
Wyvern
Wyvern
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Border Templates
Not sure about just a paper edge for something vaguely science-fiction future. The whole sheet probably should have its own look/texture - like parchment or vellum did in previous centuries (albeit still in use for high-quality or special items today).
Perhaps something like a metal scroll would be used for futuristic mapping, with the design etched into the surface, if we're thinking of similarly long-lasting, quality materials to vellum, say.
For modern paper, we have the recent Sticky Note Dungeon Annual options, of course, and further back in time, the Annual issue covering Investigation Props might be worth a look too. Note that the latter option has a ready-made computer readout background option!
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Live Mapping: Character Artist 3
This is a very quick and dirty example of a very long-ago Monk character I ran solo back in the mists of time (about 1978?) who ended-up with a pet stirge, just using some basic CA3 options and the Stirge in a fancy circle from TT2, no labels, no tidying up, just a 10-minute rush-job:
Res is lousy, but it's really just to give an idea of how you could do this for a familiar or pet - if the image exists. Slap a couple of labels on, get everything neatly centred, frame resized and fully finished, with some nice sheet effects, and it would look perfectly acceptable, I think. You could even replace the wooden rectangular frame with a fancy oval one from one of the TT sets for the main character, say!
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Live Mapping: Character Artist 3
Just finished catching-up with today's video, as I wasn't able to be there for it live.
I've used Character Artist quite a bit over the years, and it was a shame to discover there are no plans to update or expand it, if perhaps understandably so, given it is something of a "luxury" add-on, compared with the primary mapping purpose of CC3+ in general.
Reviewing the video so soon after it was posted means the chat wasn't available to view (it sometimes is lost anyway, if the video is later edited before its final YouTube posting), but I don't think it was mentioned there that there is also the original Character Artist Pro, which has many more drawn-symbol options than CA3, and is much easier to draw your own additions onto, because it uses the far simpler vector drawing style. I suspect many now wouldn't feel it to be "pretty" enough, compared to the more modern hand-drawn version, unfortunately, but it is a versatile tool that shouldn't be ignored - to me, at least!
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[WIP] The Griffon's Eyrie Redux: Spectrum Overland
Yep, the sea looks better this way now!
The Moon is always tricky, because it should affect the lighting on the whole map, and if it doesn't, it can look odd. Technically, for the almost last quarter phase you have currently, it'd be unlikely the unlit side of the Moon would be visible; by that phase, the lit amount is too great for the pale earthlit shine to remain visible. Appreciating this is more artist's view than photo-realism, however!
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[WIP] The Griffon's Eyrie Redux: Spectrum Overland
A better map already, simply for the name-change, of course 😉.
The sea looks a bit odd now though, as if it's actually a sea of mist, not water. Previously, the base of the cliffs had hints of white about them, a little like spray, and the sea surface had some texture to it. Now it just seems oddly textureless and flat.
For the crescent moon, we've had this discussion before, sort-of, in regard to using the CA22 Star Systems dynamic-lighting planet symbols. It's not really possible to use the dynamic lighting to create a proper crescent, though you can get a crude earthlit-crescent-ish effect, using a negative value for the Global Sun's Inclination (try around -20 to -40 degrees). Beyond that, you could simply take a suitable flat planet image, even a photo of Earth's Moon, and create a mask for the unlit part of the crescent using one of the darker Solid bitmap fills.