map maker

[raven21]

does anyone know of a good map maker for doing towns and over wolrd maps?

[wbrandel]

For world or area maps I use the campaign cartographer cities I either use the city designer add on pack. Dunjinni (brand name) is also very good and it has everything needed on one disk. Of course there is the old fashion way-pencil, paper, eraser, and your imagination (that never worked for me, nothing looked right).

[Webhead]

I just tended to "steal" maps from people's campaign websites and then insert my own stuff and/or change location names to meet my needs. But that's because 1) I'm not terribly good at or have the patience for drawing my own detailed maps, 2) I'm not particularly skilled with most image manipulation software and 3) I'm too cheap...er, frugal...to spend the money for something like Campaign Cartographer.

But by all accounts, I have heard that once you overcome Campaign Cartographer's learning curve, it is quite good.

[raven21]

What sites do you get maps from? I have tried to look for maps a few times online but I usaly can't find anything good and end up giving up on trying to find them. So if you could point me in a direction that would be awsome.

[spotlight]

Yeah, there are a few good (and bad) map makers out there. Personally, I fire up my old 'Sid Myrers Civ Gold ed' and use the cheat mode to reveal the entire map, modify any interesting feature and print it out.

It is a little blocky for some and it don't do cities, but it does the job for me.

[Webhead]

What sites do you get maps from? I have tried to look for maps a few times online but I usaly can't find anything good and end up giving up on trying to find them. So if you could point me in a direction that would be awsome.

I never really kept good track of those sources (and it's been several years since I lasted went scrounging) but I'll see if I can take a look around the net and find a few decent resources.

For general fantasy art (not really maps, but character art and the like) I tend to frequent places like Deviantart.com and Elfwood.com (though I've noticed the quality of Elfwood stuff has taken a steep decline over past few years...probably all migrated to Deviantart).

[raven21]

Thanks Webhead any elp wpuld be great

[Mindbomb]

I really enjoy my Dunjinni, I've made more maps than I will ever actually use.

[ignimbrite]

paizo.com has map making software for sale

[nijineko]

i either make or mod my own.

right now i'm in the process of slowly reconstructing all the seperate layers of the old greyhawk maps.

[Vulture]

I usually hand dray mw own maps, it is time consuming, but i like the outcome

[nijineko]

as do i, i'll eventually post some of my work.

[James McKinney]

I can't believe no one has mentioned AutoRealm (http://www.gryc.ws/autorealm.htm). This is the ONLY map-making program I use for cities and over world maps - it is absolutely indispensable to me.

Try it out, and tell me what you think.

Did I mention it is 100% free?

[nijineko]

i have enjoyed autorealm... but i find that i can produce higher quality stuff on my own. nonetheless, i do recommend it for pc-using non-artist/non-cartographer friends. and it's a pretty decent tool even if one is an artist or cartographer. ^^ i use a mac though, and have different tools for the mapping stuff. =D

[raven21]

I will try it I love free stuff. I have for years drawn my own maps, but I was trying to find something to make them alittle more uniformed and official looking and hopfuly faster than hand drawn maps.

[dragonfire]

I use alot of the stuff from mapmage.com. they have some free programs and other you have to buy. There are demo versions for all the ones you have to buy, so you can try it out to see if you like it first.

[mrken]

Try this site. It is for the Harn game. I don't really use the rules but the source material is unbeatable. http://www.lythia.com/

[nijineko]

oh yeah. finally posted one of the maps i'm working on (http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/album.php?albumid=28&pictureid=260). ^^

[frank634]

Personally, I use Profantasy Software and have Campaign Cartographer, Dungeon Designer, and City Designer. Although it is not the easiest to learn and certainly the price is not the greatest, the program itself can do many things. It is currently compatable with Windows Vista and I can export the maps to JPG. There other programs are currently being rewritten to the new version.