The bandit camp map generator draws an outlaw camp in a forest clearing on five-foot squares. A rough palisade of sharpened logs runs around most of the clearing, with a gate where the track comes in from the woods. In the middle is the main campfire with logs set around it to sit on. The chief's tent is the big one with a red pennant, set well back from the gate. The rest of the band sleeps in a mix of round tents and ridge tents scattered around the fire. A lookout platform stands by the gate, the horses are tied along a rope line, the loot is piled up in chests, crates and sacks, and there's a cage with someone in it. Every landmark is numbered and keyed.
How the camp is laid out
The clearing comes first, an oval of trampled ground with the forest pressing in on all sides. The palisade follows the edge of it, but never all the way round: a bandit camp is built in a hurry and left unfinished, so there's always a stretch of open treeline. The gate and the track into the woods face the open side of the sheet.
Then the camp fills in, most important things first. The chief's tent goes on the far side from the gate, the lookout beside the gate, then the horse line, the loot, the cage and the cook fire. The band's tents fill whatever room is left, and a few barrels end up wherever there's space. Trees ring the clearing and keep clear of the track.
Raiding the camp
A bandit camp is one of the most common set-piece encounters in fantasy gaming, and the layout gives the party real choices. Come in through the gate and you fight past the lookout. Come over the palisade and you land among the tents. Come through the gap in the palisade and you're on the far side, near the chief. Scatter the horses and the bandits can't chase you. Free the prisoner first and you have an ally, or a hostage problem. Go for the loot and you have to carry it out.
The tents are soft cover and block line of sight but stop nothing. The palisade is full cover and has to be climbed. The campfire is light at night, which means the bandits sitting around it can't see into the dark.
Free SVG and PNG downloads
Both formats are free for your games, streams and published adventures. The PNG is a 1920-pixel render ready for Roll20, Foundry or Owlbear Rodeo, and the Print button gives you a black-and-white sheet for the table. The SVG is the vector original: open it in Inkscape, Affinity or Figma to add tents, move the cage or finish the palisade. Everything on the map is drawn by our own code, so there's no attribution to carry and no asset licence to read.
What it won't do
It draws one camp in one clearing. It doesn't draw the road the bandits rob, a fortified hideout in a cave or a ruin, or the band's stat blocks. For the ambush on the road, roll a forest map; for a gang holed up underground, a cave map; for an old fort they've taken over, a ruins map.
Name the band, then raid them
The villain name generator names the chief, the rogue name generator names the rest of the band, and the guild name generator names them as an outfit if they ever go legitimate.