Earlier this year I was in Portugal, hiking on the Rota Vicentina or the Fishermen’s Trail. It’s a great coastal hike with beautiful towns, stunning cliffs and amazing beaches, but it is also an area of special interest for us map-makers. Fraught and problematic as the following era of European colonization and exploitation is, there is no denying that one of its starting points was here in Portugal where sailors and explorers set off to go beyond the edges of the maps – and hopefully get rich and famous in the process.
The Fisherman’s Trail starts just a bit south of the town of Sines. It’s not a big tourist destination and more important as an oil terminal nowawadays, but it is also the birthplace of Vasco da Gama, the first European to reach India via the sea route around Africa. His statue overlooks the bay and harbour of Sines today.
I stopped in Sines on my way back to Lisbon after the hike and took the opportunity to visit the excellent little local museum in Sines’s castle.
While pondering the history of the town and the voyages of its most famous resident, it occurred to me that this kind of exploration – finding new routes to important destinations – is one that lends itself very well to our kind of hobby. The map – and the process of creating a map – is the focal point of the activity. In a way, the map IS the plot of a grand adventure. I’ve played in role-playing game campaigns, where the player characters were members of a grand expedition to reach the other side of the world, past enemies and obstances who were blocking the easier, existing routes.
So, if you ever find yourself in that part of the world, I recommend not speeding by the seaport of Sines, but stop, take a break and visit the birthplace of Vasca da Gama, whose successful voyage certainly played a part in shaping the following centuries.
If you’ve missed any of the live mapping sessions we do on YouTube most weeks, showcasing a certain style or set of tools in CC3+, you’ll find them archived and organized into playlists on YouTube. Here are the most recent ones:
From lofty elven towers we turn our attention to the humble, earthy dwellings of the halfling people. Burrowing into the hillsides their bucolic settlements are neither fortified nor exceedingly well hidden, probably because they were originally protected by the strongholds of an ancient empire. This empire now lies in ruins and we must hope its descendants still watch over the halfings villages in secret.
Note that the example maps included with this free content make use of the full Hand-drawn Fantasy style from the Cartographer’s Annual 2025. If you don’t have that Annual installed, you won’t see these correctly, but you can still use the symbols on other maps. The Cartographer’s Annual 2025 is available for purchase here.
To download the free content go to your registration page and on the Downloads tab, click the download button for Campaign Cartographer 3 Plus. The new symbols are listed there. All the content of year (up to September 2025) is included in the one download.
You can always check the available monthly content on our dedicated page.
Welcome dear cartographer’s to another month of mapping goodness, where we highlight what the Profantasy community shared in August – both on the Profantasy forum and the Facebook community group.
We start with Eric NcNeal‘s map of Daladra Valley. Eric uses the Mike Schley overland style in a unique way to create wonderful regional or even local maps. Continue reading »
The Cartographer’s Annual September issue is now available. Enjoy a beautiful selection of compass roses and scalebars by Gerri Broman (aka Shessar) to use in any of your maps. Learn how to make them available in various ways in any drawing style by reading the accompanying mapping guide.
The September issue is now available for all subscribers from their registration page. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2025 yet, you can do so here.
There are lots of things you can do in CC3+, and often lots of ways you can do every thing. Today I am going to take a look at 10 quick things that are helpful to know for any mapper.
Note that the list is not presented in any particular order.
The August issue of the Cartographer’s Annual 2025 is available, adding a set of awesome battle maps created by Kevin Gobel showing the pirate haven of Fort Morgan.
Welcome dear Cartographers for another great selection of user maps from our community! All of these were posted on the Profantasy forum our the CC3+ group on Facebook. It’s been a bit quieter in July, I’m sure because of summer holidays. Still there are enough maps to goggle at!
As Mike Schley is busy working on another project we can’t quite talk about yet, we are pivoting the free monthly symbols from the Dungeons of Schley style to the Hand-drawn Fantasy style introduced with the Cartographer’s Annual 2025. This month we add elven stuctures to the style, from large cities to towers, hidden strongholds and holy sites.
Note that the example maps included with this free content make use of the full Hand-drawn Fantasy style from the Cartographer’s Annual 2025. If you don’t have that Annual installed, you won’t see these correctly, but you can still use the symbols on other maps. The Cartographer’s Annual 2025 is available for purchase here.
To download the free content go to your registration page and on the Downloads tab, click the download button for Campaign Cartographer 3 Plus. The new symbols are listed there. All the content of year (up to August 2025) is included in the one download.
You can always check the available monthly content on our dedicated page.
