News & Updates

Hi all! Let's start the new year with some news & updates.

More Battlemaps for Virtual Tabletops

After running a few quick surveys and looking at my most popular maps, I decided that during 2020 I will concentrate mainly on two things. 

• Making more small-scale battle maps suitable for skirmishes, random encounters, or mini-adventures.
• Optimizing my maps for virtual tabletops by default. I will use the Roll20's recommended specs for the map files. This means that I will base my upcoming maps on grids that are 140 pixels per square – e.g., a 20 by 20 square map would be 2800x2800 pixels in size.
  

Revised Tiers

I made some revisions to my tiers. Briefly put, I simplified most tiers so that first of all, I dropped or somehow revised everything that I found too arduous to do or was not very highly valued based on some polls I did to my patrons recently. 

And second, I focused the rewards on making it possible to increase my number of releases per month.  Also, I decided to reintroduce a $2 entry-level tier with a chance to choose between Sci-Fi and Fantasy maps. This is a bit experimental, but the idea is to ensure that people who like my fantasy maps have a chance to get something every month, as the map polls have been very sci-fi and modern theme focused. 

If the fantasy tier proves popular, I will consider adding another tier for more fantasy-themed maps per month. (Please, tell me if you would be interested!) 

Commercial use tier has been changed to a subscription at $20 price point to simplify things for everyone. This tier is mostly meant as a temporary tier to be used when you are going to publish something. you can switch back to another tier afterward, and you will retain the commercial use rights to the published products. (i.e., you do not have to pull out the products after updating your membership)

Expeditions

During the holidays, I got this idea of Expeditions. I've played with the idea before, and there's been the Hyperstorm mini-setting on the table before, but now that there have been the monthly map polls going on for a few months, I found out that this could be structured into something that builds up into something bigger over time.  The idea is that these could be used as mini-settings or backdrops for adventures. I'm going to use the 5th edition rules for the game mechanics when needed because of its popularity and availability. In 2020 there will be two expeditions — one for sci-fi and one for fantasy. 

Hyperstorm

Hyperstorm is a space opera setting with Newtonian physics and some science fantasy elements. The world is set to an undetermined future, where Earth is only a myth. The world is based on my first published RPG, Heimot, and it takes inspiration from such classics as Star Wars, Dune, Stargate, Expanse, and Aliens.  

The Hyperstorm expedition will start from the Horna system, which has one planet orbiting at the habitable zone.  This planet has abundant amatium resources, a rare mineral that is critical for stable and efficient hyperdrive fuel production. The planet also has underground alien ruins filled with ancient alien tech with magic like properties, dangerous creatures, and weird reality-distorting phenomena. 

Dragonpath

Dragonpath Saga is a high-fantasy world with some science fantasy elements. The world has magic, dragons, flying islands, lost cultures, weird magical artifacts, and cursed forests. This is a post-apocalyptic fantasy world with new kingdoms and empires exploring a world that was taken over by dark magic after the Golden Empire fell. Was once ruled by an advanced culture that commanded magical powers never seen since. 

This setting is still at its very early stages, but let's see where it will go.

New Release Target: 4 + 4 Maps Per Month

My target is to make four full map packs per month and another four quicker maps with fewer variants.

The Map Packs include color maps optimized for virtual tabletops (I use Roll20 standards; 140 pixels per square for the maps). Packs also include a variety of other map versions for easy printing etc. At $10 tier, you will also get the PSD files and a high-resolution map with 1" grid (when applicable). 

The Extra Maps come as smaller and more varied releases. These extra maps might be part of my mini-setting goals (e.g., Tower Seven "mega-dungeon"), color maps as well, or black and white maps, or they might use some experimental techniques. These extra maps are published as Bonus Content rewards for the $7 tier and higher patrons.

Quarterly Map Collections

As monthly PDF collections have proved too difficult to commit to, I decided to try another solution. Every three months or so, or whenever I have 12 maps done, I'll make a  new collection with a dozen maps. These collections will not necessarily include all the variants in the map packs. 

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So, more maps are coming, and I hope that things are now a bit more clear for everyone. I'm really excited about the coming year, and I feel that after some sidetracks, things are finally coming together.

Cheers,

Miska