[Download the FCW file]
Well met, Mappers! I come in peace. This month’s issue of the 2015 Annual is SciFi Downport. This issue, by Steph Mclea has drawing tools and symbols that allow you to put together a starport map for you sci-fi rpg campaign needs in no time at all. Truly, this map took me less time than maybe any I’ve ever worked on, and sci-fi is not my typical rpg genre to play or DM in.

It’s spring here in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York, yet I am currently hunkered down at home during Spring Break (I work in a school now) watching the SECOND snow storm since the beginning of spring blow outside my office window. It’s snowed more this spring that all of winter combined (our last storm on the 2nd day of spring brought me 20” of snow). With that in mind, I’ve been doing a lot of “winter” themed mapping and decided to do this starport on a polar planet, engulfed in snow and ice.

Using the river to divide residences and the “industrial” sector of the port, I simply placed some road where I wanted buildings to be and began dropping the easy symbols in this set. I noticed there is a drawing tool for “monorail” so I decided to create an elevated monorail by adding a sheet and adding a drop shadow to it. I also created a sheet for elevated buildings, such as the terminals and landing pad, and put a drop shadow on those as well.

This issue is super user friendly, and I recommend it for beginners and experts alike for your Sci-Fi tabletop needs.

About the author: Lorelei was my very first D&D character I created more years back than i’d like to remember. When I decided to venture into creating maps for my and others rpgs, I thought I owed it to her to name myself Lorelei Cartography, since it was her that led me to the wonderful world of tabletop gaming in the first place. Since then I have been honored to have worked with companies such as WizKids, Pelgrane Press, and ProFantasy.