Shameless self-plug: I recently did an interview with Kobold Quarterly, which you can now read at their website.

Just recently I became aware of boxninja's game "3:16 - Carnage among the stars", a small press rpg about space troopers fighting a never-ending war among the stars - obviously inspired by classics like Starship Troopers, Traveller, Aliens, Warhammer 40k, Space Crusade and others.

I read the the short-but-intriguing session report by robin-d-laws and consequently picked up a copy at Dragonmeet. I read it through on the train back home and really liked what I saw. Hopefully I'll get a session together here soon.

I really dug the combat system and the neat range placement mat. And of course the cartographer kicked in, itching to create a CC3 version. So I took the star system template from October's Annual issue and played around with some effect settings to create this little thing (posted with Gregor's permission).



I think it came out pretty nice. Click below to download the large version and see a shot of the printed map with some old Space Crusade minis I dug up.

( Click for more pictures )

The third session of my new Jhendor campaign is looming tonight and you will find the third map of the "a-map-a-session" program ( behind the cut ).

Remember my a-map-a-session program?

Well, my Jhendor campaign's next session is scheduled for tonight and I didn't have my map for the session yet. So I whipped up a quick village map with City Designer 3. This took me about 30-40 minutes, including printing.

( Map behind the cut )

The next role-playing campaign looms on the horizon ... and I have a new-campaign's resolution. I want to create at least one map for each session. I have neglected mapping for my own games (and my own enjoyment) far too much in recent years. It's time to change that.

Although the first game session is not scheduled before September 19th, I have the first map for the "A Map A Session" program ready. It's an overview of the general area the campaign will take place, and shows a lot of places the characters have visited in previous campaigns and their geographical relation to each other.

( See the map behind the cut... )

I'm still waking up before the alarm because of jet lag, but it is getting later. On Sunday I'll probably be accustomed to the new time ... ready to head back to Europe.

I was at the ENnie Award ceremony yesterday and enjoyed seeing Pelgrane's Trail of Cthulhu get two Silver ENnies for Best Writing and Best Rules which it thoroughly deserves. I'll be picking up the winner in the Best Cartography category: The Pirates Guide to Freeport. I'm sure I'll get some nice inspiration from it.

Yesterday and on Thursday gbsteve and sashabilton were running demos of the Raiders Guild Sea Crypt adventure on a big battle map done by yours truly.

( Here's a picture. )

Here's a little preview on next year's Cartographer's Annual.

10 plastic point for the first one to tell me who's map work this style is based on.

I'm working on the next Annual issue, which will be map pack, highlighting floorplans with the new SS2 bitmap artwork. It'll also take a detailed look at using lighting and shadows in CC3. Here's a little sneak peek on my cathedral floorplan so far:



( Click here to see a larger image )

Grimur Fjeldsted has produced a very nice combination map from Symbol Set 1: Fantasy Overland symbols and the latest Cartographers Annual issue parchment backgrounds:
http://www.mapventures.com (just see the first map in the list).

I am very happy how the final result looks, it highlights the quality of both products.

Here's a little preview of the art upgrade in store for Symbol Set 1: Fantasy Overland. Symbols and fills are designed by freelance cartographer Sean Mcdonald (http://www.kencyclopedia.com/freelance/). This is only one of two new symbol styles.


Click on the image to see the full map.