Hi. My name's Spike (no..really, it is) and I found this site thanks to Chgowiz, who posted the link on my blog.

I've always enjoyed drawing maps beginning when I was in grade school. While every other kid would draw a house from the street-view, I would draw mine top-down like a blueprint. I'd waste hours making maps of every secret bicycle trail in my neighborhood or sketching out huge houses with hidden rooms and secret doors. Suffice to say I was happy to find a use for my "useless" talent in the roleplaying community.

I've really only just begun to get serious about map aesthetics. Up until just recently, my idea of roleplay mapping has been a simple background with numbered tokens to represent characters and monsters. I've even developed a simple HTML/Javascript web page code for a semi-interactive map with movable pieces and a disappearing grid so that online RPGers can better visualize what is happening in-game and convey to the DM where or how they want to move in the next round.

It was the ZombieNirvana tutorial that grabbed my attention and convinced me to "kick it up a notch" and start making prettier more stylized maps. I'm glad to have found this location so I can improve my work and maybe even share a few things of my own.

Thanks Chgowiz for inviting me. Maybe now I can figure out how to draw UNgoofy-looking mountains.