Miska's Maps - Latest Releases & News

Hi all! 

Here's a quick summary of my latest cartographic expeditions and some news about recent changes to the patron tiers and other relevant developments & updates.

Latest releases

It seems like I skipped last month's release summary altogether, so here's a bit bigger batch than usually.  As you can see from these maps, there's more battle maps than before and all of the maps are done with online use in mind (well, except for Maz Azark, which is a bit too large as is). 

The lockdown has given me a proper incentive to finally delve deeper into the world of online virtual tabletops (especially Roll20). I'm making observations and trying to improve my maps so they would be easier to use on VTT platforms. I hope this also helps your gaming experience and makes your life easier. 

VTT Improvements & Plans

besides aligning maps to a grid and using recommended square size (140 px/square) , I'm trying to improve the maps so that they would be easier to read on screen and would have better contrast with popular tokens. 

I have made some initial experiments and studies regarding my own token sets (that would fit nicely with my mapping style) and dynamic lighting. 

I'm trying to learn these things as fast as I can. i hope I can show you some new stuff soon.

Handout Templates

A while ago I asked my patrons if you would be interested in handout templates. There was enough interest for me to explore this direction as well. I've been having my hands full recently (and the whole lockdown situation has royally messed up our family routines...) , so I have not gotten time to release anything yet, but maybe in May. 

What I have in mind are templates for old letters, telegrams, retro-scifi interfaces and such. These will likely be packages with art and links to used public domain fonts.  

New Goal Achievements and Equipment

Recently, your support has helped me to push past a few Patreon goals. Your increased support has allowed me to invest to a new iPad and Apple Pencil, and a new printer/scanner.  Both have helped my work tremendously!

There's been a bit of a learning curve as I have switched to do about 80% of my map drawing on iPad. This has allowed me to draw more and skip the scanning and cleaning of documents completely. 

I hope to increase the number of my monthly releases during this and the upcoming months.   

The new printer/scanner has proven much faster and better quality than my previous devices. This helps me to get colors right for printed maps and PDF publications.  

Tier Updates

Every now and then I make adjustments and clarifications to my tiers. Here's a summary of recent changes:

• Minor adjustments and clarifications for Explorer and Adventurer tiers regarding the map pack contents and minimum amounts.
• I updated the Mastermind tier to Legendary tier, and Ultra tier to Epic tier. I feel like the names are now more in line and follow common gaming rarity levels.  
• Unpublished the $25 tier (Paragon). The benefits and rewards remain the same, but this proved as an unpopular tier, so I decided to unpublish it. 
• Republished the $15 tier with a Commercial subscription. More about this below.

Commercial Subscription

I have experimented with a lot of different commercial use models, but many of the previous ones have proven unclear, confusing or arduous to maintain. Now I offer a "Commercial subscription" which allows you to use my maps for commercial purposes when you pledge $15 or more per month.  When you quit or switch to your patronage to a lower tier, you retain the commercial use rights for your current publications.

Detailed and updated guidelines will be posted on Patreon for all $15+ tier patrons soon. 

Using Maps for Streaming and Gaming Videos

This question has been brought up a few times lately, so here's a quick summary update. You are allowed to use my maps for your live streams and gaming videos with the following guidelines:

• You credit me for my work ("Cartography by Miska Fredman"). Also, I would appreciate if you link my website (www.miskasmaps.com) or Patreon  page (www.patreon.com/miskasmaps) to your video description or credits. 
• I expect you to be my patron of a relevant tier if you are using my Patreon exclusive map versions. e.g. If you are using a map pack available to my $5/mo tier patrons, you should be my patron at $5 or higher when the stream is made.

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I guess that's all for now. The post became a bit longer than I intended, but seems like there's a lot going on right now :D

Thanks for reading and stay safe all!  

Cheers,

Miska