Custom map design, copywriting/editing, illustration, worldbuilding, and publication layout for an atlas compiling lore from “Aviridia,” one region in my own fantasy game setting of Nua. This project took a long time—I began assembling it in early 2021 from maps made for my own table-top role-playing sessions which went back at least a year before—but doesn’t every passion project with one person doing all the things take a long time? Because I did all the things for this book.

Much like when I self-published a novel in 2012, I wrote and edited the copy, and designed the cover and layout (play-by-play details on the updated project announcement post). Beyond that, I created several new maps to go with existing maps from 2020-2021 (such as those for The Game Board poster) in my unique found-texture fantasy map style. I also created all the illustrations—sometimes as original work, sometimes based on creative-commons or purchased vectors and templates, and sometimes based on images generated by software like G.Projector and Midjourney.

I didn’t go to all this trouble for a passion project, though (as personally and creatively fulfilling as that is); I did it to showcase my skills and have it ideally be a stepping stone to more similar work for other TTRPG creators or game studios. That may or may not happen, but if it doesn’t, I’ve still got this thing to foster more game sessions and probably further companion volumes in the future. For now, there will be a digital PDF release of Volume 1 via DriveThruRPG in October 2022, and hopefully a print-on-demand version before the year ends.

Digital: 164-page 8.5×11 high-resolution PDF.

Print: 160-page (plus cover) full-color perfect-bound hardcover book