Custom D&D Map Commissions: How to Brief a Battle Map Artist

Most DMs who commission a custom map for the first time underbrief it. They send the artist a paragraph of narrative description, maybe a rough sketch, and wait. What comes back is technically competent but misses two or three things they assumed were obvious: the scale is wrong, the entrance is on the wrong side, the landmark they wanted featured is barely visible. A second revision round follows. Sometimes a third. The map takes three weeks instead of ten days and ends up feeling like a compromise rather than the asset it was supposed to be.

None of that is the artist's fault. Map commissions fail at the brief stage, not the execution stage. A good brief produces a map that looks right on the first pass with minor polish on the second. This article covers what a custom map commission actually involves from request to delivery, what goes in a brief that gets results, and the specific mistakes that cost time and revisions. If you are commissioning a map for the first time or have had a frustrating experience before, read this before you send anything.

What Does a Custom Map Commission Actually Include?

A standard custom map commission produces a single battle map tailored to your specific location. That means the geography, structures, terrain features, and overall layout reflect your campaign's actual location rather than a generic version of the same environment type. The artist builds from your brief rather than from a template, which is why the brief matters as much as it does.

Deliverables vary by artist and price tier, but a standard commission at the $100 to $200 range typically includes a high-resolution file (4K minimum, often 6K or larger), both a gridded and a gridless version, and one or two rounds of revision. Some artists include multiple variants: day and night lighting versions, a flooded version if the location involves water, or a damaged version for a later encounter in the same space. Confirm deliverables before you pay the deposit. What is included at $150 with one artist may cost $250 with another.

At Black Lantern Forge, custom commissions are handled directly through the contact page. Turnaround runs 10 to 18 business days for standard commissions. Rush timelines are possible for an additional fee when slots are available.

What Does a Custom Map Commission Cost?

←→ Scroll table to see all columns on small screens.

Prices reflect market rates as of 2026 and vary by artist. The figures above are ranges, not quotes. Get a specific quote from your artist after submitting a brief, since complexity is the main pricing variable and complexity is hard to assess without brief content.

What Goes in a Map Commission Brief?

A complete brief has seven components. Missing any one of them forces the artist to either guess or ask a clarifying question, both of which add time. Fill all seven before you send anything.

1. Location Type and Function

What kind of place is this? A tavern, a dungeon vault, a forest clearing, a cliffside fortress, a sewer junction, a cathedral interior. Be specific about function: "a wizard's tower laboratory" tells the artist more than "a tower interior." If the location has a specific role in your campaign (the party's home base, the final boss arena, the site of a recurring encounter), say that. It changes what the artist emphasizes in the composition.

2. Grid Size and Aspect Ratio

State the grid in squares, not pixels. A 30x30 grid is the most common standard. A long corridor map might be 15x45. A large outdoor boss arena might be 40x40 or 50x50. If you are using a VTT with a specific pixel-per-square requirement, include it, but the square count is the primary instruction. Aspect ratio matters: a square map, a wide map, and a tall map all read differently at the table and serve different encounter types.

3. Key Features (Mandatory)

List the three to five things the map must include. These are non-negotiable elements the encounter or location requires. A river crossing map needs water as actual difficult terrain, not decorative blue pixels at the edge. A tavern commission for a specific encounter needs the bar on the east wall, the staircase in the northwest corner, and a balcony overlooking the common room. Be explicit. If a feature can be on either side of the map, say that. If it must be in a specific position, specify north, south, center, left, right relative to the primary entrance.

4. Art Style and Reference Images

This is the most underused part of most briefs. Describe the art style you want and include two or three reference images if possible. Reference images can be other maps you like, screenshots from published sourcebooks, or images from the artist's own portfolio that match the style you want. Descriptors like "painterly," "hand-drawn with ink lines," "high-detail realistic," and "stylized fantasy" mean different things to different artists. A visual reference removes the ambiguity. If you want the map to match your existing purchased maps for visual consistency at the table, send those as reference.

5. Atmosphere and Lighting

Day or night? Interior or exterior? What is the light source and what does it feel like? A dungeon lit by bioluminescent fungi reads completely differently from one lit by iron torches, and both read differently from a dungeon with no obvious light source that implies magical darkness. Outdoor maps benefit from a stated time of day and weather condition. These details drive color palette decisions, shadow behavior, and the overall mood of the finished map.

6. Intended Use

VTT use only, print use only, or both. This affects the output format, color profile, and resolution target. A map built for screen use can use a wider color gamut and does not need print bleed. A map you plan to print at large format needs higher resolution and may need specific dimensions to match your print substrate. If you are printing on a battle mat, include the mat dimensions. If you are uploading to Roll20 or Foundry, say so: the artist can optimize the file format accordingly.

7. Deadline

State your actual session date, not a vague "soon." Artists schedule commissions by queue. Knowing your deadline lets the artist tell you immediately whether standard turnaround fits or whether a rush fee applies. It also protects you: if the artist accepts the commission knowing your deadline and then misses it, you have a clear basis for discussion. An unstated deadline is no deadline at all from the artist's scheduling perspective.

What Should a Brief Actually Look Like?

Here is an example of a complete brief versus an underbrief for the same commission.

The complete brief takes ten minutes to write and eliminates most revision rounds before they happen. The underbrief takes two minutes to write and almost guarantees at least one revision round, often two.

Why Do Most Commissions End Up in Revision Loops?

The revision loop is almost always a brief problem, not an execution problem. Three specific gaps cause most of them.

Missing feature positions. Saying "there's a bar in the tavern" is not the same as "the bar runs along the north wall with a door behind it leading to the kitchen." The artist places a bar. You expected it on the north wall. It ends up on the east wall because nothing in the brief specified direction. One revision round to move it. This happens with every major structural element: staircases, doors, water features, ritual circles, and boss pedestals all have orientation implications that matter for encounter design and all need to be explicitly positioned in the brief.

No style reference. "Fantasy style" is not a style. It covers everything from Keith Parkinson oil paintings to 8-bit pixel maps. Artists make a judgment call when no reference is provided. That judgment call is sometimes exactly right and sometimes completely wrong. Two reference images attached to the brief collapse that ambiguity to near zero. In our experience, briefs with style references require an average of one fewer revision round than briefs without them.

Unstated constraints discovered post-delivery. The map comes back at 4096x4096. You needed it at 6144x6144 for your large-format print. The map comes back as a JPEG. Your VTT workflow requires PNG for transparency. The map is designed for a 1-inch grid. Your table uses a 1.5-inch grid. These are constraints that need to be in the brief, not discovered after delivery. File format, resolution, grid scale, and output dimensions belong in the brief alongside the creative content.

"The brief is not a description of what you want the map to look like. It is a specification of what the map needs to do. Those are different documents."

What Should You Do After the Map Is Delivered?

Review the map against your brief, not against a new vision that developed while you were waiting. This is important. The most common source of dissatisfaction with a delivered map is scope creep in the client's imagination during the turnaround period. You briefed a 30x30 ruined observatory. While waiting, you decided you wanted it to be 40x40 with an underground level. The delivered map is exactly what you briefed. That is a new commission, not a revision.

Check each mandatory feature against your list. Is the circular central chamber present and correctly proportioned? Are the four approach corridors accessible? Is the collapsed south wall entry point visible and usable as an alternate entry? If a specific feature from your mandatory list is missing or misplaced, that is a legitimate revision request. Be precise: "the east corridor elevated platform is not accessible from the corridor itself, it appears disconnected" is an actionable revision note. "It doesn't feel right" is not.

Test the map in your VTT before the session. Upload it, set the grid, place a token, and walk through the encounter in your head. This takes five minutes and catches any functional issues before the session rather than during it. Grid alignment problems, scale mismatches, and terrain readability issues are all fixable at this stage if you catch them before you sit down with your players.

What Makes a Custom Map Worth the Investment?

A custom map pays off across multiple sessions when it is built around a location with recurring significance in your campaign. The party's home base, the villain's fortress they have been building toward for six sessions, the dungeon that will take three sessions to clear: these locations justify the commission cost because the map appears at the table session after session. Players who walk into the same base camp map every week start to feel genuinely attached to the space. The map becomes a character in the campaign rather than a backdrop for a single encounter.

One-off locations do not justify custom commissions as reliably. If the party will spend one session in a location and never return, a quality pack map that approximates the environment usually serves the session as well as a custom piece at a fraction of the cost and with zero lead time. Save custom commissions for the locations that matter. Use battle map packs for the rest.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a custom D&D battle map commission cost?

Standard single-location commissions typically run $75 to $150 for a straightforward map with one revision round and $150 to $250 for complex locations with multiple levels or high detail. Location sets covering two to four connected maps run $250 to $500 and up. Rush commissions (5 to 7 business day turnaround) carry a 25 to 50 percent premium when slots are available. Get a specific quote after submitting your brief, since complexity is the primary pricing variable and varies significantly by location type.

How long does a custom map commission take?

Standard turnaround is 10 to 18 business days for a single map. Complex maps with multiple levels or location sets run 3 to 5 weeks. Rush timelines of 5 to 7 business days are available at a premium when the artist has queue availability. Plan to receive the map at least 3 business days before your session date to allow time for upload, grid setup, and any final adjustments in your VTT.

What should I include in a map commission brief?

A complete brief needs seven things: location type and function, grid size and aspect ratio in squares, key features with explicit positions (not just a list of what exists but where each element sits on the map), art style description plus reference images, atmosphere and lighting conditions, intended use and file specifications (VTT platform, resolution, format), and your hard deadline. Missing any of these typically adds at least one revision round to the process.

How many revision rounds does a commission include?

Most standard commissions include one revision round. Complex commissions at the $150 to $250 tier typically include two. Revisions are for correcting elements that differ from what was briefed, not for scope changes that were not in the original brief. Adding a feature that was not in your brief, changing the grid size post-delivery, or requesting a style change after seeing the first draft are typically billed as additional work. Confirm revision scope before you pay the deposit.

When does a custom commission make more sense than a map pack?

A custom commission makes sense when the location has recurring significance across multiple sessions: a home base, a villain's stronghold, a dungeon the party will explore over 3 or more sessions, or a location tied to a key campaign moment you want to give specific treatment. For one-off encounters or locations the party visits once, a quality map pack that approximates the environment usually serves the session just as well at a fraction of the cost and with zero lead time.

Can I commission a map of a location from published D&D content?

This depends on the artist's terms and the specific request. An original interpretation of a location type (a mind flayer lair, a githyanki fortress) is generally fine. A reproduction of a specific published map from an official Wizards of the Coast product is a copyright concern most professional artists will decline. If you want a map inspired by a published location rather than a copy of it, say that explicitly in your brief and most artists can work with the concept while making it original.

What file format should I request for a custom commission?

For VTT use, PNG is the standard request because it supports transparency and lossless compression. JPEG is acceptable for maps without transparency needs and produces smaller files at comparable quality for screen use. For print use, request TIFF or high-quality PNG at 300 DPI minimum, with dimensions matched to your print substrate. Specify your VTT platform in the brief: some artists optimize specifically for Foundry, Roll20, or Owlbear and can deliver files pre-configured for those platforms.