I have a Youtube Channel!

 I've taken up painting my terrain, as well as using combat "Zones". I've posted many of my paint jobs on The Tabletop Crafter's Guild page on Facebook. Some folks put forward the idea of my starting a youtube channel for painting. The job market isn't panning out so why not?

Here's the first few videos!

Worldbuilding 101: The Three Zones

So you feel ready to build your world but you don't know where to start. Suddenly the enormity of your task dawns on you and you panic! Do I have to script out every town and city, their populace, points of interest, and ruling bodies? Do I need to know how the toilets flush? And so you searched online for assistance. So did I.

Sadly I gleaned very little about a process for actually building a world. It all felt like that old cartoon joke:

I've made a few observations on the subject that might assist you in this endeavor. First, we will zoom out to view your entire blank world. What is your world? It's the playground for your players. But we need to know how they want to play. How do we find out? Well, there are typically three playground zones in any setting. They are:

1. Civilization: This zone is all about the inner cities, the core worlds, mega-city 1. If your players want adventures in the city, they are telling you they want a game about intrigue. The villain's are primarily other people. The heroes must navigate their way through political pressure, corruption, all while making the right allies to help keep them alive. Cyberpunk is exclusively a civilization game. 
2. The Fringe: The fringe is where civilization has a tentative hold over the wilderness. It's a popular starting location as it offers both intrigue and exploration storylines. It's also a quick hop back into a city if the heroes want, or into the wilderness. Fringe stories involve societal breakdowns like raiders, rising warlords, and corruption but also include stories about natural disasters, plagues, pestilence, rampaging creatures, and forbidden things lurking in the shadows. Players will often be hired to deal with local problems since on the fringe, there aren't a lot of peace-keepers. Almost the entirety of the original Star Wars trilogy occurred in the fringe of the Empire. We only ever saw one civilized world... briefly, Alderaan.
3. The Wild: If your players choose to play in the wild, they are telling you they want survival to be important. In the wild, there is no resupply or comfy taverns. In the wild, anything strange can and should happen. The players are out here to explore. The locations should be awe inspiring. The threats should be unique and terrifying. This is the home of lost civilizations, ruined tombs, and undiscovered countries. Give it to them.

D&D tends to place its lost tombs conveniently in the fringe so that adventurers can investigate a sunken temple at noon and be back at the pub by nightfall for fried chicken. Well the fringe is a good place for it but might I suggest treating the search for the sunken temple as a transition between the fringe and the wild? You'll get more adventures out of it and survival without support will ratchet up the suspense.

So now that you know the three zones, what do you do with them?

If the players choose to play in civilization, then you know you need to pour your efforts into a city. That's just ONE city. Where do I put it on the map? It doesn't matter. There ought to be plenty of adventure there and it doesn't sound like your players are in the mood for cross-country travel.

If the player's choose the fringe, then you know you need a town. Your players may not like the town you have made but they won't know that until after the first adventure. Once you have an idea for a town, come up with three things that are troubling the town: Frequent orc raids, a mysterious blight on the crops, and a band of thieves are harassing the townsfolk. Your players will choose to tackle one of these issues, and if they hate the town by the end of the adventure they can go to a different town. In which case make a town more to their liking and come up with three things that are troubling the new town: Well those orc raiders are striking here as well, children are suffering from a strange "sleeping sickness", and there's rumor of a sunken temple in the nearby swamp. Build the towns as they are needed.

What if the heroes choose the wild? Then build an amazing location that holds a terrible secret, don't forget the keeper(s) of that secret. Also focus on how the heroes are able to survive the wilderness trek. What problems might they face? What random creatures might they encounter? Each adventure the heroes should: experience an amazing locale, fight something they've never encountered before, and learn a secret that the forgotten place holds. Here's an example: My heroes are trekking in the wilderness, survivors of a shipwreck, cast away on an unexplored shore. They strive to survive the wilderness when they come across an inland grotto decorated with the remains of torn-apart ships. What are they doing this far inland? The water in the grotto links to the ocean and the grotto is the lair of a kraken! The same kraken that destroyed the heroes' ship! That's not all. A local tribe of beast-men worship the kraken and view the pillaged vessels as gifts. As far as they are concerned, the heroes have violated their holy ground.

Making a World Map for any Fantasy Game the Lazy Way

I have started a D&D 5E campaign with a new local group. Afterward I figured I can ease them in to other games like Savage Worlds.

Interesting note, there isn't exactly a world map or digest for D&D's setting "The Forgotten Realms" the way there is for Pathfinder's "Inner Sea", and I would really like to make my own world for them to explore instead of something they could just read about on the internet.

But of course, I hate putting a lot of work into a world knowing that my players may only see a small chunk. Or making a new world for the same fantasy setting, etc. So I made a compromise. I am only ever going to make one fantasy world for D&D (and maybe even port it over to Savage Worlds). 

Well, lets start with the world map and I will explain as I go. I went over to Donjon and used their World Fractal Mapper. You could draw the coastlines by hand if you want. Then I blew it up to 15" x 30".

Note that this is just the land masses. I wanted a lot of islands and continents for my world to explore.

Then I chopped off a segment (7.5" x 10") and printed it out.

This is where my Party will start. I won't draw towns or geological features until they come up in game. My party started in a Village and had to cross a mountain range in their first adventure so I will mark the village and draw the range they had to cross on the printout. I'll just keep creating adventures where the party wants to go and fill in the map afterwards, that way there is no wasted prep! When this region is done, I will transfer my sketches onto the main world map.

Why keep track at all? In case I or the party wants to revisit a location they had been to before, like their home village, or a haunted keep they couldn't tackle the first time.

I'm Back! Making your own Wet Erase Maps and Tiles

I know I have been gone a long while. Things have kept me busy, mostly arts and crafts so let us start there.

As I have posted before, I have several terrain tiles available on drivethrurpg. But I have been struggling to find a way to use wet-erase markers on them. I have tried polyurethane sprays, modge podge, laquers...the results either destroyed the printouts and paper or let the wet erase ink bleed through. I tried Contac sheets but can never find the permanent adhesive version in stock anywhere. And the wet-erase inks didn't sit well on the coating.

Looking on the internet, the typical advice was to get the items laminated, but heat lamination doesn't actually adhere to the page. You have to keep the plastic border so that the front and back laminations stick together. If you are trying to make a large map, you would have to pay a lot for a full sized print and then a lot more for giant sized lamination. It's going to be somewhere around $40. I needed a way to laminate several 8x10 pages into a relatively seamless map.

Then I discovered that there is a way to cold laminate. This may not be news to some people, but I can say that no one on the internet had suggested it before in my research.

These are 9x12 sheets with a PERMANENT adhesive backing. Print a tile image onto cardstock, then apply one of these sheets, then trim. The result is remarkably like Paizo's Gamemastery tiles in feel and finish. I have already done an overnight test with black, red, green, and blue wet-erase inks and all erased cleanly the next day.

With this technique, I was able to print up 9 8x10 sci-fi terrain pages, laminate them, then tape the backs together to get a sci-fi wet-erase deck plate map that is 24x30 inches and fold-able. If you have seen the Paizo sci-fi flip-mat, you will know why I felt compelled to make my own. Theirs is too dark for black ink to show up well when drawing the walls and chambers. Now I have a wet-erase sci-fi map for all of my Savage Sci-Fi adventures. (PS: The tile set will be available soon on drivethrurpg. As usual it will be pay-what-you-want. I'll let you know when it launches.)

That's all for now, but expect more posts soon.

6x6 Swamp Tiles Are Now Downloadable at DrivethruRPG

Yup, I been busy doin' tha art thang. Find the HERE.

I've also been looking into a way to coat my tiles to make them work with wet erase markers. The only advice online that I could find was to cover the tiles with a sheet of poster frame plastic. That's great, but not portable. It would be great if I could pre-draw any features on my tiles and transport them to the game.

Here's what I have done so far:

Lamination - Ordinarily would work, however the side lips of the lamination would interfere with the tiles abilities to butt up against each other.

Modge Podge Glossy Acrylic Sealer Spray - I put three coats on a tile but the ink still bled through to the paper underneath. It might work if I added more coats, but I don't want to spend $10 per can and have it only treat 6 tiles. I have a lot of these things. Plus a knowledgeable friend advised me that Acrylics can yellow the work, wear off, and don't age well.

PVA Glue (Elmer's) - I honestly thought this would work and it almost did. The problem is that PVA glue is water-soluble, even after it has dried. As soon as I used a wet rag to erase the ink, the glue became liquid again and things went bad.

Polyurethane Spray (Glossy) - My knowledgeable friend suggested this and it is also about $10 per spray can. You can get it from Home Depot. It will take longer to cure but can likely do the job in two coats. We'll see.

And speaking of Home Depot, they have this little "Start your own fairy garden" miniatures for $2 a miniature.  There was a great, to-scale Water Well that I picked up. everything else wasn't much use to me. Not a bad find.

6x6 Forest Tiles Are Now Downloadable at DrivethruRPG!

So I have been working on some more Terrain Tile sets for use with RPG miniatures. Partly because many of the Paizo Flip Mats are no longer available, partly because it's improving my Photoshop skills, and mostly because I can.

The tiles are 6" x 6", with or without grid lines and can be downloaded HERE. It's Pay What You Want, of course.

The Danger of Stuff Pt. 2 - Losing My Way

Yeah...so...

I have become too wrapped up in stuff. I've been making maps, tiles, and painting figures. I've been collecting, even after I swore I wouldn't fall into that trap. Worst of all, I had brainwashed myself into thinking that maps and minis were just the way you played RPGs.

What I haven't been doing is gaming. I'm so caught up in prepping for eventualities when I start running games that I haven't been running games. Honestly I was so glad to have my artistic drive back that I was willing to drown myself in it.

And I was deluding myself into thinking that I could make a supplemental income with my maps on DrivethruRPG. I'm not knocking DrivethruRPG, I love their services, but when my Forest Tiles were going for $.50 they received maybe a purchase a month. Since they went "pay what you want" they have been downloaded over 50 times this month with only a couple of people tossing me some coin. I'm flattered that people like my stuff, but it is obvious that this is not a source of revenue I should depend on.

So I had to do some soul searching this weekend.

I remembered playing WEG's D6 Star Wars back in college. I had no minis, no maps, and there were epic adventures to be had. My players weren't thinking tactically about body positions, they were think tactically about supporting each other and completing the mission.

That said, I still get players that prefer minis and maps. And if I can't get them to switch over, I will have to adapt. But what I need to stop doing is making maps in a vacuum, and painting minis that I may never use.

What I should focus on is creating some One Sheet adventures, and any extras that I make (such as NPC cards, map designs, figure flats) should go towards that specifically.

So...time to prep things I will actually use, and get back to sharing stuff for free because I can.

Cavern Tiles Have Gone Live!

Yup, they have finally gone live. Note to self- DrivethruRPG gate holders don't work on weekends.

RPG Loot Crates - A Cool Idea I Will Never Buy

Who loves presents? Who doesn't?

That is essentially what a loot crate, dungeon crate, rpg crate, any of the new crates or blocks that are rocking the current geek fad are. It's a monthly subscription to a monthly Christmas, and like all Christmases, the gifts may not be quite what you desired.

I admit, I want in. I want to get some blind rpg stuff delivered to me so I can geek out with my new toys. However I just can't bring myself to make the investment. And Here's Why:

• It's all D&D. Well that's a blanket statement, but more or less true. And if I were running a company that targeted RPG players, I would also set my sights on the 300lb Gorilla that is D&D as well. The problem is that I game everywhere on the mythical timeline, and fantasy isn't my favorite. Some crate makers have admitted they do other settings, but very rarely. Therefore I have no reason to buy a year subscription.
• Wrong game systems. As mentioned above, they target D&D heavily, but I use Savage Worlds as my go to. And there are hundreds of other systems that people enjoy that are being ignored. Even the modules and magazines that accompany these crates are for specific systems (such as some edition of D&D).
• Vynil figures. Some people love them, I don't. I am very picky about why I collect, mainly because my ex-wife was a hoarder. If it's on my shelf, it better do more than look pretty. 
• How many dice do you need? This gets included a lot because every gamer needs at least one set of dice, right? But I am afraid that this cheap, useful go to item is going to be in every crate and I purged myself of the great die bucket long ago. 

That said, I believe there are some good ideas that can be made better here.

• Truly personalized crates. Have you ever thought of making one yourself to give to a special gamer in your life? Suddenly this can be an awesome birthday/Christmas/ anniversary gift and you can tailor it to the person's preferred gaming. What is more, you know you are getting what the crate is worth and - no buttons, no ads, and no stupid frakking inflatable crowns!
• I am considering a digital loot idea. Imagine a bundled download for purchase from Drivethrurpg that includes a map, paper figures, a one sheet adventure, and a map. I have no idea how I would pull that all off monthly but it would be catered to Savage Worlds, no subscription, and significantly cheaper since I am just creating virtual assets.

Anyway that's my brain hemmorage for today. I am currently awaiting approval for my Cavern Tiles to go live on Drivethrurpg. They can connect to the "Pay what you want" Sewer Tiles I have already uploaded and will cost $1.99. That's a 50 tile set, btw.

Sewer Tiles In Action.

Edit: There is some weirdness going on with my pic attachments. This is the second time I have uploaded them as they keep breaking.

Also Edit: The tiles are fixed, as well as some new ones added. Located here on Drivethrurpg "Pay What You Want".

I printed mine up and glued them to chip board. It's sturdy and they come in 6x6 packs, which is nice. The one down side is that they do add weight as the stack gets thicker.

Although I did notice another mistake. I will have to correct that later as my weekend seems booked.

Freebies - Sewer Tiles Fixed!

And here's the new link.

Freebies! - New Sewer Tiles

Edit: Fixed

I was going through my wife's craft stuff and I came across a cheap little matte cutter she had. It was perfect for cutting down all of the chip board leftovers I have from some failed 8x10 tile experiments.

So to kick off my DIY tiles, I started with sewers...again. Well at least these are with my new map style and I think they look pretty sharp. I never bought Paizo's Game Mastery Tiles for the sewer adventures in Pathfinder Society. I'm not a fan over their tile sets (though their maps are fabulous). My problem is that they are 5x8 and my OCD hates odd numbers as well as tiles that can't be turned sideways to be reused in a grid. They are also a bit on the thin side which makes keeping them butted up against each other a pain.

So I have adopted 6x6 as my official tile set size, and I have more tiles planned as time goes on (such as sci-fi!). As for rooms, they can break the 6x6 rule depending on what they are.

I've had a super hard time trying to build re-useable tiles due to Pathfinder Society. It would be impossible to recreate any of their maps with a generic tileset. But my mental issues wouldn't let me get away from trying and failing to make them for PFS. I have to distance myself as much as possible for the idea and move on with my crafting. That said, my sewer tiles are compatible with PFS and can loosely replace their designs. Mine aren't exact to what they have, but it keeps the general gist of things.

Anyway, you can find my sewer tiles in the free downloads section, or right here in the ticketyboo!

PS> I had an experiment idea about gluing plastic sheets from cut up sheet protectors onto my tiles to make them wet/dry erase. I tried white glue spread thin, regular blopped white glue, and a clear colored glue stick. Neither white glue held the plastic on, and even warped the cardstock that was already mounted to the chipboard. The gluestick did the best job, but it did have problems holding onto the sheet in places and it slightly discolored the printed art.

I've tried contac paper but I can't get the permanent stuff, and wet erase markers want to bead up on it and don't make a crisp line. Ah well, back to the laboratory!

New Map - Canyon Maze

I have a new map for sale on Drivethrurpg.com: The Canyon Maze.

It's a 24x30 inch standard size map you put together from 9 8x10 tiles. It comes in grid and non-grid.

I'm not a big fan of site advertising so this blog doesn't generate any income for me except in advertising my own work. Every little bit helps and I will keep up with new freebies sooner or later.

Thanks for visiting my site,

Chad B Jones

Regarding Maps Without Doors

I have been struggling with artistic overload recently so my next couple of posts will be specifically about maps and tiles respectively.

So.... maps, (the pre-designed ones by Paizo and WotC).

Dungeon maps have a reuse-ability problem... sort of. If it's a map that you have used before, the players will know where the doors are, the layout, and if it is printed on the map then they will know the secret passages. There is also the problem that (even if it is a new map) you have to cover up undiscovered areas with paper or your players will see all of the routes and doorways.

Well I have an idea about that.

What if you had maps that showed blank rooms but NO DOORS. Like this...

Will the players know which path to take? Not without doorways linking rooms. Now how about you place door standees as the players discover them? And you place (or draw) room decor as the enter? Instant Fog of War without having to deal with a mess of tiles or cover sheets. And because you can place doors in different locations each time you play, you effectively change the map, keeping your players guessing. And you don't have to use all of the rooms either.

I would say that 3 different maps would give you hundreds of dungeon crawl combinations.

You don't have to wait for me to make maps for you. If you are hand drawing maps based on your favorite rpg's designs, try leaving out the doors until the players find them.

Dungeon Design via Extra Credits

Extra Credits is an animated show about video games, history, and a few other topics. Right now they are covering a dungeon design from the video game Baldur's Gate. I'm going to link to it because it contains some lessons that may be helpful to GM's designing their own versions of the dungeon crawl.

FREE STUFF! My Eye of Kilquato Tools!

I've gotten word back from Jodi Black at Pinnacle. I am clear to release a PDF that contains all of my tools used for the Eye of Kilquato. Well, all except for my Status Tokens.

Get the file right here.

Edit: I update the file. They are supposed to be crocodile Cultists, I guess.

DrivethruRPG's Deal of the Day 7/21/2016

Tomorrow my Street Map will be DrivethruRPG's Deal of the day. The price will drop from $5 to $2 for a limited time.

And who couldn't uses a 24x30, 1" square-gridded street map?

Does It Have To Look Realistic?

I was using my google-fu, looking for some tileable textures to use in maps (I'm working on the junkyard for Waylaid on Wayland) when I came across this artist who goes by the name of Mr. Cirwos. Student Site Here.

It had never occurred to me to use anything but realistic textures in my maps, but I have to say I am smitten with the charm of doing something more cartoonish. When dealing in miniature, details can get lost and some may even become confusing. But with a cel-shaded approach the map details are easily visible. Plus it has that Saturday-morning cartoon feel to the adventures which frankly I don't mind at all.

Have a look for yourself. Do you think you could enjoy a game on a map that was cartoony? I'm guessing that anyone who has played all of their games on Wet-erase maps might not have an issue with it.

Free Stuff Fridays! - Computer Banks

What is the point of invading an Imperial Base if there aren't any computer systems to loot? So here you are, some computer bank standees to provide hours of cover under withering Imperial blaster fire. I just hope it survives the barrage long enough for you to clear your browser history.

Computer Bank Standees

Free Stuff Fridays! - Warehouse Standees

Today we have some decorations for the ever-popular urban battlefield, the Warehouse. We've got palettes and crate-shelf standees.

And now for something completely different...

Halfling to Barmaid - "Hey, you got a little Hobbit in you?"
Barmaid - "Noooooo...."
Halfling - "Good, I'll get a ladder."