Amateur mapmaker seeks fictional geography

[octopod]

Hi folks. Don't mind me, I'm just here for the Cooperative World-Building Project

Wow, I'm so amazed that this forum exists! How exciting!

So this is me: I've always loved maps, but I never really got into making them until I majored in geology, because I didn't know how. Coincidentally this was the same point at which I got into RPGs. Now that I've graduated I'm desperately looking for an outlet for my map-making impulses. I'd DM a game with a homebrew world, but I'm crap at plot. The best I've managed so far is a semi-detailed coastal map of the north and south poles of Eberron (Frostfell and Everice), since I got disgusted with the maps available for those while participating in an airship-travel- and geopolitics-heavy Eberron campaign.

I have no expertise with any of the nifty software tools you-all use, but I'm pretty good at the hand-drawn. Is this place only after computer-generated maps, or could I contribute using more old-fashioned stuff?

Also: Pleased to meet you all.

[NeonKnight]

Welcome aboard.

[SeerBlue]

Welcome to the Guild, Ocotpod, I'd say you can contribute using any old thing you use,,,,
I, and the FHCO's, use Sketchup and Open Office (for stories) mostly, and a little Photoshop, Gimp, PD Particles,,and what ever else strikes their fancy, (spore creature creator is screaming to find its way into Snapgallows).
So those aren't all in the box of the traditional tools the talented Cartographers here normally use.
appear in a map soon.

Looking forward to seeing some of that geologyknology appear in the CWBP soon, the Tawaren Basin has mines and such.

SeerBlue and the FHCO's

[töff]

pretty good at the hand-drawn. Is this place only after computer-generated maps

Pencil and paper are FINE. I wish my skills with them were greater. You will need a scanner or digital camera to share your hand maps here, though.

Welcome!

[octopod]

Thanks all...

I actually had some questions about protocol and conventions on the CWBP. Where should I ask them?

[Gamerprinter]

I'd say the best place to post a question is in the Collaborative World Buidling Project Forums - start a new thread and ask your question there.

GP

[Ghalev]

I have no expertise with any of the nifty software tools you-all use, but I'm pretty good at the hand-drawn. Is this place only after computer-generated maps, or could I contribute using more old-fashioned stuff?

A few folks around here still believe above all else in ink, graphite, watercolor and perhaps a sliver or two of acetate as the best tools for making maps (especially fantasy maps) Virtually all of my maps are hand-drawn to begin with; I just use the software to tweak.

So yeah, hop on in; the water's fine (and quite varied) ...