Last month, I talked about the basics of macros, how a macro is basically just a series of commands executed in sequence. And for the majority of macros used in CC3+, it actually stops there. For example, one of the more common uses of macros are as part of drawing tools, where you draw a polygon with the tool, and then a macro built into the tool takes over and does it’s magic to the polygon, such as filling with with symbols (like trees for a forest), or automatically align the fill or other similar operations.
But of course, that the majority of macros used are rather simple doesn’t mean we doesn’t have more advanced functionality that is highly useful. For this month’s part, we’ll be talking about variables.
The September issue of the Cartographer’s Annual is available, expanding E Prybylski’s overland style with non-human settlements and additional material.
Resources
The latest free monthly symbols by Mike Schley provide you with siege engines to break those impressive city walls of the Symbol Set 6 Isometric Cities style.
Watch or re-watch the recent live mapping videos from our playlist on YouTube.
Check out the community’s Maps of the Month for August, possibly providing more ideas and inspiration for your own mapping projects.
Welcome to our latest browse through some of the wonderful maps created by the Profantasy user community. Let’s take a look at what our mappers came up with on the ProFantasy forum and the CC3+ Facebook group in August.
Thiatas Ashadarawesh‘s campaign world has been growing for the last 22 years and his world map (created with Fractal Terrains and Wilbur) is certainly a sight to match that amount of work! Continue reading »
Do you need to breach those impressive city walls that the Isometric Cities style provides. Here are a couple handy siege engines to aid you in that task. Position catapults and trebuchets can be positioned in four different views to throw rocks at those pesky defenders.
The example maps included with this free content make use of Symbol Set 6 to showcase the symbols in proper surroundings. If you don’t have SS6 installed, you won’t see these, but you can still use the symbols on other maps. Symbol Set 6 – Isometric Cities is available for purchase here.
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 year two up to and including July 2023 is included in the one download.
You can always check the available monthly content on our dedicated page.
(Download the FCW file)
Hello mappers! This month’s All the Annuals has Naomi VanDoren’s annual on display. It’s the perfect annual for those last minute maps. You know those sessions I speak of Game Masters… It’s game night, you’ve been doing your “adulting” all week and didn’t have time to prep for your game. The game, that your wonderful players derailed and ended up somewhere you never thought they would. Well, have I got an annual for you. I actually made this map up in the middle of session. Yes, in the middle of a game session. We often take a mid-game break – you know drink refills, a smoke if anyone partakes, bathroom breaks, returning texts, checking on the kids, whatever. Well, while my players were off doing those things and preparing their next move… I was silently clicking away at my keyboard and came up with this perfect, on the fly, tavern.
With this annual, considering my time constraints, I didn’t so anything off the beaten path. Stuck right with the basics and dropped this map in my VTT in no time and we were back at it, encounter ensues. Good times, great annual.😊
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.
Comments Off on All the Annuals: Naomi van Doren’s Floorplans (May 2016)
The September issue of the Annual 2023 extends April’s “E Prybylski Watercolor” style with another 50 symbols for non-human settlements, more mountains and other artwork.
Add giant elven tree cities, dwarven mountain strongholds, orc camps and cozy halfling cottages to your map, populate your oceans with monsters and hazards, and have a cat (yes, a cat) shove ships off the edge of the world. The accompanying mapping guide takes a look at the new symbols, and details additional methods to decorate your maps.
If you are a novice CC3+ user, you may think that macros sounds way to complicated to even touch. But, the fact is that from the moment you start making a map, you have already been exposed to several macros. You might not have noticed, but CC3+ uses macros for quite a lot of things. Every time you start a new map or load an existing one, a macro is run to set up the environment appropriately for that type of map. A lot of the buttons on the toolbars and elements in the menus call macros, and many of the drawing tools have embedded macros that are being run when you draw something with them.
So, why don’t we take a brief look at the basics of macros?
Last up this bunch, 1800s Floorplan. Oh, boy I loved this one. What fun it was looking for inspiration for this map. I ended up using a floorplan for a model home from a Sears and Roebuck Co. Catalog from the early 1900s. These homes could be ordered via mail catalog and Sears would ship the homeowner all the materials needed to build this home, seriously everything, was sent by train to be constructed by the homeowner. These catalogs are a huge favorite resource of mine for floorplans of all kinds.
I used an image of the floorplans and traced them with the Annual’s tools making a few minor adjustments of my own to the floorplan. Everything I needed to reconstruct the catalog image was at my fingertips. What an easy annual. I then inserted a file of an image of the actual house for this floorplan. I processed the image in PS, gave it a little more a sepia hue to it to give it a more authentic look. I think this is the PERFECT map for a Cthulhu game, don’t you? . I also did felt the need to change the name of the catalog company, as well as the model home name and number for copyright purposes.
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.
Comments Off on All the Annuals: 1800s Floorplans (April 2016)
Last month, I talked about the basics of macros, how a macro is basically just a series of commands executed in sequence. And for the majority of macros used in CC3+, it actually stops there. For example, one of the more common uses of macros are as part of drawing tools, where you draw a polygon with the tool, and then a macro built into the tool takes over and does it’s magic to the polygon, such as filling with with symbols (like trees for a forest), or automatically align the fill or other similar operations.
