Combat maps for PbP games?

[Thanee]

Hi all!

I'm pondering to start a PbP game and would need something to visualize combats (as it is much easier with a decent map).

The end result should be a picture format (.jpg) and must have a grid. Any software involved should be easy to use and free. Nice graphics don't hurt, either.

What kind of tools are there to do this? Any hints?

Bye
Thanee

 

[Max]

There are a couple free options that I am aware of.

Free mapping programs:
http://www.dungeoncrafter.com/
http://www.gryc.ws/autorealm.htm

I know you specified free, but I'll mention some other options as well. Here is a new program that isn't free, but is darn easy to use. Basically, they've created a program that prints out a battle map. They didn't intially consider the possible uses for PBP or PBEM games (thinking it would be used in live games), but I and others have pointed out the online uses as well.

http://www.bytemountain.com/gridsmith/gsdefault.asp

And then there are the more well known commercial mapping products:

http://www.nbos.com/
http://www.profantasy.com/

Max

 

[Creamsteak]

I use excel, print screen, and paste it into a picture editing program (photoshop, mspaint, whatever).

If the method sounds like one your interested in taking up, I can provide more specific instructions.

 

[Thanee]

Gridsmith (and Fractal Mapper, too) really looks quite cool, too bad it's not free. Maybe for later!

Creamsteak, do you have a sample, a link to one of your current maps maybe?

I suppose you just printscreen and then cut the relevant portion from the picture, right?

I might just use excel, at least it's pretty easy to make maps with that, altho the options are a bit limited.

And maybe someone will still provide an interesting idea!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Creamsteak]

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2488&stc=1
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3348&stc=1

There are some more that I can pull up if you need to see more. I recall having done much better maps, but I can't seem to find them.

 

[reapersaurus]

Hey!
I recognize those maps!
Brawn hadn't entered the 2nd combat yet.

 

[Thanee]

Thank you!

Bye
Thanee