New map maker: not sure if city or overland
Hello everyone!
So I finally caved and got cartographer to help make maps for my RPG campaigns. I have done the practice videos and made a couple random maps so I have the very basic down. Now I want to make a map for an Asian based RPG campaign I am in.I apologize in advance for the rambling and probably too much detail:
The players had made a dojo and I wanted to map the dojo and surrounding area. The dojo sits in a valley in the mountains. The dojo is about 3-4 buildings ( one big 3 story building and then a couple long buildings around it) with walls and some practice areas. Next to the dojo is the sensei residence ( 6 larger buildings with modest yards and then 7 smaller buildings with small yards across the "street"). On the west is an aprox. 1x1 mile bamboo forest that leads up into mountains with a large waterfall and then a temple on the rise above the waterfall. The "river" (more like a creek since it only about 20-50 ft wide)goes almost straight south and then slowly curves west. At the bottom of the map (and about a mile from the dojo) is a small village resting along the river
Now the problem I am having is the scale. I want to be able to see most of the details of the individual places on the map but still keep the scale appropriate. So the first issue is i am not sure if I should make this using the city maker or the overland map. Second problem i am having is walls. I need walls around the dojo itself and then around each individual sensie house (like a traditional larger Japanese house).
In advance I thank anyone who can offer any assistance and I apologize for my rambling!
So I finally caved and got cartographer to help make maps for my RPG campaigns. I have done the practice videos and made a couple random maps so I have the very basic down. Now I want to make a map for an Asian based RPG campaign I am in.I apologize in advance for the rambling and probably too much detail:
The players had made a dojo and I wanted to map the dojo and surrounding area. The dojo sits in a valley in the mountains. The dojo is about 3-4 buildings ( one big 3 story building and then a couple long buildings around it) with walls and some practice areas. Next to the dojo is the sensei residence ( 6 larger buildings with modest yards and then 7 smaller buildings with small yards across the "street"). On the west is an aprox. 1x1 mile bamboo forest that leads up into mountains with a large waterfall and then a temple on the rise above the waterfall. The "river" (more like a creek since it only about 20-50 ft wide)goes almost straight south and then slowly curves west. At the bottom of the map (and about a mile from the dojo) is a small village resting along the river
Now the problem I am having is the scale. I want to be able to see most of the details of the individual places on the map but still keep the scale appropriate. So the first issue is i am not sure if I should make this using the city maker or the overland map. Second problem i am having is walls. I need walls around the dojo itself and then around each individual sensie house (like a traditional larger Japanese house).
In advance I thank anyone who can offer any assistance and I apologize for my rambling!
Comments
CC3 can be used to do settlements too, but CD3 is a better choice for the job.
CD3 has tools specifically for drawing floors, walls etc.
City Designer is extremely powerful and has some amazing features. One of them is a floor plan generator. What it does is, it takes a building you select from your "city" map (city, village, temple, dojo, etc.) and it creates floorplans based on the shape and even orientation of the building. There are several templates to choose from. One of them (maybe two?) requires Dungeon Designer 3, which is much better at mapping rooms and corridors and stuff than CC3 or CD3, but both CC3 and CD3 are functional for floor plans.
That said, the best approach, I think, to what you're trying is to make several maps. Make a larger-scale map of the dojo and it's surrounds, then make one or more smaller-scale maps of the buildings. If you plan to print it out, it will be like playing a published adventure, with the different maps. If you intend to keep the maps on the computer, CC3 has a nifty linking function that lets you link one map to another, so you could link to the floor plan maps from the larger, area map.
I know the software isn't cheap, but you really do get what you pay for, possibly more even. I will say, though, that out of the box, the software is kind of light on Asian-style mapping tools, but you can find some good PNG symbols online, and you can make some amazing stuff. I'm still working on my pagoda but you can see how it's gone so far in some other threads, here and here.
Good luck!
~Dogtag