Hi Everyone

[Garm]

Hi everyone. I'm brand new both here and to mapping in general. I've always been a nerd and recently started playing tabletop RPG's. I run the games and while I'm happy with the way I can put a narrative together I was not satisfied with the chicken scratch maps that were being produced during play. I looked around for resources but the maps are never quite how I want them so I started pre-making them. That of course led down the rabbit hole of trying to make them look accurate, realistic and good. I was also spurred on by the Mapping Our World exhibition that I went to recently.

I have no background in any sort of art and unfortunately only have a mouse on my computer. I also have no PS/GIMP experience so this will be an interesting (and lengthy) journey. Once I get the bones sorted of what I want I'll post a WIP of the main town that I am hoping to create. I tend to be a lurker more than a poster on forums but I'm sure I'm going to need feedback.

[Domino44]

Welcome to the Guild! are you going to try and create your maps on the computer or do hand draw ones?

[Garm]

I'm not sure.....probably a bit of both. My drawing skills are abysmal despite my partner being an art teacher. I have been doing a bit of drawing practice and am trying to get to at least a basic high school level of proficiency.

I'll probably do sketches for basic layout, ideas and the general shapes of the terrain and features but then work on the PC to bring them past that. I don't have a tablet so I'm stuck with a mouse which is not ideal and I currently don't know how to work GIMP but I think it will create a much more useful format. I may have to invest in a scanner so I can draw the basic shapes and scan it in as a base layer to work on.

I've just done a basic tutorial to get to know some of the features of GIMP and I think I'll be able to make passable dungeon maps in it but as there are so many other tools to do that it's not really a priority. It's town, region and country maps that I really want to get into as they are the ones that I want to custom fit to the narratives and stories.

[Jalyha]

Sounds like a lot of work and a lot of fun


I hope you enjoy it.

Welcome!