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Consider me extremely interested, in both a personal and professional capacity. I would love to lend my cartography skills to the endeavor if needed. :)
I recently introduced my 9-year-old son to Pathfinder, guiding him through his first-ever roleplaying game experience along with my wife and a couple of our friends. He loved it! This product will be his next step. His birthday is November 12, and thanks to Paizo, I already know what I'm getting him. :)
I'm really happy to see this up on Paizo, and gratified by the warm reception it has gotten already! Lou and Rone really turned it up to "11" for this thing and put my maps to spectacularly good use!
I wouldn't mind seeing an Osirion-based AP, either. I'd love to do the maps for it, too, for that matter. :) By the way, there are only 44 hours left to back my Deep Vistas project; if it doesn't reach the funding goal by midnight on Monday, the posters won't see print. If anyone wants to back this project or help me get the word out to other gamers, this is the time... Thanks folks! Here's a link to the Kickstarter page: http://kck.st/e9xXaZ
Yes, I've been doing my best to get the word out without being overly intrusive. (I hate spam as much as the next guy.) ENWorld ran a news item and there's a message board thread about it. Mainly I've been hitting the social network sites; various message boards, Facebook, and Twitter. If you can think of other places to mention this, please, by all means do so! It's about 70% to the funding goal now, but there are only 44 hours left in this project; if we don't get enough backers by midnight on Monday, these posters won't see print. Incidentally, I added a new reward tier that lets backers get my adventure, "Fall of the Heretic Queen" as a PDF along with the poster maps, without buying other extra maps they may not need.
Thanks, guys! I'm glad you like these! Koriatsar, I've got one waiting in the wings, but first I'm delving into some subterranean adventure content; If my current Kickstarter project works out ( http://kck.st/e9xXaZ ), I want to make a poster map of the city from my adventure later this year, and the flip side of that city map will be a minis-scale dark elf marketplace. If those prove popular, I'll start looking into more urban surface settings. I've got a village map sketched up already. By the way, this poster was the #4 bestselling non-Paizo product here last week, and I'm really honored by the support this community has show. Thank you again!
Hmm. I hadn't thought of them that way, but I suppose I can see your point. I was going for simple, but that can sometimes come across as modern. I like the alternative metals idea; that's something I'll need to keep in mind for future maps. I might also do something like that on the terrain card that will come with this poster; maybe swapping the style and treatment of a section of floor. Thanks for the feedback! :)
Bullrush is an excellent tactic on a lot of my maps; I'm a big fan of treacherous pits. :) In this one, the peril can come to you...the numerous floor grates are designed to allow swarm creatures to emerge from the floor and flank PCs without warning. I personally had a kobold ranger in-party NPC skeletonized on this map by a swarm of flesh-eating beetles...
Funny you should mention that; one of the projects I'm working on to follow this one is a set of poster maps that present a town with key buildings all mapped out. It should be adaptable enough to be useful in a number of campaigns, and I'm hoping to take a different approach with it than has been done before. That might be delayed, though, since this Kickstarter drive with the Chapel of Scarabs doesn't seem likely to reach the goal at the present pace. There's only a week and a half left, and we're not quite half way to the funding goal to get them printed. If you guys can share this link with others in your gaming groups, I'd appreciate it:
I haven't actually done anything for Kobold Quarterly yet, though I hope to remedy that in the future as I'm a big fan of--and friend to--Wolfgang. I have worked for Paizo, WotC, Green Ronin, The Game Mechanics, AEG, Privateer Press, Avalanche Press, and others. Lately I've been doing a lot of maps for Pathfinder Society Scenarios. I used to be known best for my Maps of Mystery in Dungeon magazine, and later for doing all but one of the poster maps for the Star Wars miniatures game (and most of the maps in the SW RPG books). This Kickstarter project is absolutely on the up-and-up. I did two successful Kickstarter-based launches for other posters last year (which now can be found for sale here at Paizo, incidentally: do a search for "Maps of Mastery"), and backers seemed very pleased with the quality. Plus, with Kickstarter, no money ever changes hands unless a project reaches its funding goal by its deadline, so there's no risk involved. This is the first time I've tried to launch 6 maps at once, though, and frankly, it's not going as well as the others. We're over half way to the deadline, and not quite half way to the funding goal. If these maps don't get more support from the fantasy gaming community in the next week or so, they probably won't see print. If you guys could help me out by sharing this link with your friends, I'll be as Eternally Grateful as the Toy Story aliens:
Hi folks, One of the poster maps I'm hoping to bring to market soon has an Egyptian temple motif, and it has been pointed out that it would feel at home in an Osirion-based campaign. With that in mind, I wanted to get the thoughts of folks in this community: http://www.mapsofmastery.com/images/deepvistas/chapelofscarabs.jpg Here's a close-up of the pit crawling with beetles:
If my Kickstarter funding drive for the 6-map "Deep Vistas" set is successful, this will probably become available here at Paizo's store, so your opinions are particularly relevant to me. Is this a map that you would use in your Pathfinder campaign? If not, how should I tailor future maps to work well in Golarion?
Christopher West, I love his maps!!! I'm still around, chopswil! I've been doing maps for a lot of Pathfinder Society scenarios recently, as well as working on my own poster maps and terrain card sets that I self-publish at mapsofmastery.com (Most of which is also available here in Paizo's store.) My latest independent project is a set of three interconnected posters (6 maps) created with an underground campaign in mind. I'm trying to build enough support to get them printed; if successful, these will eventually appear in Paizo's store as well:
Thanks for asking about me! :)
For those who may be interested: I've created "enclosed" versions of the train cards above that show the roof, and made them available as free PDF downloads at my website. They should complement this set nicely, and help to expand your gameplay options:
I saw Avatar twice in 3D, and once in 2D. In my opinion, it is one the greatest films ever made; certainly the most memorable in my experience. It was a jaw-droppingly realistic presentation of a beautiful world, and a heart-wrenching story of a man's personal journey to become a part of it, and ultimately stand up to fight for it. The special effects are incredible, and that certainly contributed to my enjoyment of Avatar, but that isn't what made it a great movie for me. I found it to be a profoundly moving story, beautifully told, and presented with an unparalleled attention to detail. There's nothing on the screen or in the script that doesn't enrich the story or the experience. It's crafted with purpose and skill to tell the story in a direct and rewarding way; a way that allows the viewer to experience the main character's journey, step by step. As an example of how captivated I was by this film: I went into the theater with a box of candy in my coat pocket. When I stood up at the end, after the audience was finished applauding and the credits had come to a close, I was stunned to find it still there; I had not only forgotten that I had bought it, I forgot that something called chocolate even existed. That sort of immersion has never happened to me in a theater before. (It's also, if I may digress on a personal note, a very spiritual movie for me. The Na'vi reverence for their world and the way life is interconnected on Pandora really mirrors the way real-life pagan spiritualities relate to and perceive our world. It was very refreshing to see that sort of interwoven tapestry of life made literal and vividly presented in a major motion picture.) Anyway, the story is archetypical, which of course allows people to draw parallels to many other films. It's also told in a classical style, which makes the plot predictable to those familiar with traditional storytelling techniques. But those aren't weaknesses; they make for a strong story. The problem is, we as moviegoers have become a cynical bunch. We cast scorn on anything presented in a straightforward manner, and condemnation on anything that makes us think too hard. If a movie is popular, were predisposed to dislike it. There's a counterculture at work here that makes it "cool" to criticize anything that's a major commercial success. That's a shame, IMO, because those who choose not to see Avatar because it's too popular, or because the plot has parallels with older works, are doing themselves a huge disservice, in my opinion. Love it or not, Avatar is a defining cinematic experience of our time; it's the kind of film event that comes along very rarely. It really is a masterpiece, and twenty years from now I'm going to talk about the experience of seeing it opening night with the same sort of pride that many people today feel when they look back on the premiere of Star Wars.
Chris, I love your maps. I would pay double, however, if they were erasable like flip mats. I'll look into that, Heymitch, but I'm pretty sure that sort of thing is outside of my financial reach at this time. As my business grows, though, that might become feasible.
Thanks, Shane! I did the illustration work for most of the Star Wars maps WotC published. :) Thanks for the reviews and feedback, folks! This is very gratifying and encouraging!
Thanks for the great feedback and reviews, folks! Very encouraging. DeathQuaker: I'll be including something similar with all future poster maps, and started with the recent Forsaken Lands poster...it has a 5x7 map card as a cover insert. That cover card features smaller images of both sides of the poster on the front, and a free minis-scale terrain card on the back that can be used to expand or customize the poster. Thanks again!
It can be a bit of work to have to crank up the power level of all opponent forces in your games in order to challenge over-powered PCs. Lets face it, player characters tend to be optimized with the latest rules and options available, while published creatures and NPCs are usually designed with mostly core abilities and balanced for a party doing the same. But even with the extra work on the DM, it's a lot easier on the group, in my experience, to turn up the challenge of monsters and NPCs than it is to turn down the power level of PCs, particularly when the players like them that way. If it's going to make your players miserable to have you limit their options arbitrarily (and remember: the goal is for everyone to have fun), your only fair way to balance the equation is to give your monsters more options to match. That, or add more creatures to your combat encounters, and raise the DCs of skill checks. Just make sure you don't award extra XP and treasure in this case, since the goal is to offset the advantage of the PCs' higher power level, not inflate it even faster... My two copper.
For those who may be interested in such things: I have two free downloadable terrain cards at my website (www.mapsofmastery.com) that match the Swamp Caves side of this poster. Just click the downloads link in the site menu. There's a quicksand tile and a campsite tile, each of which seamlessly matches a section of this poster to customize the scene.
Kevin beinhoff: I've not worked with Corey Macourek at this point, but I'd enjoy doing so. I have a passing acquaintance with him, but we haven't had an opportunity to collaborate on any projects in spite of having worked for the same publishers and same product lines for years. Rol-oeste: No news, I'm afraid. I still have the document and would like to release it, but I haven't had a chance to give it a nice page design, and in the meantime I keep hoping that I'll have some good news for the Maps of Mystery series that relates to it. Since nothing seems to be happening with that, though, it will probably appear on my website (http://www.mapsofmastery.com) in the future. In related news, though, I just published my second independent poster map product, and this time it crosses genre boundaries to become very useful in fantasy games as well as sci-fi. It's a Desert Sanctum on one side and Swamp Caves on the other. Check out my site, above, for more details.
For those interested: my matching set of 5"x7" sci-fi terrain cards will be appearing in the Paizo store very soon! There are several tiles in the 12-card set that can be used to customize or expand this poster, including extra weapons and escape pods for the starship as well as an extension bridge and numerous futuristic train cards for the Shipping Center side.
There was a multi-level full-page castle and various other strongholds (not my own original designs, but based on the author's sketches provided) in an old issue of Dragon Magazine, in the early 2000s. The article was all about building strongholds. I also did a two-level manor house of sorts as a "Haunted Roadside Coaching Inn" Map of Mystery in Dungeon Magazine #132. (I don't have an issue number handy for the Dragon article, but I can try to look that up for you if you want to seek out a back-issue.) {Edit: I looked it up for you, and I think the strongholds were in Dragon #295. Available here:
That having been said, Dave Gross (former Dragon Editor-In-Chief) has been urging me to make a poster map of a castle sometime. It's high my list of future fantasy-themed miniatures-scale poster maps, right up there with a new sailing ship. :)
Wow, thanks! I hope you enjoy it if you do! :) The Offworld Shipping Center side could make an intriguing mad scientist's alchemy lab in a high-level fantasy game. The train channel could be a huge mining cart rail for extraction of magical ore, with an arcane forcefield in place to contain untimely explosions.
Thanks, Jacob! Yes, my second double-sided poster, which I hope to publish next month, features a Swampland on one side (inspired by Dagohbah) and a partially-buried Desert Sanctum on the back. They won't be burdened with obvious (if any) technological elements, so they will be equally at home in a fantasy or sci-fi setting. (Or even a modern, horror, or Cthulhu-themed RPG.) b.t.w. you might want to look at your photo in the about the author section. I think your parts are showing :) Whoops! Did I forget to hide my metal endoskeleton again, thus revealing my mechanical origins? I hate when that happens. :) Thanks for all the kind words, folks! I'm glad you like what you see! :)
This post may be a little off-topic, but for those still following this thread who want to see what I've been up to more recently (this year): My first direct-to-consumer RPG product is now available right here at Paizo! http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/m/mapsOfMastery The first offering is a sci-fi product (complementary to the body of work I've done for the Star Wars miniatures games over the years) but if this does well I'll be releasing a broader range of stuff, including some decidedly fantasy-themed poster maps. Thanks again for the support, folks! Someday I'd like to create a new world like the Lands of Mystery, but one that I own and can do with as I wish. I feel one step closer to that today. :)
Thanks guys! Maps of Mastery is my own company/brand for independent map projects that I wish to sell directly to players. This poster is my first offering in this new enterprise; since I've done most of the official cartography for the Star Wars miniatures games, and players of that game are craving new skirmish maps, it seemed logical for my first double-sided poster to have a sci-fi nature. The next one will be useful to the triumvirate of fantasy, sci-fi, and modern RPG players! You can learn more about these maps and upcoming products at my website: mapsofmastery.com. I've got a little feedback forum set up there, as well as a gallery of some past work. I am still doing contracted work for other publishers as well, but I had a lot of free time earlier this year to prepare some new content of my own. This is the result. :)
A bit of expanded information, for those interested: This double-sided poster map measures 22 by 34 inches when unfolded, and features a 1-inch grid for play with most miniatures game systems. Various objects and structural elements printed in the maps feature fine colored lines to mark the boundaries of different kinds of terrain, like walls and obstacles; these are easily ignored if your game of choice doesn't need specific designations for terrain types, but useful if it does. The front of the poster is designated the "Exodus-Class Heavy Courier", and was designed with RPG use in mind. Many different kinds of sci-fi adventures take place aboard starships or even involve the player characters as owners of their own transport--this ship fills both niches very well. It's a large freighter or transport ship outfitted with secret cargo holds for restricted goods and enough bunks and escape pods to support a good-sized number of passengers. The ship was built to ferry important cargo or VIPs across territorial boundaries and past enemy blockades. The Offworld Shipping Center, on the back, includes a another complete (but smaller) courier ship in the upper-right-hand corner, parked in the docking bay of a spaceport-type location that includes a refueling station, big cargo bays, a command center with holographic display, and a workshop for the sci-fi train that uses this port as a loading facility. Multiple bridges and conveniently-positioned cargo cranes provide crossing-points for the recessed train channel.
It's not an adventure or module, but my poster map (which just went on sale here at Paizo) might be of use to you: http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/m/mapsOfMastery It features a starship on one side (appropriate for a group of spacefaring heroes in any sci-fi game system) and a docking bay/shipping center location on the other that should be a great encounter location.
Thanks for noticing that, Jeremy. I was a little nervous about the misalignment of the freight car and the starship on the landing pad because I didn't know if the miniatures game players would find it problematic, but I decided that it was worth the risk to make the map feel more natural. Thanks for the compliment! :)
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