D&D General Mike Schley, WotC Cartographer, discovers a treasure trove of official 3.5 and 4e maps!

[darjr]

He’s posted a list.

Here's a list of the newly recovered D&D map master files I'm busy prepping for release. These should include all the maps for each title.

New 3.5 & 4E "classics" to be released soon:

Barrow of the Forgotten King
Cityscape
Complete Champion
Complete Mage
Complete Scoundrel
Dragon Magic
Dragons of Eberron
Dungeon Masters Guide; 4E
Dungeonscape
Elder Evils
Expedition to the Demonweb Pits
Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk; Online Extras
Fiendish Codex
Magic of Incarnum
Map a Week
Monster Manual 4
Player's Handbook 2
Pyramid of Shadows
Races of the Dragon
Scourge of the HowlingHorde
Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde
Thunderspire Labyrinth
Weapons of Legacy

Dungeon Magazine 151; Hell’s Heart
Dungeon Magazine 152; Last Breaths of Ashenport
Dungeon Magazine 152; Moagim’s Clone
Dungeon Magazine 153; Brooding Dragon
Dungeon Magazine 153; Witching Season
Dungeon Magazine 154; Brink of Madness
Dungeon Magazine 154; Depths of Madness
Dungeon Magazine 155; Ashenport Update
Dungeon Magazine 155; Rescue at Rivenroar
Dragon 360; Fortress of the Yuan-Ti

 

[LordEntrails]

Damned, this is more of a celebration of 50 years of D&D than WotC has done so far!

 

[Stormonu]

I’m sure he knows what he is doing, but I would have thought those maps had been “work for hire” and would be owned by WotC. Is he going to be selling copies or just making them available on the web (possibly for use in VTT’s)?

 

[darjr]

Update

Free classic D&D maps!

I've begun releasing the hidden hoard of official 3.5 & 4.0 D&D adventure maps for free that I created, lost, and recently discovered! These first two are from an online bonus expansion to ‘Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk’. You can find hi-res DM and unlabeled player versions here - prints.mikeschley.com/p750943217

For immediate access to the files just click a gallery thumbnail of your choice and download the map or scroll over the art & select download from the pop-up tab. A ton more are coming soon so keep an eye out.

Next up: My 20 original adventure maps from the 4E adventure Thunderspire Labyrinth!

#DnD #rpg #fantasy #art #illustration #roleplayinggames #dungeonsanddragons #bookarts #gameart #fantasymap #fantasyart #cartographyart #gamedesign #cartography #rpgmap #map #ttrpg #tabletoprpg #tabletopgames #tabletopcommunity

 

[jayoungr]

Mike Schley is probably my favorite "official" D&D mapmaker. I'm looking forward to this!

 

[timbannock]

I’m sure he knows what he is doing, but I would have thought those maps had been “work for hire” and would be owned by WotC. Is he going to be selling copies or just making them available on the web (possibly for use in VTT’s)?

Considering his status, he's probably one of the few cartographers who could have either (1) kept certain rights to his works from the outset, or (2) worked out a deal with Wizards to do so recently in his career. He was pretty much THE map guy for 2-3 decades now.

Just conjecture on my part. Given how many official already-printed maps he's been selling on his site (and in so many variations), I can only guess he's got carte blanche to do as he will.

 

[jayoungr]

Mike has sold his maps for comparatively recent WotC modules such as Curse of Strahd and Princes of the Apocalypse on his own website, so he must have an appropriate rights agreement to do that.

 

[delericho]

Quite a few of the artists seem to do that - Jared Blando is another example I can think of.

I'm torn about this: is it awesome that these are available, or shocking that 3e and 4e are now so old as to be considered "classic"?

 

[Yora]

I’m sure he knows what he is doing, but I would have thought those maps had been “work for hire” and would be owned by WotC. Is he going to be selling copies or just making them available on the web (possibly for use in VTT’s)?

In that case, WotC might be paying for many more maps than they actually use.

I can see a company making a contract that they only buy the works that they will commercially use.

It's when they get the right but only have to pay the contractor if they put the work into a product that you have a really crappy contract.

Quite a few of the artists seem to do that - Jared Blando is another example I can think of.

I'm torn about this: is it awesome that these are available, or shocking that 3e and 4e are now so old as to be considered "classic"?

Hey, the 3rd edition 25th anniversary is just two more years away.

It released two years after Baldur's Gate, Metal Gear Solid, Thief, Half-Life, and StarCraft. It's practically retro-gaming now.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Hey, the 3rd edition 25th anniversary is just two more years away.

And now I feel old.

Still very nostalgic about the pre-5e days of WotC D&D (despite having grown up with TSR), so this is pretty exciting news. In these grim days of Hasbro-WotC it's nice to be reminded that WotC was once that little tiny company I sent $5 to to help with their legal issues with Palladium and the Primal Order books.