Hand Drawn or Computer Maps

[Sigurd]

CC2 is crass Photoshop is Art

Its not really either or. Most everything has a computer element even if its only colour balancing and presentation.

My preference is for as much atmosphere in the hands of my players as possible. Ironically some of the most atmospheric maps I use come from Dungeon and to my knowledge they are hand done & modified in photoshop.

I'm not averse to a CAD map, even CC2 but to dump a cad drawing to a picture, even a jpg, seems to be the worst of both worlds. Cad inforces a stark contrast and sameness to all the contrasting and same elements - this makes the pictures mechanical. Jpg or illustrations freeze the Cad drawing so you can't remove layers or manipulate data.

I don't think you can go wrong with Photoshop and talented cartographers\artists.

 

[SWBaxter]

Okay, here's the question: when purchasing a module, would you rather have hand-drawn or computer generated maps?

I don't care so long as it's readable and usable. I honestly couldn't tell you whether the maps from my (recent) favourite adventures are hand-drawn or computer generated, and I have little interest in finding out. I buy a final product, not a process.

 

[Yami no Hon]

I usually twist the printed modules (sometimes combining two or three) to better fit the homebrew world I stick them in. I tend to redraw every map at least once myself, and because I'm a nut about it, I do it by hand.

So to answer the poll, I really don't care if the map is hand-drawn or computer generated, because I'm going to re-do it anyway.