ralf | October 21, 2015 | convention, spiel
This is my after-action report from this year’s Spiel convention in Essen – the biggest board game event around the world.
“Spiel was very nice, though tiring this year. I’m pretty sure they’ll be announcing a new visitor record again, but there were some problems due to so many visitors and some train troubles (due to a fire in a big rail center). Friends reported 45 minutes wait times (and more) for shuttle services from parking to the halls. Each morning the center would announce they’d be opening the doors 15 minutes early due to crowding at the entrances.
We didn’t feel the crowds so much at the Profantasy booth. Our part of the hall was relatively quiet for most of the time, and I wasn’t too thrilled that were we wedged between several mead, wine and beer booths and the big UltraPro (card sleeves and folders) stand. I’d have much preferred a space adjacent to one of the smaller German RPG publishers like Prometheus, Uhrwerk or Mantikore. That’s not to say that those exhbitors weren’t very nice – they actually were very kind and a little mead-tasting is nothing to be sneered at. It’s just that I think we supplement the rpg publishers so well.
Setup and all technical prep went without problems. Gordon helped with setup on Wednesday and Carsten arrived on Thursday morning (with a little delay due to the afore-mentioned shuttle service). Despite the crowds, Thursday and Friday were a bit slow, giving us time to have a look around the halls in turns and do some more leisurely demos at the PC. Traffic picked up heavily on Saturday, for one of busiest days (on our booth) in recent years. Sunday morning started extremely slow, but then came a big rush around 2pm with kept going for at least 90 minutes, where all three of us were constantly talking, demoing and selling stuff. That made Sunday a very good day too, bringing 2015 up to par with last year which was also a very good year (where the first three days were all similarly good and then saw a sharp drop off on Sunday).
Overall we had a few more individual sales than last year, but less overall product sold. Prices were a little higher due to the weak Euro, which might have contributed to people buying smaller bundles.
I had the large 13th Age map in Mike Schley’s style on the table and that was a big draw. People love his style and were (as usual) very impressed of how quickly you can put together a good-looking map with his symbols. Feedback of existing users on CC3+ was also very good, with equal praise going to the new artwork and the improved performance.
The focus at Spiel continues to be on new customers. There’s about an equal number of people who’ve never heard of Campaign Cartographer and those who’ve seen it before and are interested. Existing customers are a few less, and they usually have bought everything they want via the web store already. Some turn up with questions or problems, or to check what’s upcoming, others
just to say hello. Only a subsection of these buys stuff at the booth.
We had good fun together, especially with Gordon’s daughter at the booth. Gordon and Nicole (his wife) always take great care of me. Together with Carten and Annue we went out for the Profantasy dinner on Saturday to our usual haunt and took Cat with us. We are all looking forward to next year.
The only bad thing I took home with me is a nasty cold which is coming out now. My voice is still gone and I’m sneezing quite a bit.”
A larger gallery of pictures from Spiel can be found on G+.
P.S.: That cold lasted the week after the show, but is (mostly) gone now!
2 Comments
ralf | October 21, 2015 | free art, free resource, Vintyri
We’ve got great news from the Vintyri project, a cartographic collection of free, open RPG symbols and fill patterns for use with Campaign Cartographer™ 3 and 3+. I’ll let Mark Oliva, the leading man behind the project, explain the details:
We’ve entered a new release phase with the free, open gaming Vintyri (TM) Cartographic Collection for Campaign Cartographer 3+ and Campaign Cartographer 3 from ProFantasy Ltd. All of the releases are available for free private and commercial use under the Open Game License 1.0a. These symbols will give CC3+ and CC3 cartographers the ability to make maps in the style of the Joerdhgardh campaign setting.
In the past 10 days, we’ve:
1. Released Vintyri (TM) Symbol Set 3 for CC3+ and CC3 in an open beta version. This is the first time that Symbol Set 3 has been available for CC3+ and/or CC3.
2. The final Version 1.1 of Vintyri Symbol Set 2 for CC3+ and CC3. It contains very substantial changes from the current pre-release edition.
3. The final release of Version 4.2 of the Vintyri Fills & Textures. It includes important changes that are the result of user recommendations.
Each release includes a free, bookmarked and illustrated PDF Manual. All manual all now also include instructions for Windows 10 users.
If you’re uncertain whether this package is of interest, you can preview the content here:
Fills & Textures Version 4.2 (final release):
http://www.vintyri.org/vintyri/ft_1.htm
Symbol Set 2 Version 1.1 (final release):
http://www.vintyri.org/vintyri/preview_02.htm
Symbol Set 3 Open Beta Version 1.0 ß1.0
http://www.vintyri.org/vintyri/preview_03.htm
The site address for downloading the manuals, the fills & textures a the symbol sets is:
http://www.vintyri.org/vintyri/vccindex_cc.htm
The new, final version of the Vintyri Fills & Textures package contains completely remade templates based upon a number of user recommendations that perform quite well. The accompanying illustrated and bookmarked installation guide also has been changed substantially to include instructions for the new and improved download and installation system and additional themes requested by users.
The final Version 1.1 of the Vintyri Symbol Set 2 offers wide-reaching changes over the last pre-release version. We strongly urge all who downloaded the pre-release version to download and install the update. The main change is the replacement of ALL 286 symbols with new versions that restore the color depth of the originals.
That’s the most visible change, but many other things also have changed since the last pre-release version:
1. All of the mostly small errors on catalog level and in the CC3 registry entries have been corrected.
2. The installation has been greatly simplified.
3. The symbol (.PNG file) download has been split for the benefit of those who have less than ideal Internet service.
4. A totally revised version of the .PDF user manual. We strongly urge you to download it before you download or install the Vintyri Symbol Set files. It will save you a lot of trouble. For the first time, the manual also includes important information for Windows 10 users.
The new Vintyri (TM) Symbol Set 3 collection for CC3+ and CC3 includes 131 Medieval Age type symbols for artisans and merchants: Baking houses, bakeries, butcher shops, chandler (candlemaker) shops, a copper mill, a flaxbreaking house, foundries, a clay-baking kiln, lumber sheds, mills with top- and bottom-driven waterwheels, a combination waterwheel- and
wind-driven mill, river cranes, sawmills, smithies, tanneries, a tobacco-drying house, wainwright (wagon-maker) operations and windmills.
As with Vintyri Symbol Set 2, this new release integrates completely into City Designer 3, using CD3’s roof shadowing, toolbar, street alignment, demographic building coloring, etc. HOWEVER, there are some prerequisites. The Vintyri Cartographic Collection is conceived as a unit. Each successive release builds upon the last, with the basic elements of the CD integration
including master filters, catalogs, menus and elements of the CD3 integration built into the installation routine of the keystone set, Vintyri Symbol Set 2. That means that in addition to a running installation of CC3+ and/or CC3, you also need to have installed Vintyri Symbol Set 2 for Symbol Set 3 to operate properly.
We’re offering Vintyri Symbol Set 3 at this time as an open beta test release. Our target for closing the beta period is Monday, November 30. Downloading does not obligate you to make beta reports, but if you have problems or find errors, please let me know!
The Vintyri Project is a non-profit organization. We sell nothing. We neither solicit nor accept donations. We do no kickstarters. All of our products are free and are released for private and commercial use under the Open Game License 1.0a.
Mark Oliva
Webmaster, the Vintyri Project (TM)
Internet: http://www.vintyri.org
E-Mail: info@vintyri.org
The Vintyri Project is a non-commercial service
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ralf | October 19, 2015 | community, Maps of the Month, user maps
We’ve got another round up for user maps from the Profantasy community forum. Take a look and wonder at the creativity of our prolific users!
Let’s star with jedius wonderfully atmospheric map of the Wildbyrne Outpost at night. He makes great use of CC3+’s lighting effects and light sources.
Continue reading »
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ralf | October 1, 2015 | Annual, overland maps, Vandel
We are happy to present the October Annual issue, a wonderful new overland style by TJ Vandel. In fact the style is so pact with goodness, we had to split it over two installments. You get a fully working, highly detailed overland style this month, and with the next issue we’ll add a load of gorgeous little location vignette symbols.
This month’s mapping guide is also the first in the Annual series that is written based on it’s implementation in CC3+, and it highlights a number of the new features in this latest version of Campaign Cartographer.
The October issue is available both for CC3 and CC3+. You can download both setups from your registration page on the Subscriptions tab. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2015 yet, you can do so here.
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ralf | September 1, 2015 | Annual, Dracula Dossier, Floorplan, Pelgrane
Seeing the recent pre-order release of Pelgrane Press’ Dracula Dossier, we are thrilled to offer the Dracula Dossier mapping style as this month’s Annual issue. This very set of tools was used to create the floorplan maps in Pelgrane’s massive improvisational campaign. Now you can use it for your own modern-action-horror locations!
The September issue is available both for CC3 and CC3+. You can download both setups from your registration page on the Subscriptions tab. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2015 yet, you can do so here.
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ralf | August 27, 2015 | battle map, CC3, Floorplans, ss2
We are happy to announce the next compatibility update: Symbol Set 2 – Fantasy Floorplans is now available for CC3+. SS2 provides four new drawing styles for dungeon and floorplan maps, made up from over 2,500 new symbols, bitmap fills and drawing tools.
Click on the example map on the right created by Ralf Schemmann. It uses one of the new bitmap floorplan styles included in SS2 in conjunction with a few symbols from Dungeon Designer 3 to create a large-scale battle map of a river canyon. The style, created by graphic artist and designer Peter Gifford, uses highly-detailed almost photo-realistic bitmap artwork for high quality maps. Download a large-scale pdf version here.
Check out the two more pdf examples of maps drawn with the styles included in SS2:
Smuggler’s Shack (using Peter Gifford’s style exclusively)
Temple of the Fire Demon (using the second bitmap style from SS2, created by Michael Tumey).
If you already own SS2, you can simply download the setup for CC3+ from your registration page. If you do not own SS2 yet, you can get a copy here.
2 Comments
ralf | August 24, 2015 | Maps of the Month, user maps
Normally it is a little quieter in our community during the summer months, with us being at GenCon and many people on vacation or enjoying the outdoors. But this year, many amazing and beautiful new maps were posted on the ProFantasy forum. Let’s take a look at this summer’s crop – almost 30 maps in total!
Grimur used the Dungeons of Schley symbol set to draw this beautiful tavern floorplan. There’s a little bit of Photoshop post-processing involved, but nothing that could not be done in CC3+ either.
And his city map of Martell matches this style beautifully.
Finally, he used the latest Annual style by Pär Lindström for this quick local map. The paper folds add just that extra touch of awesome.
Continue reading »
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“Spiel was very nice, though tiring this year. I’m pretty sure they’ll be announcing a new visitor record again, but there were some problems due to so many visitors and some train troubles (due to a fire in a big rail center). Friends reported 45 minutes wait times (and more) for shuttle services from parking to the halls. Each morning the center would announce they’d be opening the doors 15 minutes early due to crowding at the entrances.
Setup and all technical prep went without problems. Gordon helped with setup on Wednesday and Carsten arrived on Thursday morning (with a little delay due to the afore-mentioned shuttle service). Despite the crowds, Thursday and Friday were a bit slow, giving us time to have a look around the halls in turns and do some more leisurely demos at the PC. Traffic picked up heavily on Saturday, for one of busiest days (on our booth) in recent years. Sunday morning started extremely slow, but then came a big rush around 2pm with kept going for at least 90 minutes, where all three of us were constantly talking, demoing and selling stuff. That made Sunday a very good day too, bringing 2015 up to par with last year which was also a very good year (where the first three days were all similarly good and then saw a sharp drop off on Sunday).
Overall we had a few more individual sales than last year, but less overall product sold. Prices were a little higher due to the weak Euro, which might have contributed to people buying smaller bundles.
We had good fun together, especially with Gordon’s daughter at the booth. Gordon and Nicole (his wife) always take great care of me. Together with Carten and Annue we went out for the Profantasy dinner on Saturday to our usual haunt and took Cat with us. We are all looking forward to next year.
