Aurora- My D&D setting, my 1st map.

[xBigPoppaDx]

I was on here last week looking for some bland, unlabeled world maps I could use for my 4e campaign, but was having a hard time finding what I wanted. So I began looking at the free mapping softwares, and the only one that I could even begin to use was Gimp, but I'm not really graphics savy on a PC, so it was slow & awkward. Then on black friday I picked up a new notebook with windows 7 on it, and I ended up playing around with the new paint. I am actually pretty happy with it. Considering I am new to making maps, and this was done in about 90 minutes using just paint.

So here it is, let me know what you think, thx.

[EDIT] I have reattached the map w/o photobucket as requested, sorry for the inconvenience. Thx for the tip.

[Steel General]

That looks pretty good, there are some other folks here who have used MS-Paint with great success.

I think a legend/key and a compass rose is about all this needs at this point.

[wormspeaker]

I (and others) can't see photo bucket images from work, they are blocked. You might want to try uploading the image to the message board directly.

The link below gives instructions.

http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=3178

[xBigPoppaDx]

Ok, as per some suggestions, I have added a compass rose (my own basic one, nothing special) and a legend. Both good ideas I had just overlooked. Sohow does it look now?

[Steel General]

In my opinion (whatever that is worth ), I think it looks good. Strait forward and easy to read. The compass rose and key work well with the rest of the map.

[xBigPoppaDx]

Thx. I hold the work I see on here in pretty high esteem, some of it is utterly amazing. So any compliment from a respected member of this community does have it's value. Thanks!

[wormspeaker]

Overall it's a pretty good map. The quality is about what you'd expect of such a map from MS Paint. Mine look pretty much like that when I make them in MS Paint. (Unless I try to get clever and do some tricks to hide MS Paint's weaknesses.)

Here are some suggestions on what you can do to make it look better.

Put an alternate color outline around your text. (example below)
This can be hard when you are using a font and size that MS Paint will try to anti-alias for you. Try making the letters by hand from the font example if you have the patience. This will make it much easier to read over different patterns and colors.

Another idea would be to try using a fill pattern for the forests and mountains. An example of how to do this in MS Paint is located here:
http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=7049

I'll come back when I have more time and see if I can come up with any more MS Paint tricks for you.