Making a grid map

[pawsplay]

How would you go about doing this? Is there some graphics tool you can use to quickly generate floorplans/dungeons, or am I stuck tracing stuff out and then scanning it?

 

[jaerdaph]

What style of maps are you looking to use? "Old School" blue & white/black & white, more realistic "battlemap" type maps, something else?

I use Campaign Cartographer 3 for all of these types of maps - it's quick and easy for me (after 10+ years). It's a bit of an investment in money and time to learn it though. There are other mapping programs out there for money and for free, and some folks do their maps in PhotoShop or the free GIMP.

Also, check the PM I'm about to send you.

 

[pawsplay]

Mainly, I'm frustrated with the notion of hand-drawing a map, then mailing it to a graphic designer. It feels so... medieval. Everything I want should happen on my computer screen, instantaneously.

I like "old school" maps, but there are situations where battle maps made with simple graphic "tiles" would be handy, too.

 

[Bloodstone Press]

For maps I either use the Fractal Mapper or draw them by hand, scan them, and enhance with photoshop, depending on the look I want. You can make a grid map easy with the FM. To add a grid to a hand-drawn map in photoshop is a little trickier, but it can be done by working with layers.

 

[jaerdaph]

One of the benefits of CC3 is how easy it is to add grids compared to say Photoshop, GIMP or MS Paint. It's also easy to import a scanned map image into CC3 and trace over it with the drawing tools. Of course you can also draw and create your map in CC3 directly without some prior scan.

CC3 does have a learning curve, but it is nowhere near as steep as it was in prior editions of the software.