Dark Fantasy City Map for online campaign

[wilperegrine]

Introduction/Background:
I'm a tabletop gamer and GM who—up until a couple weeks ago—met with friends every Sunday to role-play. Thanks to the novel coronavirus, we now all stay home, so I'm trying to quickly put together a text-based online campaign for us to enjoy. To facilitate a shared understanding of the game world, I thought it would be handy to create a digital map for the setting, and I'm terribly slow and a novice at map-making. I hope to find someone with more experience and talent who can (more) quickly put a map together for us.

Project Scope:
A single map (for now) of a dark fantasy city of my own creation, called Eisenhafen. I'm happy to email more in-depth campaign details, but the map should feature the following elements:
- Eisenhafen is described as a "fortress city with a deepwater harbor".
- The city lies on the northwesternmost peninsula of the continent, between an ocean (the Sturmish Sea, to the south and west) and a mountain range (the Kalteisen Mountains, to the north and east).
- The main gate and road from the city lies southeast (with the harbor to the southwest).
- The city is a republic, ruled by a Council of Nine; seven of the nine council are vampire lords (each with their own palace/estate), the other two council represent the church and the guilds. Hence, the city needs palaces, a primary cathedral, and a merchant district with a guild hall.
- Five different humanoid races inhabit the city, so it should include diverse districts.

Style
This setting, though my own creation, was inspired by Symbaroum. I'm looking for a top-down city map with a similar gritty, dark aesthetic, but more importantly functional and easy to read.

Technical:
Only need a digital file, full color, 300 dpi, png preferred, but jpg or tiff are fine.

Time Constraints:
I'm setting up the online campaign now and would like to have a map available to players soon after we start, so the sooner the better. (I've never commissioned a map before, but I understand this may take longer than the 1-2 week timeline I vaguely have in my head). If the cartographer is working digitally and open to submitting both a rough, early version and a later, polished version, I'd be grateful for the flexibility.

Copyright:
Remains with cartographer.
I do not currently intend to publish or reproduce this map for commercial gain; it's only intended for personal use. (If that should change, I'll contact the cartographer to seek publication rights and offer additional payment or % commission).
I do require written permission for reproduction rights to the map (for personal use), and would like permission to add text and other data (for example, if using in LegendKeeper).

Payment:
$50+ (negotiable and depending on map quality/detail), payable via Paypal upon delivery of the final file.

Contact:
Wil Peregrine
wil(at)wilperegrine(dot)com
Please use subject line Eisenhafen Map

Thank you!

[ScottDA]

Hi Wil. I think you'll really need to add another 0 to your commission payment. City maps are some of the most time-consuming to make and I don't know of any cartographer who could do one for $25! There are some online tools that produce city maps that might be of use to you. Best of luck, though and I wish you well.

[Styescape]

If you are searching for some online tools as ScottDA suggested, you could try Watabou. You have some options to creat a citymap automatically. Maybe that helps to get a helpful result.

[wilperegrine]

Noted. Unfortunately, I can't indulge $250 on a map for personal use while temporarily unemployed, but I'll adjust the range. Thanks. And yeah, I could use one of the many programs I've also explored online, but I've never found that does a specific location justice.

Hi Wil. I think you'll really need to add another 0 to your commission payment. City maps are some of the most time-consuming to make and I don't know of any cartographer who could do one for $25! There are some online tools that produce city maps that might be of use to you. Best of luck, though and I wish you well.

[wilperegrine]

Actually, this is a lot more useful than what I've discovered in the past (possibly an earlier version?); thank you for this recommendation. It might do in a pinch.

If you are searching for some online tools as ScottDA suggested, you could try Watabou. You have some options to creat a citymap automatically. Maybe that helps to get a helpful result.

[Tiana]

I have a list of all the free fantasy map generators I could find.
A city cannot be done in a couple of hours. You would be best to spend that money to get Other World Mapper or a similar such program and whip it out yourself. Not that I have no sympathy, I do very much have empathy for your situation of being unemployed and poor (I've been there), it's just too big of an ask. Maybe look at stock art cities on the DMs guild / Drive Thru RPG or ask someone with an existing city map if you can license it for a low fee / get it without labels so you can add your own. Maybe a new artist will take it on but it's fairly unlikely you'll get what you want here. If you had a longer timeline and were fine with me selling it as stock afterwards I'd consider it but 1-2 weeks is just too fast, my queue is full past that point, it's just downright impossible. Good luck though.

[wilperegrine]

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions and offers to help! After some consideration, I've decided to go another route with this project. I'm really pleased with my experience here though, and when I do have the time and money and need for a professional map, I know where to come!

[Tiana]

If your alternative route includes making a map yourself by all means come and show it.