More fine work Kyle! Thanks for featuring our Fallen map here :)

Your channel is so underrated man. I especially love the "building better" series. I'm glad to have been here before you make it big.

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoy it! I am planning on getting back to that series this summer, when I have more time for research!!

@thehermitthetower1126

2 жыл бұрын

@@mapcrow your owlbear killed it

@nelly5954

2 жыл бұрын

@@thehermitthetower1126 *in a good way

in many of the games I've played, travelling from one place to another isn't a big task, everyone just agrees "let's go here". so for me, these more feature rich maps which focus more on making locations looks interesting would be better for an overworld. then say the party gets attacked by bandits on the way, we bust out the top-down tactical map

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, you gotta find the map that matches the style that your table most enjoys!!

AMAZING map! Playing with the perspective looks so fun!

Well... to be honest your video on Jayquaing a dungeon got recommended me out of the blue (it has been over 2 months since I stumbled on the topic on Alexandrian) and I loved your take on the subject. Since makings maps is kind of my weak point I decided to follow you, since until I get better there is only 3 things to do, study, absorb from people that I think that do better than me, and practice.

Literally on Friday I was showing some friends this channel because of how great the thumbnail design is, and we were all in collective agreement: the red thumbnails were way better. And now here days later we’re getting a new red thumbnail!

The map is gorgeous, like a miniature

I've only recently found this channel but it's been super helpful! I struggle with maps in games- but now I mix and match, where I use isometric maps for combat arenas and small hubs (to give a sense of verticality) birds eye view for interiors or city maps. I'll have to give this a try

Found you through the Jaquaying the dungeon video, and I watched some of your other videos and they’ve been really helpful and easy to listen to.

Bro how r u not a way bigger channel yet. And trust me ull blow up soon and ull be thanking everyone for 100,000

That City map has so much "character" I can instantly get a feel of what it is. The perspective being off is just adding to it (because man did people in the olden days not understand perspective) I also like the "hill overlooking the town" perspective" this means there is an "in context" clue that the player's could be standing on top of the hill and getting a feel for the city. What do you see when you look out over a town like that? You see the character, the landmarks, and the shape. You don't see individual houses, other than the shape they make. Too many tools that are made to help you make maps etc, I feel are too "static" too "mechanical" nothing beats a well drawn map... not that I am good at doing that though :P

Seeing a lot of comments on this, but your channel is criminally underrated. You have such an elucidating perspective on map design, game design and how aesthetics play into storytelling, not to mention you’re an incredible illustrator. I left some comments on other DnD channels referring them to you, but really just keep up the good work man.

@Sales-n-Dungeons

2 жыл бұрын

Totally agree!

Your shapes of adventures video got recommended to me while watching the space jammer trailer on the official DND channel. Your channel gets my visual brain so hyped to create DND content!

This is incredible. Can’t wait to see more

I love how accessible you make this kind of art, thanks a lot!

What a woefully underappreciated channel. Your art is gorgeous and your insights are valuable.

Recently subscribed, your channel's been my favorite for the last couple weeks. Got so much inspiration from your content, thank you for this great work!

Grate video! What you said about maps as an add to theatre of the mind and being more about being evocative is 100% the way I like to use maps running games.

Love the style of map and your always explaining it very well. Glad the channel is getting respect it deserves.

This video inspired me to begin drawing and working on my next game that I want to start and I am thankful for your work!

Congrats on the channel growth! I have always nerded out over maps, going as far back as books and board games from before I could read. Your artwork is splendidly detailed and clean. Plus your presentation style is welcoming and informative. I look forward to seeing where the channel goes from here.

I love this channel! Thank you so much for this gift, I have Been struggling with making VTT maps for my old school/new school hybrid campaigns and I cannot wrap my head around the near constant use of fully illustrated X:Y tactical maps. I feel like they leave very little up to the imagination and your style here vibes so much better with my GM style. I Cannot thank you enough.

Earlier this week I came across one of your videos and found out you have some very cool things to say about maps. I'm glad 9k others did the same! I don't remember which video it was first, but I really enjoyed your "gameable spaces" video!

You've got some very lucky friends/players. That map & the mindset behind it are both truly awesome!

I love all your videos and theyve been helping me so much with my current homebrew

I stumbled upon your channel because of the algorithm, but I must say your red thumbnails are what really made them stand out amongst the firehose of content youtube sprays constantly. I often listen to your videos as inspiration while planning my own campaigns, so thanks for putting them out there! Keep up the great work!

Great art, really nice voice and a really good balance of fun and knowledge, I'll be honest, I'm surprised you only have 12000 subscribers at the moment, without a doubt it will keep growing more and more in no time. Best of luck!

That is so beautiful. I also love that it's not meant to be accurate, but to capture the imagination. I really liked the video on the overworld hex map. Way cooler, and more fun to make. I look forward to trying to create something like these as well.

Congrats on the sudden growth; it's well-earned!

As always Kyle, a great video.

As one of the algorithm's more recent chosen ones, I am very thankful to have stumbled across this channel. Top tier in every respect.

Happy to be one of your new subscribers since the last video. This video is the one I was hoping you would make the whole time I have been watching your backlog.

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!! I hope you get some useful thoughts out of this, these questions kept coming up in the comments over the last week! Haha!

Your channel has been my best find of the year since I found it a few weeks ago. The thing I appreciate most is all the thought you put into each aspect of your rationale beforehand. It makes your work rich in both a narrative and artistic sense. Now that I'm not drowning in finals anymore, I'm really looking forward to trying out some of your game design suggestions in a few games over the summer. Incredible work dude, I'm beyond impressed so far.

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Wow, thank you! Cheers!!

glad you got blessed by the algorithm gods! I asked this very question after discovering you over this last week and binging your content. I appreciate the video, answered my questions well; Art as an imagination and gm descriptive AID.

WOW I just subscribed and then you put out a new video :) Love your stuff, it's helped me out so much!

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

So happy to help!! Thanks for watching!!

Your huge growth is well deserved. I hope the algorithm continues to blow you up, you've certainly put in the effort and quality to deserve it!

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

I hope so too! Thanks for watching!!

The brazilian media is realy hard to found some good RPG material, thats a pity, but is just make a search and i found this channel that has so much quality, thats why you have one more subscriber

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Some cool Brazilian RPG folks: Diogo Nogueira, from Oldskull Publishing; Alex Damaceno (@GnarledMonster on twitter); Salvaterra (@fersalvaterra on twitter)

@christopherzamora6729

2 жыл бұрын

@@mapcrow thanks :)

I just love everything about your Channel!

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!!

These have been an inspiration to start making my own maps. Starting from scratch though.

Woah, I just discovered this channel like fifteen minutes ago, and you're just now putting out a new video! The yt algorithm decided to show me your "shapes of adventures" video and I really wanted to see more of your stuff.

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching!!

I hope it will go exponentially from here. You have both lots of things to show and say!

Well, you've got a nice voice and many people need/like the advice You're great! Keep going...

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!

This is my favorite map from you!

I found your channel a couple of weeks ago. I've watched almost all your videos since! Great stuff!

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@recursivecoin359

2 жыл бұрын

@@mapcrow I've been playing and drawing for decades. Always toyed with publishing stuff... but never honed in on exactly where to focus.

Have you ever thought of doing merch? You got some really awesome art skills and I’d be stoked on a hoodie with one of these maps on the back of it!

Woah! Holy shit, last time I watched your videos you only had 3k subs, congrats!!!

just discovered your stuff, its amazing

My first experience really looking at maps differently was when I played Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Many people still don’t know this, but you could actually see the map of Ashina and it’s neighboring locations! However, this map was not top down, isometric, or correctly scaled at all. The map wanted you to see context, flavor, and and a rough relative location. I have decided all my maps will serve the specific purposes of sparking interest in specific locales and giving rough directional information about locations. Building, town, and city blueprints might be laid out more isometrically and with more accurate measurements… But regional maps will always put necessary information first. Roads, points of interest, and a rough layout.

your channel rules, i'm getting back into illustration because of you

Found your videos a couple of weeks ago, really love the content, has been helping me get a feel for my own mapmaking and many of my techniques rn are just straight rip offs of yours(sorry eventually they’ll change enough to be my own.) Really hope you keep making these videos they’ve been extremely helpful for me running my first D&D campaign in a long time.

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Ha! If I didn't want people to try out things I'm telling them, I wouldn't make these videos! Cheers!!

First! Love the videos man keep up the great work!

I can't seem to find it, but some time ago I did see a video about a guy who put isometric maps into a VTT, and it looked amazing. You just need the "dynamic lighting" tool. Or, reveal things by hand. So it can be done. In fact some things I think isometric maps are better suited to "hide" like a pit trap. on a 2D map it's hidden "on the map" so I would have to cover it up, or add in a piece to reveal. On an isometric map it's "on it's own layer" and I could just reveal that part of the VTT to the players once the trap is sprung. I think the key is to hide the information until it's needed. When playing in person though, how often do you just plop the whole 2D map down? I have never seen that done. We trace it over to the battlemap etc. In which case the isometric map is equally as good. The only difference is: The isometric map is way way better at conveying look and feel through art, rather than words.

I love your channel and your maps, and it has inspired me to pick up my ink pens and make some cool maps! I very much run my sessions "theatre of the mind". The maps that I make are showing choices, not necessarily to be used 1-1 for tactics. I love this idea of packing maps with interesting little details that inspire players to ask questions and be curious about the environment their characters are in. I don't know how old you are, but your style very much reminds me of Mark from Second City that was drawing that giant sci-fi city, and he would give tips and tricks for drawing, shading and other cartooning/ink drawing techniques. Edited to add: it was Secret City, here is an article - en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_City_Adventures

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I absolutely watched Secret City! I was absolutely a member of the Draw Squad and watched the 7 secrets of drawing over and over!! Great stuff!!

This channel is so dope :)

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!!

Hey Kyle I’ve been digging your videos and I appreciate your approach to how we can use artwork to tell stories. Have you come across folks who build maps centered around the characters perception of the landscape? Something along the lines of how the physical landscape would change depending on the mood or emotion of the character, or creatures and/or hidden rooms are revealed when the character changes how they perceive the area. Welp! This question got a it long so I’ll stop. I’m very glad I found your channel! Cheers!

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks!! Yeah, I’ve never heard of that. I feel like that would best be done with a collective mapping game, like Quite Year or Companion’s Tale. It’s kinda a lot to draw detailed maps just the one time. Haha

I am really into what you said about scale - I am tired of those perfect scaled and rendered maps, they look cool but I find them often boring and meh. Your maps are fun, its fun to explore, they look so pleasing and I would freak out and give my fantasy a nitro boost playing with a map like yours. SO! Thank you for the inspiration and give me the confidence to just do it! :)

your maps make me think of dael kingsmills vage and evotive way of talking about D&D you maps tell storys and thats so cool

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Dael Kingsmill is one of my favs! I frequently think about ways to make things "vague and evocative"

I got randomly recommended my teacher’s KZread channel

I have no artistic skills at all (drawing a straight line is a challenge) but when I "draw" a map for players I usually show destinations and main landmarks connected by paths. They are not for navigation, just for reference, players go there narratively anyway. It's much better to show some art of location then point on the map labeled "city of green forest" or something imo.

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Strongly agree!!

You're blowing up, bro!

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks!! What a wild ride huh??

Your content is pretty good.

Love your channel, love your art, and indeed discovered you with your last video. It was especially helpful to me for painting miniatures and coloring my drawings. Do you thing the foam grip would be helpful for an occasional drawer like me ? And do you only use one size of ink pen, or do you usually rely on several ? I have to say, you've become a source of inspiration to me. Thank you!

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Awesome! Thank you! The foam grip really just help relieve hand strain because I'll be drawing for hours at a time. You might have a different need than I do!

I love your pencil grips!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The comment about wanting your maps to *not* be a replacement for imagination kind of struck a cord with me, but in a strange way? I have Aphantasia, which is a neurological thing where you physically are unable to imagine things. So for players / DMs like me, things like this map, minis, etc. are basically necessary for play, otherwise im just sitting there looking at a piece of paper and rolling dice and that's it. That's why I like having super detailed maps and the like, because theater of the mind is basically unplayable. Main reason I'm sharing is that people don't really think about aphantasia, especially in the rpg community, but it's worth acknowledging. Regardless, I love all of the things you discuss and how you go about your design process!

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing. Would something like Talespire help? It is a 3D modeled virtual table top. I am obviously in favor of visual aids, I am just acknowledging the fact that there is only so much that a static image can do.

I'm super interested in this concept of using isometric maps but I'm having some trouble thinking how to represent some aspects of it during the gameplay. For example, there was a map of yours with something like a wooden tower, where archers could climb some stairs and get a whole new range. But there is also the floor behind that tower, where characters can engage in battle. What if there is overlap between a character on the floor and someone climbing the stairs? Is there a standard way to represent this? I would really like to play with these maps and explore all its richness, but I still have some technical difficulties that don't seem to have a straight answer...

Doood, I loooove your stuff. Just found you a few weeks ago and I've watched all your videos. I love the insights and unique views you have. I loved your video on Goblins and the aspect of being sensitive to inert discrimination. I'm always of the view that the aggressor has their own story, the defender has their own story and somewhere in there is the real story, so to just paint a whole creature group as evil seems very heavy handed. It is fantastic to have someone put many of the thoughts I have on the topic into words. It's been fun subverting my player's expectations and to introduce friendly NPCs with an "evil" race into camapigns which primarily focus on routing out a group of "evil" creatures. It's made the game richer and way more fun. I also love the maps. I love to have evocative pictures/maps of certain locations to inspire a certain image in the player's mind. It really helps to set the mood and provides material for the players to roleplay and really get immersed in their chatracters and the fame world resulting in everyone having way more fun. Keep up the good work buddy.

Is this just standard tracing paper, you're using? Love the channel!

@mapcrow

4 ай бұрын

I have printed the blue lines from my pencils onto Bristol board, which is a heavier pound card stock. I think I have a link in the description.

does anyone know what you would describe his typical art style as? not necessarily it usually being isometric, just the art itself. i want to try to find some tutorials, but i don't know what words to feed google.

Woooo

I’d love more building better vids, those are my faves!

Watching your videos I've noted those "foam support thingys" and got curious, they're handmade by you? They're a common item to buy (if so do you links please)? They're good? Wanna try, never saw or heard about those.

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

They are mentioned in the description at the bottom.

@herbertwilliam3348

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you, I'll definitely give'em a shot.

Do you think there might be some way for you to create visual maps for plot hooks and story? How might you visualize a sessions notes?

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

That’s a wild question… I’ll have to think about that!!

@Inanedata

2 жыл бұрын

@@mapcrow Totally! I'd be curious to know if you come up with anything for either question.

What is the purpose of this red tube on your pen? ;)

Comments are good for the KZread algorithm.

I had just asked this, lmao

Im new here im not subbed yet but i am thinking about it

When you pass 10k subscribers brands start to make business with you. I've check those foam grips and it's definitely a possibility for you to contact them or at least put an afiliate link in the description (You've mentioned but not linked), If you have a 0.5% sells convertion (a conservative rate) with 10.000 subscribers that means fifty people bought through your link. Could be some fancy art material or a sushi, or a cofee (I don't know your mojo) in your table making you a little happier. Just an idea.

I found you like 5 days ago lol

God I hope you do actual play sometime

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

Ha! I just recorded on my podcast today! I definitely want to do more! Plus I got some solo game actual plays on my channel here too!

Carrot Pen glorious glorious thicc Carrot Pen

I do think that fantasy world and regional maps should be inaccurate intentionally. Maps prior to the 18th century were inaccurate, spaces left empty, distances wrong, pictures of towns made up of the outlines of important buildings. They gave you a sense of where something is to guide you there not a grid location to get you there. I like to recreate that in the maps I use for D&D. Yours are significantly prettier than mine though

I enjoy your content but enjoy it even more because you voice sounds a lot like Jello Biafra.

pls make an instagram account, i would love to see some aesthetic drawing pics

You're cool kyle but please don't disable comments on your video!

@mapcrow

2 жыл бұрын

When the comments become a lightning rod for hate speech, I will disable comments.

@christomanci

2 жыл бұрын

@@mapcrow honestly dont remember what video I was commenting about. but thats a fair point.