In-House Cartographer on Retainer!

[HairySammoth]

Outline

Hello Cartographers! I'm a D&D DM who's been running entirely homemade campaigns for my group of friends for the last 15 years or so. In that time we've run two campaigns from start to finish, and we luckily managed to finish the second campaign before the lockdown hit. I'm taking the time in quarantine to do all the prep work for the final campaign in the trilogy, which is shaping up to be the most ambitious and least orthodox of the three. Once lockdown ends (for me here in the UK, anyway), I intend to get cracking, and I'd love to have one of you along for the ride at that point.

In the past, I've splashed out with paid actors, special effects, custom minis and 3D dungeon printing etc. for some fun pop at key moments in the campaigns, but I've done all my mapping myself using good ol' Dundjinni and the like. It's always been perfectly functional, but I'm no artist and it's nothing I'd want to look at for aesthetic reasons. It also takes me way too long given the amateurish result.

For this last campaign (and as a big thank you present to my lovely friends and players who've stuck with me all these years through kids, house moves, and quarantines), I'd like to push the boat out and retain an in-house cartographer to do my key mapping and make it something really special rather than just good enough. There'll be a lot of scope for different styles, amount of collaboration, and artistic interpretation along the way, but my key request would probably be availability. This campaign is likely to take four years or so to run, maybe more, and I'd really like the same artist to see us through that time. I'm not a maniac: anything can happen in half a decade, and if you suddenly find yourself adopting a feral child found in the jungle, or you get drafted to a team of crack international cartographers needed to map out a newly-discovered habitable asteroid, I'll quite understand. But please don't take the job if there's a more than average chance you'll need to bow out halfway through. If you're still here, I'll spell out the details below.

This is, naturally, a paid gig; the scope and methodology will probably vary quite significantly depending on the cartographer involved, so I'm inviting quotes. I'll put a bit more detail about this in the Final Note section at the bottom.

Subject

This campaign is going to start out as a low-fantasy setting using a light homebrew on the Dungeons & Dragons 5E ruleset, and then spiral wildly out of control. You're going to be asked to draw maps for several drastically different settings. What I'd really love to see is maps which are entirely different in setting, content and purpose, but which are nonetheless unmistakably the work of the same artist. If you can draw maps in a variety of genres whilst maintaining a signature style you're exactly what I'm after. These aren't going to be battlemaps (I may change my mind and ask for a battlemap at some point, but that's not currently what I'm looking for), so I'm usually going to err on the side of strong aesthetics over technical practicality as a working map. These maps are meant to evoke the place, not perfectly describe it.

In an ideal world I'd like something beautiful enough to hang on a wall - I'm lucky enough to have been given artworks as thank-you gifts by my players in the past, and I love the idea of being able to use quality framed prints of these maps as gifts to my players.

On to specifics. The campaign is currently still a work-in-progress, but to tell the truth I'm pretty certain I've finalised the settings I'll be using. As it currently stands I'm looking to commission at least some or all of the following maps over the period of the campaign:

• A low fantasy, inhospitable, arctic island
• A low fantasy medieval kingdom
• A high fantasy empire map based on the magical/steampunk Eberron setting
• A city map of the capital city of the above empire
• A city map of a sprawling cyberpunk metropolis
• A cutaway diagram revealing the interior layout of a nested Dyson Sphere (an overt tribute to the much-missed Iain M. Banks - if you've read Surface Detail you'll know almost exactly what I'm after)
• A map showing the layout of a highly populous ringworld/space habitat
• A ship diagram/map of a massive inhabited interstellar ship (think population in the hundreds of millions - again, if you read Banks you'll know where I'm going)
• A starfield map showing the spheres of influence and lines of conflict of several interstellar civilisations in our galaxy
• A more conceptual map of a multiverse, somehow laying out the paths between nested universes
• A fully bonkers, outright trippy "map" of the philosophical layout of an infinite number of simulated existences

Then you might want to sit down and have a drink or something.

As untenable as this sounds, I know my players extremely well by this point, and they'll be up for the ride come hell or high water, so if you're (understandably) concerned that this sounds exactly like the type of project that will never get of the ground, don't be. It's well past the planning stages and my people are all fully jazzed for it. You'll also have to take my word for it that I know what I'm doing and this isn't just a hot mess waiting to happen!

Style

Obviously, you'll need to be flexible! But as I mentioned above, if you can pull this off while still making what is very obviously all your work, we're golden.

None of these maps will be used as intricate strategy gaming tools or battlemaps, so I'll be more excited by form than function. Looking over this, I'd be more drawn to the examples of work by Max, ICartographer, TheHoarseWhisperer etc. than something like the (entirely excellent) examples like Veuxin.

Quality & Size

These are going to be printed out, and ideally I'd like to have high enough quality that they wouldn't look out of place in a frame. Other than that on a per-map basis.
Dimensions, scale etc. obviously vary the same way.
I'm happy to look at anyone's work from the amateur to the professional if you think you can stick with us to the bitter end.
Raster or vector, your preference.

Time Constraints

I'm hoping I'll be allowed to sit round my dining room table with my friends sometime in the next six months, but who knows! We'll have some lead-up time to get as much done as we can before we start, that's for sure. Once we're up and running, I expect we'll be needing these maps to trickle out over a 4-6 year period, by which time I shall love you like a sibling and will carry a photo of you in my wallet.

Copyright

This is an interesting one.

I do get semi-regular offers of paid work for DM'ing, unbelievably, but thus far I have turned them down as I believe there is no more sure-fire way of sucking all the joy out of your favourite hobby than by turning it into an actual job. I am aware of the irony in saying that in a posting for a paid mapmaking gig. I also have been asked if I'd be interested in letting people pay to play/publish my previous two campaigns, which I've also said no to, but this time only because I'm horribly lazy and don't want to transcribe hundreds of pages of horrific handwritten scrawl into an actual document.

What I'm #humblebragging about here is that one day, I may change my mind, I guess. If I do, I'd love to be able to use your maps as an accompanying resource. What I certainly don't require is exclusive rights - you'll always be more than welcome to re-use all this work for whatever commercial gain you like as well. Also, this is by no means a deal-breaker: if you have a good reason to retain full rights let me know and I'll be happy to consider it. Which gets me on to my next point:

This is a lot of work. If you have existing work for some of the above maps which can be easily adapted or even used wholesale, I am more than happy to consider it (even if that comes with more restrictive use). If you've got shortcuts for any of this stuff, go nuts. If you think you've got ways you can do things faster (or cheaper!) I'm all ears.

Final note

Again, this will be a long term project. While I'm perfectly happy providing all the necessary details and letting you do your thing, I'm also expecting that over time this will inevitably turn into more of a collaboration than a strict client/provider relationship. (That's not code for me saying I won't pay you, by the way, I'm simply referring to the creative process.) I'm looking for a partner in this, so if you have thoughts, styles, suggestions, concerns etc. at any point, I will be happy to hear them.

Money: as I said, I'm inviting quotes. With that said:

I am well aware of what I am asking for here.

I have spent a good deal of time as a creative freelancer, so I know the gig, and I know how much work I'm asking you to do. This is a huge quantity of technically and artistically difficult work, and it will necessarily take up a massive chunk of your time over several years. I am not a millionaire: this is a big deal and a huge investment for me. It is a massive gift, from me, to my friends, playmates and loved ones (and also myself), and a concrete symbol of the culmination of what will be nearly two decades of collaborative story-telling. If you can think of clever ways to reduce the cost to me you'll be doing me a very significant favour, but I am not expecting miracles. You are talented people and need to be compensated as such.

What I am asking for is reliability: if you'd like to come along for the ride, I'd love you to be there right up until the fat lady sings for the third, and final, time. Until my next campaign, of course, which I expect will be a weekly Monopoly night given I'm going to be a creative shell of a man by then.

Payment structure: I anticipate a per-map deal, ideally with a "half before each map completion, half after" system. Again, if you have other ideas, let me know.

I am available at my username (hairysammoth) by way of gmail full stop com.

If you've read this far, then my sincere thanks, and if you're considering the job, my genuine surprise and delight. Either way, all the best!

[Redrobes]

Welcome to the guild and your D&D group sounds like a blast. Not something I can help with but I am sure that many will post to you on this one.

[Naima]

Hi I might be interested in this, feel free to contact me directly on deviant art or my mail there ...

https://www.deviantart.com/n-a-i-m-a...aps-and-worlds

tonelstef @ msn dot com

[HairySammoth]

Just wanted to thank everyone who applied for this . I had a lot more submissions than I expected, but I think I've caught up and replied to everyone now; if I missed you, then my sincere apologies. Still in the trial phase, but I'm now marking this as taken. Thanks to everyone again!