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A Guide to RPG Freelance Rates: Part 2 (Layout, Illustration, and Cartography)
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<blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 7778029" data-attributes="member: 6796661"><p>I commissioned a map for my home campaign for USD 500. </p><p></p><p>While I have noodled around in Campaign Cartographer, Cityography, Dungeonographer, and two or three map programs I've backed on Kickstarter, my skills good only for functional maps for my home game. </p><p></p><p>I wanted a professional map that I could print out on a large format printer and put on the wall of my game room, which I could also print out on cloth for at table use, and which I up on my digital display during the game. </p><p></p><p>When looking for talent, I found the best responses from posting in the Cartographer's Guild "Mapmaking Requests" forum: <a href="https://www.cartographersguild.com/forumdisplay.php?f=51" target="_blank">https://www.cartographersguild.com/forumdisplay.php?f=51</a></p><p></p><p>It didn't start at $500.</p><p></p><p>The first quote was for $100 for a simple campaign map. The samples the cartographer gave were very stylized. The kinda cartoony, hand-drawn style that you commonly see in many RPG books. I wanted a more realistic and modern looking, topographically complete world map. He counter proposed, for the same price, a unique topographically-complete map, of at least 3500 by 3500 pixels that I would add the names and towns to as I saw fit. The expected turnaround was 4 days. </p><p></p><p>That didn't interest me because I could play around in Fractal Terrains until I got something I liked and export that to Campaign Cartographer. It would feel generic to me and I didn't need to pay 100 for that. Also, the text is a lot of the work in making a map. Especially if you want it to be both legible and look nice. </p><p></p><p>He said for USD 200 he could do all the cities and towns and have it done in a week. </p><p></p><p>I liked the guy's work, based on his portfolio, but didn't feel like we were on the same page, so I scheduled a scoping call and created a mock up in Campaign Cartographer, which showed the rough shape of the continents, major terrain elements, and political boundaries of the main realms. </p><p></p><p>His first draft deviated quite a bit from my mock up but was truer to what I expressed on the call than what I was able to mock up. This is something that I look for in an artist. Someone who can understand what you think you are looking for and take it further. Put their own creativity into it and show you something you didn't know you wanted. </p><p></p><p>But there were still some changes I wanted made. And this is where the additional 300 comes in. </p><p></p><p>First I wanted a large archipelago added that requires the entire map to be adjusted. </p><p></p><p>Then there was some back and forth on political boundaries. I would take his map and crudely draw in political boundaries, place names, and make comments about forests, deserts, mountain ranges, major roads, etc. </p><p></p><p>The area covered on the map is quite large: 8,000 miles wide (12,875 KM), so there was quite a bit of work involved in filling in the various place names. </p><p></p><p>He also helped come up with place names for some of the areas. I did the place names for all of the non-human locations and most of the human locations, but he helped with place names for Eastern European inspired areas as he spoke some Slavic languages. </p><p></p><p>There were a couple rounds of edits, mostly correcting, changing, or moving place names. </p><p></p><p>I realize that this is an indulgent splurge, but for me it was worth it. Given the amount of back and forth I don't think that the amount was unreasonable. I've paid $250 to $500 for logos, which usually involved one phone call and a limit of 3-5 concepts and 2-3 revisions. </p><p></p><p>Some people like to spend a lot of money on Dwarven Forge and other terrain pieces. I keep it cheap with digital battlemaps. Some people spend a lot of money on miniatures. I mostly use 2D paper and plastic standees or tokens. </p><p></p><p>But I love a nice map.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MNblockhead, post: 7778029, member: 6796661"] I commissioned a map for my home campaign for USD 500. While I have noodled around in Campaign Cartographer, Cityography, Dungeonographer, and two or three map programs I've backed on Kickstarter, my skills good only for functional maps for my home game. I wanted a professional map that I could print out on a large format printer and put on the wall of my game room, which I could also print out on cloth for at table use, and which I up on my digital display during the game. When looking for talent, I found the best responses from posting in the Cartographer's Guild "Mapmaking Requests" forum: [URL]https://www.cartographersguild.com/forumdisplay.php?f=51[/URL] It didn't start at $500. The first quote was for $100 for a simple campaign map. The samples the cartographer gave were very stylized. The kinda cartoony, hand-drawn style that you commonly see in many RPG books. I wanted a more realistic and modern looking, topographically complete world map. He counter proposed, for the same price, a unique topographically-complete map, of at least 3500 by 3500 pixels that I would add the names and towns to as I saw fit. The expected turnaround was 4 days. That didn't interest me because I could play around in Fractal Terrains until I got something I liked and export that to Campaign Cartographer. It would feel generic to me and I didn't need to pay 100 for that. Also, the text is a lot of the work in making a map. Especially if you want it to be both legible and look nice. He said for USD 200 he could do all the cities and towns and have it done in a week. I liked the guy's work, based on his portfolio, but didn't feel like we were on the same page, so I scheduled a scoping call and created a mock up in Campaign Cartographer, which showed the rough shape of the continents, major terrain elements, and political boundaries of the main realms. His first draft deviated quite a bit from my mock up but was truer to what I expressed on the call than what I was able to mock up. This is something that I look for in an artist. Someone who can understand what you think you are looking for and take it further. Put their own creativity into it and show you something you didn't know you wanted. But there were still some changes I wanted made. And this is where the additional 300 comes in. First I wanted a large archipelago added that requires the entire map to be adjusted. Then there was some back and forth on political boundaries. I would take his map and crudely draw in political boundaries, place names, and make comments about forests, deserts, mountain ranges, major roads, etc. The area covered on the map is quite large: 8,000 miles wide (12,875 KM), so there was quite a bit of work involved in filling in the various place names. He also helped come up with place names for some of the areas. I did the place names for all of the non-human locations and most of the human locations, but he helped with place names for Eastern European inspired areas as he spoke some Slavic languages. There were a couple rounds of edits, mostly correcting, changing, or moving place names. I realize that this is an indulgent splurge, but for me it was worth it. Given the amount of back and forth I don't think that the amount was unreasonable. I've paid $250 to $500 for logos, which usually involved one phone call and a limit of 3-5 concepts and 2-3 revisions. Some people like to spend a lot of money on Dwarven Forge and other terrain pieces. I keep it cheap with digital battlemaps. Some people spend a lot of money on miniatures. I mostly use 2D paper and plastic standees or tokens. But I love a nice map. [/QUOTE]
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