Map making?

[AsheItachi]

I got some maps to make for a game, who here has any good sites or resources for map making ? my campaign is 3.5 general. MSPaint is for cubs i nead something beastly any one here have a favorite?

[KillianHawkeye]

Adobe Illustrator

[Khosan]

Alternatively, Inkscape (http://inkscape.org/). A freeware vector art program.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Gimp I've heard good things about.

AutoRealm is an older one, has randomized fractal lines you can use for coastlines.

[Tylorious]

caligraphy pen and weathered looking paper

[Winter_Wolf]

If you're looking for a high learning curve, you could go with any of Profantasy's stuff, like CC3 or even Fractal Terrains, which makes whole planets. Profantasy software is NOT "user friendly". It's like a specialized CAD program with a completely unintuitive interface and you DO NOT get a paper manual with the product. You could purchase a copy of the "Tome of Ultimate Mapping" for about fiddy 25 US dollars, but I'd make sure that your copy of that and the version of your software match it's a PDF version of the Tome (but it is apparently updateable if you buy a copy, i.e. you can re-download it if/when there are updates to it). I still use CC3 as my go-to for software rendering of maps, though. Once you get past the "steep" curve (It's nearly vertical!) you can pull of some decent maps in about 10-20 minutes. More detail and fancy tricks require significantly more time, but the results can be fantastic.

Or you could do the effective approach, which is basically paper, a pen, and a copier/scanner to make several copies to doodle on. Seriously, the single most effective and efficient use of time in map making I've ever come across is the ol' hand meets pen and paper method. Then color a scanned copy of it in a graphics program of some type if you want color. Hand coloring leaves something to be desired in the making use of one's time department. To wit, you can have it fast, or you can have it look good; you can pick one. Well okay, I can only have one. The great looking hand colored pieces are truly great, and took hours of careful and painstaking work. The five minute ones all looked like an explosion of multicolored crap. :smallredface:

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

caligraphy pen and weathered looking paper

Oh man, I WISH I had the hand for that. I have one big map that I did first by sketching multiple small copies of tectonic plates, drawing their movements so they'd create the kind of continent I wanted, then drawing in the continent, drawing a grid, then making a HUGE version, filling that in, and then I used AutoRealm to make it look like an actual PLACE. And then I added a whole bunch of other continents willy-nilly.

[Tylorious]

Oh man, I WISH I had the hand for that. I have one big map that I did first by sketching multiple small copies of tectonic plates, drawing their movements so they'd create the kind of continent I wanted, then drawing in the continent, drawing a grid, then making a HUGE version, filling that in, and then I used AutoRealm to make it look like an actual PLACE. And then I added a whole bunch of other continents willy-nilly.

That sounds awesome!!! I bet it looks so cool!

[Triaxx]

Nothing beats some plastic sheets and a dry erase marker.

If you can find the stuff with a grid already on it, it's excellent for small areas.

But I like GIMP for large maps.

Also, Sourceforge has a project called PosteRazor, allowing the printing of a huge page by chopping it into 8.5x11 sheets that can be put back together without having to have a huge printer. Coulds be useful.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

That sounds awesome!!! I bet it looks so cool!

Oh, it doesn't look all that good. I didn't put the time into making it look pretty. I took some screenshots of the main continent for a thread a few months earlier, lemme find the post... here it is!



Sure, here's some pictures of the main continent.

Scale differs slightly, the whole thing is too large for one picture with any kind of visibility.

Edit: names and stuff are illegible. :smallannoyed:
so I suppose I'll write them underneath.

The Islands of Heim and the Kingdom of the North
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s618/GwynchanrGwyll/HeimandRikkenor_zpsc384958d.jpg
Westenfeld, Strandburg, Wahrkirch, Konigsbruck, Karlingen, Hochberg, Kranscrona.
The passes are, in the White Mtns, Ghoulpass and Bransgate, and in the Grey Mtns, Northpass


The North-West
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s618/GwynchanrGwyll/theNorthWest_zps92450124.jpg

The Oameni cities are Turn de Argint, Rau Ceas, Podsul, Poartoras, and Soaursul. The Eohfolc towns are Northkeep, Branhold, Ganwyk, and Riverwatch. The Elven Forest-Kingdoms are Pojoiseen, Omistusasuntoja, the rival kingdoms of Puun and Pekka, and Viime Metsa with the capital of Kaupunki

The South-West
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s618/GwynchanrGwyll/TheSouthWest_zps378352ba.jpg
the Oameni cities are Fiicaras and Golful Vulcan. The Eohfolc towns are Seareach, Polworthy, and Stanmere. The elven forest-kingdoms are Harva, Pieni, Vihrea, and Etela.

The wastes of the North-East
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s618/GwynchanrGwyll/TheNorthEast_zps811aed27.jpg
The rivers are Arevmutk Get and Arevelk Get. The city is Brunsktun. The two passes are Forestgate and Mountainford. The island on the right is Eldurland.

The Imperial Province of Susicivus, Nasha Zemlya and the pass of Dwarvengate
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s618/GwynchanrGwyll/SusicivusNVandDwarvengate_zps932a363c.jpg

The pass through the Great Divide is Dwarvengate. The valley is Nasha Zemlya. The 3 passes are left-to-right Visok Dol, Raider's Pass and Niskoi Dol

The Imperial Province of Inspira and Urbvetus
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s618/GwynchanrGwyll/InspiraandUrbvetus_zps17c86d13.jpg

The river is the Great Artorius River

The Imperial Province of Mirus and surroundings http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s618/GwynchanrGwyll/Mirus_zps9daef120.jpg

Can't remember if my notes or the map is out of date, city is either Prosper or Prospersel.

The lands of the Atheinsfolk and Tindurland/Tynderia
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s618/GwynchanrGwyll/LandsoftheAtheinsfolk_zps3893d212.jpg

The strait is the Frumeintak. The town at the bottom of Eldurland is Gammalhus. The island on the right is Vorland. The town on it is Madurhold. The island on the left is Sparraland. The town on it is Briggja. The region on the south of that island is Tinderia, with the town of Visum Incendum.

The lands beyond the Worldsend Mountains
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s618/GwynchanrGwyll/Trans-Worldsend_zpsf3a4ab42.jpg


The Innius Desert, and the Signum Majorum (that's an epic site if there ever was one, but it's also a wasted barren pit so not much in the way of nations there) oh and also Lover's Pass
http://i1308.photobucket.com/albums/s618/GwynchanrGwyll/InniusDesertandLoversPass_zps6f358f0d.jpg

little town of Chasna-le

[Tylorious]

it is still cool even if it is simple.
i am a dm and would actually like to do something like this for my players