Jim Pierce 1947 - 2024
Monsen
Administrator 🖼 81 images Cartographer
It is with a heavy heart that I announce that long time friend and community member Jim Pierce (@JimP) is no longer among us. He lived to the age of 77 years (June 27th)
He died today, December 19th 2024, after a long period of illness that resulted from complications after his heart surgery back in April.
Jim was one of the real old-timers here in the community, participating in the Campaign Cartographer community long before this forum was a thing, back when we used the mailing list. He joined before me, so I don't know exactly how long he's been around, but it has been a while. The oldest message from him I've been able to find in the mailing list archives was from 2003, but the archives aren't complete and hard to search, so I am pretty sure he started participating before that.
Most of us will probably remember Jim as one of the most prolific mappers around. He always had a bunch of fantasy worlds in his head for which he made maps and websites, never running out of projects, as well as making hundreds of maps for the community atlas. He seemed to always have a head full of inspiration and fantastic ideas, and he cared a lot for all his worlds.
Unfortunately, his hosting accounts have expired, but I've archived his websites at https://jimp.monsen.cc/ where a lot of his work can be found. His contributions to the community atlas can be found at https://atlas.monsen.cc/Search?author=JimP . And lastly, his forum gallery can be found at https://forum.profantasy.com/profile/gallery/30/JimP.
Jim won't just be remembered for his maps though, as he was also always a kind and helpful fellow, always trying to help people with their problems. He also had other hobbies in addition to mapping. He enjoyed playing computer games, Everquest in particular, he enjoyed walking and camping, pearl work and poetry, so I am sure he made his mark on other communities in addition to ours.
Thanks to his sister, Lou Anna, for letting us know what happened. Our love and thoughts go out to you and the rest of your family in this difficult time.
Farewell Jim. We'll miss you. I guess you are on the bridge of the Starship Wanderer now, heading out and exploring the unknown.
and 12 others.
Comments
Aw man. This is just really sad news. Jim has been a staple around these parts and always had a kind word, helpful suggestion and just always a pretty positive guy. Rest in peace, Jim, may you map in eternity ❤
Jim My brother, rest in peace. I will never forget your attention, advice and our conversations parallel to cartographic life. Thank you very much for everything and a big kiss to Lou Anne who was with him until the very end. As for here in the community, for me he was one of my great teachers who helped me in my first steps in the cartographic world. You will forever have a beautiful piece of land in my tiny heart.
Master Mapper Jim!
Oh no, I am so sorry to hear that. Thank you for staying in touch with his family sharing the news with us. I first started becoming active here a year ago, and Jim was always one of the first to reply and give me feedback and encouragement. Such a kind cartographer. I will miss him.
A lovely and beautiful tribute, Remy. Thank you so much for putting it all in words.
Jim - I will miss your mischevious 'I'm really a very evil DM' teasing regarding your maps and all the traps you put in them. Rest in peace sweet friend.
As Sue commented, Remy's notes say it all.
I've been following how things had gone for Jim since his last Forum posting back in April, thanks to Sue and Remy, and indeed it has been a very sad ending to one of the finest fellows in our community.
Jim no doubt has other, greater, adventures to map now. Hopefully, some of his inspiration can live on among all of us. Farewell Rutabagasteu (his YouTube handle).
A very sad moment and I will miss Jim in so many ways. He was a friend to me when I needed one. We had great chats about so many things, not just cartography.
@Monsen Could we have a competition for the Atlas in the new Year in honour of Jim?
So sad to hear this. Jim was a very important part of this community and I will truly miss his kindness and creativity.
@Monsen Yes, an Atlas competition in his honor. Perhaps using the classic CC2 styles?
Hello everyone, I am Jim's sister Lou Anna. Thank you for the kind words. I haven't made my introduction so I apologize in advance. I have decided to take up the torch of mapping....I am not a prolific as my big brother but I will certainly give it a go. He is well loved and remembered.
Unfortunately, his hosting accounts have expired, but I've archived his websites at https://jimp.monsen.cc/ where a lot of his work can be found. His contributions to the community atlas can be found at https://atlas.monsen.cc/Search?author=JimP . And lastly, his forum gallery can be found at https://forum.profantasy.com/profile/gallery/30/JimP.
This is an amazing way to keep him and his contributions alive. You are also a blessing to the community for doing this.....and about a million other things. I am sure all of us will remember him fondly for his help and his maps.
As a special appreciation of Jim, I have been going through my discussion's and uprating all of Jim's comments to AWESOME!
I encourage everyone to do the same of every comment that hasn't been reacted to.
I haven't been around much lately (as you can see) and it saddens me to hear of Jim's passing on to other adventures...
Welcome back Brother @jmabbott . We missed you.
RIP Jim you helped me any numbers of times over the last few years and I am sure the world is a less wonderful place without you.
Well, shoot, this is terrible news. Sorry, some folks over at Dragonsfoot were wondering about him. Glad to see the memorial here though.
Be well everyone,
--Ron--
A sad day. Jim was very good as well as being prolific. He gave me some inspiration.
Very sad news and I feel bad I didn't keep in touch. I loved his site especially Dwarf Home. I managed to save the pages from around 2019 just before he decided to start redrawing the upper levels. I have saved zips of the earlier drafts of dwarf home 1-7. If I have more it is probably in an organized drive. I'm glad it was partially archived via the links provided and somewhat via internet archive (very limited). He also posted on Dragonsfoot as well. I know he had plans to map it in cc3 up to level 11 but he had so many projects that it is very understandable he didn't get to it. And as he learned more and more from use and others with cc3 he adapted and upgraded his work. Jim was awesome and a very nice guy.
when I get a chance I'll try to upload what I have to the cloud and post a link. They are all old files but the webpage structures are intact and show how each of the 7 levels were pieced together. THAT IS WHAT I ALWAYS FOUND AWESOME! He pieced them in a way I had tried with some dungeon maps and overland maps. I found it fascinating. It was almost geomorph-like except the puzzle had to fit as intended so you couldn't jumble it.
If other have downloads of his zips from later incarnations of not just dwarf home but his other works, I encourage you to archive them and post links. In this way, his memory of those works not only live on as he created them but can be an inspiration for their continued legacy by others.
Rest well Jim, I have a feeling your map-making now and other hobbies are even more fantastic (that is my hope for all artists and creative enthusiasts).
cheers
@Keighn wrote:
when I get a chance I'll try to upload what I have to the cloud and post a link.
If you want, I can host it on my server along with the archived websites.
Unfortunately, there are some holes in my archives because Jim had to change servers a few years back and not all of his migration back then were complete, so his sites had a lot of missing links, which obviously also made it into my archived version in the same condition. I don't think he even migrated all of the older sites at all, leaving them unable for me to archive since the old hosting went down years ago.
@Keighn sent me a link with his collection of Jim's Dwarf Home material.
I've uploaded the file to my own Webserver. It can either be downloaded as a complete .zip file (1.6 GB) from http://jimp.monsen.cc/DwarfHome/Crest%20of%20Star%20(Dwarf%20Home).zip or you can browse through the contents online and look at/download what you want at http://jimp.monsen.cc/DwarfHome (The folders there are just an unpacked version of the .zip)
Thanks Keighn.
And note, if anyone wants a copy of the entire site, for example to set up a mirror or something interdependent of me, just ask. But be aware that it is about 7GB of files there now. And if anyone else has more material, I'll happily put it on my server to have everything collected in one place.
What a huge body of work to leave behind! Besides being a lovely, gentle man he will probably be one of the most prolific fantasy mappers in history.