CONAN: Shadizar map debacle?

[trancejeremy]

Edit: I know the maps in Morningstar were original because he worked from my 1st drafts, which are on my desk beside me.

That's actually why I find this whole thing so odd. I was always under the impression a cartographer for a product generally had a rough drawing/guide of what the city was like given to him by the company in question (presumably from the author).

I mean, how do you make a city (or any map) without having some idea of what the author wants/means? How could a city from the Forgotten Realms fit the description of Shadizar exactly? Mongoose should have caught on as soon as the map was submitted and didn't match the description.

I mean, it's like asking someone to paint a horse, and they submit a picture of a zebra.

 

[Turjan]

I mean, it's like asking someone to paint a horse, and they submit a picture of a zebra.

It's more like being asked to paint a camel and submit a dolphin .

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

Disturbing news ( although not new, the name being outed is, as far as I recall ). Clayton mapped my homebrew world for cheap, and it came out great, and on-time. I'm sorry to hear about this circumstance.

 

[Ry]

I hope we get to see his work again, it would be a waste of a great talent for someone not to hire him again in the future.
Sure, it was a very, very stupid and unfortunate decision on his part, and I'm sure it has damaged his reputation quite a bit, but I also think he has learned a very valuable lesson and is going to do his utmost to assure future customers that this won't happen again.

I doubt we'll ever see his work in another major product. I mean, why would any company expose itself to the liability of an employee that had previously broken the law in the course of their primary duties? Regardless of health issues of the employee involved, can you imagine a brokerage firm that hires someone with a history of going out gambling with clients' money? What about a law firm that hires legal assistants that were guilty of perjury? If there is such a company out there, then they are sufficiently naive that I wouldn't expect them to be in business very long. There are other cartographers out there who have neither broken the laws governing their activities nor publicly embarassed their employers.

 

[d20Dwarf]

No, and hopefully they will not release this information. It is an internal matter and really should not be made public.

Yes, because we want all RPG products to use plagiarized material. :\

 

[Crothian]

Yes, because we want all RPG products to use plagiarized material. :\

That has nothing to do with it. It is up to the companiues to make sure this doesn't happen and the public knowing who is responsible does not in any way effect this.

 

[d20Dwarf]

That has nothing to do with it. It is up to the companiues to make sure this doesn't happen and the public knowing who is responsible does not in any way effect this.

Yes, but public shame acts as a deterrent to possible future plagiarists. This helps all involved.

 

[RSKennan]

I feel like crap now. I tried to edit my post after I had given it some thought-but it had already been quoted. My connection of the dots (based on the non-working link to his site alone) should have been kept to myself, or confirmed privately. Now his name is being bandied about, and he’s not here to defend himself.

There's nothing else for me to say about this, except that I disagree that the man needs to be pilloried.

 

[John Morrow]

The map the cartographer submitted is Dennis Kauth's Eltabbar map from Spellbound. Are we to think he surmised no one who bought Shadizar knew the Forgotten Realms?

I knew the map was in the Wizards.com Map-A-Week archive but I didn't know if Wizards had gotten it from one of the old TSR supplements for their Conan game (since TSR did have a Conan license) so I didn't mention anything. I thought it matched for a reason, though it did look like a mighty odd map for a Shadizar to me.

 

[d20Dwarf]

And IIRC, at the time that the map was commissioned, nobody had heard anything bad about the artist.

Which, of course, is a good reason not to keep secret these kinds of transgressions. Keep in mind, I'm not talking about going public every time a freelancer blows a deadline, I'm talking about making it known that someone tried to pass off a stolen image/words/design as their own work.