Pathfinder Map Style (CC3+)

[Moloch1066]

Does anyone have or know of a resource for making city or overland maps in the Pathfinder style?

I run an online game, so I use more maps than I might at the table. I'm a bit anal about presenting a cohesive visual style, so when I need to make a supplemental map I try to match the published content I'm using. For example, I'm running Extinction Curse on Roll20, and there's no Escadar map, so I'm making my own.

In the past I've used Photopea (similar to Photoshop) to alter existing maps, but it's a lot of work. I recently purchased Campaign Cartographer in a humble bundle, and some of the existing map styles look very similar to maps used in games by another publisher. Many of the Pathfinder city maps have a similar style, and seem to reuse assets as well, so maybe there's a Pathfinder style?

[Temperans]

Paizo sells a lot of different map packs, both physical and PDF. From what I have seen the style is characterized by thick black lines being used for walls, along with very distinct color choices for the different terrain types.

Modular wise, although not quite the same as the "pathfinder style", I prefer the map tiles made by Gabriel Pickard. They have have so many options that you can practically do anything with enough time and editing.

[Golurkcanfly]

Forgotten Adventures map assets can be pretty useful for emulating the darker sort of style Paizo uses for their official maps.

[Moloch1066]

I love Gabriel Pickard's stuff, and I honestly have $100s worth of his stuff on roll20 (no exaggeration!), but I find it too detailed to match the maps in the adventure paths. For Plaguestone I redid all of the maps using his tiles, but it was at the beginning of the pandemic when I had more time...

Wow, you're not kidding, forgotten adventures looks like official pathfinder flip mats. I'm trying to match the style in the adventure paths, though, which is a little more cartoony.

Unfortunately, I want something I can have more control over than either of these options. Maybe I could make a map using Gabriel Pickard's slap-down town, then apply some filters in photoshop, but those are a larger scale.

I'll keep chugging along on making my own style in CC3+ for now. Thanks for the suggestions!

[Temperans]

Glad to help. I think I might remember a few other maps that are similar in feel, but I don't remember. Sorry I wasn't more useful.

[BishopMcQ]

I've noticed that the AP maps tend to be internally consistent, but if you compare one AP to another, there is usually some variation. Probably because the cartographers are different.

If you are using CC3+, the Dungeons of Schley style matches some APs. You should also check out the CC3 forums for community resources. There are some packs with thousands of assets especially the Vintyri Project. CC3 has a bit of a learning curve to it in getting the right image sets into the map you want. They tend to self-isolate between City, Overland, and Dungeon. I'm personally not great at staying in the right setup -- especially when making a City and doing maps of the buildings as linked assets.

The 13th Age overland style matches some of the player handout sepia toned map styles. I have the Varisia and Numeria overland maps framed in my office, and have been working on making some in the same style for other realms.

Profantasy Software also has their own YouTube channel with videos. I also found the tutorial videos by Josh Plunkett to be helpful. There are guides on how to convert assets, so any PNG file can be added into CC3+.

Good luck!

[Moloch1066]

Thanks a lot BishopMcQ!

Yeah, the learning curve is steep, but I figure if I get a style I like, I should be good to go. Right now I'm basically mixing and matching, but schley and 13th age are definitely in the mix.

That's a really good suggestion to check the CC3 forums.

[The Gleeful Grognard]

I have the same issue however I came to a different solution. For missing maps I use a more abstract black and white style remmanicent of dysonlogos.
The extreme contrast and obvious abstraction actually makes it feel more stylistically cohesive with more detailed maps, the brain just kinda goes "it is meant to look different" rather than fixating on the similarities and how it doesn't actually match. At least for my group.

And because it is simple I can quickly pump them out, or if I so desire do some watercolour work over them to add some depth for scenes that need it.

Google drive image

Made in dungeondraft, on my phone atm so only have a small screenshot I sent to a friend on discord rather than the whole map.

Dungeon draft also has great forgotten adventures support, personally I prefer its workflow to campaign cartographer. But that is personal taste.

On just for random map interest here are the first two maps I ever made for pathfinder in photoshop, floor one and two of the crypt of everflame -laughs- (they aren't actually that dark, I musn't have saved the colour profile for them)

Floor 1
Floor 2