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GenPol
2010-06-26, 07:01 PM
So, I'm looking for an overland map for my campaign world which has yet to be named. It should be geographically similar to our own world, with a fair balance between deserts, tundras, forests, plains, etc.

I can't draw maps by hand well, and I my Inkscape versions are pretty crappy as well. I heard that Campaign Cartographer 3 was great, but found out it was 50$, which I don't really want to spend.

What do you guys use to make your maps? Any tips for drawing them by hand/on the computer? Any other advice you can give about map making in general? I don't necessarily need a masterpiece, I'm just looking for something that looks good and works.

Suggestions?

Thanks in advance. :smallsmile:

EDIT: Just thought of something... Should this be in the Homebrew Section or the arts and crafts section instead? If so, sorry, my bad... :smalleek:

James the Dark
2010-06-26, 09:58 PM
A somewhat silly answer would be to get Dwarf Fortress, generate a chunk of land of huge size, then have it displayed in high detail. It would function as an overview map of a good portion of the continent, it would be meteorologically sound (ie, the land areas coincide with what weather would be able to support), and it would give you an idea of where civilizations would emerge.

It's a bit tricky to figure out how to do it the first time, though. The trick eludes me at the moment.

Swordgleam
2010-06-26, 10:29 PM
You can find some free maps and some cheap map-creating programs on RPGNow.

I make my maps in the GIMP (http://gimp.org). There's a couple tutorials around for making maps in it.

Melayl
2010-06-26, 10:37 PM
The Cartographer's Guild (http://www.cartographersguild.com/) has some good resources. You might even be able to find a map there.

Beorn080
2010-06-26, 11:04 PM
I second Dwarf Fortress. If you need more races, you can look into the mod section, there are a ton. Bonus points is that you can easily use it to make dungeons, castles, forests, pretty much anything even at a tactical level. Very good scale.

dr.cello
2010-06-26, 11:14 PM
DF works great. Generally I'll take the DF-provided maps and then sketch it out on paper or MS paint or something, making tweaks where the story demands, etc.

GenPol
2010-06-27, 09:53 AM
Wow, thanks for all the responses.

I've never heard of Dwarf Fortress, I'll look it up.