Anyone Interested in Drawing Maps? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Anyone Interested in Drawing Maps?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
koncraigus
Sep 12, 2008 3:59:03 I am beginning a new (as of yet unnamed) world. I have a lot of ideas as to the content, but I plain SUCK at mapping.

I actually have a draft world map that I made using the Map Maker on Civ III. It actually gave me a real nice random geography. I used PSP to add some borders which has helped me to develop some general ideas, but what I need is:

1. I need it converted to a more DnD ready map (perhaps hex or grid and actually LESS detailed; plus I might want to add/change a couple things on the existing map)
2. Overland map. The world map could actually be used depending on the scale.
3. An city map for the city of Kelda basically just showing some of the local geography and marking a couple districts and some (actually quite a few) points of interest that I've already established.
(On that note, I could probably create 50 different adventures in Kelda alone, but I'm going to start much smaller than that lol)

I'll give more detail to those that are interested.

I've tried AutoRealm and CC2. They're both cool if I could figure them out, but they are both way too painful for me. PSP is impractical IMO.

So.... if anyone truly enjoys mapping and would like to play a large part in the creation of a world (without having to worry about coming up with the ideas yourself), let me know. I can't pay you, but I will certainly give you credit when the world gets done (mapping is by far the most difficult part for me).

Thx,
KonCraigus
#2
yellowdingo
Sep 12, 2008 9:34:36 Incase you dont find anyone, I suggest what I did for a Planetary map.

I established it across a d20 surface for the "globe" and printed the blank d20 "globe" off, used fine point pen to draw coastlines, mountainous clusters, huge forest boundaries, swamp markers, ect. I then coloured it by pencil (blue for sea, green for grasslands, white for Polar Ice, brown and black on my mountains, dark green for forest, seagreen for swamp) and scanned it to PC.

I then did it again for a single triangle at a time of campaign area (map at this level is 4000 miles each side) with a single triangle occupying the A4 Page.

I have yet to scale down to the 125 mile per side triangle...(Local area Map).
If you dont like drawing, This can be done in the Draw Function of Microsoft Word (just set your grid to 0.2 x 0.2).

It simply requires experience.
#3
loydb
Sep 12, 2008 12:25:35 There's an entire board at the Cartographer's Guild (http://www.cartographersguild.com/) for map requests -- you have a decent chance of someone helping you out there.

loyd
#4
koncraigus
Sep 12, 2008 14:47:20 Awesome! Thanks guys. Those are definitely good starts. I'm actually going to add a little more detail in a bit and maybe it will stimulate someone with maps skills to help out too.
#5
koncraigus
Sep 12, 2008 15:08:26 Here is the top 1/2 of my existing map.
IMAGE(http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/spartanjames/DnD/1-1complete.jpg)

I would probably not use the word "Great" so many times. I'd probably also change some of the land to swamp and also to desert.

Here is a taste of the background on some of the "nations" (not all of these are on the part of the map I've posted)

Harton
- PCs start here for my created adventure path
- diverse
- long standing peace with Grintersprece
- shares mines with Grintersprece
- good wealth
- a Republic, not a kingdom
- minimal army

Grintersprece
- diverse?
- long standing peace with Harton
- shares mines with Harton
- good wealth

Grintersprece-Harton Mines
- provide minerals/gems to Grintersprece and Harton
- risk of attack when traveling through
- H&G miners have been disappearing (adventure hook)

Realm of Evil
- unexplored land for random adventures
- players either must cross or take a boat (which will not necessarily be an easy trip) to get to other lands
- non-linear adventures here

Great Elven Forest
- Elven Kingdom
- At war with Eindrinlin (due to land encroachments)
- Friendly with Caelan
- Neutral with Stalgard
- Dislike toward Gigantus (Giants raid borderlands on occasion)

Stalgard
- Dwarven Kingdom
---------------------------------------

I've also started on more detail for Harton:
Note: I will probably change the timeline dates (I tried to make it realistic for non-human lifespans as well as human, but I want to tweak it). I'll also probably improve the "diety". I mean "Son of the Stars" is pretty lame, I admit it. Besides mapping, dieties are my other weakness.

The History of Harton:
-8000: It is written that the “Son of the Stars” created the world
: First record of inhabitants in coastal areas of what is now Harton. These are nomadic families who survive off the sea. No outside contact is recorded.
-6001-Present: Enormous tides pound Harton’s coast. Travel by water is limited to only a few days per year.
-6000: Continuing records of original inhabitants cease. They are believed to have died out as a result of a large tidal wave.
0: Current inhabitants travel overland and begin agricultural society.
428: Local merchants on the “Near Coast” unite to exchange goods. A council of 8 prominent merchants is selected to insure fair dealings.
439: Kelda is formed
599: Citizens begin referring to their land as “Harton” after the name of the first leader of “The Great Council”.
: Kelda becomes capital
: Harton forms its first standing army in Kelda.
606: Under the leadership of The Great Council, Harton is expanded to its current boundaries.
609: The Great Council signs “The Articles of Prosperon” with Gintersprece. The Articles consist of a mutual non-aggression pact and agree that all minerals taken from the Harton-Gintersprece mines shall be pooled and divided between the two nations based on number of nobles in each nation.
768: Bandits begin to raid countryside. The attacks grow in size and voracity each year.
775: After 7 years of bandit raids, the Harton army finally responds to the bandits. Due to the small size of Harton’s army, years of fighting ensue.
784: While sporadic bandit attacks continue to this day, full-scale bandit raids are effectively brought to an end.
833: Angonine becomes leader of The Great Council.
836: The Wizard Indro Iniquitos assassinates Angonine.
: Popular outcry causes wizadry to be banned in Harton.
851-852: “The Devil’s Inferno” burns over 25% of Harton
851-856: Having lost much of their food supply, 20% of Harton’s inhabitants starve to death.
862: It is rumored that Indro Iniquitos dies during a mis-executed spell. Neither his body nor his workshop is ever found.
863: First miners disappear at Harton-Gintersprece Mines.
865: Present Day

------------------

General background:
Background:
Kelda is a port city that serves as the capital city of the Republic of Harton. Harton and neighboring Gintersprece have historically enjoyed great wealth as the range of mountains that separates the two nations has been abundant in copper, iron, and gems; and a long standing treaty has allowed the two kingdoms to peacefully share the wealth. However, as the resources in the mines have become more and more scarce, and miners have been forced to dig deeper into the mountains, many have disappeared, and those that have returned have told stories of creatures attacking them and enslaving survivors.

Surrounded on 3 sides by water and having peaceful neighbors on the other side, Harton has kept only a small army, preferring, instead, to concentrate their wealth on economic and cultural development. As a result, the Great Council of Harton recently decided that all able bodied men and women who are not land owners must report for military duty.
#6
indyjoe
Sep 13, 2008 11:55:21 If you like hex maps, especially in the style of late 80s/early 90s Dragon magazine maps take a look at my hex brushes for GIMP:
http://inkwellideas.com/?page_id=9

(A sample map is at the link in case you want to see what the brushes look like in use. GIMP is a very powerful, free image editing program. It isn't photoshop, but I think it is the best free one out there.)
#7
conkraigas
Sep 18, 2008 14:15:52 Hey, me again (slight name change because I lost all my saved password because of a FireFox problem, and I used a temporary email address for my original sign-up but couldn't remember it).

Anyway, didn't find any help on the Cartographer's Guild (not a single reply ).

Any other advice?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 koncraigus Sep 12, 2008 3:59:03	I am beginning a new (as of yet unnamed) world. I have a lot of ideas as to the content, but I plain SUCK at mapping. I actually have a draft world map that I made using the Map Maker on Civ III. It actually gave me a real nice random geography. I used PSP to add some borders which has helped me to develop some general ideas, but what I need is: 1. I need it converted to a more DnD ready map (perhaps hex or grid and actually LESS detailed; plus I might want to add/change a couple things on the existing map) 2. Overland map. The world map could actually be used depending on the scale. 3. An city map for the city of Kelda basically just showing some of the local geography and marking a couple districts and some (actually quite a few) points of interest that I've already established. (On that note, I could probably create 50 different adventures in Kelda alone, but I'm going to start much smaller than that lol) I'll give more detail to those that are interested. I've tried AutoRealm and CC2. They're both cool if I could figure them out, but they are both way too painful for me. PSP is impractical IMO. So.... if anyone truly enjoys mapping and would like to play a large part in the creation of a world (without having to worry about coming up with the ideas yourself), let me know. I can't pay you, but I will certainly give you credit when the world gets done (mapping is by far the most difficult part for me). Thx, KonCraigus
#2 yellowdingo Sep 12, 2008 9:34:36	Incase you dont find anyone, I suggest what I did for a Planetary map. I established it across a d20 surface for the "globe" and printed the blank d20 "globe" off, used fine point pen to draw coastlines, mountainous clusters, huge forest boundaries, swamp markers, ect. I then coloured it by pencil (blue for sea, green for grasslands, white for Polar Ice, brown and black on my mountains, dark green for forest, seagreen for swamp) and scanned it to PC. I then did it again for a single triangle at a time of campaign area (map at this level is 4000 miles each side) with a single triangle occupying the A4 Page. I have yet to scale down to the 125 mile per side triangle...(Local area Map). If you dont like drawing, This can be done in the Draw Function of Microsoft Word (just set your grid to 0.2 x 0.2). It simply requires experience.
#3 loydb Sep 12, 2008 12:25:35	There's an entire board at the Cartographer's Guild (http://www.cartographersguild.com/) for map requests -- you have a decent chance of someone helping you out there. loyd
#4 koncraigus Sep 12, 2008 14:47:20	Awesome! Thanks guys. Those are definitely good starts. I'm actually going to add a little more detail in a bit and maybe it will stimulate someone with maps skills to help out too.
#5 koncraigus Sep 12, 2008 15:08:26	Here is the top 1/2 of my existing map. I would probably not use the word "Great" so many times. I'd probably also change some of the land to swamp and also to desert. Here is a taste of the background on some of the "nations" (not all of these are on the part of the map I've posted) Harton - PCs start here for my created adventure path - diverse - long standing peace with Grintersprece - shares mines with Grintersprece - good wealth - a Republic, not a kingdom - minimal army Grintersprece - diverse? - long standing peace with Harton - shares mines with Harton - good wealth Grintersprece-Harton Mines - provide minerals/gems to Grintersprece and Harton - risk of attack when traveling through - H&G miners have been disappearing (adventure hook) Realm of Evil - unexplored land for random adventures - players either must cross or take a boat (which will not necessarily be an easy trip) to get to other lands - non-linear adventures here Great Elven Forest - Elven Kingdom - At war with Eindrinlin (due to land encroachments) - Friendly with Caelan - Neutral with Stalgard - Dislike toward Gigantus (Giants raid borderlands on occasion) Stalgard - Dwarven Kingdom --------------------------------------- I've also started on more detail for Harton: Note: I will probably change the timeline dates (I tried to make it realistic for non-human lifespans as well as human, but I want to tweak it). I'll also probably improve the "diety". I mean "Son of the Stars" is pretty lame, I admit it. Besides mapping, dieties are my other weakness. The History of Harton: -8000: It is written that the “Son of the Stars” created the world : First record of inhabitants in coastal areas of what is now Harton. These are nomadic families who survive off the sea. No outside contact is recorded. -6001-Present: Enormous tides pound Harton’s coast. Travel by water is limited to only a few days per year. -6000: Continuing records of original inhabitants cease. They are believed to have died out as a result of a large tidal wave. 0: Current inhabitants travel overland and begin agricultural society. 428: Local merchants on the “Near Coast” unite to exchange goods. A council of 8 prominent merchants is selected to insure fair dealings. 439: Kelda is formed 599: Citizens begin referring to their land as “Harton” after the name of the first leader of “The Great Council”. : Kelda becomes capital : Harton forms its first standing army in Kelda. 606: Under the leadership of The Great Council, Harton is expanded to its current boundaries. 609: The Great Council signs “The Articles of Prosperon” with Gintersprece. The Articles consist of a mutual non-aggression pact and agree that all minerals taken from the Harton-Gintersprece mines shall be pooled and divided between the two nations based on number of nobles in each nation. 768: Bandits begin to raid countryside. The attacks grow in size and voracity each year. 775: After 7 years of bandit raids, the Harton army finally responds to the bandits. Due to the small size of Harton’s army, years of fighting ensue. 784: While sporadic bandit attacks continue to this day, full-scale bandit raids are effectively brought to an end. 833: Angonine becomes leader of The Great Council. 836: The Wizard Indro Iniquitos assassinates Angonine. : Popular outcry causes wizadry to be banned in Harton. 851-852: “The Devil’s Inferno” burns over 25% of Harton 851-856: Having lost much of their food supply, 20% of Harton’s inhabitants starve to death. 862: It is rumored that Indro Iniquitos dies during a mis-executed spell. Neither his body nor his workshop is ever found. 863: First miners disappear at Harton-Gintersprece Mines. 865: Present Day ------------------ General background: Background: Kelda is a port city that serves as the capital city of the Republic of Harton. Harton and neighboring Gintersprece have historically enjoyed great wealth as the range of mountains that separates the two nations has been abundant in copper, iron, and gems; and a long standing treaty has allowed the two kingdoms to peacefully share the wealth. However, as the resources in the mines have become more and more scarce, and miners have been forced to dig deeper into the mountains, many have disappeared, and those that have returned have told stories of creatures attacking them and enslaving survivors. Surrounded on 3 sides by water and having peaceful neighbors on the other side, Harton has kept only a small army, preferring, instead, to concentrate their wealth on economic and cultural development. As a result, the Great Council of Harton recently decided that all able bodied men and women who are not land owners must report for military duty.
#6 indyjoe Sep 13, 2008 11:55:21	If you like hex maps, especially in the style of late 80s/early 90s Dragon magazine maps take a look at my hex brushes for GIMP: http://inkwellideas.com/?page_id=9 (A sample map is at the link in case you want to see what the brushes look like in use. GIMP is a very powerful, free image editing program. It isn't photoshop, but I think it is the best free one out there.)
#7 conkraigas Sep 18, 2008 14:15:52	Hey, me again (slight name change because I lost all my saved password because of a FireFox problem, and I used a temporary email address for my original sign-up but couldn't remember it). Anyway, didn't find any help on the Cartographer's Guild (not a single reply ). Any other advice?