how do you make your overland maps?

[nopantsyet]

Draw Freehand

Which is really sad considering the fact that I can't draw to save my life. I've bought Fractal Mapper and Dundjinni, but I still haven't reached the point where I can get a map to look the way I envision it. At least when I draw I benefit from low expectations. And I don't know if it's the reinforcement of the physical act or what, but my lame drawings help me remember my original idea better.

 

[Mercule]

I voted freehand, but I just picked up Fractal Terrains and CC2 Pro with Xmas money. I'm currently experencing much pain from my choice, but I'm sure I'll get better maps. Right???

Sometimes I hate being a technophile.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

I draw them freehand, and have been doing so since the eighth grade. Currently, however, I haven't drawn much since I've been using a published setting. I'll have to try hand drawing them and then using Photoshop at some point.

 

[Ibram]

Plain printer paper for large scale maps, and engineering paper for the local stuff or areas where i know combat will take place.

Since most adventure areas are generated randomly when needed (ok this battle is going to take place in a forest... lets add a stream) most of my maps are area maps not battle maps.

 

[Uder]

I use Campaign Cartographer quite often. Once I got past the learning curve (overstated by many) I actually found that it is fun to make maps with - sometimes I just doodle away on maps that aren't linked to my game in any way.

I just got CCPro, and it is far better than the older versions for simplicity and power. The prices just went up though. :\

IMBSOOMB, but I think CCPro actually dropped price by nearly half to compete with Dunjinni...

I was stoked that they initially offered CC2Pro for free to CC2 users - if you downloaded and tested the first couple beta patches then you got a free license for the upgrade.

 

[zagorm]

I picked freehand
But IMHO combine technique - hand drawing with computer cleaning and coloring gives the best results.
Regards
Z

 

[Desdichado]

IIMBSOOMB, but I think CCPro actually dropped price by nearly half to compete with Dunjinni...

It's still on sale at their website for $40. Surely that's not the half-off sale?

 

[Aristotle]

I have an older version of CC2, but I never use it. The learning curve was just too steep for me. I'm sure I could have figured it out, but I couldn't see putting that much time into a program I really wouldn't use *that* much. I'm told the newest edition of CC2 is a bit simpler to use.

Fratal Terrains on the other hand is invaluable for creating whole worlds quickly and painlessly. My copy of this is also older, but I'm told the features in the newer edition make it even better.

I haven't done maps in a while, but I've gotten a Wacom tablet for my computer and I got Photoshop recently. I'm thinking, in the future, I'll draw maps freehand into photoshop via the tablet and then use photoshop to fancy it up. Even if the maps aren't quite the same quality as those produced in CC2 the process feels more productive to me as I can use tricks I learn while doing maps in photoshop when I'm working on other kinds of things in the program...

 

[Jupp]

For regional maps and those showing towns/villages and the like I use the NWN Toolset. It's actually a pretty fast tool to make consistent looking maps. When all is done and placed the right way I make a screenshot from the top down view. If there are things to be added I can still do it later on in Photoshop or Alias Sketchbook (i.e. handwritten notes a la treasure map). A Wacom tablet or a Cintiq is very handy then. For dungeon and interior maps the NWN Toolset is even better suited.

I tried to use Dundjinni but its too cumbersome and slow for a fast map for the next game day I think. It's good if you have some weeks time though

 

[Ry]

I draw my overland maps freehand. Dungeons and cities I just throw my hands up in despair (I still haven't found a good style for these).

But then I take a high-res digital picture of my map and clean it up in a combination fo Photoshop and Microsoft Paint. This helps because I can then create maps of particular regions very quickly. I wouldn't recommend Paint to anyone, I just haven't figured out much of Photoshop yet. I need my maps to be in 16-colours for speed when gaming over the 'net.