Back in March or April, my memory is fuzzy with the specifics, I came across this Kickstarter that featured map stamps! Anything that has to do with map making automatically gets my attention, and after watching the video, I was in. I hoped it would reach all of its stretch goals, which it did, because I wanted the extra stamps!
This is a sample of the larger stamps I received. But there are also smaller stamps, three individual trees of different styles, a campfire, and the skull! Then depending on what pledge level you got in on, you received different colored ink pads. I just went for the black, but once I started playing with my stamps I went to a local hobby store and got rhubarb stalk (a dark red), coffee (a light brown), and a fern green. I forgot to grab a blue for the water. That gives me another excuse to return and snag a few other items I had my eye on. I may start becoming a mini collector of stamps to use for maps! Don't tell Ivy.
I loved the look the stamps provided. It gave the map an antiquated look. I enjoy playing with different map styles and techniques. And while I've been running a campaign for a while now, creating maps takes up a lot of my time. I usually hand draw all my maps. Once I saw these I couldn't help myself. An alternative to hand drawn, but with the same charm. In WAY less time.
Now all I had to do was wait. The Kickstarter's estimated delivery was October '19. I received them mid-August. I've been making maps ever since.
This first map is scanned directly from the paper without any enhancements. I used plain white paper. I decided to use the black for the geographical features and structures, and red for monster/enemy locations and the campfires. The trick is to do the hand drawn features first. At least this worked better for me. The stamps do an incredible job telling the story of the area.
Then I started messing with the settings and of course had to go for an old mappy look. Then added the names. It took some tweaking to get the words clear and blended into the map style. But I really love the look of it.
Thank you Brendan for running a fantastic and well run Kickstarter. I've added Bendan's links below.
Game Stamp Links