Maps are a wonderful thing to add to your game - They help the characters get into the spirit of things and are useful to avoid confusion in the group. With that said, in the years I've been a DM I've never been satisfied with my hastily drawn scribbles which I like to tell my players are maps. Whenever I browse through official material and come across beautiful and detailed maps I always wish I could do a better job with mine.
How do you guys make your maps? Do you use any graphic programs or do you do them by hand? If any of you use a program that's easy to use and gives good results - do tell!
Would be awesome to draw maps on some kinda Google-Earth deal as well.
I'm sure it can be done, but no idea how.
Campaign cartographer 3... it takes a while to get used to, but it's really useful.
Photoshop.
Campaign cartographer 3... it takes a while to get used to, but it's really useful.
Yeah i can really recomend it, although 2 is easier to learn in my opinion even though it can do less.
I use Photoshop too, though Gimp is also good. I don't know how good Campaign Cartographer is, but every other map-making software was pretty sub-par in my experience.
I'd suggest you also head over to the Cartographer's guild, no matter what program you end up using. We're a helpful bunch, we swears. http://www.cartographersguild.com/
Another voice for cartographer's guild, it's a great place.
I use Adobe products, like photoshop and illustrator for my maps. Sadly, I haven't had a time to draw these days...
I use CC3, too. I also use CA Pro for NPC sketches and CD3 for designing cities, towns, and villages. Next up is the tombs plug in!
For major encounters I will either use Fat Dragon or home made terrain.
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This is a great tutorial about using the GIMP
I have CC3, and would like the dungeon add on. I never get anything quite so good as this tutorial allowed me to produce, in as quick a time...
Thanks Nevynxxx - I'm really pleased it turned out to be useful.
Another vote from me for the Cartographer's Guild. There's loads of tutorials and advice on how to create good maps there in any program. I stick to Gimp and Photoshop (more recently) for my maps, and use a graphics tablet.
I know that RobA on the CG has a gimp script that can turn a black and white floorplan into a respectably pretty dungeon map. Certainly worth looking into. It's called Subterranean Map Prettier Script. A bit of a mouthful but the results are certainly worth it.
I'm a big fan of Gimp myself. Its basically the same deal as Photoshop...except its free.
I can't say it is simple to use but it is extremely powerful and as you grow more comfortable with it you'll learn ever more tricks. Best of all its the kind of program you can use in the real world as well. I've found myself using the skills I learned making maps to do things like create banners for my small business. Essentially if you can make a map in Gimp you can do a great many other things that have applications outside of gaming as well.
DTiles is totally awesome for making your own dungeon maps. It's super fast and you don't need a PhD to figure it out.
True - if you've got a Mac you can always VM Windows on it.
I use CC3; as said it's a complex but very cool tool.
Kthulhu, I used Fractal Mapper years ago (around 2002)... it's not bad but I found that CC (it was 2 at the time) could do everything it could and more--and better. So I stuck with CC2 and upgraded to CC3 when it came out.
BUT... that was 8 years ago. I'm sure the program has improved since then.
Hey is there anywhere to beg/pander to the talents of a good map maler with a bit of spare time?
My overland map just isn't playing the way I want, and I'm running shortish on time :p
Never mind, persevered, overcame.
Chalk another victory for GIMP!