Map Making Tools?

[Peter172]

I created a thread for mapping with Google Docs in another forum, and i thought I'd post it here in case anyone is interested in a simple, quick way to make a map for gaming.

Here's the link to Simple mapping with Google Docs.

[Causa]

Wizards has also released the artwork for it's official monsters, from the monster manuals.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ag/20020816a

I take these and throw them on a background 1 inch x 1 inch for my monster tokens.

[tsavatar]

Just to throw it out there, there is a Campaign planning tool for 4e that is absolutely free called Masterplan that features an integrated map maker. To use the campaign maker parts of the program Masterplan is able to import Html from your Dnd Insider account and turn it into .library files. It does not do the same with dungeon tiles though. However the tiles that have been made available by WOTC a while back (they had a very simple dungeon mapper if i recall correctly) are downloadable from a yahoo group that has conveniently converted then to .library format. While the campaign tools are designed strictly for 4e the very good Masterplan map maker is usable with any system. There is a sizable token library for this and other programs here.

Also note that the yahoo group is home to another (free?) dungeon mapper program called py mapper but i don't know much about it.

EDIT: I have just found out that you can also create and edit your own libraries of tiles and import the maps from Dungeon that WoTC publishes monthly. I'm attaching one of my maps made via Masterplan as an example.

 

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[CE2JRH]

That's pretty cool.

One thing I'd like to do:
I have a hand drawn map, with a bunch of dots (for city locations)
I would like a map tool that would allow me to "tag" the dots [and even green open spaces with nothing on them] (like a facebook tag) so that when you scroll over them, you get pop up-tool tip text with the name of the town, or, if some plains, the name of the plains.

Ideally, this would also allow me to hyperlink to the world-entry (a DNDOG post, say) on that subject. So the city would link to a post with the city data on it.

So...is there a mapping technology that lets me upload a map and do that out there? Any ideas?

[Still_Pond]

I don't know of a program that does exactly what you want, though it might exist. I wonder if Excel might do that? I know you can add notes to a cell and can probably post hyper-links in those notes. Not really what you are after though.

Photoshop has an annotation tool where you can put in "notes" anywhere on an image. These are little icon post-it-notes that when you click them they open up text boxes. You can type stuff in these text boxes and you could cut and paste a hyperlink there, though I don't think it would be clickable. The annotations might be a little cluttered if you had too many. Still it might do what you want. You can export it as a PDF too and keep the notes in the image. I'll attach an example of this. (a rather crude one but you'll get the idea).

PDF editors can add notes too, that's what I think those notes are converted to by Photoshop anyway. So, I use Foxit reader and it can add those little notes too. Adobe probably has an "add note" feature that does the same thing, (though I'm not sure). So if you converted your map to a PDF, you could then add notes to it.

Keynote is not a mapping thing, but it is a good tool for organizing stuff. You could have a list of your city names, perhaps with map coordinates, and those names could contain a "note" page full of data. I use keynote to organize my DM notes and such. Again, not what you want but maybe it can help.

[CE2JRH]

The notes thing is basically perfect. Now I need to find a way to convert my image to a PDF.

[idilippy]

Do you have a scanner? I know my hp or something printer/scanner used to let me scan things in as a pdf.

[CE2JRH]

Nope, but I found a way anyways. Downloading Foxit and adding notes presently.

[Still_Pond]

Glad it worked for you. In Foxit, I figured out that one can change the image of the note icon. It is in a properties menu on the note. (open a note -->open properties-->Note Type tab). The little star or the ring might go better on a map than a big note icon. You can also change the color to black or some other color you like better than pink. There is also a feature to add a link. (it is a button near the add note button) You could add a clickable hyperlink that way.

[CE2JRH]

Nice. I came to this thread to be like "Uh, the notes are about, 5* larger than I wanted them to be. And you had it answered already...oh wow, white ring, opacity = 10%. I love you.

[ToxicRat]

Pymapper is a program that uses the Wizards Dungeon Tiles. With it you can create maps and add notes, descriptions, etc. It even has support for the 3.5 SRD included. I'm the developer of the program, so I'm perhaps a bit biased, but I think it's a pretty good program. It has a windows installer, and can also run on a Mac or Linux with a little extra work.

You can check out a screenshot and more details on pymapper homepage at: http://pymapper.com/

You can also PM me if you have specific features or things you'd like to see included.

[Causa]

CE2JRH, there is also Obsidian Portal (www.obsidianportal.com) that is a campaign supplement tool for table top gaming, but I guess it could also be a supplement to play by post games. Each campaign gets it's own wiki area just for like...town histories, info on characters, whatever, and you can drop pegs on your uploaded maps and link them to a wiki page on the site. I really like that feature, because I usually build a lot of lore around my towns, and it's nice to be able to tag it all on the world map.

[CE2JRH]

I actually just put links in the notes to the DNDOG forum where I keep my info, which was more than sufficient.

[Landifarne]

Still_Pond, that map you refer to in post #45 brings back some of my fondest memories of D&D. That map, and the others that went with it, has to be the all-time best castle map I ever saw in my 32 years playing the game. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

I honestly forget where I first came across the map, and I hope that you can jog my memory.

By the way, this discussion of map-making is perhaps the best on the site, and I am saddened that it has not been added to in over a year. There are numerous other threads asking the same thing (tips on how to make maps), and I hope that the Admins can somehow merge the diffused threads!!

Keep up your efforts!

Others: check out here for some phenomenal maps

[Still_Pond]

Has it been a year? Hmm...doesn't seem like that long ago. Guess I just didn't have much to add.

Glad you like that castle map, I loved it as well. I love that simple clean style. I almost always over clutter things, so I admire simplicity. I don't know where you saw it, I only found that map when I was looking around google for a castle map.

I do wish this site had some kind of map making tool, perhaps under the tools menu. I know some ideas have been discussed but so far nothing has really worked out. I've tried to fill a little of the need with my map galleries and tutorials.

Nice to see a little old school DnD here. I started with that, but never really got a grasp of it. 3rd edition is where I really got hooked. Still, I really like some elements of 2nd.