Twelve is the holy number of Sigmar, and the number of taps in this fine establishment. Each tap connects to barrels and vats of the finest and most unusual ales from across the Mortal Realms, gathered by the Far Trader Pinaar Douarde.
- Brightspear City Guide
I made this map in preparation for running the "Fateful Night" adventure for my Age of Sigmar: Soulbound group. I did my best to adhere to the descriptions of the pub, as well as make it an interesting location to roleplay and fight in. Please feel free to use it for your AoS games, or just if you want a unique tavern for your games!
Some little details about my process in making the map, for anyone who might be interested:
______________________________________________________________________________
The Twelve Taps is described as being located in a "majestic old building", and the eponymous twelve taps are the holy number of Sigmar, so my brain made the connection that it should be an old, repurposed temple! This simple decision guided a lot of my choices when making the map. The bar is meant to be located on the altar, watched over by the God-King himself (in statue form) . I wonder if it might discourage overindulgence in the patrons…
The stained glass light was an easy pick to make the pub floor a little more stylish and unusual. I did my best to pick colors that I thought would be used in a Sigmarite temple, an orangey-yellow and blue. I’ll be honest, I really agonized over the “ceiling details”, as in the arches and thuribles. I wanted to include them for the neat flavor and possible descriptions I could get out of them ‘can you believe they’re still using the original thuribles?’ or something like that. However, I wasn’t happy with the lack of depth, it looked like they were on the floor. I settled for a lower opacity in the end, but if you have any tricks you know, please get in touch!
There was also a lot of thought put into the placement of the various statues/altars. Counterclockwise from the bottom left they are: Morathi, Malerion, Grimnir, Grungni, The Forlorn Child/Bal-Nagash, Sigmar, Dracothion, Teclis, Tyrion. The statues in the courtyard are Alarielle on top of the fountain, and Kurnoth in the bushes on the east.
- Alarielle and Kurnoth were placed outdoors to reflect their natural aspects, it just didn’t feel right trying to coop them up under a roof.
- Morathi and Malerion are sequestered in alcoves. I think this is a good fit for the gods who I see the most as sequestered and ‘doing their own thing’ especially Morathi.
- Grungni and Grimnir are placed together. I chose to depict Grungni as a multi armed god with an anvil in his lap, to emphasize his role as the craftsman of the gods.
- Tyrion and Teclis are together as well, and Teclis’ statue is the one that is used to open the secret door to the Landlord’s Quarters, which I think is fitting for the god of knowledge and discovery!
- Dracothion is placed closest to Sigmar, as he guided Sigmar to the mortal realms.
- Second closest is Nagash, which might seem a bit odd at first. However, I chose to specifically depict The Forlorn Child, the aspect of Nagash who ‘brings peace to those who die before their allotted time.'
When making the cellar, I wanted to make sure there was an accurate number of barrels, kegs and tankards to supply the taps. I also did my my best to add some visual distinction to represent the different drinks the pub has on offer. For example, the brass keg with the plate underneath is my approximation of Magmalt. The Troublesome Wight-as-a-Ghost barrels are marked with a purple glow.
I wanted to make sure that I selected plants for the outdoor courtyard that would match what would grow in Aqushy’s hot climate, and what could be grown with a lot of care and a green thumb. I chose the feylike-orb trees to serve as a visual reminder that AoS is a high fantasy setting. I also think they just look nice.
If you made it all the way to the bottom, my heartfelt thanks for listening to me gush about this map! I worked hard on it and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.
