Hello, from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. My name is Konnel. I was checking to see if a topic awaiting moderation had posted when I realized that I had never written an introduction.

I love maps - I am intrigued by their promise of hidden knowledge; their sense of order; their service as an index of nature's grandeur and of man's accomplishment.

Since I'm a gamer, from a practical viewpoint, I am most interested in fantasy maps. The problem is, as much as I appreciate maps I am truly awful at drawing them. I never progressed past the elementary method of right angles on graph paper for dungeon mapping. I have difficulty with AutoRealm. I am confounded just opening GiMP, but I strongly suspect I'll suck at that, too. My hope is, with a little work on craft, I will become less awful. Despite hours of pouring over professional maps I can't say I have a firm grasp on notation or theory. My goal is to be able to compose maps that will adequately communicate information to others. I believe my one advantage is a sense of proportion (judging by my stick-figures).

Thanks for offering this forum,
Konnel

P.S. you have the best emoticons on the 'net.