Tom Cartos Commercial Licensing Information

Please note these commercial licensing terms supersede any previous terms, as of June 6th 2024. If you are currently making use of the previous licensing options, make sure to read through the updated terms below and ensure you are complying with them.

You may not sell or give away for free any of my products, or any work that includes my products, unless defined by the terms and conditions outlined below.

There are two options for licensing my artwork. Tom Cartos Patreon subscribers have different levels of commercial licensing allowances, and individual licenses can also be purchased. For more information please Contact Me

I also have options to use the watermarked versions of my battlemaps commercially for free with far fewer terms. To learn more see my 'Toms Open Map License' page

General Terms of Use

  • (1) Any battlemaps that were not solely created by me (eg part of a collaboration or work I have commissioned) are not included in any license. This will be noted in the relevant posts on Patreon.

  • (2) Any battlemaps created by me as a commercial commission for a client, but also released on Patreon, are not included in any license. This will be noted in the relevant posts on Patreon.

  • (3) You may not use my content in the minting of NFTs or training of AI. Nor can they be used in any product that also uses NFTs or AI Generated Content, or by any company that also uses NFTs or AI Generated Content in any of their other products, or actively supports their use in any way.
    AI Generated Content is any content that uses LLM programs like MidJourney or ChatGPT to generate entire images or text blocks through the use of algorithms and techniques trained on pre-existing data sets.
    AI tools such as image re-scalers or enhancers applied to your own original creations are allowed. Any AI tools based solely on open-source or licensed content are also allowed.
    If you are not sure if the tool uses licensed or open-source content, you may assume that it does not.

  • (4) You may not use my content in any works that may be considered hateful or harmful towards any group of people, particularly marginalised groups. This includes, but is not limited to, any material that promotes racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia or bigotry of any kind.

  • (5) You may not use my content in any way that suggests I endorse your product.

  • (6) This license is non-transferable (you can’t relicense or sublicense my content to someone else).

  • (7) If you are distributing the maps in physical format, they must be no larger than their intended size (number of grid squares in inches).

  • (8) You must include a credit for me as the artist (see Accreditation below).

  • (9) You must make reasonable efforts to ensure these terms are adhered to. I retain the right to have my content removed from your works at your expense if the terms have not been met and no reasonable effort to adhere to them was made. If you are concerned that you may be inadvertently violating any of these terms, please contact me in advance of publishing the works for clarification.

Accreditation

If you are using any of my artwork under any of my licenses, I require that you do the following:

  •  Include my name in the products credit section as cartographer or some other relevant title (eg Cartography by Tom Cartos, or Battlemaps by Tom Cartos) and a link to my Website (https://www.tomcartos.com/)

  • If the battlemap is being posted online in a digital marketplace, my name and a link (as above) must be included in the product description section.

Streaming/Video Content & ‘GM for Hire’

If you wish to use my content in your streamed games or in videos you make or in games you charge money to run, you do not need to be a patron or purchase a license.

Anyone is welcome to use any of my content they have legally accessed in games they are streaming or posting online, or in games that they charge for. This includes current and former Patrons, customers who have purchased the maps/assets via an online marketplace or as Kickstarter rewards, or anyone who has downloaded my free content.

Please include a credit to me and a link to my Patreon page in the title card, description or wherever else is appropriate, and do not distribute the maps/assets or post high resolution images of them.

You are still required to adhere to General Terms [3] [4] [5] [6] [8] and [9] listed above

Purchasing Individual Licenses

If you wish to purchase an individual license for any of my works, please contact me directly. Approximate rates are as follows:

Battlemaps: $0.5-1(USD) per grid square.
eg Purchasing a commercial license for a single 22x17inch battlemap would cost between $187 and $374(USD). Rates are dependent on the complexity of the artwork. Discounts may be negotiable for multiple license purchases.

Battlemap Licenses at these prices are valid for 2 years or up to a combined 10,000 digital and physical sales, whichever comes first. For expanded license options, please contact me

Assets: $0.15(USD) per asset, sold in Bundles of 300-500 assets.
eg Purchasing a commercial license for an Asset Bundle containing 400 individual assets would cost $60 (USD). You can preview the Asset Bundles here.
Please note, this license allows you to add my assets to battlemaps you create, but they must be ‘baked in’ to the final artwork. You can not re-distribute the individual asset artwork in any way. Discounts may be negotiable for multiple license purchases.

Asset licenses are permanent and in perpetuity. Once purchased you may use the assets as many times as you need.

Digital Tokens: Tokens are licensed by their ‘size’ designation as described in the 5e rules. Prices are in USD.

Please note tokens can only be used Digitally, for example in VTT modules. They can not be printed or replicated in physical medium in any way.

Token Licenses at these prices are valid for 2 years or up to a combined 10,000 digital and physical sales, whichever comes first. For expanded license options, please contact me

You can preview of Gallery of available Tokens here, including tokens for every creature in the 5e SRD. Discounts may be negotiable for multiple license purchases.

Patreon Subscription Licenses

Patreon Specific Terms of Use

  • (1) To make use of these allowances, you must not have a monthly pledge limit. You will be charged a maximum of 5 times your pledge per month.

  • (2) 'Published' or 'Released' material refers to anything you create with the purpose of financial gain. This includes products for sale, subscriber rewards, promotional materials etc. Content you post online that is shared solely for the purpose of fun does not need to adhere to these terms, however please still include attribution for me as the artist and do not share any of my patron exclusive content.

  • (3) These allowances only apply while you are a paying Patron. If you cancel your patronage, all licensing allowances end immediately.

  • (4) If you end your patronage, content that has already been released under these terms may continue to be sold (unless otherwise stated), but no more content may be created or released regardless of when it was created.

  • (5) You must have been a Tom Cartos Patron at the relevant tier (or above) for one full calendar month before releasing your first product.

  • (6) Promotional content you release for free, or content released on a Pay What You Want model, is still considered commercial content, and is bound by these terms and conditions.

Please check license allowances for each different Patreon Pledge Tier below:

Traveller/Wayfarer Tier+ Commercial License - Streaming and ‘GM for Hire’ Games

  • You may use any of the maps that your pledge gives you access to in games that you stream or record and publish online.

  • You may also use any maps that your pledge gives you access to in games that you charge to run (GM for hire).

Adventurer/Explorer Tier+ Commercial License - Use of Map Assets

  • You may use any of the maps and assets that your pledge gives you access to in games that you stream or record and publish online.

  • You may also use any maps and assets that your pledge gives you access to in games that you charge to run (GM for hire).

  • You may make your own commercial maps using my assets.

  • You may release up to 5 of these commercial maps as paid maps per month, plus up to 5 free maps per month. These can be standalone maps, or maps created as part of an adventure module etc. Colour variants, such as night versions, do not count towards the 5.

  • This license does not include maps or other creations you make as commissions for third parties, or for use in creating new games. See below for additional options.

  • You may not include or distribute the assets as individual objects in any way. They must be 'baked in' to the map/artwork itself.

  • The 5 maps per month allowance does not ‘roll over’. If you do not release 5 maps in a month, this number resets on the first of the next month.

Creator Tier Commercial License - Use of Hi-Res Maps in Adventure Modules

  • You may release up to 2 written adventure modules per month of your Tom Cartos patronage, using up to a total of two Tom Cartos map sets each month. For example, two adventures using one map set each, or one adventure using two map sets.

  • A map set is defined as any number of area or level maps at a single named ‘location’, usually released as a single post on Patreon (not including bundles). If you are not sure about this, contact me in advance.

  • You may substitute up to 4 individual ‘Into the Wilds’ series maps in place of each map set allowed.

  • You may choose any of the map set variants released (day, night, seasonal, unfurnished etc), but may only use one of them in the adventure.

  • You may include the Print and/or VTT versions of the map set for use with the adventure.

  • If creating a digital VTT module for the adventure, you may also include up to 5 of the SRD Creature Tokens per adventure, inclusive of variants.

  • If you are using any of the SRD Creature Tokens you must also include a credit to both Tom Cartos and Splattered Ink.

  • Each written adventure must have at least 1000 human-written words per Tom Cartos map set used (not including contents page, credits, licenses, etc) and be of reasonable quality.

  • You may make minor adjustments to the maps, such as adding additional assets, map markers/GM notation, or making colour adjustments. If doing so, credit Tom Cartos as the original artist or cartographer and credit any other artists separately. If you are not sure about this, contact me in advance.

  • If you end your patronage to Tom Cartos, you can no longer release new adventures using my maps or creature tokens but may continue selling those released during your patronage.

  • The 2 adventures per month allowance does not ‘roll over’. If you do not release 2 adventures in a month, this number resets on the first of the next month.

  • Adventures made using this license must be charged and have a minimum price of $1 per Tom Cartos map set used. Free adventures are not allowed. If you wish to release a free or PWYW adventure module using my maps, please see the Toms Open Map License for using my free maps.

  • Digital and Print Sales are limited to 10,000 lifetime sales combined per adventure.
    Written adventure modules released to a subscriber base, such as through Patreon, count as one sale per subscriber. If you anticipate breaching this limit, please contact me in advance.

  • If you are creating commercial content for a third party (eg a publisher), for example as a commission, the other party must also sign up for this tier and is subject to the same terms and conditions. This is not necessary for private commissions.

  • You may also use my assets in content created for another party, with the same terms listed under the Adventurer Tier+ Commercial License above.