Mapping for the DM

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Encrtia
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Mapping for the DM

Post by Encrtia »

Hey-hey,

When I play D&D with friends, it's a very simply process of myself designing whatever a DM normally designs, & then presenting it to them to explore. It's all about the imagination with our group, whereby I'll include assorted figurines through my childhood or that I felt like buying to increase the amusement factor. The maps, however, I've always gone very minimalistic on. I literally pencil sketch the map as they play, referring to my notes on what to draw next depending on what they can see. It's like Fog of War, where the true visualizations of where they are stem from what I say as they traverse the world. It's not completely barren though, I'll draw jagged walls for different wall types, doors with handles (top down perspective) & other chests / lights / etc. to fill said rooms - but it's all done by pencil, & not by an artists hand at that.

However, transitioning to the PC (MapTools), I'm at a loss. My motivation to even partake in a game plummets drastically. Sure, it's already a bummer not to include all the cool figurines or the in-person vibe, but they pale in comparison to the fact that I simply can't make a map to use - which is what's holding me back. I simply can't make a map on the PC that can be presentable in any way, it always looks darn awful. The reason being; I simply suck at it. Well & truly.

Seeing what others do, it seems so simple, but it's incredibly time-consuming for something that I fail miserably at. Like catching a ball, I simply can't do it when to all it's an easy task to accomplish. I spent several days working on a dungeon that's only about 20 x 20 tiles big, & it's like a child puked it up. Just hideous. I would use pre-constructed maps, but that really curbs what I can design, never mind the fact that there's only so many "Tile-Presets" out there, which'll always be constantly changing in style & quality.

Ultimately, I'm asking you guys what you could suggest to aid me in my endeavors? The hope that's rattling throughout my head, is some sort of "MapGenerator"... but then again, mulling it over through the course of typing this passage, the only solution that seems viable is simply spending months practicing making maps on the PC... which unfortunately destroys my resolve to reach the end goal. Thus, Defeatism.

Anyhow - perhaps enlightenment could be attained from a response?

Thanks,
~Encrtia

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Dervish
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Re: Mapping for the DM

Post by Dervish »

When i make a map for use in maptool, I first draft it out on graphing paper. then i do a mock up in fractal mapper if its a dungeon and if it's Overland/City i use Campaign Cartographer. I also spend a great deal of time at the cartographers guild. The fact that you say you suck at it puts you in a very unique place. and that is a place where you can only improve. This is a good thing so my advice to you is this get a pad of graph paper Start with a room if its a dungeon, a shape if its a landmass or building and fill that pad. Then rinse and repeat. You will find over time you will get better. the same is true of electronic options, Fractal mapper,Autorealm,Campaign Cartographer you will get better over time

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Bhoritz
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Re: Mapping for the DM

Post by Bhoritz »

I think that there are two solutions to your problem. Either continue to make your maps as you were making them earlier and use them in your games. There is no obligation to use artistically rendered maps, sketches are also working.

Here is what I use (it is sketched in a Moleskine notepad):

Image

And it is completely independant of the style of the tokens:

Image

The other solution is to go for a quick way to make more elaborate maps. I think that you should try Tiled. It is a different kind of mapmaking program. You just load any map(s) that you like into it and then you can use all the tiles in that map to "paint" your own map with those tiles. The artistic work is already done for you (on your source map) and you just have to design your dungeon or whatever...

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aliasmask
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Re: Mapping for the DM

Post by aliasmask »

This is also a popular resource: http://pyromancers.com/dungeon-painter-online/

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wolph42
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Re: Mapping for the DM

Post by wolph42 »

and you could make use of the dungeon creator. link in sig. theyre both nice, but the 2nd is cooler costs less effort and has vbl build in.

Tyshalle
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Re: Mapping for the DM

Post by Tyshalle »

For me, I spend a lot of time on my maps, and I make them look good. Some people might disagree with me on this, but I tend to find that a detailed map tends to help the immersion. The imagination is great, and very powerful when accentuated with words, but visuals can be even more powerful, especially if you learn to layer more and more details into your maps.

It does take time though, and so if you don't have the time to spend on making amazing maps, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Details are great, but functionality is far more important than beauty, and in the end you can create a functional map in 5 minutes using MapTool's drawing tool and nothing but the black line.

If you want to go the route of making beautiful maps though, I'd recommend the following:

1. Go to resource websites like Dundjinni and RPGMapShare and find tons of tiles and objects. You can even find decent maps in there. Download everything that looks like it could be even remotely useful, and organize it into a folder so that you can easily find everything you need within a few seconds.

2. Figure out how many pixels = 1 foot, and use that for your initial grid size. Then, if you can help it, always hold Ctrl while you draw, which will snap your drawn lines to the grid, which significantly increases the speed at which you can piece together rooms and stuff without your lines overlapping a few pixels too far and looking kind of cruddy.

3. Keep everything to scale. This is why it's important to put your grid at 1 foot while you're drawing your map, so that you can easily put things together based on an accurate scale. Don't be afraid to measure everything out to the pixel if you're OCD like me. It makes a difference.

4. Always draw on the Background Layer unless you have an extremely good reason to draw on a higher layer. Always put your immovable objects on the Background Layer. Things like a Fireplace, a rug, a bed, etc. are good candidates for the background layer. Put movable objects (chairs, tables, weapons, etc.) on the object layer.

5. Use high quality textures to make up the walls/floors of your maps, and use the drawing tool to place it all.

6. Use Photoshop to augment your textures. You can find some neat pictures online, and with a little effort in photoshop you can learn how to create new and interesting stuff for use within your maps.

7. Practice, practice, practice. Use all the maps you make, and watch as the months go by your maps get more and more impressive.


When I first started using MapTool, my maps sucked. Good textures and objects can make even bad maps look kinda decent, but after all the time I've put into it, my maps have become major additions to my campaigns, and my players can tell the kind of effort I put into it, and I think it enhances the role play.

Here's a map I made in 2011:
Fader.jpg
Fader.jpg (232.29 KiB) Viewed 1706 times
It's nothing impressive. It's a square with a couple extra lines drawn. It's made decent by the quality of textures and images I aped from sites like RPGMapShare.

Here's a map I made just a few weeks ago:
House.jpg
House.jpg (342.05 KiB) Viewed 1706 times
It's bigger and more impressive than the map I made 4 years ago, but it's still just the product of the images I took from quality sites like RPGMapShare, plus some stuff I made myself, but at its core it's just painting lines with textures, the same thing as the map before.

It's not hard, but it is time consuming. The important thing is that you have fun. If mapmaking isn't your thing, that's really not a big deal, and there's no reason why you can't just use paint to do something quick. Here's a map I drew in 2 minutes:
crappy.jpg
crappy.jpg (90.41 KiB) Viewed 1706 times
It's a piece of crap, obviously, but it's entirely functional. And it took me 2 minutes to make. There's really no obstacle for you here.

The important thing is that you have fun!

JimBlue
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Re: Mapping for the DM

Post by JimBlue »

Those are good maps. My maps in the early rpg days were drawn on 5mm hexagon sheets for overland, and pages of small squares for dungeon maps. When I found software that took part of the drawing out of it, I am a terrible artist, I scanned my 5mm maps and created maps and a web site. I have recently started redoing my maps, so they look better. Not much in the way of cities and villages yet, but I'll be working on that.
--
Jim
AD&D first edition site and maps http://crestofastar.drivein-jim.net/ villages, cities, nations. No adverts either site.
My Traveller site, some deck plans http://travellergame.drivein-jim.net/ 1096 planet maps

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