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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alan Shutko" data-source="post: 5712145" data-attributes="member: 23694">I'm not writing one because I prefer to use Illustrator.  Inkscape is another option and folks have done some great maps with it, but symbols and graphic styles make Illustrator faster for me.  It's got a learning curve and isn't cheap, but it starts making sense after you spend some time understanding the way it's put together.  I prefer a drawing package to a dedicated mapping package because mapping packages are more limited, and there's the worry that they'll just go away as Dundjinni did.  You have to spend some time learning how to use it, but I think it's worth it.Nedjar is right that a hard part is getting the symbols.  Fortunately, even though Dundjinni is down for the count due to owner's neglect, the forums are still alive and have tons of bitmapped assets you can use.  The quality is all over the map... Some are really good, and some are wastes of disk space, but there's so much to choose from you can certainly find something decent to use.  They aren't vector symbols so you'll have limits on how well you can scale them, but many of them were designed to be high enough res to look decent when printed.With these symbols in hand, you can use almost any of the software mentioned here to make maps, including the virtual tabletops.</blockquote>