The World War 2 Interactive Atlas has always been the odd one out in our range. It mostly appeals to WW2 aficionados and history buffs, since it is a huge collection of historical maps on the largest conflict of the 20th century. Its maps are all linked together and referenced to a timeline of events. In that capacity as a reference work, it installs as a stand-alone product.

But the Atlas also contains tools, templates and symbols to use in Campaign Cartographer, to create similar maps or edit the existing WW2IA maps. This functionality has previously not been usable in CC3+, but a compatibility update makes it available now. If you own WW2IA, you can download it from your registration page.

With WW2IA the last of the add-ons has now been updated to work with CC3+.

Welcome to the May newsletter, dear cartographers! We have news on the Source Maps series this month, another update for CC3+, two detailed articles on scale and scaling of maps by Remy Monsen and Glynn Seal, the second part of Pr Lindström’s series on overland maps and Maps of the Month from the user community.

News

• The Source Maps series of products (Castles! Temples, Tombs & Catacombs! and Cities!) are now compatible with CC3+.
• Update 17a is available on the registration page to bring your version of CC3+ up to 3.84.
• The May issue of the Cartographer’s Annual 2018 is available.

Resources

• Remy takes a detailed look at scaling maps in CC3+.
• Check out some highlights of community-made maps in our Maps of the Month selection.
• Joshua Plunkett has added a lot more video tutorials on his YouTube channel over the recent months.

Articles

• Pär Lindström continues his tutorial about drawing overland maps in CC3+.
• Glynn Seal gives us a Sense of Scale in his article on the role of scale of maps.
  Comments Off on May: Source Maps, a CC3+ Update and Map Scaling

The Source Maps series of products are for the most part collections of pre-drawn maps and adventure material that can be used stand-alone material. But they also contained templates, tools and symbols for use in CC3 to make maps in the same style yourself. Up until now these where not available for CC3+.

We are very happy to announce that we’ve now created compatibility updates for all three Source Maps products to install with CC3+. If you own one or more of these products, you only need to log into your registration account to download the respective “Setups for CC3+” from the product list.

Just be sure to install the latest update to CC3+ (Update 17) before these compatible Source Maps setups, as they require it for some new resources.

Source Maps: Castles!

Whether your characters need a stronghold, your villain needs an impregnable bastion, or your miniatures need a fort to besiege, Source Maps: Castles! is what you need to fire your imagination.

SM:Castles offers twenty-five archetypal castle layouts with surroundings and 3D views. Based on floorplans of the historical castles with conjectural detail, the plans paint a complete picture of these fortifications in their heyday. SM:C also offers you drawings, oodles of historical detail and fantasy adventure material to use in your favourite RPG.

Source Maps: Temples, and Catacombs

Whether your priest needs a home, your vampire needs a crypt, or you just find sacred sites fascinating, Source Maps: Temples, Tombs and Catacombs is what you need to fire your imagination.

From the majestic Great Pyramid to the prehistoric megaliths of Stonehenge, SM:TTC gives you twenty five of the finest sacred sites you’ll find anywhere. With detailed floor plans, 3D views and surroundings, plus incredible historical and adventure material, this is an unparalleled resource for game masters and historians.

Source Maps: Cities

Whether you want to sneak through dank alleyways, offload loot in a bustling market, or simply take in the grandeur and intrigue of the big city that you crave, Source Maps: Cities will kindle your imagination.

From the splendor of ancient Babylon to the squalor of medieval York, SM:Cities gives you the magic of eight fully-mapped cities and more than 70 urban floorplans, from immense temple complexes to Viking halls and longboats.

These updates leave only one product in our list that’s not compatible with CC3+ yet: The World War 2 Interactive Atlas. But rest assured, that situation won’t last long!

What have I been up to recently, you may ask? Well, I will answer, I’ve been working to make Campaign Cartographer 3 obsolete. But, I hasten to add, only by updating everything to work with CC3+!

Campaign Cartographer 3 and CC3+

When we release a new version of Canpaign Cartographer, we go through a long process of making all the add-ons compatible. While the process continues, users need to keep CC3 and CC3+ installed to use all our add-ons. That process is nearing its end.

Dioramas Pro

The only standard add-on that wasn’t available for CC3+ yet, is Dioramas Pro. While we are also working on Dioramas 3+, we decided to release the compatibility update for Dioramas Pro, so you don’t need to keep CC3 installed for that single add-on. That compatibility update is available on the registration page now, among the other Diorama downloads. It allows you to use all the existing functionality and example maps in CC3+.

This removes the slightly frustrating issue that the popular Fantasy Mapper bundle still required you to install CC3 if you wanted to use all of its assets.

Dioramas 3

But of course we don’t want to stop at that. The main project I’ve been working on is updating and expanding Dioramas into a true version 3+ product, with expanded bitmap support, drawing styles and everything. To that effect, Sue Daniel has created new tiling bitmap textures to greatly expand the range of available “materials” that can be used for the models, from straw-covered floors, via adobe walls to roofs of corrugated tin.

Dioramas 3+ will be our next big release and we are excited to see all our drawing add-ons updated to full version 3 standard.

Which brings me to the final products that need to be updated: the Source Maps series.

The Source Maps

Remy has created compatibility updates for SM: Castles, SM: Temples, Tombs and Catacombs as well as SM: Cities and is working on one for the World War 2 Interactive Atlas. I’ve created the setup files for the formerthree and these are currently in beta-testing and – barring any major issues showing up – should be available next week.

After Dioramas 3+ we’ll be looking at giving the Source Maps products the “version 3+” treatment, though we are not entirely sure how that will look yet and how many new maps it will entail. We’ll keep you posted, but in the meantime here is a little sneak peek how parts of it may look:

Our Source Maps products are packed with predesigned flooplans, cities and temples. The maps are available in cc3 format with their own viewer, or as PDF or PNG files. I’ve printed them out and used most of them over the years for my old-school D&D game and for 13th Age. However, they are are bit long in the tooth, so we’ll be updating them, starting with Source Maps: Temples! this year, in a new style and adding new maps and floorplans. Here’s a look at a recent draft of the new style, and the old style for comparison.

The current Source Maps: Temples, Tombs and Catacombs map

A close-up of the proposed new style:

We intend to released Source Map: Temples mid-June next year.

I’ve used CC3 and its add-ons a lot in my time; creating the Jaw Peninsular map, cities, villages, dungeons and 3D areas for my campaign world.

But a campaign world is a big place, and there isn’t always time to put something together in advance of session. We’ve released large collections of detailed maps mostly based on real-world examples, ready to print in 2D and 3D views called the Source Maps series. They even include images and information, as well as suggested adventure material.

So, for me, the Source Maps series have been the most important resource for my gaming in recent years.

Let’s take a recent game. The PCs were King’s Marshalls, supposedly escorting some peace-loving priests to a six-way ecumenical council to resolve some issues surrounding a magnificent temple on an ancient holy site – the Temple of the Five Gods. I need a massive, detailed temple with an underground area for my ritual. We’ve released large collections of detailed maps mostly based on real-world examples, called the So, I turned to the the 140 page PDF which comes with Temples, Tombs and Catacombs and scoured it for something suitable.  I settled on one based on Christchurch Cathedral:

I made a few changes in CC3, and printed them out. Ralf had even kindly added a secret section with golems and traps I incorporated.

A few weeks ago I did a full weekend of gaming playing high-level AD&D, and had no doubt this would be a world-spanning adventure, and they’d go to places I didn’t expect, so I printed out a selection of cities from Source Maps: Cities, the complete set of Temples, Tombs and Catacombs (the most useful to me) and four castles from Source Maps: Castles. When it came the time, I was able to reveal beautifully crafted, detailed and realistic maps, and now they are part of my campaign world.

However, I do have a bone to pick with Ralf over the Mad Wizard’s Dungeon. You’ll notice the rather conveniently placed well on the image below. So did my players. When they asked me if it was trapped or occupied, not thinking, I said it wasn’t. I hadn’t noticed that the well takes them all the way down to the bottom, avoiding some unpleasantness on the way down.

In fairness to Ralf, though, the wizard was mad!

I’ll leave you with this question:

What would you like to see in version 3 updates to Source Maps? The current maps updated to the new style, or leave them as they are and spend the same resources adding new maps in a newer style