The March issue of the Cartographer’s Annual 2021 is now available and we are happy to present to you a new contributor: David Castedo Gomez (Medio on the Profantasy Forum).

David has taken the Worlds of Wonder style from the 2019 Annual and re-worked and expanded it immensely; so much in fact we consider it a whole new style, and called it Erdan Worlds, the name of David’s own fantasy setting. The style comes with a full new set of symbols (more than 140) and – of course – the mapping guide that teaches you how to use it.

The March issue is now available for all subscribers from their registration page. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2021 yet, you can do so here.

So, for my last map of the 2018 Annual, I decided to just create a small map highlighting the use of Sue Daniel’s bonus Domes addition to the 2018 Annual. I, personally, have used these domes in so many of my own maps, including our cooperative project Sanctuary, and I cannot say enough how much I love using them.

(Download the FCW file)

Sue’s done a lovely job on these, giving the mapper a variety of domes to choose from, including transparent domes. For this map, I’ve created a small, walled school of magic by using the varicolored Gothic style houses in CD3 and adding a variety of the domes on the multi-leveled sheets. I started this map, however, in the Asian Town style that comes along with this year’s annual rather than CD3, as I love Sue’s textures and vegetation.

I’ve done nothing special for this map other than, I’ve added a new tool, the Wall Round, for my walls by using the 10’ Wall tool as a template, and then changing the Draw Method to Ellipse/Circle. In Options, in Draw Method, I changed the Eccentricity to 1.00. In Outline Properties I made the outline an Extra Entity, changed it’s Properties to a 2.5 Fixed Width and put the outline on the proper Layer and Sheets I wanted. I then just placed the Wall Round on the corners of my walls and there you have it.

And so, dear reader, another year’s mapping of All the Annuals series has come to a close. I hope you’ve enjoyed the variety of maps I’ve been privileged to create for you using the 2018 Annual. It has been, as usual, a welcome challenge stepping out of my dungeon mapping comfort zone, and I hope I’ve inspired some of you to do the same and try out this annual. Happy mapping, Cartographers!

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.

The second Annual issue of 2021 is a huge collection of symbols created by Sue Daniel: More than 300 ribbons, scrolls and seals to serves as titles, labels and other map ornamentation. Banners can be places at different widths, and parts can be combined to create multi-line scrolls and ribbons. The symbols can be used on an any map and the accompanying guide teaches you how to make the catalogs available in any style.

The February issue is now available for all subscribers from their registration page. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2021 yet, you can do so here.

This is a lovely style, which compliments the Japanese Temple Annual. The tools and symbols you get between the two give you all you need to create a really nice Asian inspired city, town or village.

(Download the FCW file)

I honestly haven’t much to say about this map. I did get the coastline from a satellite pic in Google that I slightly modified, but other than that, I just mapped along as I felt inspired, starting with my cliffs along the beach. After that, everything just fell into place.

I really love a nice easy style like this. Thanks to Sue Daniel for another fantastic Annual.

The Cartographer’s Annual Vol 14 (2020) is now available as a full collection and consolidated setup of all the 13 individual issues that were released over the course of the last year. If you didn’t subscribe and are just buying it now, or you just didn’t follow the monthly releases, the full setup is available among your registration page downloads. Check the Annual’s page to see the content list.

In 2020 we also started the live mapping series on YouTube and over its course we demoed most of the Annual issues of the year. If you want to see the Annual’s styles in action, here is a convenient listing of these videos in one place:

January: Watabou City

March: Starship

April: Black & White Dungeon

May: Ryecroft Town

July: Spectrum Overland

August: Retro Starships

October: Serpentine City

December: Tagkrammer Isometric

I’ve been mapping with the software for about around 5 years, so rather than follow the tutorial, I figure I’d just supply an overland map using the Mike Schley Overland style in my personal style.

[Download the FCW file]

First, after deciding I would do a smaller environs map of a valley, I quickly established I would do a map set in the season of autumn. I had done a commission some time back for Pelgrane Press, Shards of the Broken Sky, and did a small regional map where I had adjusted the hues in the map for place with red, clay colored soil. That map is so simple, yet one of my favorites I’ve ever done, and it’s all because of the palette. So, for this map, I decided I would do the same in picking autumn.

Since this is a smaller regional map, I wanted to do a wide more natural looking river by separating the landmass on either side with it’s own poly. Normally, I would use the Color Key effect for this, but since I’ve made changes to the Hue and added an RGB Matrix to the Land Sheet, the Color Key will not work, as I am yet to figure out so far, as it cannot adjust your color to the effects on the sheet.

As my usual suggestion, chose the varicolored symbols so you can go back later, if you want, and change this map simply by changing the symbol colors, to a different season. When creating my mountainscape of the valley, I soon realized I wanted more muted leaf colors for my palette and began altering the colors by using the Define Color option, where you can then create your own custom colors. After creating a custom color you should then save and attach it to your map. This can be done by going to the Drawing Properties tab or following File>Drawing Properties and click the attach to drawing tab under Custom Palette. Be sure to do this last step or when you close your map and reopen, it will revert back to the default palette for that style.

Once I had my custom palette set, I am able to place my symbols down, starting with mountains first and using the various shades I created for my autumn them = this gives the mountains, in my opinion, the illusion of them being covered with multicolored trees and grasses in lovely greens, oranges, yellows and reds. Then I do the same for forests, using individual trees or the smaller groups of trees in varying colors, landmarks and finally settlements.

Labeling has always been an issue for me….i just can’t ever seem to be happy with how I label my maps (which is why I am so very excited for Sue’s annual with banners coming up in 2021) – but, since I was going for a fall theme, I decided to stick with the same hues for labels, as well.
So, here’s my version of the Overland Tutorial annual, hope you like it and can use it or alter it for you own mapping needs 😊

A Happy New Year to all you cartographer’s out there, we hope you had a good start into 2021. If you want to celebrate it with a bit of mapping, we have a new city drawing style for you, created by our dear Pär Lindström. “Fantasy Towns”, the first issue of the Cartographer’s Annual Vol 15 (2021) is now available for all subscribers from their registration page.

For anyone who hasn’t subscribed to the Annual 2021 yet, you can still do so at the early subscriber’s discount (15% off).

If you are unsure about the Annuals and their content, check out our free sampler. With 14 individual issues, it’s now bigger than any one yearly volume of the Annuals!

With the bonus issue released the December Annual available as part of the free sampler, volume 14 of the Cartographer’s Annual is complete.

We have assembled all the individual issues into one complete setup, which is now available from the registration page for all subscribers. If you purchase it now, you get immediate access to the complete collection of all thirteen issues.

At the same time, the Annual 2021 (Volume 15) is available for early subscription at a 15% discount. You can subscribe and check out a preview of the first three months here.

Well, I love this annual. It makes just such pretty maps. I didn’t work on this awfully long. Actually, the longest stint was just waiting just a few hours for Ralf to get me a new file to unzip, as I had a little glitch with the vari-colored trees that got fixed up right quick. ProFantasy support is awesome.

(Download the FCW file)
So, for this map, just mapped as I went. I had no clear plan what I was going to do, so I just started putting down buildings, then the walls around them. I modified a few symbols by changing their scale to use in an unconventional way or two, but that’s what I do (such as the docks and the trellis over the walls).

After getting my structures settled, I set about the landscape, water, and rock ridges. For vegetation, I always start with the low-lying vegetation bushes both green and flowering, then I like to make two sheets for trees, just to assure certain trees I want are higher than others.

I wanted a boat and a few things around the map and normally I would delve into my arsenal of symbols to really dress this map up. Since this is a series featuring the Annuals, the maps should be symbols from the annual only….so what else to do than make my own? I set out to make a rudimentary boat, as I am no Sue, Hans or Pär by any means. I made a sheet for the basic boat shape, then another for the boat bottom and it’s shading to give the illusion of depth (not the well, I’m afraid, lol) and another for the rim of the boat. By adding some Glow effects and Bevel effects, I think it’s decent a job with the tools and talent I’ve got. I also made some stone benches for reflection throughout the temple by creating a sheet and putting the Glow, Bevel and Shadow effects on them. There’s also been a reflection well created on one of the islands.

The font I’ve got showing on the image in not ProFantasy issued. I wanted something with a bit more of an Asian flair so I went online and found this free for commercial use font called Night in Tokyo, which can easily be found by doing an internet search. You, reader, will get the standard font for this annual, Uchiyama, when starting a new map with this style.

And there you have it. Japanese Temple Annual.