New to fantasy mapmaking...what software should I use?

[jfrazierjr]

So I've been working on my own campaign world, and I think I've got enough of the base mechanics down to feel comfortable at least drawing up the world map. Problem is, I think I may have some unrealistic expectations regarding what I'd like my software to be able to accomplish.

I'd like to be able to switch from, for example, a political map to a topographical map, I guess basically utilizing "layers", and I'd also like to, if I were to zoom in, use contour lines for topography. Is there any software out there that I can reasonably expect all this from?

Sounds like you might like something like Campaign Cartographer or Fractal Mapper. Both about the same price.


Campaign Cartographer has a steeper learning curve (due to it's non transitional user interface) but TONS of add on symbol packs (which you pay for)

FM is easier to learn since the UI is based on the Windows standard, but it has few available symbols.

Both have the concept of layers(though CC calls them something else!!) Another good thing about these if that they are vector based, so you can scale to print at any size with no loss of resolution (when using ONLY vector symbols!!!) Bad thing is that since they are vector based, you can only get so far up on the pretty scale(depending on how pretty you want your maps AND your definition of pretty.)