Alarm bells being rung by Maureen Johnson on AI and the Big Publishers

A large crack in the wood of this massive, ancient tree leads to a crumbling hollow. Inside strange spiny plants and mushrooms grow around and up the bark, creating a natural staircase, while the wet dirt and slippery rocks fall into a shady hole leading to the Underdark. 

 → Find it on my Patreon

Thank you for taking a look and be sure to check out the Patreon to see a preview of whole the set, which comes with 16 variations!

A note to all creatives:

Right now, you have to be a team player. You cannot complain about AI being used to fuck over your industry and then turn around and use it on somebody else’s industry.

No AI book covers. No making funny little videos using deepfakes to make an actor say stuff they never did. No AI translation of your book. No AI audiobooks. No AI generated moodboards or fancasts or any of that shit. No feeding someone else’s unfinished work into Chat GPT “because you just want to know how it ends*” (what the fuck is wrong with you?). No playing around with AI generated 3D assets you can’t ascertain the origin of. None of it. And stop using AI filters on your selfies or ESPECIALLY using AI on somebody else’s photo or artwork.

We are at a crossroad and at a time of historically shitty conditions for working artists across ALL creative fields, and we gotta stick together. And you know what? Not only is standing up for other artists against exploitation and theft the morally correct thing to do, it’s also the professionally smartest thing to do, too. Because the corporations will fuck you over too, and then they do it’s your peers that will hold you up. And we have a long memory.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking “your peers” are only the people in your own industry. Writers can’t succeed without artists, editors, translators, etc making their books a reality. Illustrators depend on writers and editors for work. Video creators co-exist with voice actors and animators and people who do 3D rendering etc. If you piss off everyone else but the ones who do the exact same job you do, congratulations! You’ve just sunk your career.

Always remember: the artists who succeed in this career path, the ones who get hired or are sought after for commissions or collaboration, they aren’t the super talented “fuck you I got mine” types. They’re the one who show up to do the work and are easy to get along with.

And they especially are not scabs.

*that’s not even how it ends that’s a statistically likely and creatively boring way for it to end. Why would you even want to read that.

Deep in the jungle, hidden under dripping vines and flowering leaves, is a massive sinkhole that waits to swallow unwary travelers. The roar of a waterfall is the only warning the jungle gives, before the ground suddenly drops away beneath the ferns and flytraps. It's a long drop from there into a pitch dark pit, with caves hollowed out by swirling waters. 

 → Find it on my Patreon

Thank you for taking a look and be sure to check out the Patreon to see a preview of whole the set, which comes with 4 levels and 20 variations!

Here's a fun little garden I made, inspired by ancient Greece. 

There's a gazebo with a large statue of a winged lion in the center, surrounded by a dark pool, a little garden with marble busts and lots of columns for shade, and sneak attacks! Also, beware the swans. I'm told they're evil. 

 → Find it on my Patreon

Thank you for taking a look and be sure to check out the Patreon to see a preview of whole the set, which comes with 16 variations!

Most of the woods are filled with old logs, falling leaves and changing foliage but in the center of particular grove stands a tree made of entirely of water. Clear as a summer river it ripples up from the ground and spreads into a mass of liquid bubbles, with coral and fish swimming inside. 

Perhaps this is the home of Naiad, or an attraction in the circus, or a dark reservoir for dangerous fey. There's many possibilities!

 → Find it on my Patreon

Thank you for taking a look and be sure to check out the Patreon to see a preview of whole the set, which comes with 16 variations!

The Astral Spider's lair is threaded through a belt of asteroids, like so much gossamer. Sticky, glowing strands hold the drifting rocks together in an ever shifting web; catching solar dust, ships and lost celestials. A colony of spiders lurk within the hollow, chewed out rocks, waiting for their next meal.

 → Find it on my Patreon

Thank you for taking a look and be sure to check out the Patreon to see a preview of whole the set, which comes with 18 variations!

A new Feywild map set. This throne of roses is guarded by walls of thorny briars. At the top of a tower of roses the Red Queen waits, and plots, and sometimes may agree to an audience.

 → Find it on my Patreon

Thank you for taking a look and be sure to check out the Patreon to see a preview of whole the set, which comes with 14 variations!

Here's the newest undersea map set. A wild reef with sponges, fronds and spiky coral to explore!

 → Find it on my Patreon

Thank you for taking a look and be sure to check out the Patreon to see the whole the set, which comes with 14 variations! Including a mysterious Power Plinth, and a Merfolk Tavern!

Tropical Tower - Level 1

I’m so excited I finally get to share this. I’ve been working on this tower for awhile, as a bit of personal passion project, and it's become quite dear to my heart.

This is the first level in a multi-floor map set of a large tower with a tropical arboretum inside.

 → Find it on my Patreon

Welcome to the eternal summer of the Feywild! This map set features a fairy bridge made entirely of flowers which may, or may not, be stable. Depending on how kind your DM is. Hee, hee, hee.

 → Find it on my Patreon

Thank you for taking a look and be sure to check out the Patreon where you can get a peak at the full set.

There are 18 variations in this set, which include different bridges and river dangers, and of course an option with the bridge on fire. Because let's face it, players burning the scene to the ground is almost inevitable.

... Or maybe my players are just delightful little pyros... Hmmm.

OGL 1.1 not only threatens the creative work of countless homebrewers but this wonderfully vibrant community we all built together as a whole. If you are passionate about DnD like I am, please take the time to read and sign this open letter: https://opendnd.games

far below the waves a massive spiral shell in a bed of coral gleams across a trench, like a beacon in the deep. Your party might take a rest here, but make sure nothing else already calls it home!

 → Find it on my Patreon

Thank you very much for taking a look and be sure to check out the Lost Acumen Patreon where you can pledge for the gridless version, alternate variations and join the discord for a peak at upcoming releases. 

Many of my maps can also be bought directly through Roll20's Marketplace! 

 → Find it on Roll20's Marketplace

Hot, dusty and dry. The Desert leeches water from travelers, leaving them parched and weak. Can your party crawl through the sands and make their way past the mountains? And If they do will they find the water they so desperately need? (Assuming no-one took the Create Water spell that is)

 → Find it on my Patreon

Thank you very much for taking a look and be sure to check out my Patreon where you can pledge for the gridless version, alternate variations and join the Patreon discord for game talk and a peak at the art process. 

Many of my maps can also be bought directly through Roll20's Marketplace! 

 → Find it on Roll20's Marketplace

A dark pit ringed with old bones and skeletons, and surrounded by dark water leads into the Underworld. Any adventurer brave enough or foolhardy enough to seek passage into the land of the dead must first fight their way past the Guardian of the Well.

Watch out for those tentacles!  

 → Find it on my Patreon

Thank you very much for taking a look and be sure to check out the Patreon where you can pledge for the gridless version, alternate variations and join the discord for game talk and a peak at current works in progress.

Many of my maps can also be bought directly through Roll20's Marketplace! 

 → Find it on Roll20's Marketplace

Jungle River [24x44]

The air is hot and wet. The ground is by turns muddy and full of sand that drags at your ankles. Steam rises off the jungle in the early morning, carrying the sweet smell of Orchids and Waterlilies. You’ve marched for days, but finally reached the bank of the Great River. The shadowed canopy of trees opens up and you can see the sky, but also the churning waters before you; dark and deep and as full of danger as the jungle at your back.

 → Find it on my Patreon

Thank you very much for taking a look and be sure to check out my Patreon where you can pledge for the gridless version, and alternate variations. 

This map set can also be bought directly through Roll20's Marketplace! 

 → Find it on Roll20's Marketplace

Dinosaur Bathhouse Interior

A massive stone building sits below a roaring waterfall. The jungle treetops form a dense green canopy that stretches into the distance, while a steady breeze carries the smell of minerals from the hot springs. The rain is heavy, and it may be wet and dreary outside, but within the bath house the lamps are lit and the steam is warm. Come in, and sit a spell.

 → Find it on my Patreon

This map set was made in collaboration with Tomesmith Press and comes with a cute little mini adventure and dinosaur NPC tokens, on the Lost Acumen Patreon!

You can pledge for the adventure and all the usually rewards! gridless version, alternate variations and join the Patreon discord for game talk and a peak at the process of current projects. 

The map set (minus the written adventure) can also be bought directly through Roll20's Marketplace! 

 → Find it on Roll20's Marketplace