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View Full Version : How to create maps on a computer?



Jukebox Hero
2012-05-29, 05:05 AM
Alright, so I've been trying to run a game over skype, and I've run into a problem. The players can't see the world I've created. I can make battle grids (however visually unappealing they may be) out of excel spreadsheets, but for a world map, I don't want to do a sloppy job of it, and have bright, square forests, and blocky, pixelated swamps. Does anyone know a better way to do it?

Thanks,
Jukebox Hero

Studoku
2012-05-29, 06:03 AM
Give this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=243971) a read. There's a lot of discussion here on mapmaking techniques.

Savannah
2012-05-30, 06:33 PM
Check out the Cartographers' Guild (http://www.cartographersguild.com/forum.php) -- they have a ton of tutorials, tips, and people willing to help.

KillianHawkeye
2012-05-30, 08:33 PM
You can start by getting an actual piece of graphics software. Even MS Paint would be better than Excel.

Fatebreaker
2012-05-30, 09:07 PM
Inkscape (http://inkscape.org/) is free, and a lot better than "free" would lead you to believe. I've been using it for schematics and maps and such, and I'm happy with it. Give that a whirl!

Anxe
2012-05-30, 11:56 PM
I use campaign cartographer (http://www.profantasy.com/products/cc3.asp) for my maps. It goes for $45 at the moment. Pretty steep, but it was worth it for me. The same company also has a mapping program for cities and dungeons. Those are static maps though. If you're running things over the internet you may wanna check out maptool (http://www.rptools.net/index.php?page=maptool) for battlegrid combat.

NikitaDarkstar
2012-05-31, 12:37 AM
I second heading over to the cartography guild, they got good tutorials and resources for most software. That said, there's no truly easy way of doing it. There's different ways yes, but all require time and patience.

Also if you have a DA account check out the cartography guilds group. http://cartography-guild.deviantart.com/

Badgerish
2012-05-31, 04:22 AM
Maptools from www.rptools.net is a virtual tabletop, e.g. a simulated tabletop for you to draw on, move 'tokens' about, roll dice. It's also a very workable graphics program if you want to make maps and save them for later.