Dungeon Nov issue maps Jared Blando

[TheRedEpic]

Hey all, been a while and i've been busy, though i haven't forgotten about the Guild. Here are some encounter maps i did for Wizards for the Dungeon November issue. Hope you enjoy

[Aegeri]

You did such absolutely amazing work here. Your cartography combined with a wonderfully written adventure almost completely redeemed several months of pretty average banality in Dungeon magazine as of late. You should feel really proud of your work and of the people Wizards gets to make maps, you are easily in the top 3. Also I absolutely love the fact you have such a distinctive style that any adventure you do the cartography of I can pick out instantly. Additionally your posts here - but also in the Wizards archives for maps - are also wonderfully provided untagged, making them useful in a wide variety of games. Your maps above have already been employed in a different scenario involving rampaging giant insects over a small village (for example). I will also more than likely run the RAW adventure too, because the adventure was absolutely excellent in all departments.

Edit: I also ran the adventure you did the maps for from Dungeon 176, the Cross City Race. My players commented on the cartography quite positively as well. Thought you would like to know

Edit2: I sound like such a fanboy!

[RecklessEnthusiasm]

Really impressive work! I am a big fan of vivid, illustrative encounter-scale maps, and these sure are. Just beautiful work with a surplus of style to spare--these were promptly saved to my 'inspiration' folder--I have a lot to learn from these as far as presentation goes. Again, amazing work.

[tilt]

great looking maps - and very nice to see wizards having some great maps with their dungeons once in a while - cause sometimes it seems like they are scimping on the map-fees ... love these and I better check out the november issue to see if the scenario can live up to the maps

[Aegeri]

I can assure you, that every time I see dungeon tile based rubbish in their magazine I die a little inside and make 100% sure to complain about. More cartography like this and far less dungeon tile rubbish is what Dungeon desperately needs.

[Sapiento]

Great maps!

[TheRedEpic]

Hey everyone, thankyou very much for you comments and praise, i had alot of fun with these. In fact i am thinking of doing a map folio of untagged random map encounters just like these that i can put together in a book, or sell as laminated prints at the next Gen Con (i will have a booth there this year). I would appreciate map ideas/locations any of you guys can throw at me, its good hear stuff from the players. I was wondering if players like smaller maps such as these, or larger gridded maps that they can actually put pieces on. Just your thoughts if you have them, i would appreciate it

And As for the fanboys (Aegeri, haha) i never mind hearing someone enjoying the work i've done. So hit me with ideas, i'm open ears.
~Jared

[tilt]

Gen Con is unfortunatly a bit long for me to travel - always wanted to see it though ... personally I'm mostly interested in 1 inch battle maps - at least if I have to pay for them

[jfrazierjr]

It all depends on the audience. Those would play RPG games using miniatures would like to be able to print the map out, so 300 DPI is optimal for making a printable map for use as a battle mat. Then, there are those such as myself who exclusively use a VTT(MapTool in my case) and a 300 DPI map would be totally useless for across the internet games due to the file size. For those people, 50 to 100 px is optimal, typically without the grid as most VTT's put their own grid down to control movement of the tokens and make sure they can line up.

[TheRedEpic]

Ah thankyou very much for your input jfrazierjr, it gives me a bit to think about. However, i am thinking about two possible options for my printed maps in the future...

1.) That i can print maps like the ones above in 8.5x11 and laminate them for people to buy. These would be too small for standard 25mm obviously, but i think they would be handy for DMs to whip out during either a a scene, or random encounter. The laminate means the DM and players could mark it up as they wish and then wipe it off. I would sell these for maybe 8-10$ apiece

2.) I could make/print the same type of scene/encounter maps at 11x17 gridded out at 1 inch, laminated, and big enough to be used with miniatures and sell them for 20-25$. These would serve the same purpose as in #1, but also let players be able to interact more with the map itself. However this option is much more expensive to pull off and off course this is reflected in the cost.

What do you guys think? is a viable option, and would you pay that kind of money for this/my kind of product?. I ask this because Christopher West has his own line (maps of Mystery, i'm sure you all have heard of him) who does large high-end maps that are laminated and are only 14-15$ apiece. I have contacted him on how its possible to do such large high quality maps for so cheap but i haven't gotten a response yet. I dont think i could sell my own maps for less than 20$ and turn any sort of profit.

In the end i want the players to have an excellent gaming tool that is not only functional, but stylized and artistic, and for me to be able to make money off of the gaming tools i produce. I see alot of battle maps, but most dont have that old school hand painterly feel like i used to see in Dragon Strike Heo Quest, which is stuff that really got me more into the game when i was younger.

~Jared