PDA

View Full Version : Map maker.



SpiderKoopa
2007-11-05, 09:41 PM
I've been looking everywhere for a program that will let me make a world/continent/country map for a campaign I'm wanting to run (everywhere being google of course), but I can't find squat, so I was wondering if anyone might be kind enough to point me to a credible site via a link?
Please, and of course, thank you very much!:smallsmile:

Starsinger
2007-11-05, 09:49 PM
I use MS Paint...

Mike_Lemmer
2007-11-05, 09:50 PM
Sketchpad + scanner for me.

You could try this:
http://www.nbos.com/products/mapper/mapper.htm

Jarlax
2007-11-05, 09:59 PM
Sketchpad + scanner for me.


same for me. i even use different layers to create a PC and DM version of maps

Mike_Lemmer
2007-11-05, 10:26 PM
My favorite method is scanning in doodles, then laying a hex map over them in MapTool and seeing what pops up. Make a few tokens for cities & towns, sprinkle liberally...

Dalboz of Gurth
2007-11-05, 10:34 PM
My favorite method is scanning in doodles, then laying a hex map over them in MapTool and seeing what pops up. Make a few tokens for cities & towns, sprinkle liberally...

that's a cool idea!

purple gelatinous cube o' Doom
2007-11-05, 11:11 PM
I use AutoRealm, which can be found here (http://www.gryc.ws/autorealm.htm). It's the program that I've come across that I like the best.

Glyphic
2007-11-05, 11:12 PM
Auto realm is fun, if you take awhile to dink around with it.

http://www.gryc.ws/autorealm.htm

SpiderKoopa
2007-11-06, 07:06 AM
Thanks a whole lot.
I'd sketch something and scan but generally either I'm too busy, or it comes out looking like I threw up on some paper.:smallfrown:
Whoa autorealm looks awesome, and so does fractal mapper! I can't wait to start mapping, but alas I must, until work is finished with.:smallbiggrin: Thanks again!

From your friendly neighborhood,
SpiderKoopa

Swooper
2007-11-06, 07:37 AM
The only digital map I've made was drawn on A3 paper (several sheets) first, then scanned in and rendered in Paint.NET (a free PhotoShop lite, really).

Xuincherguixe
2007-11-06, 08:02 AM
The only digital map I've made was drawn on A3 paper (several sheets) first, then scanned in and rendered in Paint.NET (a free PhotoShop lite, really).

I use The GIMP (http://www.gimp.org/) for my image processing. It's not only free, but it's also free (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html).


That aside, I may take a stab at making a maping program myself. I have a few ideas churning away already. But I have a lot of other projects to procrastinate on first before I procrastinate on something like this.

Mr.Moron
2007-11-06, 08:06 AM
I've been looking around for a map-making program myself, the fractal mapper program looks interesting. I've been fooling around with auto realm, which somebody already mentioned and linked. It's looking like it might function pretty well, though I dislike the selection of Icons and I find the interface to be somewhat clunky.

bignate
2007-11-06, 11:18 AM
i use campaign cartographer. you can find it here: http://www.profantasy.com/

it takes a lot of work but it is great, one you get all the software you can build a world map with cities on it then build a city map and link it to the city pic on the world map and even do the inside of a building and link it to the building on a city map. you can also link non-map files to the map, for instance you could make a word document with all of a cities vital information then link it to the cities name on the world map.

i am developing a whole earth sized world based on this and filling it in a little at a time.

in my last game on the world map i could click on the city they were in and pull up the city map then click on their tavern and pull up the map of the 1st floor then click on the stairs to pull up the map of the second floor and then the third.

it is a great referance tool with good information and makes great visuals but it costs a little bit and takes hours to put into your maps as they are all made manually. you can also over lay them with hex of square grids and print them out.

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-06, 11:51 AM
i use campaign cartographer. you can find it here: http://www.profantasy.com/

it takes a lot of work but it is great, one you get all the software you can build a world map with cities on it then build a city map and link it to the city pic on the world map and even do the inside of a building and link it to the building on a city map. you can also link non-map files to the map, for instance you could make a word document with all of a cities vital information then link it to the cities name on the world map.

i am developing a whole earth sized world based on this and filling it in a little at a time.

in my last game on the world map i could click on the city they were in and pull up the city map then click on their tavern and pull up the map of the 1st floor then click on the stairs to pull up the map of the second floor and then the third.

it is a great referance tool with good information and makes great visuals but it costs a little bit and takes hours to put into your maps as they are all made manually. you can also over lay them with hex of square grids and print them out.

I looked at that at GenCon and I was impressed, but it seemed like you need to by 2 or 3 different software to do all that, what's the total price?

bignate
2007-11-06, 02:07 PM
the initial investment can be pretty costly.

all you really need is campaign cartographer(whatever version, i use pro), city designer and dungeon designer and you can get them for roughly $30-$40 each.

really the biggest issue is the time it takes to build maps and stuff. you have to be willing to put lots of time into planning and working on maps for you game for it to be useful. when i was running my last game anywhere from 3 to 10 hours between games working on maps and such, it wasnt that hard on me though cuz our group only games every 3 weeks.

but i can tell you it is nice to be able to pull out a map for encounter and stuff.