Hello and Suggestions Reqiered
Hello. I'm a long time RPG player/GM, since the mid 80s in fact, who has finally decided to come to the modern age and leave the hand drawn maps behind. Now I need help deciding my first purchase. Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions given
I have enough money to buy TWO programs and I know CC3 IS A MUST. My other options are DD3 and CD3, which Im leaning toward because my interior maps a quite good IMO. Can I make good interior maps, like inns and temples, with either CC3 or CD3 or will I have to make DD3 a priority over CD3?
I have a couple dozen, at least, hand drawn and graphed maps from a few campaigns I've been running off and on for the last 10 years. Would it be possible to install these maps into the program or would I have to redo them from scratch?
Once again, thanks in advance for any help and suggestions given
I have enough money to buy TWO programs and I know CC3 IS A MUST. My other options are DD3 and CD3, which Im leaning toward because my interior maps a quite good IMO. Can I make good interior maps, like inns and temples, with either CC3 or CD3 or will I have to make DD3 a priority over CD3?
I have a couple dozen, at least, hand drawn and graphed maps from a few campaigns I've been running off and on for the last 10 years. Would it be possible to install these maps into the program or would I have to redo them from scratch?
Once again, thanks in advance for any help and suggestions given
Comments
My advice if you are unsure is to get CC3 first, and then try to make some floorplans with it. If you find you want/need the tools DD3 offers, then buy it, if not, go for CD3 instead. Also note that CC3 does contain a few sample dungeon symbols, tools and fill styles, so you will also get to test out the basics of DD3 that way.
As for importing your old hand-drawn map, you need to scan them, import them into a CC3 drawing as an image, and use CC3's drawing tools to trace your images to make CC3 maps from them.
Here are my mapping tutorials, entrance page.
The one on importing a Fractal Terrains bmp is the same method I use to import bmps of my old scanned maps.
How good is the ability to map cities and settlements in CC3? Does it come with a lot of symbols for various kinds of buildings? I would hate to use the same house or other buildings repeatedly. I like variety which makes maps stand out IMO
Would it be possible to make a city, even a small one, with DD3?
Sorry for my annoyance and thanks again in advance for any more help or suggestions given
However, if you make your own house symbols (or find symbols on the net), it is perfectly possible (and relatively simple) to map a city in CC3. Granted, you won't have the extra tools that comes with CD3, so it takes some more work than if you are using CD3, but it is fully doable. Also, it really depends on what kind of artwork you need. Most modern city maps only have a colored polygon representing a house, something which is very easy to make in CC3, but if you want proper house symbols (like in this example CD3 map, you either need CD3, or find appropriate free symbols on the net (CC3 symbols are in .png format, you should be able to find plenty of appropriate images on the net in that format, like in the SMAC collection).
As for the map symbol link provided by Monsen, very much appreciated BTW, is there any more sites like that online? I would love to see something Modern or SciFi oriented. Links would be great. Thanks again for any help given
Scroll down that page and you will see links for my other symbols; ponds, pool tables. The roulette wheel doesn't have much detail though.
Cosmographer Example