maptools

[Ravenwing]

does anyone here use map tools? or are there any tutorials pertaining to it that i might find for building a world map?

[Jaxilon]

There are a number of folks here who use it and others as well. I know there are a bunch of tutorials on the rp-tools website that show how to use their paint tools to create a map but I think you can also create it in just about any program and open it into maptools to add all their clicky stuff. I'm no expert however in using it. I have created a few battlemaps for it but so far not a world map. I think you can do it, it just has to do with scale. From what little I think I understand you could make a worldmap and then have individual battlemaps that you would use as needed. I don't think you create one huge world that will work as a battlemap....too much memory required.

There are other tools that might do that better. Redrobes' for example might work that way.

I guess the question that comes to my mind is "What is your goal with this map?"

[Ravenwing]

My goal is to create a detailed world map that i can use not only for my pathfinder games, but also for what i write about. The map is large, so from what i'm reading in yuor post i may not be able to use map tools for it.

[jfrazierjr]

No... Maptool is not meant to be a world building tool, but an encounter level tool, perhaps town level.... that is not to say you cannot use it as such, as Jaxilon states, it's all a matter of scale and memory on your (and perhaps you players if needed) machine. If your goal is to build a world map, I would suggest something more appropriate. It really depends on your needs and skill level. You could make a map in Inkscape in a short time where you can zoom in to an infinite degree without loosing any quality. Likewise, there are tutorials for using FractalMapper 8 which will allow similar control as well as ViewingDale which has the same capability. For me, a dedicatedd paint program such as GImp or PS can produce the best looking maps if you have the skill to do such or the time to learn such skills.

[Ravenwing]

In hindsight, to explain the scale of the map i intend to make, the original before it got ruined was sketched out on cross section 10x10 graph paper 3 sheet wide by 3 sheets in height (hope that makes sense). O.k., so with that said, i downloaded gimp since maptools will be too small for what i need, my next question is will gimp be more appropriate?

[Midgardsormr]

Gimp will be far more suitable for creating a world map. I suggest you take a look at the Quickstart Guide stickied in the tutorials forum to get you started.

[Jaxilon]

I concur with Midgardsormr. The sky is the limit with applications like Photoshop or Gimp. Nice thing about Gimp is that it is free to use which is hard to beat. It will probably take you some time and energy to learn but it's worth it in the end.