DM Andy Maps Updates - June 2023

Hey everyone! It's been a hot minute since I've written an update post as I've been so heads down on my work, getting even the time to write updates has been a challenge. But, I figured mid-year was a good time to touch base with you all and give you some insights on the goings on over here at DM Andy Maps.

Current Projects

As many of you have no doubt seen, I've been juggling a few projects simultaneously as my primary focus. The variety helps keep me motivated and inspired to create wonderful works of fantasy and I've enjoyed the partnerships I've made along the way. Here is a breakdown of these projects.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh

The GoSM project I started with Pyram King has already kicked off with a total of 3 maps released and I'm working on the fourth now. This project is going to be massive in scope, but I'm very much looking forward to seeing Pyram's detailed guides much like he did for Curse of Strahd. I started with the parchment map of the city of Saltmarsh and I'm going to map out all 30 locations of the town! My goal is for you to have a location map to immerse your players no matter where in Saltmarsh they might want to go. Plus the generic nature of these maps makes them great for you to drop into all sorts of campaign settings.

The challenge I'm coming to presently is these maps are detailed. VERY detailed! Building maps always take me the longest due to the number of little details I add to every single corner of the map. When I get to locations such as Sharkfin Bridge or the town proper, I'm going to have to release those maps in sections.

In fact, for the Wicker Goat I'm working on now, that map will have to be split up into two parts for the sheer amount of time/work I've put into it. I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the end result though.  I've tried to cast the Wish spell on myself a few times to be able to work at twice the speed but sadly, I'm not that high of a level Wizard and the spell just fizzles out. While not ideal, I have and will continue to put quality first on my maps and will never rush one out just to get it all in a single release.

Speaking of insane projects, once I get to the town of Saltmarsh proper, I'd love to be able to do the town in full sections that I can piece together to create a type of mega-map for a good portion of the city. I'm a huge fan of Borough Bound maps and greatly admire their skill at cartography. One of the things I love most about their approach is how they create single battlemaps that can all be connected to form the greater city or "Borough" they are building. I'd love to do something like that with the town itself! Outside of the town, I plan to create more ship maps, a variety of ocean maps, islands, parchment maps, etc. as well as the rest of the adventures from the book. It's going to be a huge project but by the end, you should have a ton of coastal-inspired maps for you to use in any campaign!

Curse of Strahd

Oh, don't worry, my love for CoS has not waned! Even though I've mapped out every single location from the core module I'm still far from being "done." My plans for the misty realm of Barovia are as follows:

• Version 2.0: As you've seen from the Amber Temple, Gulthias Tree, Tsolenka Pass, and the Gates of Barovia, I've been creating 2.0 versions of some of the older work I did years ago. I plan on hitting just about all of my older locations, including more Svalich Woods / Roads maps, Death House, The Counts Manor from Pyram King, Village of Barovia, Old Bonegrinder, Vallaki, and more!
• Castle Ravenloft Updates: I have a list of updates folks wanted to see for Ravenloft such as a cleaned-up throne room, chapel, additional bedrooms, and other third-party content which I plan on working on. I've been taking a break from the castle since it took a lot out of me to make, but hoping in the near future I can get some variants out there for you all.
• Temple of the Lost Fane: Pyram King and I have partnered to create our own dungeon as an alternate means to sneak into Castle Ravenloft. Built into the very pillar stone itself, this ancient temple was built by the Dusk Elves to worship the night fane. I released part 1 a few weeks ago and there will be two more dungeons coming in the future as well for this. Pyram is hard at work creating the videos and guides to run this encounter and we are so jazzed to share it with you all once it is finished!
• Third-Party Content: I love our creator community so much and there have been so many wonderful and creative changes to CoS that I plan on supporting with maps. These include changes from Lunch Break Heroes, Pyram King, MandyMod, DragnaCarta, and the Interactive Tome of Strahd. For the Tome of Strahd, I just have two locations to knock out which are the prologue and the Burgomaster Manor from Berez. I also plan on hitting locations such as Castle Ravenloft and incorporating changes from these creators as well as creating new locations such as the Orphanage of St. Andral and the Spider Queen's Lair from Pyram King.
• Expanding the mists: I'd love, love, LOVE to start mapping outside of Barovia and begin incorporating maps from the other Domains of Dread such as Falkovnia, Borca, & Lamordia just to name a few! The possibility are endless!

Map Work

My maps have come a long way over the years and while I'm super excited to see the growth in my skills, the downside to this is they are taking longer and longer to make. I've always tried to be as detail-oriented as possible, but some of the newer techniques I've been adding are:

• Angled Walls. In my last few maps, you may have noticed I've been creating angled walls and adding more slightly isometric perspectives to larger focal points on the map. I just love the end results but this technique comes with a cost; time. It is quite the effort to create the angled effect but for me, the end results are worth it! This also allows me to add a few wall details and really give some more depth to the rooms and features of a map vs. a strictly top-down angle.
• Shading / Lighting. I've really amped up my shading and now I'm at the point where I'll spend an entire day shading a map. The shadows make all the difference in the world but I am painstakingly painting each and every shadow you see by hand. I've also started doing this with light features on a map where you might have noticed my night maps have "popped" more. This is due in part to my hand-painting highlights to capture illuminated edges. Again, a small detail but it makes the lights look so natural and real.
• Color Moods. I've been creating a staple of color moods to include with each map release. My main goal here is to give you variety with each map so you can use it in various scenarios and campaigns. Since both GoSM and CoS are polar opposites of each other, it's important for me not to exclude members of our community with a map they can't use for their CoS campaign or vice versa. So you will find that even my "sunny" GoSM maps come with "Gloom" and "Ghostly" variants with fog to spook them up a bit. This allows you to use them in Barovia or Saltmarsh or anywhere else in your game world respectively!

Map Touch-ups

I've released a few map touch-ups I've been doing to pre-existing maps to give them the color mood treatment that has become my standard. I've done this already with the City of Harcourt and the Sanguine Rose maps which I will be releasing for free to our community here! This is not a full-on map re-work, but just an enhancement to shading, color, lights, and other variants such as rain, night, fog, etc.

Other Map-Related Business

I do have some plans to expand the business model to make it easier for as many people to get what they need at a price point that is comfortable for them. For my long-time patrons, you've noticed I started with one tier and kept it that way. Partly because I didn't want to juggle multiple tiers but mostly because I wanted to give you one option and allow you to set how many creations you support each month.

While my ultimate goal is to be able to quit my day job and make this my full-time focus, I also want to be sure that I'm not pricing anyone out. As a DM myself, I know full well how much money we sink into our games. I support tons of creators both on Kickstarter and Patreon, I have my VTT sub, Syrinscape sub, and I buy tons of music to set the perfect mood and of course maps from other creators who I love. It all adds up in the end.

While I have no timeframe for this, I do plan on launching a Ko-fi page at some point. This will not be a departure from Patreon but instead, an alternate way to interact with me and my work. Over there I will have a monthly sub for those that prefer the platform over Patreon and I'll also sell my maps ad hoc for those who just want to buy a single map and move on. While my Patreon community will remain the staple way to support my work (and get the best bang for your buck) this will provide some other options as well.

I have considered creating a second tier here on Patreon for Foundry VTT-ready maps and ideally Roll20 as well. I also backed Alchemy RPG on Kickstarter and looking forward to seeing what they come up with regarding battlemaps on their platform and how best I can support that. It's something I've wanted to do for a while now, but simply don't have the time to do this while keeping up with my map work. However, at some point in the future, I'd love to be able to have my maps lit and walled, and ready to install into your preferred VTT. It'll take some work and learning and I'm hoping to free up time to expand into this area.

Closing Thoughts

I know I just info-dumped a ton of stuff above and I'm very thankful for those that read this far. I just want to let each and every one of you know how thankful and grateful I am for your support and belief in me to create maps for your fantasy worlds. You've allowed me to work in a creative outlet and build a road to get out of the "rat race" that is an office job in the future. I will forever be grateful for this. The RPG community has changed my life (for the better) and with all these new exciting RPGs coming out with Tales of the Valiant, Shadowdark, Candela Obscura, and more I hope I can keep on making battlemaps that you can use no matter the RPG you are playing!

And that is all I have to share for now my dear community. Time for this guy to get back to map-making!

Cheers all,

DM Andy