So far as I can recall, there isn't a specifically runic font available for use in the Community Atlas list (which includes most of the PF-provided fonts and those from a standard Windows 10 installation), although that isn't fully up-to-date, as it doesn't include fonts provided by ProFantasy in the Annuals from the last few years.

Your best option would be to find a suitable font online, either free or paid-for, depending on exactly what you need the font for, install it, and then use an exploded version of that if you're wanting to submit the map for the Atlas. The fact you can't edit it after exploding it is a disadvantage, although that really depends if it's meant to provide functional labelling (which someone else might wish to amend if they have access to the FCW file), or simply for decoration (such as in a map border frame).

I've not used GIMP in a long while, so my thoughts on its later versions are likely biased by the problems others have had with it - some of which may be down to user error, of course!

I'd only used MS Publisher (and a few earlier similar programs) for creating maps, graphs and diagrams prior to CC, and I'm not sure many would think of those as really art programs as such 😁.

I wouldn't worry about the length of the list of sheets here, Sue. You can't really design systems on the basis they might trip-up people fresh to the program, as it's more important they do the job well. If there's a concern their number could be intimidating, that's something which could be addressed usefully with a note or two in the PDF mapping guide for this issue.

GIMP's the only thing I've tried in this line, and haven't used that in a very long time (to create some symbols for use in the Atlas on this map there, as described in the opening post of this Forum topic from May '21). It has a learning curve worse than CC3+'s now (or so I gather from some who've battled with the newer versions of the program). I've only used the older versions, which were easier to learn - sort of...

The surface map for Snakeden Hollow presented an unusual challenge, as there is no equivalent to the old CC2 style for city-type maps available with CC3+. Source Maps Cities - City Map is perhaps the closest we get, although the symbol options for that alone are rather limited, and don't have options to easily show, or create, ruins, which I'd need for what this map's to illustrate. Instead, I opted for the CD3 Vector Shaded style, using the Vector Classic symbols. These provide a very large range of options in a clean, simple, drawn look; in fact if anything, it's difficult to hold in mind exactly what's where among the series of extensive symbol catalogues in this style. There are five different sets of options just for trees, for example, each in a separate catalogue (there is a sixth, but I think that's a duplicate). As this wasn't a style I've done anything with before, I spent some time - the equivalent of a full mapping session - simply exploring the range of symbols available, and also the drawing tools, to get a better feel for what was available.

In the meantime, I'd also sketched out a general layout for the ruined settlement. The Inkwell dice design was to form one tiny segment of that whole, as I was influenced by the symbol from the Lizard Isle map that showed there to be a substantial ruin here. You can get an impression of the Inkwell design's appearance and original size from the Seer's Hall Village map in Ezrute (as this is the intact version of the Snakeden ruin die-face), discussed on the Forum here earlier. However, during the planning process for this map, I decided it might be better to double its size in this case, partly to stop it from being lost here, partly to make the surviving buildings a bit larger and more imposing. The Inkwell dice designs aren't specifically scaled, although there is a basic assumption that the subterranean ones will be scaled to around 100 feet per side.

That settlement sketch-plan was determined initially using the standard Shadowdark RPG's system for randomly generating settlements, as far as its layout and some additional major structures were concerned, with more additions from the old Judges Guild ruins system, presented almost 50 years ago now (groan...) in their first "Wilderlands" products, all tweaked appropriately. This led to the sketch-map becoming so cluttered and confused that even I'm not sure what all the scribbles mean now, thus I've avoided showing it on any of the following WIP images! I have though left the little Ruins dice sketch design on the first two screenshots, to help give a degree of orientation and scaling.

As with the area map, on creating the new CC3+ file, I found there were several sheets with effects already on them, so again this was going to be a more relatively sophisticated map than I'd earlier anticipated. The shots that follow are also of a reduced size, as previously, as they're really little more than impressions of progress at this stage. This one's with the base terrain colours and main streams sketched-in:

For a bit better clarity, I've turned off the transparency effect on the bitmap sheet with the dice-design sketch. The yellow-green towards the edges is the general swamp terrain, the darker green where the jungle-woods are going, and the "other" green is the basic background.

Next came the road-lines:

Again, these are simply to indicate the general layout at this point, and their relative widths. These were soon to be altered, as the widths were simplified here to get the lines drawn quickly.

Next, some contours were added to help suggest the "Hollow" aspect from the place-name - hence why those swampy patches were drawn as they were too - and the first elements from the Inkwell dice-face were added as well:

There are no suitable escarpment symbols available to fit what was needed here for the cliff-face, so I simply dropped one into the map at an appropriate scale size nearby, and drew a set of suitably-spaced and sized lines for the cliff-face as sketched, and then discarded the symbol.

Moving on, the rest of that small square segment was completed, a process that included finding and testing various of the rubble, ruins and similar options spread among several symbol catalogues. The perceptive may notice too an experiment in adding a second height contour to some of the hills. Ultimately, that was dropped as showing nothing useful, once more symbols and elements were filled-in elsewhere. It does feature on the next couple of images before that decision was made though.

There is a reason too why the ruins are chiefly on the southern side of that little square area, which will only be revealed later!

Various fresh symbol elements were added at this stage, including where the main Lizardfolk groups are situated across the settlement (hut clusters), a few more ruins and still-standing buildings, some of which were from the main new features randomly added during preparation, and the start of the vegetation symbols.

Of course, at this point, nothing is too firmly-fixed, but I was liking how the trees worked with the whole. Wasn't so sure about leaving the base vegetation colouring behind the trees at this point, although this was the stage I realised the higher contour colours just weren't working with the tree cover.

So this is where I'm up to currently, with all the trees set-up across the woody areas (there will be more elsewhere in time, though less densely), the higher contours gone, and decisions to be made next as to how best to show the swamp vegetation. More to follow...