Maps and description of mapping techniques and tools used. I mostly use the GIMP with assorted plugins, but other tools do crop up from time to time.
I recently had this blog added to the RPG Blog Alliance (there’s even a wee banner in the links section); I won’t insult anyone by describing what it is. This aggregator has shown me a slew of blogs I wasn’t aware of and I’ve found some articles that greatly interested …
A friend of mind is running a D&D 4e campaign and was unhappy with one of the maps he was using. In order to get a complete view of the Vale he was using several maps butted together. They had differences in color and style (which never looks good) and …
Some more experimentation. I’m generally happy with it but there are some things I’m dissatisfied with. Mountains, I’m mostly happy. A little artifacting still visible, but applying a bit more (or a different?) displacement map to it could solve that. Hills (the brownish-green bits) could do with a bit more …
I was doing some more experiments with my mapping techniques. I’m becoming happier with them. I do need to improve the sequencing. Work out where I want the map elements (mountains, rivers, forests, etc.), then finalize river and shoreline before trying to tackle the elements. I screwed up this time …
I thought I might explore a bit with some techniques. my rivers needed help. I like how they look now, though it does make for some fiddly work. I’m becoming comfortable with this method of drawing forests, though I’m going to stop doing them piecemeal — I’ll note where I …
I thought I’d try another experiment, I’m working a bit now with forest techniques. Next one, I think I’ll take it a little farther — plan the image, for one thing, and get a few more terrain types and the like in. The rivers need a little more work, too. …
I’m feeling a lot like not wanting to write today, but have generally been good about writing regularly (a post every day for more than five weeks). Instead I thought I’d do something different, practice a bit of map drawing. It’s been a while, I’m relearning techniques I haven’t practiced …