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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mikeschley" data-source="post: 6338316" data-attributes="member: 37399">A few words about my D&D Starter Set mapsSo I've been lurking in the forums recently and thinking about some of the questions and concerns raised over the D&D Starter Set maps I've made available. Though I can't speak to WotC's strategy for digital products, I can hopefully cast some light on my own thinking and provide context for D&D fans who may be thinking about purchasing work from my site.Selling the work: As to the general topic of selling artwork to fans; freelance artists (especially ones in the game and comic fields) have relied on sales of original works and copies to the public as supplemental income forever. Digital copies of map artwork fall into the same realm but have the added bonus of being super useful as supplements to gameplay. The best part is that since the artist's income is stabilized and supported by these sales, they have the time to create top-notch work and experiment with ways to create a better game play experience.Artist/Publisher Relationship:Due to narrow margins, the game publishing field relies almost exclusively on contracted freelance artists to provide visual content for their products. As a result, professional artists in this field do not have the luxury of employer provided benefits, job/income security, unemployment coverage, or employer paid FICA contributions. Combine this with the terribly tight budgets of game industry publishers and a limited number of companies that can afford nominally competitive rates, and the result is an environment that many other artists would run screaming from. This is what it is and often results in a limited pool of talent willing to remain in the field for any length of time. Artists must find a way to make their practices sustainable if they hope to continue working. It's simple math; if you can't pay the rent, you look for a different job. For myself, supplemental income from downloadable maps and physical print sales are the only way I can continue to put the time and energy into the work that I do. Without these sources of revenue I would probably need to seriously think about a career change. Tagless maps: A while ago, I began offering versions of my maps with tags and secrets removed in response to a clear need expressed by many DM's looking to use the artwork in VTT or printed tabletop format. Many DM's were complaining about the time involved in editing out the non-player info from maps provided by publishers. Since I have the original layered working files, editing them for in game use and making them available to the public is a no-brainer. Sometimes this is as easy as turning off a few layers while other images require a bit of a repaint. Traditional publishers have unfortunately been a little slow to provide these resources. This may have to do with the gameplay model or could simply be a lack of time/motivation on their part. I can't really speculate on this though as your guess is as good as mine.Price:At an à la carte price of $1.25 each, you can purchase the entire collection of my player version maps from the Starter Set for less than a trip to McDonalds. Plus, they won't give you diabetes or that slightly greasy sense of shame that comes with an extra large order of fries. The option of purchasing the DM versions of the maps in addition to the tagless player versions is primarily geared to folks that haven't picked up the adventure yet or simply want a great looking screen copy of the original artwork for their own. If you only want one or two specific maps instead of the whole set, you can do that too. Considering the resolution of the images, I think the price is about right. I know opinions on this vary and I am currently looking at coupon and package pricing options.Since this post is getting a bit long winded, I'll stop here and just mention that I LOVE making maps and environments for RPG's and try to do the absolute best job that I can with every project I work on. If you like the artwork and are thinking about purchasing anything from my site, I can tell you that your payment goes directly to the creator "me" and helps keep a roof over my families head the lights on in the studio. So far, the response to my offering of downloads has been wonderful and I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support and kind words I've received so far. Criticism is welcome too and I try to respond as quickly as possible to constructive suggestions.Best,MikeMike Schley Illustration & Design<a href="http://www.mikeschley.zenfolio.com" target="_blank">www.mikeschley.zenfolio.com</a><a href="https://twitter.com/schley" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/schley</a></blockquote>

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