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Recently a particularly large number of very nice overland maps has appeared on the Profantasy forum – and they were all done in the April’s Annual style by Herwin Wielink. Apparently the style is especially well-suited for creating quick and beautiful maps. Here is a little gallery:

If you – like some members of the Profantasy crew – prefer your seas more blue and balmy, here is a neat little trick to adjust your ocean color: Add an RGB Matrix effect to the BACKGROUND sheet, using the values shown below.

A Balmy Ocean

Mirrored from Profantasy's Map-making Journal.

Over the last five years the RPC (Role Play Convention) has grown to be Germany largest roleplaying convention. Spiel in Essen is still much bigger, but where it is mostly a boardgaming affair the RPC is about evenly split between computer gaming, LARP and pen and paper rpgs. As this is much closer to our software’s audience, we decided it was time that we gave the RPC a try. I had visited the show for the past three years and knew roughly what to expect, but you never really know how a show turns out until you try it.

I was a bit upset, when after registering in January it took the organizers until April to get back to us with confirmation and details – and the Profantasy booth suddenly sat smack in the middle of the computer gaming area. But from there communication with and help from the organizers was excellent. They were very responsive to my questions and concerns and we got moved into the proper pen&paper area very quickly.

Cologne is close enough to my hometown (about 50 mins drive) that I didn’t need to get accommodation near the show. In contrast to Essen, exhibitor parking and set access to the halls is very convenient, and I was able to do the setup in a relaxed manner on Friday night, without driving through heavy traffic and worrying about closing times. All equipment we had ordered was on site, in good condition, and we were able to create a nice and professional looking booth.

The show had changed halls from last year and while this provided ample space, it had one drawback: Computer gaming was in the same hall as the other exhibitors, and those booths are VERY loud. Luckily we were far enough away so that it didn’t bother us too much, I heard many visitors complain about the noise on Saturday. It seemed like they toned it down a bit on Sunday. Apart from that the atmosphere was more relaxed than in Essen. Everybody was very friendly and one of the highlights of the show are the many costumed people (exhibitors and visitors).

Due to significantly less visitors (organizers claim 30,000 and 120,000 visitors respectively) and large aisles there were never any jams (as there are sometimes in Essen). But questions, sales and demos did keep me busy throughout both days, so that I was glad about the occasional breather when Gordon and Michael (my helpers on Saturday and Sunday respectively) took care of the booth. The only boring stretch was the last two hours on Saturday – the halls were basically dead after 6pm and the show went on to 8pm, unnecessarily in my opinion.

When I started doing shows for Profantasy i tt used to be that current customers used these occasions to buy the new things we had on offer or stock up with add-ons they hadn’t pruchased yet. These types of sales are basically gone – with few exceptions people buy these things online. The Internet and credit cards (or Paypal) have seen to that. Most sales nowadays are to new customers (which is a good thing) who have either never seen Campaign Cartographer before or who have heard about it and want to take a look at it before buying. Of our sales at the show 90% included a CC3 – meaning they were to new customers, or people getting back into it after CC2.

Responses were good from both old users and the ones who saw it for the first time. I had one guy just walk up and thank me enthusiastically for our software – he was using CC3, Fractal Terrains 3 and Cosmographer 3 for great effect in his Sci-Fi campaign he said. Another customer complained about how hard it had been to use CC2 when he tried it years back, but was happy to purchase CC3 after I showed him the improvements in the user interface.

I unexpectedly met Herwin Wielink (fantasy-maps.com) at the show (he drove over from Amsterdam) and we had a nice talk about mapping and fantasy cartography.

The “Wall of Maps” continues to be the biggest pull for customers walking by the booth – we got many awed comments – but the little dungeon diorama I had on the table also got quite a bit of attention. Many people inquired about how it was done, what materials I used, and so on. As most of the interested people were new to CC3, demoing was mostly limited to CC3, CD3 and DD3, with the occasional bit of Cosmographer and Fractal Terrains thrown in.

Taking the booth down was quick and painless on Saturday evening. Michael was there to help, and we were done and away in 30 minutes. Doing a 2-day show is also a lot less stressful than a 4-day one. The 1-hour drive to and fro is a bit annoying of course, but at least I get to be home each night. Of course I was tired after the show, but overall a lot less exhausted than after Spiel or GenCon. As it looks, I’d be happy to do the RPC next year again.

Photographs by Gordon Gurray

Mirrored from Profantasy's Map-making Journal.

Here’s a little sneak preview of the June Annual: Isometric Dungeon by Herwin Wielink:

Mirrored from Profantasy's Map-making Journal.

Here’s a preview for Sunday’s upcoming Annual issue. Herwin Wielink‘s beautiful overland style:

Mirrored from Profantasy's Map-making Journal.

Looking good: CC3 installs and runs fine in the Windows 8 Developer preview.

Mirrored from Profantasy's Map-making Journal.

We have another gorgeous new mapping style lined up for the Annual – I’m really excited about the great artists that draw the art for us this year. Take a look at this beautiful isometric dungeon by Herwin Wielink. How would you like being able to build something like this in CC3 from pre-drawn tiles and connecting room and corridor pieces? Well, you’ll be able to come June.

Mirrored from Profantasy's Map-making Journal.

We are very happy to release another drawing style by fantasy cartographer Jonathan Roberts – this time it’s a city style, completing the standard trilogy of map types. Jon Roberts’ overland and dungeon styles were released last year in the Annual Vol 5, the latter being a free download. You can subscribe to the current annual here.

There’s also a little preview of the upcoming April issue, created by another extremely talented fantasy cartographer and artist, Herwin Wielink.

Mirrored from Profantasy's Map-making Journal.

Originally posted on Mapsandmore.com.

Ashen Stars is a wonderful space opera rpg by Pelgrane Press, based on the GUMSHOE system. I had the pleasure to create the game’s published setting map (a part of the Galaxy called “The Bleed”) based on a sketch by Robin D. Laws.

Lately I got to revisit the setting when, after play-testing the upcoming Terra Nova adventure, Simon asked me to create a simple black and white diagram of the adventure’s featured luxury liner. You can see the result below (the color background was added for web display). While the exact layout of the ship isn’t important for the story, the relative position of the important locations is, and the map shows those.

Mirrored from Profantasy's Map-making Journal.

A little peek at the work-in-progress on one example map for the March Annual:

Also, a little sneak peek at the April issue:

Mirrored from Profantasy's Map-making Journal.

We finished the current storyline in our Mortal Coil campaign yesterday. Two sessions ago our heroes had found Lucy Blackthorn (agent of the Infernal) half-dead learned that Lucifer had left hell closed and unattended, leaving the recently dead to haunt the living. Lucy wanted them to find the Morningstar and get him to take up his duties again.

While Birte and Ben talked this over with Lucy at Ben's apartment, Theodor and Robert were contacted by Mr. Bishop (agent of the Heavens) and met him outside of St. Paul's. He also wanted them to find Lucifer - but then to kill him. For this he supplied them with a specially prepared gun, supposedly able to finish the Devil himself.

With Lucy's help the heroes traced from Lucifer from the where he entered the mortal world - at the "Hellfire Club" in London, one of Lucy and Lucius Balckthorne's chain of nightclubs around the world - to a travel agency where he had booked a flight to Aspen, Colorado. Already following the Lord of Hell proved dangerous, as freak accidents started to occur around them. The journey to Aspen was fraught with bad weather, demon attacks on the plane, broken down rental cars and avalanches. But eventually our heroes managed to find and confront Lucifer after his day skiing on the slopes around Aspen. In a tense situation, Theodor would have shot the Devil, if Birte hadn't pleaded him not to, and Ben took the Key to Hell when the Devil offered it to him. Lucifer could obviously not be bothered to care about the damned souls anymore - he was done with his job.

Now stuck with the Key to Hell, but unwilling to take up responsibility of running the actual business, the heroes decided to auction it off. Interested parties soon began making calls to the London office, from one Ms. Helga Lokesdottir, a Mr. Ahmed Nubis from Egypt to Legion, a representative of all the demons of hell, more than three dozen claimants appeared on the scene and were invited to a conference in Aspen. The greatest complication proved to be Mr. Bishop, who didn't want to claim hell, but tried to kill the owner of the Key instead, to start the Apocalypse.

In the end, the heroes survived an attack by an agent of Mr. Bishop, who had taken the Gun from Theodor with a command from the "Voice of God" , Ben realized he could multiply the Key to Hell (introducing a magical fact for this). and they decided to sell everyone an equal share of Hell. With Hell being of course infinite, each share would still be infinite and enough to satisfy the needs and claims of the interested parties. Overall "Spiritual & Health Consulting", the heroes' company, made a three-digit millions deal in the process.

For the moment everybody - except for Mr. Bishop - is satisfied, but for how long? What will all the new Lords of Hell do, if they learn that Ben kept the master key for himself? And where will his now initimate relationship with Lucy Blackthorne lead?