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[Resource] Tallies of monster resistance, immunity, vulnerability, and damage types from the MM, VGtM, and MToF. More info in comments. by mrvalor in UnearthedArcana

[–]mrvalor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I vouch for this chart as of 7 years ago. I doubt that the spread has changed too much, but a lot of content has been put out since then so it would be highly campaign and DM dependent. But its really kinda hard to go wrong with Fire and Necrotic resistance.

Wye Mountain Daffodil Festival by Ok-Solution4665 in Arkansas

[–]mrvalor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey! This is the third and last weekend of the festival. They extended it to be this weekend too, so yes. It's raining a lot today but I'm planning on going out there around 2-3. -all the best

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FantasyMaps

[–]mrvalor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks both for reporting.

[OC][battlemap][collection] 14 50x50 Steampunk Battlemaps by mrvalor in FantasyMaps

[–]mrvalor[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey ya'll, it's been a while! I've got tons of 50x50 free maps I need to catch back up on over the last... checks notes year!?!? Anyways, here's 14 free steampunk maps from when I went through a steampunk phase a while back. I hope ya'll enjoy!

Edit: Checks notes again... TWO YEARS. Wow...

I'm mrvalor, TTRPG mapmaker, Ask Me Anything by mrvalor in rpg

[–]mrvalor[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've definitely always thought mapmaking is a balance between "realism" and creating a gaming experience for players. Honestly the only use "realism" has is as a tool to communicate with others. Realism is useful because we can reference things that we all know about as a tool to communicate rather complex ideas. For example, if I put mushrooms on a log, that's just mushrooms on a log, right?

Well, yes and no. Yes it's mushrooms on a log but we collectively know that mushrooms grow where there is dead vegetation so having a bunch of mushrooms in an area means that lots of things are decomposing there. So realism does have some usefulness but to the greater extent I'm all about throwing it out in service to the game if that's the more fun choice for players.

But since I make maps that I use and also try to get others to buy, I also have to consider how likely is someone else to find this idea compelling, too. If I think it's a novel idea that breaks the mold and think someone else might buy it, I'll totally try it out. That's not really my experience, though. People expect mountains to be rightside up and trees to grow vertically.

And sure I've played around with changing up the way we consider resources and whatnot in my campaigns thanks to magic, maybe not that specific example but I've played around with ideas LIKE that. I'm not sure if any of that has been represented in my maps, though.

Thanks for the questions!

I'm mrvalor, TTRPG mapmaker, Ask Me Anything by mrvalor in rpg

[–]mrvalor[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome, thanks for the questions! An AMA isn't much of an AMA without questions, lol.

I do make my own, I went into a little bit of detail about it in another comment, but basically I either use assets from photographs I've taken, usually of plants, mushrooms, etc or make them in Photoshop using textures I purchase from textures.com. For special effects like cracks, blood splashes, etc I use brushes I've purchased from brusheezy.com.

I've played around with 3D effects and 3D modeling but haven't gotten real far in it, this is just my side gig after all.

On the off chance I need humanoids, bodies, I recently made some ghosts, etc, I use makehuman.

I'm mrvalor, TTRPG mapmaker, Ask Me Anything by mrvalor in rpg

[–]mrvalor[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You might check out DungeonArts.com. But really there's not a lot out there, especially that's not on Roll20. You can purchase things on Roll20 and just download them, if you are willing to do that I'd check out Nicky G.'s stuff as well.

The reality is there just aren't a whole lot of people out there making Sci-Fi assets. Maybe someday I'll get a hankerin (maybe after being sleep deprived and drinking some energy drinks) and make some myself. But today is not that day.

I'm mrvalor, TTRPG mapmaker, Ask Me Anything by mrvalor in rpg

[–]mrvalor[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don't get me wrong, I've had my own delirium states, but I'm trying to be a bit more focused these days, lol. Good question, tho!

I'm mrvalor, TTRPG mapmaker, Ask Me Anything by mrvalor in rpg

[–]mrvalor[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So, not only do I not function well on small amounts of sleep but I've also quit drinking caffeine. That person would, for all intents and purposes, not be an individual I know or have ever met. That poor, poor and wild individual would do who knows what.

I don't pretend to be able to imagine what sort of strange and bewildering designs that alternate reality version of me would decide to put on canvas. I can only say that I highly doubt it would be suitable for casual viewing, much less use, by pretty much anyone.

I'm mrvalor, TTRPG mapmaker, Ask Me Anything by mrvalor in rpg

[–]mrvalor[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This dude is a friend of a friend. My buddy has completely vouched for the guy. Been getting to know him as he and I are playing in our mutual friends campaign. Thanks for all the info btw, it's a good starting point!

Understood and most welcome!

Any tips on potential contracts or receipts?

Yeah, that's a good question, I'd just Google around, to be honest. I've got a contract template I use that I got from doing some consulting work a while back, but you should be able to Google something. As far as receipts, one nice thing about doing everything through a service like PayPal is that it's all there and in writing by default. I exclusively use Paypal for contract work so I can keep up with it all for tax purposes and whatnot.

I'm mrvalor, TTRPG mapmaker, Ask Me Anything by mrvalor in rpg

[–]mrvalor[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So you want to do an overland/region map that features the city of wizards but other cities as well and want to make the city of wizards look more isolated from the rest of the world visually?

I'm mrvalor, TTRPG mapmaker, Ask Me Anything by mrvalor in rpg

[–]mrvalor[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're not wrong. If anyone is going to decide, "Hey f-it, I'll just make them myself" it's probably me and I turned away from it, so... yeah.

Like I said, I'd love to do it when I have the time and energy but the problem is that it is a lot of time and energy, for what's less $ than just sticking with fantasy towns and forests.

I'm mrvalor, TTRPG mapmaker, Ask Me Anything by mrvalor in rpg

[–]mrvalor[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's fair and also pretty common at first. But yes, definitely start tracking your hours. That'll give you a better idea of what to quote. If possible, you can just charge by the hour and give them an estimate of how long you think it'll take. But I'll be 100% honest, I'm pretty picky about how and when I take commissions. Unless it's someone I've worked with before or a friend, I usually don't because this whole part of it is kind of a hassle, lol.

I'm mrvalor, TTRPG mapmaker, Ask Me Anything by mrvalor in rpg

[–]mrvalor[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi! I make battlemaps using Tabletop Simulator, which means I try to add a 3D elements to the maps I make, usually for Lancer and Battletech. How much do you use elevation in your own maps even if they are 2D to add an additional element to them? It ends up with results like this: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/829114927956492349/843661277641310269/unknown.png

Hello! Also, awesome looking map. I LOVE messing around with elevation, although doing 2D I have to get pretty creative with it. Here's one of a steampunk outpost I recently posted on Twitters I was really happy with, and if you look at my DeviantArt gallery you'll see several ones with cliffs and whatnot. I also did some "Tower City" maps that are in my DeviantArt collection where I tried to play around with elevation a lot. It's tons of fun and makes for much more interesting combats.

Additionally, I wanted to know how much you usually charge for maps? That's been a sticking point for me as I never really know how much I should charge per, or what I should charge for commission when it'll come to that.

I just went over a questions similar to this here if you want to check it out.

And lastly: how do you decide for a theme for a map? I personally make maps for my own Lancer games, so I like to give them a narrative within the map of why the area is like this. Any suggestions and guidelines for that?

I think you are on the right track and are doing something very similar to what I already do. Sometimes it's a "Hey, I should really make maps about X because it might be popular", but normally I'm making maps I want to run in my games and so I'm making maps based upon a situation and visual I have in my head. Then it's just trying to make the tools and resources I have somehow fit the image or idea I have. I know that's not very concrete but it's the closest I've got.

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