Ashgrave Cemetery
A walled cemetery in a storm: a necromancer's circle, ghouls, the dead clawing up.
It builds in your browser in a few seconds, models, lights and miniatures included. No sign-up needed to try it.
The place
Setting: Midnight in a thunderstorm, rain and ground mist, lanterns barely holding the dark
The city's old burying ground, walled in among the houses on a night of driving rain and lightning. A stone church closes the north side, an iron gate between lantern-lit piers opens onto the cobbled street to the south, and town houses turn their backs to the dead on either side. Between them lie rows of stones and slabs on sodden ground gone to mud, gravel ways crossing in the middle under lantern posts, dead trees and gnarled oaks, and three slate-roofed mausoleums of the old families, each with an iron grille in its door and a sarcophagus inside. In the south-east corner the sexton's lodge shows a lit window; lift the roofs in Play and his hearth, bed, table and tools are there.
Someone has opened the ground. The necromancer Mordecai Vane stands in a ring of candles and violet sigils among the graves, the dead are clawing up from the west rows with one zombie still under the earth, ghouls feast round a coffin they dragged up and broke open, a rat swarm runs through the rows and something waits in the low mausoleum. A plague cart stands inside the gate and a gibbet outside it. The party, a cleric, a dwarf fighter, an elf ranger, a halfling rogue and a sorcerer, has just come through the gate, and the sexton is nowhere near as asleep as he should be.
What the recipe places
- 2 floor and road ops
- 1 wall runs
- 79 props, lines and scatters
- 19 lights and effects
- 16 miniatures
Encounters it was built for
- Break the circle: the necromancer stands in the middle of the yard, and every round the dead keep coming until the candles go out.
- The ghouls' feast: three of them round the broken coffin, a fourth unseen, and their claws can paralyse.
- The low mausoleum: a narrow door, an iron grille, and whatever was buried there with the family.
- The lodge as a refuge: the sexton's door, his lit window and a hearth to hold while the storm and the dead close in.
- Through the church: the stone church on the north side is the only way out that does not cross the graves.
Tips
- In Play, press U to lift the roofs off the mausoleums and the lodge; it lifts for you, not for the players.
- The storm and the midnight hour are scene settings: drag the clock to dusk or calm the weather for a quieter visit.
- Mark the zombie still underground and the ghoul behind the coffin Hidden from players, and show them when they rise.
- Brush fog over the far rows and reveal the circle when the party gets a clear line of sight.
- Start combat and every zombie, ghoul and the necromancer roll into initiative with their HP on their token cards.
Other starter scenes
The Weary Traveller
A roadside inn at dusk: bar, hearth and long tables, a stranger in the corner.
Hollowdeep Cells
Torchlit stone corridors, a guard room, cells and a treasure vault.
Crypt of the Pale Knight
A moonlit graveyard above a black mere, its crypt standing open and the dead rising.
Ambush on the Forest Road
A felled pine across a forest road at dawn: goblins in the trees, a ford ahead.
Castle Gate at Dusk
A moated castle at dusk: gatehouse, wall walk, bailey and the keep's great hall.
Smugglers' Cove
A golden-hour beach: smugglers' bonfire, a boathouse, a sea cave, a ship at anchor.
Neon Alley
A rain-soaked neon street at night: a noodle bar, a corporate checkpoint and a warmech.
Rooftop Run
A cyberpunk heist across rain-slick rooftops: stairs, a gangway, a gap to leap, a mech.
Sunwell Caravanserai
A desert caravanserai by a palm-ringed spring, its market raided by gnolls off the dunes.
The Witch of Blackfen
A foggy swamp at dusk: wisps over black pools, a witch's hut, spiders in the dead wood.
Wolf's Tooth Bandit Camp
A bandit palisade in the pines: the chief's hall, campfires, captives, a watchtower.
The Drowned Tower
A wizard's tower on a misty lake isle: standing stones, a drowned causeway, a jetty.
Market Day at Millbrook
A cobbled market square on a bright morning: stalls, a fountain, a church, a smithy.
Frostfall Hamlet
A snowbound hamlet at dusk: a mead hall, a frozen pond and wolves at the palisade.
Raiders' Fjord
A fjord at cold dawn: a longhouse on the shingle, raiders running their longboat ashore.
Free top-down battle map
A flat, gridded version of Ashgrave Cemetery for any other tabletop: straight down, north up, 55 by 38 squares at 70 pixels per 5-foot square, with no miniatures on it. Set your tabletop's grid to 70 px and it lines up.
Free under CC BY 4.0: use it, share it and change it, in paid work too, as long as you credit TerrainTale. Some buildings in it are other artists' CC BY models, credited on the About page.
Questions
Can I change Ashgrave Cemetery after loading it?
Yes. A template is a normal scene once built: paint, drag, delete and add to it, then save it as your own project.
How long does it take to load?
A few seconds. The recipe compiles instantly and the models it uses download from the built-in library on first use, then stay cached.
Can I make my own template?
Write a recipe (see Build with AI) and import it with File ▸ Import Scene JSON, or save any scene as a project and reopen it from the welcome screen.
From the blog
Line of sight rules in 5e: seeing, targeting and corners on a battle map
How line of sight works in 5e on a battle map: what blocks a target, obscurement versus cover, corners and pillars, the corner method from the DMG, and judging it from a token's eye level.
· 5 min read
Mounted combat rules in 5e: mounts on a grid without the arguments
The 2024 mounted combat rules in 5e on a battle map: the shared space, controlled versus independent mounts, what mounting and dismounting cost, falling off, opportunity attacks and charging.
· 5 min read
Light sources in 5e: torch, lantern and candle radius on the grid
Every 5e light source in squares: torch, hooded and bullseye lantern, candle, lamp, the Light and Daylight spells, bright versus dim light, what darkvision really does, and how to run a night fight.
· 5 min read
All articles on battle maps, grid rules and running the game
Open Ashgrave Cemetery on your table
One click builds it in your browser with every model, light and miniature in place. Sign up free to save it and bring your players to the table.