Heroic Maps is a small family business which commenced producing maps in 2013.
Like many game creatives the founders of Heroic Maps founders (Joe and Sarah) map making was a secondary business but in 2018 they achieved their dream of becoming full-time map makers who now serve customers through DrivThruRPG and a Heroic Maps Patreon account. At the time of review Heroic Maps has more than 700 supporters paying USD$5 or more.
Heroic maps focus is largely for fantasy with dungeons and adventure location maps for tabletop role-playing games. However, at least once a month they produce a map suitable for science fiction fans, and from time to time a map suitable for modern gameplay.
Heroic maps produces at resolution which enables the maps to be printed at a high enough resolution for with 25mm – 30mm miniature play. Ffiles are also provided at 140px resolution for those who are fans of virtual table tops (VTT). In both cases files are provided both with and without grids.
Map sizes when printed range from 20″ x 20″ in size to 50″ x 50″ in size which is more than large enough to cover a good sized kitchen table for gameplay. From time to time Heroic Maps teams make tile sets which a game master can clip together in photo editing software such as Affinity Photo to make a larger and more customer map.
Tiled maps include outdoor and indoor option. In some cases the tiles don’t align perfectly but it is close enough in most instances where they don’t perfectly align a few seconds with Affinity Photo’s inpainting tool hides the joins perfectly.
The range of maps available is excellent – ranging from forests, swamps, mountains, to large buildings, cities, and of course dungeons. As a virtual tabletop gamer I do find myself wanting their maps to seamless join up with their tile sets (such as their hinterland series) but this would be a trade-off against artistic freedom.
One hallmark of the art style is the quality of the stone work whether walls or floors.
This can likely be attributed to Joe being a trained geologist.
Oh! and the maps are all produced using a mouse with no tablet in sight (it bends my mind that someone is that persistent with a mouse).
If you are interested the cheapest way to obtain them is through the Heroic Maps Patreon with backers receiving about 7 maps a month for USD$5. In addtion Patreon supporters are provided with higher discounts to maps on DriveThruRPG (usually at least once a map).
Our favourite maps is the turtle with a village on its back going through the sea.
