Resources For Every GM: Cartography Part 4

For today's Resources article I have three more map-related links for you to check out!


Map to Globe: This incredible tool was shared on the DM Support Group recently, and I couldn't help but push it up on the resources to share here. This tool allows you to take an image and upload to be turned into a globe. Not only can this be rotated but there are plenty of options from which to edit the globe or look at it differently. The direction and intensity of the sun can be adjusted, a pole line can be created, and the background can be manipulated. Screenshots are available to be downloaded, as well as GIFs of the globe rotating! There are also sketch views and a number of map projects that can be applied to the image. Frankly, the ability to take an image and turn it into a globe (even if its virtual) is an awesome tool, plain and simple. To take that and play with it in so many different ways is just fantastic and definitely worth checking out for your home brew worlds.


How Fast Could You Travel?: The great thing about Twitter is the sheer number of random things you can encounter. This was one of those things. The article discusses the change and development of travel in the United States over the course of it's early history. There are maps through out it showing you how far you could have expected in how long. How long would it take to get to Florida from New York City in 1800, for example. The answer? At least 2 weeks. In between all the maps is the article explaining why these things changed as paths and roads were developed and later trains. This is an invaluable resource for getting a good idea of how travel would work in a fantasy setting. Pair it with some quick Google searches for maps with terrain and a distance key and you begin to understand some things a bit better than before. This article is worth the read for anyone who wants a bit more realism / accuracy when they tell players how far things are (something I have a tendancy to just pull out of my ass).


Custom Cloth Maps: There is little more to say about this one. Geekify, Inc has developed a very cool service for us Game Masters. Among the other things you can get from them, they also provide you with an opportunity to take an image of your home brew world's map and get it printed on cloth! Of course, this comes in many sizes and doesn't have to be a map. Perhaps it is a scroll or some other prop for you to use in games. While a bit expensive, it provides an option for you to take your map and prop game to the next level. I know it would certainly surprise my players!

Resources For Every GM: Cartography Part 3

Hello everyone! Sorry for this week's delay but I have been working out some things for Untamed Dice, the next Untamed Rant, and such. Today I have three more cartographer's resources for you, each covering different aspects of what you may need in your mapping needs. Whether it is tiles for battle maps, area maps, or region mapping these links should cover you.


Inkarnate: I love this tool. It is an incredible tool for those who have less time than they would like to practice and work out a hand-drawn continent or region map. The maps it can produce are fantastic looking, and appear drawn out. There a plenty of options for terrain colors and a good amount of options for icons to include on the map. Recently a feature was added that allowed you to upload your own images for use too. Once you are done with the map, which can be saved to your account to work on later, you can download it as a .jpeg to print out or share with your players. Best of all it is all browser based and no need to download any programs to use or access the tool. With some care and a little trial and error great maps can be produced for your campaign. The only problem, and it is a fairly minor one, is that once you use this tool you will easily be able to recognize other maps as having been made with it.


Heroic Maps: This website is one I found recently while trying to prep for my Roll20 D&D game. While the free resources that can be found using the in-app searches work fine, it can be time-consuming to figure out what works well and looks right together. There are plenty of people who make or have made tiles for things like Roll20, but I have found I like this one the best. There are a number of great locations and themes from which to choose from, the only problem you may find is in the necessity to purchase most of them. They do come in themed packs and/or layouts, however, and you can get them right at DriveThruRPG. A word of caution when using them for Roll20. They are BIG files, at least as far as uploading into your library is concerned. There are many you will have to open up and save as .jpegs to make them smaller files. Once this is done, though, you can upload them and resize them to match your grid (and they come with grided & gridless images!). This process what easy for my with photshop, but I imagine it should be just as easy with a free program like Gimp as well.


MSJ Maps: I have had this on my radar since the time I joined Twitter. There are some great area maps and even some tiles for you to take a look at, and the art style is fantastic! It is unique and distinctive with some awesome ideas for battle locations that can inspire your games on their own. I would definitely suggest following MSJ on Twitter and bookmarking his site. If you can also become a patron and reap the rewards of some truly amazing maps! I bet with a little work these too could be used on Roll20 or similar apps as well.

Resources For Every DM: Cartography Part 2

Hey everyone!  Today I am going to share some more resources to help you with your map making skills.  I have been especially interested in this of late for a couple reasons.  First of all, I love drawing maps for my worlds and I really want to get better at it.  I haven't drawn one in a while and my style hasn't changed much in even longer.  Besides having a number of worlds that don't have maps, I need some for games we are playing or will be.  The following resources are what I have been looking to for help and options in creating more maps for me and my players.


Fantastic Maps:  This website is devoted to fantasy maps and making them.  Jonathan Roberts provides a great number of tutorials and examples of the ways you can draw maps.  Not just in methodology but in style as well.  Different angles to look at mountains and different ways to present them.  How does elevation factor in?  What is easier, what looks good, and what is practical?  The tutorials here have a great number of things to consider and try when designing and making your own map.  Of course, the site doesn't just have world map suggestions.  It also includes small area styles like towns and the areas around them.  Some of the tutorials also go into specific subjects like drawing a woods-covered hill and making both of those aspects noticeable.  Needless to say, this site will help up your map-making game.


WASD20 (YouTube):  This is not a map drawing resource alone, but that is the way I found the account.  WASD20 has a series of videos that show the process of drawing maps for your fantasy world.  In fact, this series led me to the site above, because he uses those tutorials as a basis for the drawing of the map.  While you may think that this just gives you the same information over again, it doesn't.  Not really anyway.  The difference comes in perspective.  One is a tutorial, laid out as instructions to be read and emulated.  The video series, however, is a tour in the actual use of those ideas.  With commentary and the site of drawing things like mountains you gain insight on how to go about things.  Additionally, you get an idea for how time consuming it could get and how touchy you might get with your own maps.  Things are erased, edited, drawn over, and changed as the map progresses and the feeling of the artist is revealed.  All this is as important as the tutorials the videos are derived from.


Hexographer:  This is not so much help in drawing your own maps, but an alternative.  Hexographer is a popular map creation tool that is usable for those who are not quite as good at drawing, or perhaps for those who don't have the time to draw so much.  Alternatively, this can be used to create very specifically detailed maps with terrain details on a hex-by-hex basis.  The program is not free, and there are even more purchases to get different styles or types of hexes to use.  For many this is well worth the price.  If you are focused on an exploration heavy game, or need the details such a hex grid can provide this program will definitely help.  Personally there is a lot to gain from using this program: speed, accuracy, digital images to share, and more.  There are a number of digital mapping tools, but this makes my list first for one major reason.  There isn't much skill involved in making a map grid by grid.  I like easy learning curves that still provide quality results.

Resources For Every DM: Cartography Part 1

It's been a few weeks since we had a Thursday that includes some "actual" resources.  There were couple weeks of reviews and then last week I shared some more games for you RPG groups out there.  Getting back to resources to put on your shelf and add to your bookmarks, I have a new subject to cover: cartography.  Map making is an integral part to RPGs, at least classically.  Dungeons, kingdoms, and worlds all need their layouts and information detailed out paper.  Sometimes it is for the DM to track things, sometimes it is to give the PCs a visual.  Either way maps are a major tool for games today, but not everyone is great at making maps.  Whether you are looking to get better at making them, or looking to get some from those who are, these are some resources for you.

Cartographer's Guild:  This website is a great resource for those looking for anything to do with maps.  A community of mapmakers from the professional to the hobbyists to the amateurs.  There is plenty to get out of the Cartographer's Guild and its forums.  Of course, there are plenty of maps on the site but I also urge you to peruse the forums.  You could find tips, tricks, tutorials, and just simple advice.  Plenty exists there for inspiration and there are the occasional semi-random pieces of information.  For example, right now, I see one of the recent forum topics is Russian naming and someone offering to help with such things.

RPG MapShare:  This is another fantastic site, especially if you are using Roll20, or a similar program, to play your games.  This website has a forum as well, but the biggest benefit of this site is the gallery.  This is one of the best resources I have found for making battle maps.  It is pretty easy to navigate and many of the images can be downloaded in various sizes.  I have to mention that while there are over a thousand images on the site, they are mostly directed towards a fantasy game.  However, there are tons of wilderness maps on there and those are usable for virtually anything.

Dyson's Dodecahedron:  Dyson's blog is a create resource for those who need maps, especially the old school, black and white dungeon maps.  Dyson makes a lot of maps, and I have seen some interesting projects in the G+ communities that he has worked on.  If you are a DM and need some inspiration on how to make simple, but amazing maps, you need to check him out.  He doesn't just do maps, though.  From what I gather he started the blog to make and share characters.  This is definitely a blog worth checking out, and his gallery is truly awesome.  There are dozens upon dozens of maps.  Look through them at your leisure, but don't get lost, you could be there for hours.