We are very happy to have another beautiful style by Pär Lindström in this year’s Cartographer’s Annual, with this month’s Parchment City style. Based on Pär’s work on a 19th century map of Stockholm, the style is very easy and quick to use thanks to to whole city blocks and symbols. You can hen dive in and add special landmarks and individual pieces at your leisure. Of course the accompanying mapping guide tells you how to do all that.

The April issue is now available for all subscribers from their registration page. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2024 yet, you can do so here.

Freelance RPG Crowdfunding Marketing Manager

ProFantasy Software Ltd, a leading producer of map-making software for table-top RPGs, based in the UK, is seeking an experienced marketing manager to oversee the crowdfunding campaign for the latest version of our flagship software, Campaign Cartographer.

Start Date: mid-April – mid-May 2024 (exact dates to be confirmed)

Location: Remote, anywhere

Payment: $30 an hour, with a post-crowdfunding bonus depending on the campaign’s success.

Hours: 15 hours a week (flexible) with more hours during the campaign

Purpose of job

• Gather data about our existing and potential customer base and market.
• Devise and implement a marketing strategy to maximize net revenue from our crowdfunding campaign across multiple platforms, both in the lead up to the campaign and when it is underway.
• Manage and implement advertising on social media within budgets agreed with management, analyze their effectiveness and adapt the campaign accordingly.
• Work with management on creating suitable backer levels and messaging for the campaign.
• Identify new marketing opportunities and analyze the efficacy of existing ones.
• Create marketing graphics and social media images and videos using our existing art resources, commission new ones and maintain and cultivate our email list with targeted emails.
• Enhance our existing ecommerce newsletter, promotion and content.
• Work with journalists and bloggers to promote the campaign.
• During the crowdfunding, proactively adapt the campaign to increase revenue and backer satisfaction.

Knowledge and Experience

• Experience of previous large, successful crowdfunding campaigns.
• Knowledge and experience in the TTRPG industry.
• Experience of writing for digital platforms (optimizing SEO), in particular websites and e-communications.
• Knowledge of creating content for digital purposes including graphic and audio-visual assets.
• Knowledge of digital marketing and key trends in crowdfunding.
• Significant marketing experience across all channels.
• Good writing style and ability to adopt different tones.

Attributes

• Able to work independently and without supervision.
• Able to manage time, effort and resources between short-term tactical opportunities versus medium/long-term strategic opportunities.
• Deadline-driven and adept at balancing competing priorities and managing complexity.
• Good eye for design and detail.
• Experience of using data to provide insights, using analytics to assess success or suggested changes.

Skills

• A good working knowledge of Google analytics.
• Familiarity with Meta advertising.
• Solid Excel skills.
• Knowledge of Backerkit.
• Familiarity with adding content to WordPress.
• This is a temporary freelance position, with the possibility of extension.

How to apply: Please email an expression of interest with your CV / resume as a PDF to Simon Rogers at profantasy@gmail.com by 12th April, including details of the crowdfunding campaigns in which you’ve been involved.

 Direct any enquiries prior to your application to the same email address.

Deadline: Interviews to take place. Role will commence at the end of April, exact dates to be confirmed.

The March Annual issue is available, and subscribers can now start delving into the new Sinister Sewers style by Sue Daniel.

Prepare to get your feet and hands dirty in thick sewage and sludge, as you navigate drains and pipes, and contend with carnivorous plants (those rats must be tasty) and tentacled monstrosities that creep up from the depth below. But at least the streets above are clean and people can blissfully ignore the horrors beneath their feet!

The March issue is now available for all subscribers from their registration page. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2024 yet, you can do so here.

The second Annual issue of the year is ready for your mapping needs! We have another overland style for you, but this one is aimed at larger overview maps of a continent or even a whole world, rather than the regional or local maps of the January style. One of the main draws of the style is the range of beautiful mountain symbols by Robert Altbauer, originally featured in an Annual issue on Photoshop brushes in 2010. They have been redone for this issue and integrated into a new style. The accompanying mapping guide takes a closer look at some of the more unique features of this style.

The February issue is now available for all subscribers from their registration page. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2024 yet, you can do so here.

News

• The January issue of the Cartographer’s Annual 2023 is available, bringing you a new version of the regional Fantasy Realms style.
• The full Volume for last year’s Cartographer’s Annual is now available as a single setup.

Resources

• The latest free monthly symbols by Mike Schley add more volcanic features to your overland maps.
• Watch or re-watch the recent live mapping videos from our playlist on YouTube.
• Check out the community’s Maps of the Month for December, providing more ideas and inspiration for your own mapping projects.

Articles

• Remy continues his series on mapping out Rails & Trains in Campaign Cartographer 3 Plus.
• Christina showcases the September issue of the Cartographer’s Annual 2016 with the “City Streets” style by Alyssa Faden in her latest iteration of the All the Annuals series.

Reminders

• CC3+’s current version is 3.98. Check in Help > About and if your version is older, run Update 28 for CC3+ available from your registration page.
• Fractal Terrains 3+ has been released and is available from among your FT3 downloads on your registration page.
• Join our community of map-makers on the Profantasy forum and/or the Facebook group.

The monthly symbols by Mike Schley have been very popular and of course we continue this tradition into the new year. From the isometric city symbols we return to artwork for overland maps for a while, with a fiery first collection of volcanic symbols.

20 new symbols depict active and dormant volcanoes both for land-bound mountain ranges and volcanic peaks rising directly out of the sea, as well as lava pools and fiery chasms leading down into the bosom of the earth.

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 the last link in the list. All the content of the current year (only January 2024 so far) is included in the one download.

You can always check the available monthly content on our dedicated page.

Last year’s Cartographer’s Annual – Volume 17 – is now available as a complete setup, all monthly issues collected into one single package.

Subscribers who downloaded all the monthly issues don’t need to do anything, but if you skipped some issues or are a fresh owner of Volume 17, you can install everything in one go now. The setup is available from the registration page as usual. If you didn’t subscribe, waiting for it to become available as one single package, you can now purchase it from the Annual’s page or the store as usual.

Last year we saw some excellent new artists in the Annual, like E Prybylski, DM Geezer Jim and Monkey Frog Studios, along staples like Pär Lindström and Sue Daniel, as well as occasional contributors like Jon C Munson II. Topic and themes ranged from desert villages (oases) to winter trails and from steampunk streets to classic fantasy overland maps. My personal highlights this year were E Prybylski’s Overland style along with Sue’s Winter Trails.

As for my own work I probably had the most fun building Bairnemouth, the isometric City Under Siege, as I love coming up with a proper story for a map as I’m creating it. But revisiting the 13th Age style was also great, and with the Wilderness Tiles I got to use Sue’s battle map artwork from last year extensively, which I also enjoyed a lot.

For the coming year we are still looking to include more new talent and are actively looking for artists who are interested in creating an Annual issue style for us. Simon’s call here is still relevant.

The current Annual 2024 subscription has now started and the January issue is available. So if this retrospective on 2023 did wet your appetite, check it out here.

Before the year runs out let’s take a relaxed look back at all the lovely mapping that the community shared in November. Without further ado, here are the Maps of the Month!

Matt Finch‘s lovely ruin of an abandoned tavern is own highlight of the month (just personal taste). Great work, Matt!
Continue reading »

The Cartographer’s Annual subscription for 2024 is now available, and you can subscribe at a reduced cost. If you are a current subscriber, be sure to check your email, as you should have received your re-subscription offer that way. Otherwise, visit the Annual 2024 web page for the early subscription discount.

We have the first three issues lined up, starting with a reimagined version of the Fantasy Realms style by Allyn Bowker from 2009. We add lots of symbols and combine the tools with textures by Mike Schley, resulting in a very different look, that is still excellent for displaying local to regional maps of any Fantasy setting.

Next in line is a new parchment overland style combining symbols by Robert Altbauer and new textures. And then in March Sue Daniel provides a great new style for city sewers. If you want some input into that, check out her style development thread on the ProFantasy forum.

As always, subscribing to the Annual will give you access to all twelve monthly issues as they are released, plus a bonus issue at the end of the year. If you want to see an example of all the great content you will receive, check out the Annual 2023.

Subscribe to the Cartographer’s Annual 2024 now.

Every year we make one of the Cartographer’s Annual issues available for free to give everyone a taste of the great mapping inside.

This year we decided on the City Under Siege map pack from November, which details a large isometric city map, and includes both additional tools for Symbol Set 6 and a description of the city with lots of adventure ideas.

This Annual issue can now be downloaded individually from the Annual page and is included in the Free Annual Sampler.

To make up to all our loyal subscribers, we add a bonus issue to the year’s roster. This year we offer additional Wilderness map tiles and a template to make quick and easy use of the materials from this bonus issue and the December Annual.

The Bonus issue is now available for all subscribers from their registration page. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2023 yet, you can do so here.

You can subscribe to the Cartographer’s Annual 2024 now at a 15% early subscriber discount.