Earlier this year Mike Schley kickstarted the first episode of his Schleyscapes series. Aimed at producing an ongoing series of quality gaming maps, in combination with bitmap artwork that could be used in any graphics editor.

As you may know Mike is also the artist behind our own Symbol Set 4 – Dungeons of Schley, and the Schleyscapes art naturally matches the art in that symbol set perfectly. Of course we wanted to make that additional material available for our users of the Dungeons of Schley, and Mike was happy to oblige!

And here it is, the Forlorn Cottage extension to “Symbol Set 4 – Dungeons of Schley”. And the best part? It is completely free for the owners of SS4 – no additional purchase required. You can download it from your registration page as an extra install if you already have SS4 installed, or just use the full setup when you purchase SS4 fresh from the web store. All the new artwork is included.

The SS4 Forlorn Cottage Extension contains:

• 420 new symbols in the SS4 Dungeons of Schley color style
• 14 new bitmap textures for the same style
• 1 “Forlorn Cottage” example map
• 2 SS4 Forlorn Cottage template wizards (imperial & metric)
• Updated SS4 templates incorporating the new bitmap styles
• Updated SS4 symbol catalogs incorporating the new symbols

You can either start a SS4 Dungeons of Schley map and just use the additional symbols, or use the SS4 Forlorn Cottage template to limit yourself to the new symbols.

The next compatibility update is here: Symbol Set 3 – Modern is now available for CC3+. Symbol Set 3 provides a variety of styles modern maps: 3 different floorplan styles (two bitmap-based, 1 vector) and two overland styles, one for Ordnance Survey-style topographic maps, the other for modern political maps.

Click the example on the right to see a large-scale version of the bitmap-based floorplan style created by Jonathan Roberts for Symbol Set 3, and click the left image below for an example of the modern political style, based on the work of Brian Stoll. The right image shows an example of the Vector Ordnance Survey style.

If you already own Symbol Set 3, you can simply download the setup for CC3+ from your registration page. If you do not own SS3 yet, you can get a copy here.

The installation of Symbol Set 3 for CC3+ requires the latest update (CC3+ Update 3). Make sure to download and install it from your registration page before SS3.

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.

We are happy to announce the next compatibility update: Symbol Set 1 – Fantasy Overland is now available for CC3+. SS1 provides four new drawing styles for overland map, made up from over 2,500 new symbols, bitmap fills and drawing tools.

Click on the example map on the right created by Stephen Manuele. It shows off one of the new overland styles included in SS1 . The style, created by fantasy cartographer Sean Mcdonald, it is a wonderful handdrawn-like option for your fantasy maps. Download a large-scale pdf version here.

Check out the two more examples of maps drawn with the included styles as pdf versions:

Kingsport and Surroundings (the second bitmap style included in SS1, created by Peter Gifford)
Range of the Gods (a hand-drawn vector style, created by Sarah Wroot)

If you already own SS1, you can simply download the setup for CC3+ from your registration page. If you do not own SS1 yet, you can get a copy here.

I’ve recently started a new fantasy campaign, using the 13th Age rules and setting. Due to some (unsurprising) insider connections, I was able to acquire a playtest copy of the upcoming “Battle Scenes” collection for the game. It contains a host of fighting encounters for different levels and surroundings. It’s a great resource, especially if you are stuck for inspiration or just need to pull a battle out of your hat.

What it doesn’t have yet, due to its stage of production, are detailed battle maps. The encounters are only sketched out in draft form. But I do have the right tool at hand for this job, don’t I? So I sat down and created a couple of battle maps for a set of connected encounters (a rafting expedition through orc-infested wilderness, isn’t that great?). I used Dungeon Designer 3 and Symbol Set 2, and it looks like the maps may end up as part of the published Battles Scenes in the end.

A neat idea crossed my mind as I was starting the second map: Why not make it combine with the first for one huge battle map? While it wouldn’t be used like that in Battle Scenes, it might come in handy for other occasions. You surely wouldn’t want to use a gorgeous prop like this once and then throw it away?

I printed the maps at an online poster printing service, and while doing it at a “correct” 1″ to 5′ scale would have been a little too expensive, the scaled down, very affordable version at 80cm by 60cm per map was big enough to easily accommodate 13th’s Age loose movement and positioning system. The map certainly gave the game session some great visual “oomph” as the PCs were floating down the whitewater river, fending off orcs on all sides.

You can download print-ready versions of the maps by clicking the images above.

We are very happy to announce that Symbol Set 4 – Dungeons of Schley is now also available for CC3+. Mike’s gorgeous collection of dungeon, floorplan and outdoor symbols can be used with or without Dungeon Designer 3 and allows you to create wonderful maps, like the one shown here (created by community member Damon di Denti).

If you already own SS4, go to your registration page and click the download button for Symbol Set 4. Download and run the “Setup for CC3+” to install SS4 in CC3+. If you don’t own SS4 yet, you can buy it here.

This month’s symbol pack is brought to you by fantasy cartographer TJ Vandel, also known as Schwarzkreuz on the Cartographer’s Guild forum.

We loved his idea of creating a dungeon symbol set specifically for dwarves. The style works on its own, but can also be used as an extension to the Dungeons of Schley style from Symbol Set 4, as TJ has carefully crafted the symbols and textures to mesh with Mike Schley’s wonderful artwork, without sacrificing his own touch. 190 symbols, 29 textures and more than 50 new drawing tools allow your dig deep into the mountains and fortify your halls in fine dwarven style!

As a subscriber you can download the September Annual issue from your registration page. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2014, you can do so here.

Here is the list of entries for the latest ProFantasy competition, entitled “Lairs”. We announced it to celebrate the release of Symbol Set 4: The Dungeons of Schley and Simon’s brief went as follows:
Create a small underground lair – a bandit hide out, a cave taken over by a dragon, a mine used as a cultist HQ. The whole area the map covers including map embellishments should be no more than about 100 m / 300 ft square. The best will win an unlimited patron license to all our cartography software forever; two runners up will receive vouchers.

– It can be in any style, past, modern or future.
– You have to create it with CC3, and any other ProFantasy map-making software you wish to use – annuals, symbols sets, whatever you like,
– It can include third-party art as symbols or fill styles long as that art is available for commercial use by anyone.

For large-scale versions of the competition maps, click on the images below.

#1 Troglodyte Lair

#2 Tomb of the Witch-King

#3 The Betrayer’s Cave

#4 Kobold Lair

#5 Brownie Bandits’ Hideout

#6 Necromancer’s Lair

#7 Underground Fort

#8 Wizard’s Lair

#9 Weeping Rock Springs

ProFantasy Software offers a large, possibly even bewidering range of dungeon styles from which you can choose.  All our add-ons, symbol sets and annual require Campaign Cartographer 3 to draw. Dungeon Designer 3 makes it easier to create dungeons, but isn’t required, except to use its own built-in styles. Here, then, is a selection of the some of the styles we offer and the software you need to use them.

Dungeon Designer 3 built-in style.

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A few days ago my gaming group’s Deadlands Reloaded campaign ended, after 18 months and 23 sessions of play. We had great fun, despite – or perhaps because – the game system (Savage Worlds) is more combat-focused than the typical games we play. One thing it does, and it does that really well, is make use of battle maps and miniatures without slowing down combats much. To take advantage of this I decided at the start of the campaign that I would create as many battle maps for the game as possible – of course using the Profantasy software at my disposal to maximum effect.

For my maps I used Dungeon Designer 3 a lot, but also City Designer 3, Symbol Set 2 – Fantasy Floorplans, the Annuals, the free art collection CSUAC, and at the very end the brand-new Symbol Set 4 – Dungeons of Schley. All of these I printed on my inkjet printer at home in A4 tiles, then glued them together for play at the table. I ended up with more than a dozen A1 battle maps, plus a few smaller pieces. I’ve collected them here for your enjoyment and use. Just click one of the images to download the full-size pdf*.
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