Maps in the Playground

[GenPol]

I was wondering what all of the DMs and cartographers in the playground use to create maps? I don't mean dungeon maps, but world maps. I myself have always drawn them by hand, but I was wondering if there were any online map generators/creators that anybody knew about.

PS, how does Inkscape work for this sort of thing?

Thanks in advance!

[gallagher]

a guy in my party is actually an artist, and is quite talented at drawing. so we have little use for an online method.

however, if there were a map creator, it would allow our DM to make the map without tempting the player to metagame the map...

this thread has my interest

[Reynard]

With regards to Inkscape, these are some maps I knocked up in Ai, which is like Inkscape, only stupid expensive.

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And the same bar, five rounds (or 30 seconds) later.

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[Zexion]

MapMage has a free trial, although it's basically useless.
I often use the Civilization III scenario creator to create my campaign maps.

[Zeta Kai]

The Cartographers Guild

[Starscream]

Photoshop. There are plenty of free programs that are probably better suited for this sort of thing, but I was lucky enough to get a legit copy through work, so I use it when I can.

Behold!

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Haven't named most of the places in the south portion yet, but overall I am pleased.

Coming up with the general shapes for the landmasses was the hardest part, because I can't draw worth diddly. But I found that if you do Render:Clouds and then apply a Cutout filter, you get lots of nice shapes to play around with. I just selected some I liked, arranged them on the map, and then messed with the edges to look more like a coastline.

[pinwiz]

For those of you who do use a computer program, how do you display it to the party? Do you have them crowd around the screen, or are the pictures big enough to see for everyone? Do you maybe use projectors?

I'm a visual person and I would love to get my group going with visual aides like a map, and i'm just curious as to what you all do with the programs.

[Zexion]

For those of you who do use a computer program, how do you display it to the party? Do you have them crowd around the screen, or are the pictures big enough to see for everyone? Do you maybe use projectors?

I'm a visual person and I would love to get my group going with visual aides like a map, and i'm just curious as to what you all do with the programs.

My entire group is from school, and we all have computers. So I use the other computers as a display, and everyone can look at what's happening on their screens.

[Shademan]

I tend to draw world and city maps and just messily sketch dungeons. we dont even use squares...

[GenPol]

Wow, thanks for all the responses.

Another question that vaguely concerns maps, this time concerning dungeon/combat maps: my group and I were thinking of abandoning squares/tiles all together, and instead just measure each square as an inch. So if I can normally move 30ft or 6 squares, I instead move six inches in any direction. Has anybody else tried this?

Thanks again in advance.

[Shademan]

Wow, thanks for all the responses.

Another question that vaguely concerns maps, this time concerning dungeon/combat maps: my group and I were thinking of abandoning squares/tiles all together, and instead just measure each square as an inch. So if I can normally move 30ft or 6 squares, I instead move six inches in any direction. Has anybody else tried this?

Thanks again in advance.

yes I have. and it WORKS!
8D

[Altair_the_Vexed]

I use a piece of paper, and a pencil.

Then I ink in the pencil once I'm happy with the layout.

Then, if I want to make it presentable, I scan it and treat it with textures in Photoshop or similar.

[Malificus]

I use graph paper and a pencil to make maps. I annotate traps and other key locations right on the paper.