Greetings

[rwelt]

Hello to the Guild!

I honestly can't even figure out how I stumbled across this site yesterday, but I'm glad I did. Like many of you (I think), I'm an active roleplayer, and I've always had a fondness for maps, but have always been pretty incapable of drawing them. At least, drawing good maps. I've known that there is mapmaking software out there, but I've been unwilling to spend the money on them. I do have Photoshop and Illustrator, however, but am pretty much a novice with both. I've looked through some tutorials here and already think that I can up my game and do something good. Hopefully with time, I'll get even better!

I'm still looking around, but so far I'm impressed with the friendliness of members here, as well as the skill level I've seen. That's a good mix and I'm very excited to get involved here. I hope to have something up here within a week. I'm going to do one or two basic maps just to get a handle on some of these techniques, but my first major attempt will be of the setting for the Legend of the Five Rings RPG and CCG, the Empire of Rokugan.

[tilt]

hi rwelt, welcome to the guild - yep, lots of roleplayers in here, no surprise there ... go ahead and try out the tutorials and a good idea is always to make a WIP thread while you work, that way you can get critque and help on the way

[Larb]

I hope that means we'll be seeing a few more L5R/oriental themed maps!

[rwelt]

I hope that means we'll be seeing a few more L5R/oriental themed maps!

I hope so... I'm about to start up a new campaign, and would love to (hopefully quickly) develop my skills enough to start building a decent collection.

[Larb]

I hope so... I'm about to start up a new campaign, and would love to (hopefully quickly) develop my skills enough to start building a decent collection.

I don't know what software you use, but the map tutorials on here are great. I also suggest searching the web for other tutorials for your chosen software, even silly things so you can pickup all the basic stuff. You'll find within a couple of months you'll become quite adept at using it (this was the case with photoshop for me) because you suddenly know what things do. Then you can start refining your personal style! And trying all kinds of silly things for fun.

[rwelt]

I don't know what software you use, but the map tutorials on here are great.

I've read through several, and I'm very impressed. I haven't had the chance to try any yet, since things have been kinda hectic around here, but I'm quite eager to. I've got Adobe CS2, so Photoshop and maybe Illustrator will be my primary tools. I may download GIMP as well, just to try it out.

[Steel General]

Welcome Aboard!

[NeonKnight]

Welcome to the Guild!

[mearrin69]

Welcome to the Guild!

...my first major attempt will be of the setting for the Legend of the Five Rings RPG and CCG, the Empire of Rokugan.

I'd buy that for a dollar. Just got the 4th edition core book and Enemies and really dig the setting. The map, while beautiful, is darned near useless. For those of you that haven't seen it: it's on the inside cover and facing page and contains no names at all, just alphanumeric labels (I1, I2, G1, G2, etc.) noting cities, etc. To find out what's what you have to refer to a long section of the book...made painful because the map itself is attached to the book. I'd love to have a pull-out version of that map with less cryptic labels. I'll watch your project with interest!
M

[Larb]

The maps for L5R have never been very helpful. Also some of the locations are in the wrong place on the map when you look at the canon. I actually prefer to use the 1st edition one where the clan borders are less defined, don't cover all the land and make more sense!