Quote Originally Posted by King Thor View Post
What program would you recommend to me? I am decently software friendly but don't have all that much time to devote (pretty time consuming job and an 11 month old son). I am looking to make maps that look great and are functional as opposed to the most stunning maps ever (although stunning + functional would be a bonus ). I would also like to be able to have the maps print a player copy and a DM copy as this would make my life alot easier (depending on how much work this is).KT
I'll disagree with the others to a certain extent. I used to use Campaign Cartographer 3, and it certainly will make excellent maps of the kind you seek, but it also has a learning curve as high as Mount Everest. It may take you a long time before you've learned enough to get the results you want.

Our project group switched from CC3 to Fractal Mapper 8 because CC3 was completely incompatible with our products. As a side benefit, we also found that we can produce the same maps we were making with CC3 in about 25% of the time. So before buying anything, I'd urge you to give FM8 a free trial.

All of this, however, assumes that you want a cartographic program. It may be that a graphics program suits your needs better. In that case, I'd go with the GIMP. It's freeware, so you can try it for nothing.

However, you can do the same thing with FM8. You can download the trial version free at http://www.nbos.com. It is the same as the retail version except that it can't save files and it has a smaller symbol set.

Then go to http://www.nbos.com/nox/index.php?action=1001&id=125 and download the free 160-page PDF manual & tutorial.

If you take these steps, you'll be able to fully check out both the GIMP and FM8 without investing a cent.