The Struggle of Mapping the Morgdhavian Archipelago

There’s a point where imagination stops being the problem and execution becomes the problem, and that’s exactly where I’m at right now. The Morgdhavian Archipelago is supposed to be the sandbox for Khassid, the place where people actually get to play in the world instead of just reading about it, and the booklet is already written—like it exists, it works, it just needs tweaking over time.

But I can’t release it. Not without a map.

And that’s the problem.

I cannot draw to save my life. Like at all.

Now in a perfect world I’d go to someone like Mike Schley and just say “here, take this and make it real,” because his work is exactly what I’d want representing Khassid, but that kind of quality comes with a price tag my wallet is just not built for.

Actually… my wallet said “Fuck no.” Who argues with their wallet?

So I did what most of us do and went to Etsy. I did get one map made, and to be fair, it’s alright—it’s not bad—but it doesn’t feel like the Morgdhavian Archipelago, like something about it misses the identity of what I built, like the structure is there but the soul isn’t.

So I tried again. Found another artist, looked legit, felt good about it.

Store closed. Refund.

Tried again.

Same thing. Refund.

And now I’m sitting here like… really?

Because at some point this stops being bad luck and starts being the thing that is actually holding everything up. Not the lore, not the systems, not the writing—a map. A single map is the bottleneck right now.

So now I’m at that point where something has to give. Either I keep rolling the dice hoping I find the right artist at the right price, or I open up something like Inkarnate and figure it out myself, even if it looks rough at first.

And yeah, I already know that route isn’t going to be pretty.

But waiting for perfect is starting to cost me progress, and that’s the part I don’t like, because Khassid is ready—it’s been ready—and the longer this takes, the longer it stays where it’s always been.

In my head.

And I’m getting real tired of that.