Making maps for a play-by-post game?

[whydirt]

Anyone know of either a good cheap/free program to use? I could use MSPaint in theory, but I haven't found a good way to convert the .bmps to .gifs or .jpgs.

I'd mostly like something to use for encounter maps (so that I could use hexes or grids to mark movement and distance), but a way to do larger maps would be a bonus.

 

[Emiricol]

Try Autorealm. Free, and good enough for what you describe. If you have money to spend, then Fractal Mapper 7.0 is $30, and Campaign Cartographer is (I think) $80.

 

[Macbeth]

Autorealm is good. Not the best, but its free and it'll get the job done.

 

[MerakSpielman]

I use Interactive Dungeon. Alt-PrintScreen to copy the maps into an image program capable of saving .jpg files (if you don't have one, surely you can find a freeware one somewhere on the net). Check out my PbP game (the regular D&D one, not the EoM one) to see the results. I'm rather proud of it, acutally.

 

[whydirt]

Thanks!

I'm getting AutoREALM to work pretty well. I'm sure that after some practice it will suit my needs just fine.

 

[Uller]

Dungeoncrafter is another possibility. It's free and real easy and intuitive to use. DC2 is nearly complete.