Oh Mappers, my least favorite map…..Overland. As usual, I get my typical anxiety when mapping an overland map. There’s something about where the mountains, rivers, desserts and grasslands go that get my head in a tizzy. And, as usual, I just dug in and came up with something. Is it great? No. Is it good? Debatable. Is it passable? Yes. Will my players care or notice if a river is somewhere that is typically geographically impossible? Absolutely not. So, with this in mind I give you…..this map 😀
I’ve not anything to say about what I did, or how I did it, because frankly even a beginner can put together an overland map just as well as I can. What I will say that I really like about this annual (although the 2015 year has two, Ancient Realms and Ancient Realms II both by TJ Vandel) is, the first gives you the basics (fills, symbols, tools, location icons, tools, etc. ). It’s lovely style, artistically speaking. Now the second, Ancient Realms II gives you a template to make your own location icons, so for this installment, I made one location icon from a public domain png, following the Mapping Guide, and included it in the map. I found one thing I really liked using this style….i really like the location icons instead of specific symbols. This can be useful when you are providing a larger area map, but still want your players to know where key locations are, then if you want, you can break it down further using the Local Area Maps, which also comes with this Annual.
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.
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As promised we start the new year 2025 with a return to free symbols for dungeon floorplans, specifically Mike’s Dungeons of Schley style. It looks like a summoning has gone awry here, with a demon and a fire elemental arguing over the dead body of the summoner. This month contains a set of symbols for your summoner’s lair, with summoning circles, summoned creatures and various paraphernalia and ritual props.
Note that the example maps included with this free content make use of Symbol Set 4 to showcase the symbols in proper surroundings. If you don’t have SS4 installed, you won’t see these correctly, but you can still use the symbols on other maps. Symbol Set 4 – Dungeons of Schley 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. Mike’s new symbols are listed there. All the content of year (so far only January 2025) is included in the one download.
You can always check the available monthly content on our dedicated page.
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Create sweeping world maps with a couple clicks in Fractal Terrains and then export them to Camapaign Cartographer for detailing! With the February issue we are focussing on Fractal Terrains 3+ for a change, with a mapping guide, settings and colorings to produce parchment-style worlds maps in FT3+ and export them easily to CC3+. The included Fractal Parchments Worlds style is based on last year’s parchment worlds, but focuses on larger world maps and can be used with last year’s Annual as well.
For those of you who haven’t seen them, we do a live mapping session on YouTube most weeks, showcasing a certain style or set of tools in CC3+. Here are the most recent Live Mapping videos, as archived on YouTube:
There is no need to re-run this setup, if you followed the Annual as the monthly issues were released, but if you skipped some or are only now purchasing the Annual Vol 5, you only need to use this one download.
Until Friday the Cartographer’s Annual 2025 is still available at an early-subscriber discount of 15%. Check it out here.
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We are a bit late with the free December symbols due to Christmas and New Year commitments, but we didn’t want to skip them. So here they are! Mike created a set of map ornaments (borders, corner frames, scale bars and compass roses in two styles each) that complement all the overland mapping we’ve done over the year.
This set finished the current run of overland symbols and we’ll be looking at dungeon and floorplan symbols for the next few months. We are already looking forward to Mike’s work on those.
To download the latest free symbols go to your registration page and on the Downloads tab, click the download button for Campaign Cartographer 3 Plus. Mike’s new symbols are the last link in the list. All the content of the current year (January to October 2024 so far) is included in the one download.
You can always check the available monthly content on our dedicated page.
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Hello, I am back with another All the Annuals, 2015 Dracula Dossier. This map just begs to be played in some horror RPG setting, doesn’t it? So I went super simple on this one….no furniture or objects to distract, just the basic floorplan, building outline. This map, in my mind, is strictly so the players of a campaign can find their way around this hospital, which is currently abandoned, in disarray and obviously inhabited by some Great Old One, wreaking havoc on the surrounding village.
Meant to be obtained through an encounter is the old city records repository of one of my Cthulhu City maps (courtesy of the 2017 December Annual), this map was inspired by and copied over the original floorplan of an infamous asylum, in an historic city, across the pond in the UK. I’ve used the public domain prints of the original drawn new plans of the infamous Bethlem, otherwise known as Bedlam, Royal Hospital.
I’ve included in the map a copy of the front view of the hospital from the public domain file, as I think it adds something to the map – making it mirror the plans more exactly, which in turn gives the submersion into the game a little flair. I love giving my players handouts (though since I’ve moved we’ve had to move our game to online so my gifts are now in the form of pdfs and pngs), and printing up a map like this is just a favorite of mine in game play.
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.
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Welcome to 2025 and another year of mapping goodness with the Cartographer’s Annual – now Vol 19. We are starting the year with an overhaul, revisit and expansion of an older style: Ancient Realms by TJ Vandel.
Already one of the largest annual styles in terms of number of symbols, we’ve expanded the range of symbols available with varicolor versions, overhauled the available bitmap fills and added to the drawing tools of the style. The sheets and their effects were also considerably changed to take advantage of all the work that has been done in that regard since the style was originally published.
The January issue is now available for all subscribers from their registration page. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2025 yet, you can still do so here at the early subscriber discount (until January 15th).
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