VTT Maps Review

I'm sorry to hear that Christian but I also completely understand. If it makes the financial burden any easier, it is possible to set a limit on monthly payments, so you're only paying $10 in total and not $10 x 4.

Cze and Peku

Dang. I am really sad that I missed this poll, but in case my response helps, I am in the $10 tier and use the VTT maps almost exclusively. Your stuff is THE BEST and it's worth my ten bucks every month.

Jordan Lyndell-Lees

This poll needs an option for "I would stop supporting the Patreon all together if VTT was moved to the $10 tier". I joined specifically for VTT maps, but $10 is too much.

Christian

I've joined the 10$ Tier not too long ago for your awesome animated maps and wished there were already more of them in repertoire ^^. I also use the VTT maps and appreciate the time savings for the particular maps I pick for my rounds and change them, if needed, to my liking. I hope for the most wanted changes in naming convention as so many other ppl around here :)! But I'm also sad that you decided to not release an master module for all to make things easier to maintain and get. I mean, I understand your desicion, really. But sad none the less. Maybe you should really hire a person to maintain your packs? Most of us have also an tight shedule in our live. And especiallay my freetime is the most worthy in my live. Unesessary clutter in my organization or preperations for the most wonderful time is not my favorite :P. Just an sincere objection. I think you'll make the right decision for your buis. I really appriciate your talent and wonderful art! I'm impressed how much devotion goes into the details and variety of your maps. So in this matter please keep it up!

Relthor

Any decision on the Foundry content isn't going to affect the base .jpg maps we give out. Those are staying at the $5 tier.

Cze and Peku

I would not upgrade to $10, I don't use Animated battle maps, Foundry or EncounterPlus. I want all the maps/variations for $5 and I will take care of walls and lighting in FantasyGroundsUnity.

Tosari

I was already subscribed to the $10 tier because of the obvious value even though Foundry brought me here.

HaroldHogmen

I use Roll20.

Rob O

You will be able to! The JPG files won't be changing at all. We're happy having all the battlemaps at the $5 tier. This is just about the extra time and expense for the Foundry maps.

Cze and Peku

I personaly would change to the 10$ tier but would change the amount of creations supported. I would rather wait for fvtt maps. If the maps would go to forge I personally wouldn't be happy about it since I usually don't pick them up every month but rather whenever I need a specific one I download all that "missed".

Sebastian Tenezill

To clarify - I use your maps for VTT, but not Foundry. I am an Astral GM and even though they have an exceptional dynamic lighting system, I never bother with it. Static maps all the way for me, thanks.

Sean Patrick Fannon

As long as I can stay at the $5 rank and still be able to plug the maps into Roll20 I'm happy.

Lucas Becker

I love all the work you do and as someone who is playing on Foundry VTT, I love using the premade stuff you do so that I can just jump into getting npc's and loot done instead of having to meticulously fuss over the walls and doors.

Joshua Cheshire

I agree with many other comments, as a foundry GM, I typically do my own walls and lighting for your static maps. Usually the process take no more than 10 minutes a map, and I use custom modules to enhance the experience for my players. I don't see the bump to $10 as a worth while approach, unless you you would be able to double your performance so to speak and release VTT maps twice as fast as before.

Andrewx8 88

I almost always modify everybody's VTT lighting and walls because it usually isn't completed to the degree of quality I can implement. So if it disappeared from the lower tier it wouldn't affect me much. It's not why I joined. Also, the issue is more complex than I fear you realize. Not everybody upgrades FVTT immediately for many reasons. So, there can be an issue of compatibility in BOTH directions, I'm afraid. To that end, if you *do* go through the hassle of updating, you should still make the older versions available, which further complicates bookkeeping.

Ryan Rogers

I haven't been using VTT maps but would expect them to be in the $10 tier

I believe it's the maps with the dynamic lighting set up already.

zsilverfox

I really like the VTT versions of the maps.

Just to clarify - do you mean the VTT maps with the dynamic lighting already set up for them would be at the higher tier? Then the regular maps which can easily also be used for VTT(but we may need to set up lighting if we want it) would be at the other price point?

monosyllabicmonk

To chime in, I personally started supporting specifically for a couple of older Foundry VTT maps. If they weren't available through Patreon I would not have joined in the first place, or even bought them in the Forge Bazaar. This to say, if the old maps were not available, the deal is a lot less enticing, but the 10$ per map pack is also rather steep. At that point I would personally probably buy the maps through the Forge Bazaar instead. I do appreciate that Foundry really sucks as a publishing format, it is not creator-friendly with its update cycle. As an unhelpful general observation, you seem to have a classic high mix -issue: you produce a wide selection of goods, all the different maps, their variations and different VTT support options, while the typical customer personally only needs one variant of a couple of maps per month. Thus most of the work you do will not be useful for a specific customer, leading to the Dine&Dash issues. I don't really have a solution for this, but it is an interesting example of a classic Industrial Engineering issue. My apologies for this digression.

Joonas

personally i would switch to $10 for the vtt maps no question, & one reason i sub to your page specifically is that there’s very few creators designing for encounterplus, which is my preferred program! i would sub even without that though to be honest because your maps are beautiful

I use arkenforge VTT rather than Foundry so haven't really done anything with the foundry stuff

Bicarb

Thank you so much for all the work you put into VTT maps. Its really helped me continue DM'ing online. Your maps are the highest quality I have seen from Patreon and I'm always super impressed. I'd pay the extra money for you all

Bri Boldon

Your maps are some of the best that I've ever seen in the community, especially once you factor in the variants. I would happily pay more to get the VTTs -- it saves me tons of time and my players are always impressed by the high quality. Thanks for the continued awesome work!

I use Foundry but I do my own lighting. With the constant updates to Foundry, I don’t know if it’s worth it to continually update them.

I have been using your VTT maps both online on Roll20 and in person at the game table, using a television on the table as a display. It has become my primary way of handling battle maps, and yours are some of the best.

Devin Brown

Another idea is you could outsource your VTT options to someone who was willing to take the risk of converting them. Let them do all the work and pay you a royalty on every VTT map they sell! Heck, I might even consider opening an online store to convert and sell EncounterPlus versions.

Malcolm Wolter

The VTT-ready maps have been an absolute lifesaver, and I'm pretty much gonna *have* to upgrade my pledge to $10 to keep up - which I'll do gladly, with the note that I may have to unpledge from at least one other patreon, or limit my pledge. I'm in Australia, so the prices are higher for me. However, I do think that if you do move the VTT content up to a higher tier, it'd be best to copy the approaches of Baileywiki et al. One module for everything is so much more convenient for us DMs who may have many different creators to cover. Baileywiki does a new link every time there's an update to stop patrons from abusing the system - you could do similar? You could also look into Patreon integration with Moulinette, which would help a lot.

Heather

Same

Dustin Hammersmith

Since switching to Foundry, the VTT ready maps have been something of a blessing. If you made them only available to the $10 tier, I would likely switch. That said, I honestly don't mind waiting even if it's a lot longer for the VTT versions to come out. Any time I need a map that doesn't yet have a foundry ready version I can still just do it myself. Also, heck I'd be willing to also assist in setting up and fixing foundry modules for you guys if it meant they didn't go up in price bracket.

FoxArris

I'm already a $10 member but I only use roll20 so... *shrug*

Sarah

One idea is to make master post just like Spellarena does, which is master module with all of the maps, which has no public manifest and cannot be updated. Simply, they just update the master module, which you need to download from patreon and upload to your FoundryVTT installation. This way paying patreons has access to all of the maps in one module, and if they unpledge, they won't get any updates. And updating is not a big hassle, just copy new module over the old one and restart FoundryVTT.

Marcin Bratek

Personally I use FG and I do not think the format you are using on these can be used in that system (I could be wrong, I have not tried to use them.) If I could use them I would pay more for them.

Chris De Santo

I use roll20 so :shrug:

Thisjus10

More that happy to pay the $10 for the extra work going into the maps, only seems fair really

Jokum Manu

I use VTT files, but not Foundry - I use roll20,so I port all your content into that - don't get the benefit of much of the work you do.

B McC

Never used Foundry before but after setting up some Roll20 maps myself I have some idea how much hassle it takes. So charge whatever you think fair share is, I’m with you on that. It has to take ungodly amount of time to sort out so many maps.

With all the other things i get from these maps from ther patreons, i'd say do it, go 10$. I will upgrade to the 10$ tier if you decide it is necessary to keep making content like this.

Frank Albers

We have specific versions for Foundry and EncounterPlus where walls and dynamic lighting are set up. That's what we were referring to. :)

Cze and Peku

I'm on the $5 tier, and seeing Foundry maps was a great boon. That being said, I'm not sure I could double my pledge for them going forward; I'd happily continue using "rough around the eges" VTT maps at $5 though, but that's just me. It's not because I dislike the maps or conversions, but I mainly use your maps for epic boss fights, rather than run-of-the-mill encounters - I use other Patreons for those, and pay for VTT maps there. Given I only use a Cze and Peku map once every month of two, doing all the Foundry stuff myself for them isn't too much extra work, if that makes sense. If I have extra budget open up, I'd possibly move up a pledge level if the maps continue to be awesome, but for where I am, I'll stick with the $5 pledge, VTT or no VTT.

I'm already on the $10 tier but honestly, I would have upped for them if I hadn't already. I recently switched to foundry hosted by forge from roll20 and they have been a godsend, especially when I've needed to change things up quickly before a session due to absence and need a filler for the main. Having a pre-lit and walled scene like the thieve's hideout city map just waiting to be pulled out can be a lifesaver. What you guys do is awesome.

Unwated Arcana

I'm stuck on Roll20, so this is a service I can't use much. I would have used it if I could have imported a ready map in Roll20, though.

Asarus

I'm at the 5$ tier but I don't currently use the VTT-ready maps; I like doing all the tweaking myself, even though it takes some time. That said, even if I used them, I do understand they take a lot of work and it would be fair to keep them for a higher tier. I love what I've seen of the animated battlemaps so far, but I don't think I can afford the tier at the moment. Maybe if I could buy animated maps individually on a marketplace, so that I could only pick what fits my campaign. In any case, I'm here because of the art quality, all the pre-made stuff is amazing but I can do without.

Farouche

I've been using roll20 and honestly didn't know that you had these preconfigured maps. Going to have to give Foundry a shot, as this could save me a lot of time.

How about just setting up walls for the VTT maps. That leaves dynamic lighting to be set up by the users. I often find myself tweaking lighting either way. The thing that provides real value for me is not having to setup walls. This has the added advantage that wall setups are identical for all variations, cutting down workload significantly.

Jens L

I have to agree with most of the comments here. Move the VTT to a higher tier, if you make a higher than 10$ that's reasonable but I can't move with it because I don't have the money. The VTT is stunning and beautiful and if I have the money I would definitely take them. I hope these demands won't be tax you so much that it affects your mental health guys. We love the normal maps and will stay even if the VTT content stops. We all appreciate your hard work and we're willing to spend our money to prove it

Kevin Ignacio

I'm guessing when you say VTT maps, you mean the animated version, because any static map can be used on any VTT, which isn't a hassle. Am I correct in that assumption?

Maxime Durocher

I am personally sick of hearing Foundry foundry foundry everywhere I go. All I care about is good maps I can use in Fantasy Grounds VTT. I can use the same maps that Foundry uses its just a pita to run converter to get the LoS and lighting. I can use Roll20 maps as well. I am content to pay what I am paying now to get simple VTT maps, tokens, assets. Things I can use.

Tosari

I personally find a lot of value in the VTT ready versions of the maps and having prepared non-VTT maps for my group's games I understand they can be a lot of work to set up. Speaking honestly, I don't think I personally can justify $10 a month, but understand how the amount of work required would make such a price hike necessary. I would probably have to content myself with being a less frequent contributor. Love the work the two of you do, and I wish you both the best in your future endeavors!

Yuu

The game I currently GM for is in roll20, and I have no interesting in doing anything with dynamic lighting with them. However, I would love to have this for the future, The MADcartographer system would be great for me, because I only see myself running oneshots in the near future, and I would love to be able to spend a couple bucks on a cool map/map pack that I could just throw monsters onto and call it a day.

I enjoy the many variations ya'll put out and I am purely a Zoom + Mural DM. I pay for the variety but have no use for the VTTs. If ya'll are worried about bumping VTTs to the $10 tier (or higher), periodically demonstrating the extra work it takes to produce those could help salve any customer gripes.

Michael Schofield (making Audio Dramas)

Just a question: Have you considered doing them with UVTT (Universal VTT) instead of doing files for multiple VTTs? Most every VTT I've ever seen, even Roll20 (with an API script) can import UVTT. It would at least mean you only had to do the conversion once.

Leticia Sparkman

I think the VTT maps are great, but since I have sunk effort into roll20 they're not as strong a draw for me? I think they're valuable, though. I just don't currently use VTT. For me they're almost more of a draw to start using VTT in the future!

Ben C

Is there an option for "I respect that the VTT maps take a ton of work, I do think they should go up a tier so they can continue to exist, but I personally might struggle to bump myself up a tier as much as I'd like to continue getting the VTT maps", because I really do think they should go up a tier but I don't know if I can go up with them. I don't want to lie on the poll and make your estimates wrong when you figure out if it's worth it.

Stark Maximum

I’m sorry you guys got that much negative feedback for the VTT maps. I can only speak for the Foundry versions, but it has been great to grab a map and drag it in (especially when the players instead of exploring one floor just go to the next one). An issue I see with hiring someone to handle conversions is that each DM prefers different ways of setting things up. Do you want players to climb up ladders or do you want more control over their movement? Invisible walls for furniture or not? A lot of tiny walls around a column/trees because it is more accurate or just an X-shape to increase performance? Personally, as long as the base walls are where there are walls in the image and there are some lights, I’m happy with the prep I saved while still using your awesome maps.

MiepMaup

If I moved to using VTT with my players I would happily pay more for the Foundry modules, but right now I use Roll20 almost exclusively for the low barrier to entry, and end up setting up the lighting myself for what I need. Actually, what I would appreciate is if you started selling your maps on Roll20 marketplace, with the dynamic lighting lines put in. I wouldn't include that in the map tier, unless it proved extremely easy to implement after a map is made, but it could be a fairly easy way to take in a little bit of extra money.

caleb knoll

As long as I can use your maps on Roll20, I'll be happy.

I use foundry and love the walls, but I came here mostly for the quality of the art. I'd happily pay more for the convenience, but I'd just as easily go without it.

I love your content and I would want you to be payed according to the amount of work you're doing. That said, I don't use Foundry, so my voice on the issue is sort of moot. I won't miss out if you decide to move those to the $10 tier.

Teddy South

The Foundry version of the maps is primarily what I joined the patreon for. It's not that I don't like the maps as images alone but the added benefit of not having to do the walls and lighting elements is the sort of thing I'm willing to join any tier to get because it saves me so much time. My setting is specific enough that honestly most of your map concepts don't fit it but I'm willing to pay for the rest for the few that do specifically bc of that benefit.

ashraven

I use Foundry and would pay for pre-walled maps. (I'm not on the Forge though.) It seems totally fair to charge more for that work! I would probably upgrade only as needed, or if possible buy the map(s) as I was ready to use them. Whatever you decide to do about Foundry, I'll be happy at the $5 tier even without that extra content.

Laura

I use static maps on roll20, and have no plans to move to Foundry based on feedback. Planning to use Let's Role ideally with an occasional animated map, but I'm truly here for your beautiful map content and variations.

Kit Ortega

Please don't get rid of VTT. I'll pay more no problem.

Tyler Heuman

First of all thank you for this post and gathering feedback on this issue! I was largely interested in the foundry maps provided in this patreon and they're why I stick around. I wouldn't mind moving up a tier to get them. That said, I did wonder if it was possible to rename the map conventions and/or make distributions of them in a bigger bundles (maybe #1-10, #11-20,# 21-30, etc) so that people don't get the bundles just to unsub. Thank you so much for bringing attention to it once again -- I am very happy with the quality of the maps and their foundry integration themselves, so I'm glad for having them.

Rainwhisker

I would go up to the $10 tier if they were in Moulinette

Austin Whipple

Your maps are amazing and I would prefer things to be as hassle free as possible because that's what I feel maximizes our experience as Patrons. The quality of y'all's work is well worth the $$$ and I think everyone will agree that it's in our best interest you don't get burnt out. I'm fine putting in extra work to make my own walls & such after y'all have put in heavy lifting of making such gorgeous maps. My players LOVE my games thanks to y'all. I can't thank you enough for leveling up visual experience I offer my table. ❤️

Ogo Sylla

The JPGs are all my group needs! The maps are still amazing without all the crazy lighting!

Tyler Brebner

Honestly, you guys are by far the best map producers I've ever seen, and I love having access to your content "on the fly" via foundry. That being said, if it's too much work to have the FVTT ready maps available, I completely understand if you want to remove support. Personally, I would pay whatever you want to charge, ESPECIALLY if it was all in one module, if there was a Mr.Primate style monthly key to keep access to the content, or a Mad Cartographer style "only get access to that months release" in a joint module style, I wouldn't mind whatever tier you put it behind.

Wick

Foundry VTT maps save me SO much time in prep. Happy to pay $10 tier for them.

+1 for Roll20. I'd pay extra for roll20 formatted content. But frankly it's easy enough to do myself as needed. I say focus on your gorgeous art!

I would use the Encounter+ versions more often, but primarily I stockpile maps until I need them. I could see it being a situation where every so often I upgrade for something specific. I bought Foundry and haven’t cared for it at all.

I run all my games through foundry now, and have had really positive feedback from my players for fully walled and lighted maps, but having spent some time trying to make my own maps and formatting them -- it's a huge job and it's no fun. I'm happy to pay more for that work because it means I get to spend more time on other prep, but will also understand if it's not something you guys can commit to. Thank you for your hard work and amazing creations!

Daniel Paquin

I joined the $10 tier specifically to ensure I got all the maps. I haven't used VTT yet, but I'm getting started with it.

Aaron Stenehjem

I joined at the $10 tier specifically for the Foundry VTT maps. I don’t have a lot of time to prep my games and appreciate being able to spend it on story instead of setting up a scene for my players.

I could probably stretch the budget if you increase the price.

FunkyJ

I joined at the $10 tier especially in appreciation for your Encounter+ maps support.

Would this affect any of the maps on Shard Tabletop, given that they don't have dynamic lighting?

Nick Galvin

I enjoy the Foundry ready maps and appreciate the modules you have available, but I don't know if I could upgrade to $10 per pack for it. I just don't have the disposable income given that I'm not a paid DM and I only run maybe a session or two per month. Your maps are definitely the best quality wise of all the maps I've seen on Patreon, but I'm already spending close to a hundred dollars on maps and other D&D Patreons each month, and I just can't afford to go from ~$20 a month to ~$40 a month personally. Part of that is that I probably have more time to set up some basic walls and manually upload maps than I have money to spend on convenience, but ultimately pricing is an issue- while these are some of the best maps, I couldn't justify cutting four or five other creators to make up for the difference and my budget for maps just isn't that big. If you're concerned about dine-and-dash for Foundry VTT, I know Moulinette is doing some cloud distribution stuff for Foundry that requires authentication each time you boot the VTT. It's convenient for the end user to browse maps (except for the re-authentication each time, but that's an acceptable cost for convenience) and would keep you from having to maintain tons of modules, though some people might want to continue using the traditional modules since there is a monthly fee to use the cloud features.

Squire Zed

I would pay for the VTT maps if they were in a format I could use. No sense in paying for Foundry maps when I use Roll20 though

I picked option 3 because my foundry setup is so customized that it isn't realistic to expect content creators to make stuff that fits. I fully expect to have to invest the time to ingest content into foundry (building walls, lights, etc). Furthermore I would suggest that you focus on taking what steps you need to in order to keep this a sustainable thing for you two. If something isn't working out you should dial it back.

First off, I would definitely pay more for VTT ready maps! That's painstaking work! I agree with the MAD Cartographer style pricing for those maps too.

Jae Augustus

I use Roll20 and not Foundry, and I don’t use Dynamic Lighting, so I don’t need the map walls added in, but I might be in the minority.

Justin

I am a patron of yours because of the FoundryVTT modules, to be honest. The maps are gorgeous, but what won me over was the fact that they also come pre-made, which saves a ton of time. I am a 10$ patron though, and perfectly willing to keep paying that amount for the VTT-ready maps.

MCaroba

I use fantasy grounds, so the VTT maps are of limited use to me if not converted. I'd probably be willing to pay $10 per VTT map, but the ten dollar tier means paying $40 dollars a month or so, and the alternate maps alone just can't justify that for me.

Also it seems like as far as I can tell, there isn't dynamic lighting ready maps on the Roll20 marketplace. If there were, I would most likely buy those somewhat frequently.

Daniel S.

I will happily pay $10 a month. Your maps are well worth it, and it’s a mega faff installing all walls and lighting.

I haven't switched to Foundry yet, and considering I read pretty often about people having trouble with it, I'll still taking my time. Even if I used it: That's just a matter of comfort. The core of what you offer are your amazing maps, and if the bonus stuff like Foundry modules stress you out that much, I say skip them.

Heiner de Wendt

I'd use them for roll20 tbh

Chris Cooper

Tbh I still find foundry to have a frustrating and poor UI/UX and use Roll20 instead for now. I upload and do the dynamic lighting myself for those. It's too bad Roll20 doesn't have some way to integrate with Patreon that I'm aware of. If it did I would absolutely do the $10 a month for the VTT integration. Or if I ever make the switch to Foundry.

Daniel S.

As someone who recently used your minotaur labyrinth map...I will gladly pay $10 for premade walls :)

Mary B

I actually joined the $10 for the animated maps lol

Tbh, I prefer you releasing stuff and I configure only the ones I'm going to use in my campaings.

Tiago Frossard