July Recap - A Month That Changed a Lot

Hey everyone!

July turned out to be one of the biggest turning points since I started Dransky Battle Maps.

The biggest news is something I already mentioned recently, but it's worth repeating because it's such an important step forward: Dransky Battle Maps is no longer a one-person project.

I've invited a level designer to join me, and I genuinely believe this is one of the best decisions I've made for the future of this project.

His main focus will be building maps based on official Wizards of the Coast campaigns like The Shattered Obelisk and, in the future, Descent into Avernus and other adventures. That gives me something incredibly valuable: more time to focus on creating original maps while still delivering the official campaign maps so many of you have been asking for.

I think this is a win for everyone. You'll get more high-quality content, and I'll finally have the breathing room to keep pushing the creative side of Dransky Battle Maps even further.

This month's releases

This month I released The Whispering Depths – Level 2, and I had an absolute blast creating it.

I've always loved designing caves. There's something really satisfying about shaping natural environments, and watching the underground stream flow through the entire cavern while everything came together was probably my favorite part of the build.

I honestly think it turned into one of the prettiest maps I've created recently, and I'm really happy with the final atmosphere. The map is here and its filtra are combined with the previous level map https://dranskybattlemaps.com/battlemap/the-whispering-depths/

The second big release was Crypt of the Talhund.

This map was created primarily by my new teammate, and I'm incredibly proud of what he accomplished. It's his very first published map as part of Dransky Battle Maps, and I hope you'll enjoy exploring it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

The map is free: https://dranskybattlemaps.com/battlemap/crypt-of-the-talhund/

Two production lines

Going forward, we'll essentially be working on two production lines.

One focused on official campaign maps, and the other on original Dransky Battle Maps creations.

For me, this also means I can finally dedicate more time to all the things that usually happen behind the scenes.

That includes improving the Patreon experience, making map access easier, expanding and reorganizing dranskybattlemaps.com, creating proper FAQs and guides, and generally making the whole Dransky Battle Maps ecosystem easier to navigate for both patrons and visitors.

A lot of this work isn't very visible, but I believe it will make a huge difference in the long run.

Roll20 is finally becoming a much better home for animated maps

Another exciting change happened recently.

Roll20 has significantly improved its support for WEBM files, which means animated maps perform much better than they used to.

Because of that, I'd really like to invest more time into bringing more of my content to Roll20. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, and now it finally feels like the platform is ready for it.

What's coming next?

August will probably involve a lot of work.

There are still improvements I want to make to the Foundry module delivery system, website architecture, downloads, and overall accessibility.

Of course, there will also be new maps.

And with the recently announced Dungeons & Dragons × World of Warcraft collaboration, I've started thinking.....

Would you rather see an original battle map inspired by the Warcraft universe, or would you prefer me to recreate one of WoW's legendary dungeons like The Deadmines, Shadowfang Keep, or another classic location?

I'm really curious what you'd enjoy the most, so let me know in the comments!

One last thing!

I've also updated The Enduring Circle, recognizing everyone who has supported this project for 6 months, 1 year, and over 3 years.

If you're already on that list - Tthank you. Your long-term support means more than I can put into words.

And if you're not there yet, I'd love to welcome you into that very special group in the future.

Finally, thank you to every single Patron and every follower who supports Dransky Battle Maps, shares my work, leaves comments, or simply keeps coming back every month.

And an extra special thank you goes to my Champions, whose names are proudly displayed in the artwork above. Your support keeps this project moving forward every single month.

See you in August!

Cherrs!

~dransky