Another year is coming to an end and it is the usual time to reflect and try to look forward. 2019 have been a very busy year for me and in many ways the first year that have been continuously busy with both commissions and Greyhawk related work taking a firm place alongside my commissioned work thanks to all my patreon members. Greyhawk and Midgard for Kobold Press have been worlds that I have been immersed in for a long time now, and the Greyhawk side of things have been a a journey back to the start with a overhaul of the Flanaess map and the the 576 CY version. 

Going back to the start of the Greyhawk campaign have been top of my to do list for a very long time, and now it is ready to be shown to a wider audience. My Patreon members just got the first complete version to look over, after a much longer time than I thought. The research have taken me much longer than I thought, and the results is a map I love way more than I thought I would. Almost playing with the idea of resetting my campaign at 576 CY and starting all over again, we'll see about that. Its been a wonderful journey to go back to the Setting booklet from the 1983 boxed set, From the Ashes and all the other old sources, read them again with over two decades of experience with the setting. Being more proficient, I now see lots of details I missed before and I also feel way more confident in putting the pieces together and trying to acknowledge the additional content created later as well. It is a balancing act but I hope I can make it work for most of you. 

My Greyhawk work this year have been sadly lacking in technical progress, its been mostly about touching up really old content. This means my top patreon members have not got the amount of quality map making content I want to provide. With the new 576 CY map we now have a solid base map to use as a reference for future endeavors, and this means new projects can move ahead using it as a base reducing the time it takes to research things. So next year the plan is to concentrate a lot more on the technical side of things. There are a new generation of tools in the making and it is time to start using them to make Greyhawk maps!

World Machine have been my go to tool for terrain creation for over six years now and it is still very useful, and despite my fears of its demise a while ago development is slowly moving forward. There are a new contender for my most preferred tool though, Gaea from Quadspinner. I've been playing with with a pre-release version of Gaea as well as the just released Gaea v1 for a while now, and I'm impressed. The quality of the terrain produced and ease of use is several steps ahead of World Machine. It still lacks two crucial features, the ability to work on really large terrains and rivers witch are both key to map a fantasy setting the size the Flanaess, or even worse a planet like Oerth. This is soon to change with an update coming soon, so this spring I'll put Gaea up against World Machine to see if it is the better tool for the job. 

Evolving tools are both a blessing and a curse in this line of work. New features means you can do more, better and faster, but it also means that what you did a little while ago soon will look outdated. Consistency across a project is key, my current Flanaess map terrain was all created using Bryce 5.5 that came out in 2005. DAZ Software released newer versions of Bryce 3D, but the results didn't match the earlier versions I had used from 1998 using Bryce 3D v2 through Bryce 3D v5.5. To preserve the same style across the whole map I decided to keep using v5.5 until the Flanaess map Terrain was finished.  

Now I'm in a similar situation with World Machine and Gaea. My Midgard maps will probably be developed in World Machine for a while still so things look like they belong together, but with Greyhawk I now have a choice to make. Do I move on using existing technology in World Machine and hope I can make use of the new features being added, or do I wait a bit and bet on the newcomer Gaea to be a better tool. So far I've mainly opted to wait and see with further Greyhawk development. The Lendore Isles, Ratik and Hepmonaland projects are all waiting for that decision, all being a more or less under way already. Lendore Isles are already almost halfway through but still lacking enough quality for me to really wanting to commit to finish it using existing tools. I've seen what Gaea can do and I want that for my next generation Greyhawk maps. To be sure I'm also hedging my bets working on a 7th generation World Machine setup that will hopefully be a good improvement in case Gaea gets further delayed or not good enough. Delays are to be expected, but the quality of Gaea's results, I'm way more confident it will deliver good results.  My Cartographer Patreons will get walkthroughs of both next year.

The Lendore Isles Project is next in line for completion after the 576 CY is filly published, either using WM or Gaea, and it is my goal to make it a first example of a new Greyhawk mapping standard. Level of detail will go from a mile to 100 ft giving a much clearer look at things, and the data will be in real 3D making a a whole range of new presentations possible from world maps to bridging the gap to battle- and location maps. Ratik will be next using the same workflow and standards. Hepmonaland is a bit different since it is on a huge scale, and originally was my intent to cheat and use Photoshop from the get go. This way I could get something done faster that matched the existing Flanaess map, and skip the 3D bit altogether. I might still go this way, it depends on how well Gaea and WM can deliver, and I'm going to make up my mind this spring.  

A vital part of map making is how you publish your creations. The current Flanaess map is not well suited for any type of publication. It is too large to print and requires quite a bit of computing power to use digitally and the AI format needs Adobe Illustrator to edit. All in all a not very useful way of doing things, and the next generation maps need to be better. There is a whole new world of options since I embarked on creating the existing Flanaess map, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), web based publishing, game engines and RPG tools like World Anvil. A new generation of maps need to be designed with these options in mind. The map data needs to be flexible to be usable in many different ways, and also editable by the end user. This means using standardized formats and open source tools when possible, so enterprising DM's can take my map data and plug in the desired bits into his or her campaigns. In the end this is why I'm doing this, to make maps that are usable by DM's in their own games. Another key part of this is the Creative Commons license, and I intend to keep publishing all my Greyhawk related maps using the Creative Commons license -BY - NC - SA to make them usable, tweak-able and shareable by everyone.

My Patreon will get a Spring work over with some tweaks and changes to the tiers and goals. Nothing major and I will do my best to try and make it better and more value, more on that soon. 

I want to give a huge thank you to all who have helped me making this possible from all my awesome Patreon members, to all my friends who encourage and help me do this is so many ways, research, quality control, spreading the word and more. You make this both possible and so much fun. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Good Needfest and Happy Holidays regardless of what your preferred holiday happens to be! 

Back home again from PAX, and I will be on the  https://www.twitch.tv/lordgosumba channel in a bit over an hour to do the Legends & Lore show at 8PM EST.

But first a report about the 576 CY map. Progress overall is about 80% done, which might seem a bit off since quite a bit more is browned out on the map above. Most of the areas left to do were very little affected by the war and all the other calamities caused by later events, so they should not take that long.

The only really difficult area left are Geoff and its surroundings. The giants hadn't invaded half the realm yet so I need to roll back all their conquest.

Here is a link to a full resolution JPG: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pg74bjbngn724zl/Flanaess%20Full%20Map%20576%20CY%20-%202019%20Edition%20REV1-%20023_Full%20Map.jpg?dl=0

In the south I have to look into how far the Scarlet Brotherhood had spread their tentacles in 576 CY. Sea Princes are still an independent realm so things need to change in that area, but not much else down in the south need to be altered.

Finally I'm starting to see the end of this long awaited project, and give me a week or two and we can have a release candidate, so please check it out for things I have missed!

Will be talking about maps with the guys from Tabletop2Keyboard tonight at 10pm EST.

Here is the link:  https://www.twitch.tv/tt2kb/

Please stop by and ask me difficult questions!

I'm working on my Gary Con presentation, and here are some of the topics:

Introduction to my Cartography 

Flanaess

Creative Commons

Midgard

Other Projects

What should a map look like? Purpose of a Map

Symbols

How  I make my maps - then, now and in the future

Anatomy of a 3D Map

GIS

In the Pipeline(tm)

  - River Map 

  - Lendore Isle

  - Hepmonaland

  - Oerth

  - Secret Project #1

  - Secret Project #2

  - Secret Project #3

The Seminar is held Friday 10 AM, in Galewood and there are 3 tickets available as I'm writing this.
All the slides with comments will be available here soon after the seminar. 

Today is the day to thank all of you for giving me the chance to work on Greyhawk maps a couple days every week, it is a dream coming true and you are the ones making it possible!

Here are a couple of new maps that have been waiting to be seen by others. The first one is a low resolution version of the upcoming Flanaess River map, that will be released as a variant of the upcoming 576 CY map. This version is 7000px across which is still enough to give a good overview of the waterways of the Flanaess.

Here is a link to the file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lqeou8vfwpdj7ow/Terrain%20200ppi%20revision%202019REV1-%20RIVERS-7-%207000px-2.jpg?dl=0

Next is a look at my version of the Bone March (in 598 CY). 

Here is s link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s9qnzhzrtrlsb0q/Bone%20March.jpg?dl=0

The humanoids still hold the realm and Knurl still exist as an independent realm, but that is doubtful to be much longer. The County of Blemu have pledged allegiance to Spinecastle and is run by a totally corrupt Count backed up by thugs, surviving by being a conduit for the little trade there is with the North Kingdom.

Johnsport have survived  mainly intact, by providing the only port and main contact with the outside world, they can bribe the clan lords to leave them alone most of the time.

Orcs are the most powerful clans and they have grabbed the best bits of land, Spincastle and the central lands, the south western lands to keep an eye on the neighbours and the former County of Cadmil to keep Johnsport in check. The Gnolls and Hobgoblins control the rest.

I've also renamed the Blemu Uplands into the Ripper Hills and (in the north) the Tessar Uplands. I think the two different Blemu highlands where probably just a mistake in the source texts, and this makes more sense to me.

The Clan names comes from the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. This is part of my work to try and detail the often overlooked evil lands of the Flanaess with a lot more detail and nuance to provide more goodies for adventurers to explore, get bogged to in and ultimately defeat.

Next up is the Horned Lands

Hre is a link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gccfwa2rzqrb90l/Horned%20Lands.jpg?dl=0

The Horned Lands (598 CY) are in my campaign one of the core provinces of the Old Empire, as Iuz now call his lands. It is still mostly business as usual run from Molag, but it is Iuz and his Boneheart priests that are in charge.

To control the the Skull Trail and the Long March is key so Veng that sits on the side have been spun off as a separate province run by a thug calling himself prince who can raid across the river and get punished without it affecting the larger empire as much. The Free Reavers have the same position, but are less effective due to geography.

Iuz is much more on the defensive these days, there are no easy pickings any longer, neighbouring realms are now hardened and  have learned to defend themselves. This is especially true of the fanatics in Critwall who are hellbent on taking back territory and killing humanoids. 

When pay your troops mainly using loot this is a major problem, so Iuz is shoring up his conquest using a combination of walls, client buffer states and clandestine footwork. It is only partially successful.

North of the Molag frontier are the Lands of Ixhold that now also controlled the lands that belonged to Pazrael. Alliances between demons seldom last long and this is a great example of it. Pazrael grew tired when loot was no longer easy to get and you had to start managed with you got rather than getting more, he was out. 

Ixworth has originally a small Flan hold formed by exiles from the Great Kingdom, conveniently located  just outside the interest of the Rauxes even at its peak. After the fall of the Great Kingdom it became a farming community, raising sheep, goats and cattle for export to Molag and got drawn into the affairs of the Hierarchs. 

The march is the lands around the key road being controlled by Iuz henchmen from Trystenn. The northern part of the March used to belong to the hobgolins and the Broken Sky clan are still living there.

The Jahnser's Lands are run from the town of Kindell. It was originally an outpost to source humanoid mercenaries run by Kindell, a ruthless and savvy businessman who saw the market for humanoid mercenaries in the Great Kingdoms, for its many wars.   He grew rich and became one of the initial Hierarchs, and to consolidate his hold of the land and protect from the growing power of Iuz he built and number of fortifications north of Kindell.

North of the Imritz river are till the lands of the Hoch Jebli and the clans are still both squabbling among themselves, defending against outsiders and selling themselves for whatever trinkets catching their fancy.

This was a bit of insight into my Greyhawk campaign, and I hope you find it useful as an inspiration in your games. Thank you again for joining me in mapping the World of Greyhawk!  

Here is the heraldry I developed for Free Borough, the free city in the middle of the Fuyondyan plains, for my campaign.

The design is based on my hunch that the city dates back to the days of the Great Kingdom, therefore the blue base. The city symbol is the "standard" aerdy city symbol seen in may other symbols, like the City of Greyhawk, Dyvers Jalpa and others. The crown at the top I imaged to be the old sign for the viceroyalty of Ferrond. The golden dots at the bottom are a symbol for wealth and commerce seen in many other heraldry symbols. 

Nine years ago I moved to California and started a Facebook group called Flanaess Geographical Society as a way to find other interested in helping me map the World of Greyhawk, that little group now have 1,999 members. It was also two years ago that I started my patreon and 20 years ago since I started mapping, so many different reasons for a bit of celebrations. Thank you everyone who have helped me making this project what it is today, I couldn't have done it alone!

First out in the celebrations are an update to the "Classic Map" I did a few years ago. It is a version of my Flanaess map that has only the information that was on the original Darlene map, plus the heraldry from the booklets on top of my terrain.  This version has the updated terrain and are 36x48 inches plus bleed ready to be printed. Town and cities labels are enlarged to be easier to read.

You can grab the map in full resolution JPG here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vc04f910tgf48s0/576%20Classic%20-5_36x48%20inches.jpg?dl=0

PDF version here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uhn87ogyki5xadb/576%20Classic%20-5.pdf?dl=0

And a 4000px JP version here that is more manageable for non printing uses:   
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8akmlua2jfne38k/576%20Classic%20-5_4000px.jpg?dl=0

More news is coming soon!