We have reached the final article in the series about making mapping tiles. In previous articles (Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4) we discussed how to design such tiles, how to print or export them for use in other software, and how to make raster symbols in CC3+ from them so we could use the tiles for assembling maps quickly.

But, as we pointed out in the earlier articles, exporting static bitmap images have some limitations. For example, if you rotate them, you change the direction of shadows and patterns in the fill. One could just call it an acceptable tradeoff and move on, but there is a better way, and that is to turn these tiles into advanced symbols in CC3+. By making symbols that contain the actual entities in the tiles instead of static images, directions of fills and effects are calculated when the tiles are used, not when you originally make them, and it also allow you to actually change the content after placing them. In short, if you are going to make maps using the tiles inside CC3+, this is the best approach, so let us dig into how to achieve this.

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This was a fun map that I put together in a couple of hours, and honestly most of my time was spent on names thanks to the Mapping Guide [HighSpace Galaxy].

(Download the FCW file)

I basically followed along Ralf’s guide and made a few personal touches here and there with some color changes. But otherwise I’ve done nothing special and this map came out pretty good, I think. This month’s edition couldn’t be any more user friendly for anyone looking to put together a map for sci-fi based game.

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. 

Well, this issue had me worried. First, I had no idea how to go about putting together Geomorphs (it’s not a feature of CC3+ I’ve ever needed to use). And, second, I had NO idea what the deckplan of a ship should look like. So, I went with the trusty Mapping Guide for this one.

(Download the FCW file)
I’ve got to say, I’m pleasantly surprised how much I like this set of maps and how easy it was after I read about Geomorphs. I didn’t really put much thought into this, as I followed the mapping guide, and also cheated a bit and followed along with Ralf’s example map’s tiles.
Once I had my tiles of the ship’s rooms created, I set about creating the ship map. I opened a new map and made the background pretty large in comparison to the ship, as I knew I wanted to include a legend. Then I simply began inserting the deckplans by using Draw>Insert File>*choosing your own tile files*, and then laying them out on the starfield.
(Download the Geomorph tiles)

After I had my rooms arranged, I used the drawing tool for the Mirrored Hull. I really like this tool – all you need to do is draw the outline on one side of the ship for your Hull and it instantly mirrors it on the other side. I then added a few walls and an outer hull so I could have a maintenance tube along the outer wall with some entry hatches.

For a final touch, I decided I wanted a more sci-fi looking font, so I went online to one of the many free font websites out there and found this one with a public domain license, called Edge of the Galaxy. Otherwise, you reader, will get the standard font for this annual.

There you have it. It’s pretty elementary, but for a first starship? I am more than satisfied with my work and I hope those of you that have been hesitant to branch out of the “fantasy” world and into the “sci-fi” realm….go for it. I’m glad I did.

In yesterday’s Live Mapping session I combined tools from Dioramas 3 with assets from Cosmographer 3 to design the paper model of a simple communications tower. You can watch the video here:

As I was quite happy with the results and am currently building some science fiction terrain anyway, I sat down to actually build the model, straight from the print out of the session’s work. Here you see me messing around with paper cutter and glue to build the model:

And finally, here is a picture of the finished model, next to some of my other terrain. Click the image to download the FCW file.

The August Annual is now available and can be downloaded from your registration page, if you are a subscriber. It contains Retro Starships deckplan style that be used without Cosmographer 3. Inspired by the deckplan artwork from the games of Free League Publishing (and created with their permission), it creates an old computer-readout style look.

If you have already subscribed to the Annual 2020, you can download the August issue from your registration page. If not, you can subscribe here.

Traveller by Marc W. Miller was the among the first science-fiction role-playing games ever published and remains a popular game to this day. It’s sector maps and starship deckplans are iconic images of the rpg hobby and of course we had to include compatible material when we produced our science fiction add-on Cosmographer 3. Let’s have a look at what we included.

The Big Picture

One of the signature styles of Cosmographer 3 is the big “Galaxy Map” style, and you might be tempted to recreate Travller’s huge “Charted Space” map in its beautiful blue, white and black colors. But you’ll find that is not necessary – as were tempted just as much and included this map as an example among the drawings that come with Cosmographer 3. Edit it to your liking and print it as a huge poster map if you like. Of course the matching template is there for you, if you have your own galaxy to map!

All the Sector Maps You Need

Apart from containing normal templates for Traveller’s sector maps, Cosmographer 3 also contains a very powerful data import feature. It draws the numerical data of a selected sector from the web (www.travellermap.com) and generates a full sector map from it, including x-boat routes and allegiance codes. Watching the import and auto-generation process alone is just pure, unadulterated fun.

You can create such map in the bitmap style as shown on the left, or in the classical black and white print style of the published Traveller books.

Of course the smaller subsector maps are also available as templates, again both in traditional black and white (as on the left) or Cosmographer’s bitmap style. Wile they can’t be automatically generated like the sector maps, you can easily copy the necessary content of the sector map over into this smaller section.

Let’s Swing around the Sun Once More

One of the less iconic but no less useful type of maps used in Traveller are the system charts, showing the planetary orbits of a star system. These show the distances of the various planets and other celestial objects from their central star.

As usual the templates are available both in a black and white vector style and a full color bitmap version (depicted here). As they are much less setting-specific than the sector and subsector maps, these are useful for almost any science fiction setting beyond Traveller.

Zoom in Closer

What would Traveller be without its world maps? Well, at least a lot less iconic. Of course Cosmographer 3 includes templates of the classic icosahedral projection, subdivided into hexes. These come in a variety of sizes, scaled to the standard UWP (Universal World Profile) designations of the Imperial Scout Service.

One of the two versions of the style depicts the world as if shown in a satellite image (while keeping the hex map aspect) and the other as a clear and simple vector abstraction, ideal for planning and hex crawling. The symbols depicting the terrain features in this style were taken directly from the Traveller 5 draft document (Cosmographer 3 was released before T5).

And How Do We Get There?

Last but not least, Cosmographer 3 has the templates for the most important aspect of the Traveller setting: the starships. The classic black and white style is straightforward to use and shows everything clearly, but of course the Traveller ships can also be mapped in Cosmographer’s own more elaborate bitmap style. We’ve included templates for two of the most used ships in Cosmographer 3, the 100t Scout and the 200t Free Trader. The maps are outlines only, so any custom interior design can be added to the deckplan in minutes.

After Cosmographer 3’s release we ran a poll to see what other ships our users wanted to see and added the three most popular selections as extra downloads for free.

All of these maps and styles and much more non-Traveller specific resources are available as part of the Cosmographer 3 add-on for Campaign Cartographer 3+.

The March issue of the Cartographer’s Annual 2019 is available now. Create futuristic bases including exterior views and interior floorplans, with or without Cosmographer 3. The issue also comes with 5 example maps showing two example bases.

The 7-page mapping guide takes you through creating the base’s layout and exterior view, tells you how to easily create floorplans from the exterior view and explains how to link the various maps together with hyperlinks. While it is a self-contained style, it shares some resources with Cosmographer 3 and can therefore easily be combined with it for access to many more floorplan symbols.

If you haven’t done so already, you can subscribe to the Annual 2019 here. If you are already subscribed, the March issue is available for download on your registration page now.

For the end of the year we blast off into space and the future with the Deckplan Geomorphs tool pack. Inspired by the work of Robert Pearce on Yet Another Traveller Blog, we’ve created the tools that allow you to create geomorphic deckplan tiles.

Of course we’ve also included a set of examples that you can modify or use straight out of the box to create large starship or space station layouts by simply assembling the tiles into various configurations. It’s as easy as importing a file, rotating it and placing it on the template adjacent to previous tiles. With Cosmographer 3, you can even just continue working on such a constructed deckplan with the normal starship tools.

Keep your eyes open for the upcoming 2018 bonus issue (by Sue Daniel) and the opportunity to resubscribe for the 2019 Cartographer’s Annual in mid-December.

You can subscribe to the Annual 2018 here. If you are already subscribed, the November issue is now available for download on your registration page.

To our delight the Vintyri project has collected, painstakingly assembled and released another amazing collection of artwork for CC3+: The Dundjinni(tm) Archives.

I’ll let the project lead, Mark Oliva, say it in his own words:

Our series of free add-ons for CC3+ has finished and has reached its end. All of these products are licensed for free personal and commercial use. All of them integrate into City Designer 3, Dungeon Designer 3, Symbol Set 3 (Modern), Symbol Set 4 (Dungeons of Schley) and Cosmographer.

The final release versions of the last two chapters of the Dundjinni Archives for CC3+ now are available for download:

1) The Dundjinni (TM) Archives for CC3+, Volume 2. This is a huge add-on with loads of resources, a total download of 2.4 GB. To avoid download problems, we’ve split the package up into five separate ZIP files.

2) The Cosmographer Extension of the Dundjinni Archives for CC3+. This is an optional extension of the archives needed only by users of Cosmographer (12 MB).

We began offering our series of add-ons for ProFantasy products several years ago with the Vintyri (TM) Cartographic Collection. The series took a big leap forward this year with the improved CSUAC 2 and two newly authorized releases from the Dundjinni zone: First, Bogie’s Mapping Objects and now the Dundjinni Archives.

These archives essentially are the same product as offered to Dundjinni users via the Dundjinni forums. However, the following objects are not included in the CC3+ version: Symbols and fills already included in Bogie’s Mapping Objects and those created by Dundjinni users who do not allow commercial use of their products. The latter, fortunately, comprises only a very small part of the Dundjinni Archives.

Please note that the Dundjinni Archives for CC3+ are an expansion of the CSUAC 2. You must have the CSUAC 2 installed before you install the Dundjinni Archives. If the CSUAC 2 is missing, the Dundjinni Archives application will not work correctly, producing instead a gigantic collection of red Xs.

The Dundjinni Archives offer you 12,321 new bitmap (raster, PNG) symbols and 373 new bitmap fill styles. The package is in three volumes:

Volume 1 includes bitmap ISO (3D) symbols and covers for use in overland maps.

Volume 2 includes bitmap fantasy RPG symbols and fills designed first and foremost for City Designer 3 and Dungeon Designer 3 but accessible to all CC3+ users.

Volume 3 includes modern and science fiction bitmap symbols. The modern symbols integrate into and expand Symbol Set 3 (Modern). The science fiction symbols integrate into and expand the resources of Cosmographer. Of particular interest are large catalogs of human and alien figure symbols for deckplan maps and a catalog of additional plants for starmaps.

With the release of the archives, the Vintyri website now offers free add-ons for personal and commercial use with a total of 20,425 new bitmap symbols and 708 new bitmap fills and with a total download size of 10.4 GB. The archives include Dundjinni user creations from 2008 to the present. The other packages are:

1) CSUAC 2 for CC3+: This package is similar to the Dundjinni Archives but instead for the years 2004 to 2008. It includes 4,904 fantasy, modern and science fiction bitmap symbols and 82 fill styles. The download package has a size of 702 MB. When the Dundjinni Archives are installed after the CSUAC 2, they are integrated seamlessly into the CSUAC 2, sharing the same menus
and toolbars.

2) Bogie’s Mapping Objects: This is the best of our download site. Dan Roy, aka Bogie, is a community leader at the Cartographers Guild, an admin at the Dundjinni forums, and one of the very best symbol creators at both. Everything in this collection, geared primarily toward CD3 and DD3 mapping, is A1 quality, the mapping equivalent of a Premier Cru from Bourgogne. The
Viennese “Schlagobers” – spoon of whipped cream atop the coffee – of Bogie’s Collection is his Redthorn Tavern package. It is the definitive set of symbols for making fantasy RPG tavern floor plans. Our project group has made more than 100 tavern floor plans, and Redthorn Tavern symbols are essential to every one of them. The download ZIP weighs in at 370 MB. It includes 1,384 bitmap symbols and 141 bitmap fills.

3) Vintyri Cartographic Collection: This is a set of 1,816 bitmap symbols and 112 bitmap fills geared first and foremost toward CD3 users. Most of the symbols represent buildings in various roof styles, the majority of them based on real world prototypes from the continental European Middle Ages. The download weighs in at 6.9 GB due to the many huge structural symbols in VH resolution that run from 50 to 100 MB each in size. The collection is divided among several ZIP files.

Download links:

For links to all of the above:

http://www.vintyri.org

For direct links to the Dundjinni Archives and Cosmographer extension downloads:

http://www.vintyri.org/vintyri/djindex.htm

Please note that we support our products. If you have problems or questions, you can send them by E-Mail to info@vintyri.org or you can post them here on the forum.

If you wish to modify any of these symbols and distribute your modification:

1) With Bogie’s Mapping Objects, the CSUAC 2 and he Dundjinni Archives, please do so legally via the Dundjinni forum. The instructions for doing that are in your user’s guides.

2) With the Vintyri Cartographic Collection objects you may do so freely, provided that you include the Open Game License with your distribution. The details on how to do that are explained in your user’s guides.

The Vintyri Project is a non-profit organization. We sell nothing. Everything that we offer is free. We neither solicit nor accept donations. We do no kickstarters.

Happy mapping,

Mark Oliva
The Vintyri Project
http://www.vintyri.org
info@vintyri.org

Dive into the depths of space with the June Annual and the Mandible-class starship. Inspired by the Ashen Stars RPG by Pelgrane press, this set of four deckplans shows a complete starship in high detail. An extensive sheets & effects guide discusses the different sheets and effects used in the drawing, so you can apply the principles to your own designs.

If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2015 yet, you can do so here.