Hello, Guildfolk,

I'm writing today because I hope to find a talented, experienced fantasy mapmaker among you for a game I intend to crowdfund in 2025. The map would involve a broad geographic depiction of several island continent/kingdoms and the surrounding waters. This map request is accordingly a commercial one, but the artist will of course be paid no matter the outcome of this fundraising effort.

In terms of style I'm admittedly inclined to the olde skool treasure map aesthetic, but I've seen enough brilliant maps round these parts to keep an open mind. The map I hope to commission will be broadly topographical, with some sites of interest identified on each island.

The map will ultimately appear in the crowdfunding promotion, and the game itself will involve a PDF version, a softcover, and a hardcover, so the map will need to be of a quality that translates nicely to those three contexts. I'm also leaning toward making a tabletop map as a stretch goal or an add on.

The time constraints are loose, but I'd love to have the map sooner rather than later. I'm concurrently searching for cover and interior artists as well, so I'm sending out queries in every direction. As far as rights go, I'd like to hold the right to use the image for commercial purposes, the artist will have the right to exhibit the image as part of their portfolio but not to exploit it for commercial gain.

Interested folks can find the landing page over at Backerkit under the name of Chancers; I'll likely import the project to Kickstarter when all is said and done. While I'm not an especially famous writer/designer, I've backed some projects over there and might be able to parlay familiarity with my writing into some extra pledges.

For maximum transparency, Chancers is a hopepunk game in its bones and marrow. It's the opposite of grimdark, and I'm building on the supposition that people who find themselves in a reasonably good place might aspire to make it even better rather than hoarding all the available resources for themselves and murdering and looting their way across the fantasy landscape. I'd accordingly be especially keen to work with an artist who has that same sensibility, and to support LGBTQIA+ and disabled or neurodivergent artists. The game milieu will be canonically as friendly and accepting to folks of all stripes as I can make it.

I hope that covers the needful bases! I'll try to add a few sensible responses to existing forum posts so that I can accept private messages here before long!