendor

Clothing & Jewelry Beadwork, buttons, toggles, and tassels

Clothing & Jewelry Clothier

Clothing & Jewelry Cobbler

Clothing & Jewelry Crochet & knitting

Clothing & Jewelry Dyer

Clothing & Jewelry Embroiderer

Clothing & Jewelry Felt maker

Clothing & Jewelry Furrier

Clothing & Jewelry Hat maker

Clothing & Jewelry Jeweler

Clothing & Jewelry Leather tailor / armorer

Clothing & Jewelry Leather carver

Clothing & Jewelry Quilter

Clothing & Jewelry Silk reeler

Clothing & Jewelry Tailor

Clothing & Jewelry Tanner

Clothing & Jewelry Thread / yarn / spinner

Clothing & Jewelry Weaver

Construction Brick mason

Construction Carpenter / woodworker

Construction Locksmith

Construction Roofer / thatcher

Construction Stone carver / headstones

Construction Stone mason

Construction Tiler / mosaics

Construction Windows (glass, horn)

Entertainment Bath house

Entertainment Dance hall / cabaret

Entertainment Inn

Entertainment Tavern / pub

Entertainment Puppet / shadow theater

Entertainment Theater / symphony / ballet

Finance Appraiser

Finance Auction house

Finance Bank / Lender / Money Changer

Finance Reckoner / arithmetician

Finance Shipping company

Finance Trading company

Grocers & Shops Apothecary / herbalist

Grocers & Shops Baker

Grocers & Shops Brewer

Grocers & Shops Butcher / poulterer

Grocers & Shops Cheese monger

Grocers & Shops Confectioner

Grocers & Shops Fish monger

Grocers & Shops Fruit monger

Grocers & Shops General grocer

Grocers & Shops General merchant

Grocers & Shops Spice merchant

Grocers & Shops Tobacconist / pipe maker

Grocers & Shops Wine maker

Home Goods Bags / packs

Home Goods Bone / horn / scrimshaw carver

Home Goods Chandler (candles)

Home Goods Cooper (barrels)

Home Goods Farming tools

Home Goods Furniture maker

Home Goods Glass blower / bottle maker

Home Goods Knife & cutlery maker

Home Goods Lantern maker

Home Goods Mirror maker

Home Goods Musical instruments

Home Goods Painter / portraits

Home Goods Perfumer

Home Goods Potter / ceramics

Home Goods Rug maker

Home Goods Sculptor / statuary

Home Goods Soap / oil maker

Home Goods Tapestry maker

Home Goods Taxidermist

Home Goods Wickerworks

Home Goods Wood carver

Horse & Carriage Harness maker

Horse & Carriage Livery / carriage rental / taxi

Horse & Carriage Saddler

Horse & Carriage Wagonwright / carriages

Horse & Carriage Wheelwright

Misc Barrister

Misc Bounty hunter

Misc Courier service

Misc Guides

Misc Guild hall

Misc Healer / midwife

Misc News / town crier

Misc Private mercenaries

Misc Private security / bodyguards

Publishing Bookbinder

Publishing Engravers

Publishing Illuminator

Publishing Ink maker

Publishing Map maker

Publishing Paper maker

Publishing Scribe

Smiths & Weapons Armorer

Smiths & Weapons Blacksmith

Smiths & Weapons Bowyer / Fletcher

Smiths & Weapons Coppersmith

Smiths & Weapons Sheath maker

Smiths & Weapons Tinsmith

Smiths & Weapons Weapon smith

Specialty Barber / salon

Specialty Clockworks, compasses, sextants, astrolabes, hour glasses, sun dials

Specialty Corker & stopper maker

Specialty Curio shop

Specialty Exotic pets

Specialty Spectacles, magnifying glasses, telescopes, kaleidoscopes

Specialty Tattoo parlor

Red Light Establishments

Assassin

Bounty Hunter

Debt collector

Fence, pawn shop, or loan shark

Fight club

Forbidden cult temple

Fortune teller (fake / unscrupulous)

Forger / counterfeiter

Gambling den

Healers who ask no questions

Hitman / thugs for hire

Illegal animal fighting

Narcotics den

Necromancer / curse maker

Pleasure house

Seedy tattoo parlor

Seedy tavern

Shop that sells forbidden potions, poisons, scrolls, tomes, or cursed magic items

Smuggler

Thieves’ tools and disguises

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