Monthly News #1

TL;DR:

1. I open new tiers, they will get additional versions of maps, starting next month.

2. Maps will be united by one setting, starting next month. There is a poll under this post, you can choose setting for next 3 months.

3. I'm testing Foundry VTT now. If you are interested in maps for Foundry - let me know.

Hi everybody, Alexander is here. Last month was quite challenging, but very fruitful. I've released 2 pretty good battlemaps, runned some great games, but most importantly there are more than a dozen of you now! Thank you so much to each and every one of you, you are all exceptional and incredible, without you all this wouldn't be here. And thank you to those who have followed me but not yet become a Patron - I can see that many people are interested in what I do, and that motivates me to keep working. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to text me at any time and I'll reply to each and every one of you.

I also wanted to apologize to you for not having a clear structure and plan for the maps on my Patreon. I did the first thing I could think of, the maps were not unified by a theme, and you didn't know until the last minute which map would come out next month. But as of next month, that's going to change, and you, each of you, will be able to influence it.

When I first started Patreon 2 months ago I only wanted to try making maps to see how interesting it would be for people. So I added dumb goals like "If I get $100 a month, I'll open new tiers". But after seeing the warm feedback on my maps in social networks, on Reddit and in personal messages, I realized - this is already interesting for you. So screw those stupid goals. I'm opening new tiers right now!

So, we will have four tiers. The first, the most basic, will get only static battlemaps. I understand that not everyone wants animated maps, and someone just wants to see how they will look in their games. That's what the first tier is for.

The second tier will be the same as now - two animated battlemaps per month + static maps, as well as a mention in special posts on social networks at the end of each month.

The third tier  will get additional variations of the same two maps - night and sunset. This is a tier for those who already use my maps and want more flexibility for their games. Also, these patrons will get a mention in every post about new maps on my social networks.

And finally the fourth tier will get some more variations of the same maps - winter/destroyed/bloodied, depending on the setting. And yes, an honorable mention on my social networks too (subscribe to them by the way).

New tiers are already available, so each of you can have time to change your tier before October 1st.

And now for the fun part, the maps. Up until now, I've just been looking for a cool idea, making a map based on it, and posting it without even testing it. That's wrong.And recently it hit me - "Dude, you've runned three great campaigns in three different settings in the last two years!  And for each one you have maps that you've drawn yourself and tested on players. So why not make animated maps based on them?" Hell yeah, I will! And to keep things fair, it's up to you to choose which setting will go first. There will be a poll under this post where you can choose from three options:

• Steel West - a campaign I've been running with the Through the Breach system, in a mystical Wild West setting about the adventures of three mercenaries - a cowboy, a samurai, and a construct. There will be about 15 maps - prairies, gorges, desert towns, saloons, trains and swamps.
• Dead Troop - a campaign with the Savage Worlds system about a special unit that tries to prevent the zombie apocalypse.  There will be almost 30 maps - laboratories, abandoned cities, ships, offices and lots, lots of blood.
• Runeland is a campaign on DnD 5e about a squad of vikings trying to stop the coming Ragnarok.  About 20 maps - norse forests, viking settlements, long houses, rune circles and drakkars.

This poll will be repeated every three months to keep you from getting bored with maps on the same setting.

One last point. Before this, I used to run my games only with Roll20, so all my maps are adapted to this VTT. However, I recently installed and started testing the Foundry VTT.  If you use Foundry, write in the comments below. If there are enough of you, I will try to adapt all of my maps to the Foundry VTT. Also, if you use any other VTTs besides Roll20 and Foundry, write about that too.

That's all, I wish you awesome games! And if you have any ideas, suggestions or requests for the battlemaps, feel free to text me. I'll reply to each of you. Good luck!

PS. If you want to be the first to know about new maps and announcements - subscribe to my Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest