ProFantasy's Map-Making Archive

Last month, I wrote an article about Mapping as You Go showing off one technique I use for maps in my game.

This time, I’ll present another map I made last week for their next adventure. I had a situation where the characters encountered a misbehaving magical artifact. It was a small cube that could be used to summon a wizard’s laboratory that one could enter. Unfortunately, the thing started spawning random monsters instead, and now the characters have to enter it to shut it down.

To me, that meant that the Random Dungeon generator was a perfect fit. It gives a perfect starting point for a dungeon inside a magical artifact. I could focus more on the content of the dungeon, and not spending too much time deliberating the layout.

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The Cartographer’s Annual November issue is now available. Seeing the popularity of the Hand-drawn Fantasy style from May and June, we decided to expand this kind of symbols to the Floorplans and Dungeons map types, and the result is this new set. Use more than 140 new, hand-crafted symbols to map building and underground lairs.

The November issue is now available for all subscribers from their registration page. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2025 yet, you can do so here.

Mike Schley created another set of dungeon symbols for the free monthly content and your pleasure. This month the set adds lots of paraphernalia that you might find in the study of a “man of science”, like an astrolabe, brushes and an easel, a globe of the world and a telescope. And not to forget a staff and wizard’s hat!

Note that the example maps included with this free content make use of Symbol Set 4 to showcase the symbols in proper surroundings. If you don’t have SS4 installed, you won’t see these correctly, but you can still use the symbols on other maps. Symbol Set 4 – Dungeons of Schley 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 listed there. All the content of year (up to June 2025) is included in the one download.

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

Mike Schley created a new set of dungeon symbols for the free monthly content and your pleasure. Take a seat on one of these symbols to feel like royalty, but beware, the throne might crumble beneath you and dump you unceremoniously on the floor! The April symbol pack “Royal Seating” contains 20 new symbols for the Dungeons of Schley style, and provides a range of sumptuous thrones to seat that royalty – or show its decline and fall with the destroyed versions.

Note that the example maps included with this free content make use of Symbol Set 4 to showcase the symbols in proper surroundings. If you don’t have SS4 installed, you won’t see these correctly, but you can still use the symbols on other maps. Symbol Set 4 – Dungeons of Schley 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 listed there. All the content of year (up to April 2025) is included in the one download.

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

As promised we start the new year 2025 with a return to free symbols for dungeon floorplans, specifically Mike’s Dungeons of Schley style. It looks like a summoning has gone awry here, with a demon and a fire elemental arguing over the dead body of the summoner. This month contains a set of symbols for your summoner’s lair, with summoning circles, summoned creatures and various paraphernalia and ritual props.

Note that the example maps included with this free content make use of Symbol Set 4 to showcase the symbols in proper surroundings. If you don’t have SS4 installed, you won’t see these correctly, but you can still use the symbols on other maps. Symbol Set 4 – Dungeons of Schley 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 listed there. All the content of year (so far only January 2025) is included in the one download.

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

Behind the scenes we’ve been working on a new feature for Campaign Cartographer: a random generator that allows you to generate complete maps by just a few clicks. This version is a taster of what we’ll introduce in CC4. We are very happy that we were able to recruit the help of the designer of the Watabou series of random map generators. The first of these, a Random Dungeon generator, is now at a stage where we are happy to release it into the public as a beta, for you to try out and make use of.

Note This is an enhanced output from a version still under development. Current beta output will look a bit different.

You can download the Random Dungeon generator from your account at profantasy.com. It is a small, simple executable that will add the functionality to your current CC3+ install.

When you run CC3+ after installing it, a sample map will come up with a link to an introductory guide to the Random Dungeon command. Click the link to open the pdf or download it from this link: Mapping Guide – Random Dungeons.

We’ve also done a live mapping session on using the first version of the Random Dungeon generator. You can view it on YouTube now:

We will further develop this random generator and add other ones in the future. Join the community forum and/or subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with the development. Send us feedback by posting on the forum or by email. We are looking for anything from bug reports to feature requests.

In the meantime enjoy creating some random dungeons!

The August issue of the Cartographer’s Annual has just been released. Sue Daniel returns to her Creepy Crypts with new symbols for her beautiful dungeon floorplan style. They mesh seamlessly with the Dungeon Designer 3 style, so it can be used to extend our big dungeon add-on even further. If you don’t own DD3, you can still use the style fully, you might just notice a few missing bitmap fills if you are going through the fill styles of the templates.

As the name implies, the Creepy Crypts focuses on tombs, graves and burial sites, with the second part adding more symbols for containers, statuary, skeletons and lots of other material.

The August issue is now available for all subscribers from their registration page. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2022 yet, you can do so here.

The June issue of the Cartographer’s Annual is now available. Many of you will have seen Sue Daniel’s wonderful previews of her Creepy Crypts style on the forum or the Facebook group, and finally here is the style that contains them. It focuses on crypts, graves and their undead denizens, with lots of new bitmap textures and symbols in Sue’s signature quality.

While it is designed to match well with the style of Dungeon Designer 3, the Annual issue will also work on its own to give you all the tools and assets to design lots of “Creepy Crypts”. The accompanying 6 page mapping guide takes you through creating a crypt of your own, while also explaining how to use it with Dungeon Designer 3.

The June issue is now available for all subscribers from their registration page. If you haven’t subscribed to the Annual 2022 yet, you can do so here.

Are you still looking for that treasure in the half-sunken temple on the shoreline? Getting bored by always the same seaweed slushing around your legs? Don’t worry, Sue Daniel has more maritime excitement for you with the second part of the Marine Dungeons style.

New ways to enhance your floors with metallic inlays, connecting walls, new flora and fauna for your shore and sea floor … more than 140 symbols, a dozen new textures and many drawing tools are included in the Marine Dungeon 2 style expansion pack.

The December 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.

Note: The re-subcription offer for the Annual 2022 will become available in mid-December, when we also make one of this year’s Annual issues available for free and release a bonus issue (Darklands City part 2).

The April issue of the Cartographer’s Annual 2020 is now available. It includes a new dungeon styles based on ink-and-paper cartography by the likes of Dyson Logos and MonkeyBloodDesign, which allows you to produce simple and effective but also beautiful black and white dungeon layouts. The included 6-page mapping guide takes you through the process of drawing a complete dungeon.

If you have already subscribed to the Annual 2020, you can download the April issue from your registration page. If not, you can subscribe here.