Newbie

[Mordant]

My name is Don. I'm 42 and live near Detroit, Michigan in the United States. I have previously made hand drawn (not impressive) maps for RPGs that I ran. It has been years since I ran a game and I when I decided to prep one, I thought I should step up and try to make a higher quality experience for my players this time. Well, that's going to start with maps. I'll be attempting a world map as well as break out maps for a couple of cities and villages plus various ruins. I expect this to take a while since I have just about zero knowledge of how to make a good map or use the tools required.

I have looked at Campaign Cartographer 2 (older version) that a friend owned and am not 100% sure I will get the result I am looking for using that tool (still assessing). I will probably be spending a ridiculous amount of time in the tutorials section. Suggestions and feedback are definitely welcome at all stages.

Thank you in advance for any help along the way.

-- Don

[arsheesh]

Welcome to the Guild Don! Well you are here for the same reason that many people joined up. The good news is there are allot of resources within the tutorials section to help you on your way. I myself have not gone the Campaign Cartographer route, though there are some members of the Guild here that do good work with it. If you already own Photoshop CS, then you will be able to use the tutorials here to create some really fantastic maps, without needing to purchase any additional software. If you do not own PS, you can download GIMP, a raster program with many of the same features as PS, for free. I have been using GIMP for the last three years and, while I do intend to upgrade to PS eventually, have found it adequate form most of my mapping needs. There are also quite a few tutorials written for GIMP users here as well, though sadly, no town/city tutorials (though much, but not all, of PS tutorials on this topic can be translated into GIMP). I wish you all the best, and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Cheers,
-Arsheesh

[Mordant]

My thoughts regarding the raster style tools have been related to my general lack of artistic talent. I tend to have an analytic thought process and more than a little bit of a perfectionist streak. Those personality traits would not seem to lend themselves to a free-hand style of tool as much as a tool more oriented toward placing established icons at appropriate locations. But maybe I have misread the little I know of PS and Gimp (and CC, for that matter). I would welcome feedback in this regard.

[Mornagest]

Hi and welcome I think you are here for the same reasons as for me... providing background to your players. This is but exciting and interesting, I think.

If I can dispel some of your fears, I knew nothing about cartography only two months ago... and with a bit of practice, you will be able to create some good maps with the tool you prefer. You can just place icons at appropriate locations, as you say, with Photoshop or GIMP, but you can also create everything from scratch, with some helpful tutorials you will find here... I would say that depends on your degree of perfectionism : when you create your own map with your own settings, forests, mountains and so on, you are more satisfied by your work, in my opinion.

[Gullit Torres Dias]

Hello, my name is Gullit. I'm from São Paulo, Brazil.
One of my greatest hobbies since I was younger and till now is creating maps and worlds. I've loved drwa new land and put on them its own features (like culture, population, language and other things).
I came here just not to share my knowledge to you but search new ways and technologies to increase my activity and turn my hobbie more fantastic that it already is!
Thanks!