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Your username suggests otherwise...Originally Posted by mapsarebadmkay
I personally think that interacting with the story is something that is almost impossible without a map.
When you start imagining your dnd campaign you just get lost. The map come before all the rest, and the map defines how and why players will move, what they are able to do and what they are not.
When it comes to storytelling, i cannot imagine a campaign whose storyline doesn't involve movement and space: roads, cities are key not only to be realistic in the narration (at least consistent), but also to involve the players!
Do you agree?
Your username suggests otherwise...
I have been running a modern horror game lately, and I generally only use tactical-scale maps, and only when there's actually going to be combat. I almost never use city or national-scale maps. Though I will do my research so as to keep the setting as consistent with reality as is practical, the map is usually only stored in my head.
On the video gaming side, which I sense was more what the original question was about, cartography is quite common, although I doubt most game studios have someone on staff with the title "Cartographer." The obvious examples are the strategic-level maps of Civilization or Total War, in which considerations of geology and geography are made, in addition to cartographic conventions like iconography and labeling.
The tactical-level maps of Starcraft or Counterstrike are more akin to environment design than proper cartographic implements, and a FPS level such as in Battlefront or Call of Duty is even further removed from what we think of as cartography. Yet cartography is useful even in this less map-like level design. A level designer will almost certainly at least sketch out a top-down map view of an environment at the concept stage. If multiple environments are meant to connect or relate to one another, there will probably be some kind of convention for consistent annotation (a legend or key), which is another element of cartography.
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
And Europa Universalis and all that whole set (Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings etc.) of Paradox games. They have to be some of the mappiest games ever.
Darkwoulf (spelling) and a few other graphic artists make various genre tokens such as items as well as characters. There is a sub-forum in the www.FantasyGrounds.com forums for mapping stuff (that's how I know these guys). You should be able to pick-up there names and their personal websites from there. But if not, you can check the profantasy, roll20, dunjinni, and enworld forums to see what you can find. I would also check drivethrurpg and the other OBS sites. You'll find stuff there.
Sorry I don't know anything more specific than that.
I have star ship deck plans, station maps and even a game system agnostic one-shot module (my own custom designs, not specifically Star Wars, and will be adding 4 or 5 more soon.)
I have a 100 Sci-Fi Map Object Set, that's probably more useful.
The maps are in JPG format, and the map objects are PNG files with transparent Alpha channel, so both can be imported to GIMP no problem.
Gamer Printshop Publishing, Starfinder RPG modules and supplements, Map Products, Map Symbol Sets and Map Making Tutorial Guide
DrivethruRPG store
Artstation Gallery - Maps and 3D illustrations
What is an "agnostic" module? Somehow I have my doubts an inanimate thing can be an agnostic. Presumably you mean "universal" or "generic".
"Game system agnostic" means that it isn't written for any particular game system, such as written for D&D, Pathfinder, Rifts, Fate, whatever - it is an adventure module that can work in any game system (though your presumption as to what the phrase means is fairly accurate). This was my entry into this year's One Page Dungeon Contest which earned a placement into the Penultimate Winner's Circle, though not a grand prize winner. The actual contest entry was half a page with a map, and the other half a page with a complete adventure module. The product above is free, but has a couple pages of text, rather than just half a page, as per contest requirements. And all entries must be game system agnostic - it's a well known term used in the roleplaying game industry.
Last edited by Gamerprinter; 10-07-2016 at 04:37 AM.
Gamer Printshop Publishing, Starfinder RPG modules and supplements, Map Products, Map Symbol Sets and Map Making Tutorial Guide
DrivethruRPG store
Artstation Gallery - Maps and 3D illustrations
If you say so. The term may be well used, but that doesn't mean it has any sense.
I didn't coin the phrase - as I said, it's written that way in the contest rules, and people in the industry knows what it means.
Gamer Printshop Publishing, Starfinder RPG modules and supplements, Map Products, Map Symbol Sets and Map Making Tutorial Guide
DrivethruRPG store
Artstation Gallery - Maps and 3D illustrations
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