I just started GMing a new game this week, using the Alternity rules and based in the world of Elite/Frontier First Encounters.

For some fun reading check out the campaign in-game news blog: http://frontier.whrpg.com.

The adventure has started with a prison break, the federal prision facility in the Ross128 system to be precise. So first off I sketched a quick outline in my big notepad of maps.

Pencil sketch of Ross128 map

Evidence that I just can’t draw without a computer! So then it was into flash and illustrator and 20mins with my quick Modern Mapping technique and I was ready for the session.

Ross128 Modern Map. Click for bigger!

So now my players are spending the rest of the week working out a plan of escape. They have two rather nasty bio-grenades and enough explosives for 2, maybe 3 door locks, or one wall.

How would you escape? Let me know in the comments.

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Tags: Cartography, Hand-drawn, Sci Fi

Okay, as everyone enjoyed the last video, and I didn’t mind the sound of my own voice too much, here’s another.

This time here’s a quick example of how I create modern plans with Flash and Illustrator.

If you’ve enjoyed this video then let me know in the comments and I’ll do more. Please forgive the spelling in the title, and let me know what you think of the new Buccaneer’s Guild “sting”.

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Tags: Cartography

Today I didn’t finish my map in my break. Firstly because I plan for it to be rather large, and secondly because I’m learning new techniques.

This is a map for a megadungeon in my Mutant Future game. I’m trying to simulate here the kind of visitor floorplan you see in hospitals or universities. I did search around on the net as Carl Nash suggested and didn’t find any plans online I liked, so I decided to go for it. Here’s the first three floors.

Mutant Future Megadungeon

Continue reading…

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Tags: Cartography, Map, Mutant Future, World Building

Continuing the series focusing on what it’s possible for a busy GM to get done in very little time.

Today a bit of a cheat, this is actually a lunchbreak job rather than a coffee break.

A well spent lunch time

Time saving photoshop tips in this map are the repeating patterns used all over the map. There’s a pattern for painting the forest, and the majority of the buildings, as well as the swamp. Other buildings are drawn with the thick line technique I mentioned earlier. The roads, walls and mountains are just drawn with a round brush.

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Tags: Cartography, Hand-drawn, Map, Photoshop Tips

Sometimes as a busy GM, I need a map in next to no time at all. I also require that they look nice, especially if they are going to be handed to my players. Anything that increases my players sense of verisimilitude is a bonus.

To that end I’m practicing knocking out maps and handouts quickly in what’s become the Coffeebreak Cartography Challenge!

Here’s another coffee break map. Finished in just under 15 minutes.

The interesting photoshop technique here is the buildings. To quickly draw simple buildings like those above, use the line tool set to a decent thickness. Then simply drag out the rectangles in the direction you need. Very quick for filling out a whole swathe of buildings.

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Tags: Cartography, Fantasy, Map

Hi my name is Iain and I’m a mapaholic. Or should that be cartographaholic?

I like drawing maps, both with paper and pen, and digital tools. To that end I’ve decided to publish a series of maps, all done in a coffee break.

I can’t promise one a day, that would be foolish, but I’ll try for one from time to time.

Here’s one for today, as a quick test I’ve been attempting to replicate a hand-drawn style in Photoshop.

It’s rather reminiscent of the style of maps I would draw in class at school, 25 years ago. There’s a definite Tolkein influence at work.

There’s really no digital shortcuts involved, to replicate this hand drawn style I’ve  hand-draw it with a stylus. Once it’s done certain elements could be reused, a mountain here, a hill there. Certainly if I was to include forest elements then they could be repeated with a pattern.

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Tags: Cartography, Fantasy, Hand-drawn, Map