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The Starter Pack is here. Let's talk. (Patreon)

Published:
2026-01-19 20:08:46
Imported:
2026-10

Content

Hey everyone,

So... it's out. The video is live.

I've been working on this for months and I'm not gonna lie - hitting publish on this one felt different. Heavier. Because this isn't just a module release. This is something I've wanted to make for years.

The Wand & Widgets Starter Pack. My first asset pack for MapForge.

67 floors. 98 paths & lines. 46 walls. Over 2,000 objects. All following the same visual language. All made to work together.

I talk about everything in the video - the aesthetic I was chasing, why I made the choices I made, and yeah... the elephant in the room too. I wanted to be fully transparent with you guys. You deserve that.

This project is personal. Genuinely. It's the maps I've been dreaming about since I started running games almost 30 years ago.

If you have 10 minutes, watch the video. And if you have thoughts - good, bad, complicated - I want to hear them. Discord: https://discord.gg/HABajQuZ6J

Download link is in the next post.

Thank you for being here. Seriously.

- Gabú

Files

The Most Personal Project I've Ever Made (And Why It's Controversial)

I've been running TTRPGs for almost 30 years. For most of that time, I've dreamed about maps that looked a certain way - gritty, stylized, full of mood. But I'm not an artist. So I found another way. And I know some of you won't like it. This video is me being completely transparent about what I made, how I made it, and why. No corporate speak. Just honesty. The Starter Pack Vol. 1 is available now for all MapForge users: 🔗 Patreon: www.patreon.com/WandAndWidgets 🔗 Discord: https://discord.gg/HABajQuZ6J If you want to talk about this - really talk - I opened a forum on Discord just for that. Come find me. — 00:00 - We need to talk 00:41 - The elephant in the room 02:43 - This is not "AI slop" 04:01 - The vision 06:45 - What's in the pack 08:12 - Final thoughts — Thanks for being here. Seriously. #MapForge #FoundryVTT #TTRPGMaps

Comments

TheJoester

sounds like a lot of justifications here that do not measure up to the fact you used AI to generate the art. Code is one thing, but not only using the completely unethical tool that is decimating our environment to generate art using data stolen from actual honest artists? This excuse doesn't measure up, especially when you are now charging for this.

Wand & Widgets

Man, this is included in the same tier as MapForge (which makes sense, since it's an .MFPACK) and it is the same plan that grants access to all other modules. Consider it a bonus for those who want to use it, for those who don't, well, there is everything else I offer here in the same plan. I think this attitude is misplaced. Invite me to a protest to demand that big AI labs take a cut of their billion-dollar revenue and investments to pay artists - and developers too - and I’ll be there. (It’s funny you say that for coding it's fine, as if AI hadn't heavily altered the landscape for those working in that field, don't save your empathy only for 'your own'). But attacking someone who uses the tool because it makes a dream viable and empowers them while they try to adapt to a fast-changing world? While taking hits from AI left and right? That, I don't agree with.

TheJoester

I didn’t say it was fine, I said it was one thing, it doesn’t operate purely from stolen copyrighted material, but it still consumes and pollutes an insane amount of water and other limited resources, is primarily affecting lower income and minority regions.

Charles Emerson

The statement "is one thing" implies acceptability, the reality of our world is that technology has always first cost the skilled artisan, in making art more accessible to the populace, that isn't technology's fault or the fault of the person trying to make something using the tech. It is a symptom of greed, at no point in history has the artist ever been paid their worth. The Printing press was despised by the scribe, the typewriter by the the typesetter, I'm sure whoever invented the paintbrush was the devil for those who had perfected painting with their fingers. To say that AI is an acceptable tool for programing, because it allows the average person to do some quite frankly, nice things that are out of the average budget or skill set, but then be up in arms about it's use to make, (no offense to Wands and Widgets) what are artistically simplistic assets is quite hypocritical. I have a degree in art, I work in a field that has been hit by AI for design and 3D printing in manufacture and I routinely have people come to me with things they made, that they want remade better, because they can now afford it. Technology is a tool, not a replacement for skill, it can be a bridge for people to develop an appreciation for art that, allows them to justify paying us to do what AI will never be able to replicate, dream something into existence. Just my thoughts.

Rob Diz

I don't think this is a proper place or way to have this debate, but I respectfully think this is an unfair attack. Attack the companies supplying the product if you disagree with it. I for one just started playing D&D 2 years ago, but I never would have learned how to DM as quickly as I have w/out AI. Including AI art. It allowed me to create anything without limits rather than empty my bank account for custom art pieces. That doesn't mean I don't buy custom art now. But there was no way I was going to when I first started. Regarding artists taking a hit: AI will likely replace my job in IT in the near future, and I am personally a big fan of that. If my profession being sacrificed is the price for humanity to make such a massive advancement, then its well worth it for my kids and future generations. It sucks, I get that, but if we catered to that logic, we should all be driving horse and buggies, living in hand crafted log cabins, and farming our own food. Change is awesome for some and sucks for others. I think there is more good than bad coming out of this wave. It will never be 100% beneficial to everyone unfortunately.

Gabe Feder

I agree with Rob on this not necessarily being the place to discuss this, but here we are. There is unquestionably a role for AI to serve in providing a quicker appreciation of various skills and at least develop a baseline level that allows them to use the AI tools to boost creativity. The impact on "pure" creators (if you will), as well as the economic and environmental impacts and actually questionably overhyped promises of AI whether as being truly revolutionary and more capable than it truly is, all these MUST be questioned in a larger forum and MUST achieve a far higher level of visibility to be addressed. I do seriously doubt whether attacking those developing creativity tools for those of us who are otherwise intrinsically uncreative by nature to create something larger with a vision that would otherwise outstrip their ability to accomplish is a useful approach to this debate, and would encourage instead a skeptical and anti-corporate attitude and approach to AI in public and to actually VOTE that way.

TheJoester

The argument that feedback on the use of AI on the post about the use of AI is silly at best.

Matt

I love AI as a creative tool. The DnD community does not. It is why I never post anything I create in those communities. They are all just die-hard haters and mostly because they don't really have an understanding of how it actually works. They all talk about AI like it was back in 2021. Their argument is it used other artist data to train itself. Sure, and so do all human artists too. People don't claim you're stealing from nature when you paint a picture of a landscape. People don't say you're a fraud because you watched films and movies and constructed a style based on the media you enjoy. That sort of argument is just so dumb. EVERYONE uses others works to learn and define their own creative works from. EVERYONE. That is how art history is defined and made. Why do you think we have periods named after art styles?! Neoclassicism, impressionism, surrealism, the history of art is filled with periods classified in different styles because people are learning and mimicking each other to create new art. I see using AI like being a director in a film. You aren't the actor, you're not the lighting person, sound person, or camera person. But you need to know what you're doing to orchestrate everything into producing an image or video that looks the best it possibly can and gives you an end result you are happy with. AI is a tool to facilitate creativity. All these AI haters are just stifling other's chosen tool to make something. If I hand crafted wooden sculptures, and you use a machine to do something similar, we don't claim the latter is not a wooden sculpture just because a different tool was used to make it. You can certain be the snobby person who prefers hand-crafted sculptures, but that is your choice. Stop looking down your nose at those who use other tools. Is there an argument that large tech companies are ruining the planet because of the massive data centers? Sure, not arguing against that. But that applies to most everything we do in a society that runs on capitalism. I bet with nearly all of the naysayers here regularly eat out and regularly use delivery services like grubhub, doordash, or Amazon. All of which are far larger personal contributions to the destruction of our planet. I can run localized image generations on my home computer with no reliance on a massive data center or its power requirements. A single individual use of AI services is no where near as bad as these people claim it to be. I would wager it is far far less than the full vehicle you're putting on the road to bring you your lazy ass dinner. AI is here, and it is helping people be creative. Deal with it and stop being so "holier then thou". It doesn't hold up under scrutiny.

Shinotama

I'm sorry, but no matter how many times you say you catered the Ai to your style etc doesn't change the fact that you've not actually created this content. Depending on what Ai you used anyway, you don't own the copyright to it now also, so you selling it is even more wrong. Anyone that want's to support actual artists and assets go check out Forgotten Adventures, been using them for years, not sponsored to post this, but need to say it. https://www.forgotten-adventures.net/

Wand & Widgets

I’ve been using Forgotten Adventures for years too - love their stuff and even promote them inside the module. Calling it "selling the asset pack" is a bit of a stretch though, it’s bundled in the same tier as MapForge, basically as bonus content for whoever wants it. Regarding whether I created it or not, I think a fair take would be that while I wasn't involved in every single step, I was deep into crucial parts, like defining the art style and the overall direction. Honestly man, I get where you're coming from and that’s fine, but saying there’s no place for it? That’s just your take. Plenty of people downloaded it, loved it, and are asking for more... and more is coming. It’s for whoever wants and enjoys it, and if it’s not for you, that’s cool too. No hard feelings at all, nothing but love to you.

david ace

I feel like blaming the excesses of AI companies on someone making some art assets for their dream would be like me screaming at you for making a chicken sandwich because the excesses of Tyson and Monsanto, or blaming someone who drives a car for global warming.

TheJoester

Your argument is based on a couple logical fallacies. The first is “whataboutism”, where you are saying “well this other unrelated problematic issue exists, so you can’t complain about this one if you do the other”. If we were discussing that issue, I would probably agree with you and support moving to a more ethical and sustainable food source. But we aren’t talking about that, so it’s just being used as a deflection. Secondly, your comparison of the ethics and environmental impacts of companies like Tyson and Monsanto to the ethical and environmental impact of using AI in a for-profit art based product is false equivalence fallacy. While yes, there are valid similar issues with those companies on the surface, they differ in ways that matter significantly to the argument. The comparison glosses over crucial differences to make one thing seem as acceptable as the other. People need to eat to live, not everyone has the means to source ethical foods and opt out of industrial food systems; using AI art is a deliberate creative/business choice. There is also direct harm to the actual artists whose art was sourced without consent, and used as a for profit product for someone else. The car analogy is stronger, but still breaks down in most modern areas where driving is deeply embedded in infrastructure most people can’t opt out. While there is a valid debate about individual vs. corporate responsibility for emissions to be had, using AI-generated art in a for-profit product is a much more deliberate, avoidable choice with direct victims, the artists whose work was taken. And from an environmental perspective, the impact on the massive data centers and drinkable water consumption is arguably a larger environmental impact, and for a much less essential cause.