Very Small portion of a battlemat

I’m pleased to announce the beginning of an open beta of Dungeonographer, a map-making program.  The free version is on the Dungeonographer website which is linked below. I’ve posted about the project a couple of times over the past few months, but there are a couple of cool features I’d like to point out (again):

• You draw your map once, but you can view it as a classic line art map with simple symbols or as a battlemat with semi-realistic icons.
• The semi-realistic icons look nice when the map squares are scaled to 1″ battlemat size and printed (see the example to the right.)
• You can print the whole map or any portion of the map.  If your map is larger than one page, it automatically spans pages as needed based on your paper size.
• Use the notes tool to describe areas.  The first word of the note title is added to the map. (For example “1a” will be added to the map if the title is “1a Entrance.”)
• Circles/Ovals and Irregular shaped rooms are easy to draw with the “Shapes” tools.
• You can export your map and notes as a “1 Page Dungeon” webpage.
• The product has over 50 built-in graphic files in both semi-realistic/battlemat and classic/line art styles.

People who have used Hexographer before will find the interface very familiar.  But one of Hexographer’s major advantages is ease-of-use, so in a similar way Dungeonographer should be just as easy.  However, instructions and a tutorial video are on the Dungeonographer site.  (Bear in mind since the product is still beta things may be a bit incomplete.)

Here’s the link to the main page: http://www.dungeonographer.com/

Most of the  excellent artwork is by artist Keith Curtis, who has done many projects for several publishers and far exceeded my expectations.  I can’t recommend him enough.  Most of the rest of the exceptional artwork was done by members of RPG Map Share where I carefully checked to make sure each piece could be used for personal and commercial purposes.  I noted the specifics in Dungeonographer’s about dialog.  Any artwork that is “meh” was probably done by a programmer. (me.) 

What is still coming for Dungeonographer?

• A way to shift the line art color to the classic blue color used on the inside covers of game modules.
• Hex overlay so you may use the maps with games that have hex-based movement.
• Revised set of text styles (the current Dungeonographer beta uses Hexographer’s text styles).
• A few more graphics. (But not so many that the program takes forever to download.)
• And of course fixes for any bugs that are found.

Please send feedback to joewetzel at gmail dot com, post a comment here or post on Hexographer’s forum.

Portion of a Classic/Line Art Style Map

Small area of a dungeon

Portion of an Inn map

Irregular rooms such as caves

Europe circa 1200AD, cropped to an a portion of Italy and environs.

Last week I posted my own hex map of a late 1800s United States of America.  Yesterday, “MAK” posted a large hex map of ~1200AD Europe to the Hexographer forum.  It is beautiful!  The post in the Hexographer forum has the Hexographer .hxm file if you would like to edit it and add to it. Links:

• The large map as a PNG image file.
• The message board posting with the .hxm file.
• The D&D campaign which is the source of the map: http://admc.pbworks.com/

If you’re doing any sort of historical Europe campaign, this map is a great starting point.

.

.

.

.

.

Gold the series

Gold is an illustration of how obsessive we (gamers) can be, especially in a slightly different reality where there are professional RPG leagues with championships.  It is a well-acted, strongly written, authentic and earnest work that deserves the many accolades it has received: Streamy Awards Nominee 2010, New York Television Festival 2009, Independent Television Festival 2010, etc.

The Gold Season 1 DVD assembles the series’ six web episodes into a 75 minute ride in a world where there are RPG league championships.   The series centers on the U.S. gaming group that has won the silver award for the past three years.  Due to an incident not fully revealed until near the end of season one, the group changes its captain.

The new captain, Richard,  is obsessed with running the group his way particularly regarding a player switching classes and learning to effectively play the new class.  The other gamers in the group are obsessed with practicing, at least until things blow up.  Jonathan, the former captain is obsessed with an injury he received in the previous year’s finals. Midway into the series we meet Oliver, the captain of the British team (and gold champions).   He is obsessed with two things: obtaining superior training and learning more about the new “wild-card” U.S. captain (Richard) of the silver winners.

I didn’t know what to expect when I agreed to review Gold‘s 1st season, which was recently released to DVD.  But I found that I truly couldn’t stop.  Like a good novel with cliffhanger endings for each chapter, I kept on watching “just one more” episode.  The final episode didn’t end the way I thought it would, but it sets up nicely for a second season, of course!

Giant United States hex map created with Hexographer (click for a giant version)

To test the latest beta of Hexographer I thought it would be a good exercise to base in on a real map.  I planned (and still do plan) to add in railroads using Hexographer’s new railroad icons, but that will have to wait.  But because I wanted to experiment with the railroad icons, I thought I would dig up a US map from the late 1800s to use as an example.

The map shown here (click for the larger version) represents about four hours of work.  But before you think that working with Hexographer (click the link and look for the “beta version” link near the top of the page) is time consuming, note that much of that time was spent getting the coastlines somewhat close to the real boundaries and researching which terrain should be placed in each area, marking the rivers, etc.  If this was a fantasy world, it could be done much more quickly.

(But even though I spent a few hours on it, I’m sure there are places where the terrain isn’t quite right.  Maybe some of the east coast forest should be heavy forest and maybe in other places it should be farmland.  Feel free to make suggestions in the comments!)

Look for an updated version in the next few days with more symbols, railroads, and terrain corrections.

This is the 10th post in a series of map icons, with one key difference from the prior posts: these icons are already in the new beta version of Hexographer!  (Free and Pro.) Previous posts with new icons couldn’t be used unless you were working with the Pro version or an outside tool. The previously posted icons are also in the new beta as well as a few other new icons and all the prior Hexographer icons.

(To go to the new beta, go to http://www.inkwellideas.com/roleplaying_tools/hexographer/ and look for the “Beta Version” link in the navigation at the top of the page–next to the “Free Version” link.  If you don’t see it, you may be looking at the post after the beta has been made into the official current version.)

But because each icon is just a 250×250 pixel transparent PNG you should be able to use them with many map software programs or with general image editors. As mentioned in prior posts, I’ll be adding these and the prior pairs of icons I’ve posted(snowfields, broken lands and underdark broken lands, ancient soldier and mounted knight, infantry and catapult, shellfish and submerged battlefield; monster lair and waystation; seagrass and whirlpool; oil well and factory; palace and geyser; light and heavy fungal forest) to the next version of Hexographer.

This time I’ve picked three terrain icons related to grasslands, based on some feedback on “The Piazza” forums.

I’m posting versions with and without the background colors.  (In Hexographer you would use the background-less icon versions and set the background color when you add the new terrain. ) The recommended background color for the grazing land is Red 200, Green 238, and Blue 140 which should make a slightly greener color than the normal grassland.  For the grassland hills I recommend a medium/light brown: Red 215, Green 247 and Blue 150.  For the poor grassland I suggest a grayer grassland : Red 211, Green 226 and Blue 143.

Also, I’m not 100% sold on the poor grassland icon.  It is designed to be a rougher looking grasslands.  If anyone has an idea to make it better (especially if you can point to a pictures) please post a comment!  Likewise, I’m considering making the normal grassland icon have two fewer thatches of grass.  That will differentiate it more from the “good grazing land” shown below and also make it more like the classic grassland icon.  Again, please post a comment if you’re interested!

Below are the icons, just right-click them and save them to your computer:

Grazing land, which is the same icon as the normal grasslands icon.

Grazing land with a different background from the default grasslands.

Grassland Hills

Grassland Hills with background

Grassland Poor

Grassland Poor with background

My Random Inn Generator already did a hopefully decent job of generating floorplans and menus.  But in the past couple of days, I’ve made some major upgrades to the Random Inn/Tavern Generator. I’ve added a random rumor generator and a random staff & patron generator.

The random rumor generator takes a bunch of random rumors I posted here and here previously and includes a few more.  It also substitutes random names in each rumor, if there are any people mentioned by name in a given rumor. But I already see ways to make that better. (Basically randomize parts of the rumors so most rumors may have multiple variations. Right now the 60+ rumors only vary by names mentioned.)

But the staff & patron generator is even more interesting. (I hope.) Of course, more options always help (particularly the short backgrounds and character notes) but this gives a one line description of everyone in the inn, and there are several parameters you may set such as the number of bartenders, wait staff and tables of patrons.  Then for each of those categories you may set the percent chance each is a non-commoner and what the minimum and maximum levels (if they are not commoners) are for each group.

It is very loosely OGL 3.5 based, but it should be trivial to convert it to any other D&D variant and I think most people could easily convert the staff & patrons to other systems they know well..

Here’s the main link: Random Inn/Tavern Generator

Then look for the links near the top of the page to the rumors, staff & patrons, and the menu generator mentioned above.

Angel Falls (Creative Commons Atribution Share-Alike 3.0 Unported; Credit: Kerepakupai merú)

When you’re creating a world for your game or novel, it helps to have a bunch of facts about our world at your fingertips.  This serves two purposes:

1. You get the dimensions of things on our world as a guide whether you want things to be similar to earth or vastly different.
2. You can be reminded of some unusual things to include in your world such as fjords that lead to a maelstrom or the largest freshwater lake.

Now here’s the list:

1. The earth surface area is about 197 million square miles; about 70.8% is water.
2. The earth’s axis tilt is about 23.5 degrees.
3. The equatorial diameter of the Earth is 12,756 km (7,926 mi).
4. Due to the earth’s rotation, the earth’s equator is 43km larger across than from pole to pole.  It is an oblate spheroid.
5. It takes 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds for the earth to spin one revolution.  But why is a day 24 hours? (See next point.)
6. The Sun moves compared to the background stars by about 1°.  The motion from that combined with the earth’s spin adds up to 24 hours.
7. The earth has 2 co-orbital satellites in addition to the moon which directly orbits earth.
8. “3753 Cruithne” is one of these satellites and is 5 km across.  It seems to follow the earth around the sun but  has its own orbit.
9. “2002 AA_29″ is just 60 meters across.  It has a horseshoe orbit that brings it near earth every 95 years.  Scientists believe that in about 600 years it will have a quasi-satellite orbit around earth.
10. The highest point above sea level on earth is Mount Everest in Nepal at 8,848 m (29,029 ft) above sea level.
11. The Himalayas are the highest mountain range.
12. The Himalayas are almost completely circled by three of the world’s largest rivers–the Indus to the north and west, the Brahmaputra to the north and east, and the Ganges on the southern side.
13. The lowest natural point on land is the shore of the Dead Sea at 418 m (1,371 ft) below sea level.
14. The Dead Sea is eight times as salty as regular seawater.  (Utah’s Great Slat Lake is six times as salty as sea water.)
15. The lowest natural point underwater is Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench (between Japan and New Guinea) at 10,911 m (35,797 ft) below sea level.
16. The lowest point in a lake is in Baikal Lake in Russia at 5,315 ft.
17. Largest freshwater lake: Lake Superior in North America at 82,000 km2.
18. Tallest waterfall: Angel Falls in Venezuela  is 979 m (3,212 ft) and a plunge of 807 m (2,648 ft).
19. The longest river is contested.  Some say the Nile is longest at 6,695km (4,160mi) and other rivers are shorter. Others sources measure the Amazon as longest at 6,992 km (4,344 miles).
20. The Nile river is made up of two rivers, the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile is longer and used for the overall river’s measurement.
21. The Amazon’s flow and volume is so great that it pushes back the Atlantic Ocean’s saltwater for more than 160km (100mi), creating a large freshwater area.
22. The Amazon’s largest tributary is the Rio Negro.  The river’s waters are black from an acid in the swamps of Colombia.
23. The Grand Canyon is the largest gorge on Earth, extending for 444km (277mi).
24. At the Grand Canyon’s Granite Gorge, the canyon drops for 1.6km (1mi).
25. The Grand Canyon’s widest point spans 29km (18mi).
26. About 160 volcanoes erupt each decade, and about 550 different ones have erupted through recorded history.
27. The coldest recorded temperature was -89 degrees Celsius (-129 degrees Fahrenheit) in Vostok, Antarctica.
28. Only 3% of water is fresh water. Two-thirds of that is frozen in glaciers.
29. 200 million years ago Earth contained only one land mass called Pangea.
30. Largest structure made by living things: Australia’s Great barrier Reef at 2,010km (1,250mi) long.
31. 90% of the Great Barrier Reef is underwater.
32. Largest body of floating water: Ross ice Shelf in a large bay of Antactica.  It is 800km (500mi) long and 750m (2,400ft) thick near the true south pole.
33. The Ross Ice Shelf moves 1.6m (5ft) and 3m (10ft) each day. It is pushed by glaciers behind it, snow from above and ice from below.
34. Icebergs from the Ross Ice Shelf are typically 40km (25mi) long.
35. Saltstruamen is the world’s strongest whirlpool/maelstorm 30 km east of the city of Bodø, Norway.  Water speeds approach 22 knots (about 40km/hour).  It is formed where a narrow channel connects the outer Saltfjord with the large Skjerstadfjord.
36. The largest cave is the Son Doong cave of Vietnam at 262-by-262 feet (80-by-80 meters) in most places and 2.8 miles long.  It was just discovered in 2009.
37. The Son Doong cave is likely even larger because a flooded section prevented explorers from traveling further.
38. The Son Doong cave also has Stalagmites over 230 feet high.
39. Longest Fjord in the world: Sognefjord, on the western coast of Norway extending 200km (125 mi) inland.
40. Deepest Fjord in the world: also Sognefjord.  Its sheer cliffs are 900m (3,000ft) in places.
41. The largest island is Greenland at 2,130,800 km^{2 (}822,706 sq mi).
42. Greenland is thought to be three separate islands beneath an ice sheet.  But the next largest island is New Guinea at 785,753 km2 (303,381 sq mi) so one of the three island of Greenland would likely still be the largest island.
43. The largest sea is the South China Sea at 2,974,600 square km.
44. There are four types of deserts: Subtropical, Cool Coastal, Cold Winter and Polar.
45. The largest desert is the Sahara, a Subtropical desert at 3,320,000 square miles.
46. The hottest place int he world is Dalol, Denakil Depression, Ethiopia. Its annual average temperature is 93.2°F (34°C.)
47. The coldest place is Plateau Station, Antarctica, with an annual average temperature of -56.7°C.
48. The driest place is Atacama Desert, Chile with an imperceptible rainfall on a yearly basis.
49. The driest inhabited place is Aswan Egypt at 0.02 inches of rain per year.
50. The wettest place is Mawsynram, Assam, India. It has an annual average rainfall of 11,873 mm, (467.4″.)
51. The wettest inhabited place is Buenaventira, Colombia at 267 inches of rain per year.

I’ll likely do 50 more in a couple of weeks to get to over 100.  If you have a few to offer, please post in the comments.

This is the 9th post in a series of map icons. Because each icon is just a 250×250 pixel transparent PNG you should be able to use them with many map software programs or with general image editors. As mentioned in prior posts, I’ll be adding these and the prior pairs of icons I’ve posted (ancient soldier and mounted knight, infantry and catapult, shellfish and submerged battlefield; monster lair and waystation; seagrass and whirlpool; oil well and factory; palace and geyser; light and heavy fungal forest) to the next version of Hexographer. If you’re using the Pro version, you can add these now by going to “Options” and choosing “Add/Edit/Remove Custom Terrain/Features.”

This time I’ve picked two terrain icons that can be used for three terrain types.  (One of the icons is good for two terrain types, depending on the background color.)    The snow fields are just some thin crescents that hopefully give the idea of shadows of snow drifts.  (If someone has another idea for this icon, I’d love to see it/post it.)  The broken lands icon is similar to mountains, but designed to look rougher or less regular.

I’m posting versions with and without the background colors.  (In Hexographer you would use the background-less icon versions and set the background color when you add the new terrain.  The recommended background color for the snow fields is Red 255, Green 255, and Blue 255 which should make a true white.  For the normal broken lands I recommend a medium/light brown: Red 205, Green 155 and Blue 0.  For the underdark broken lands I think you want a gray: Red 112, Green 112 and Blue 112.

Below are the icons, just right-click them and save them to your computer:

Snow Fields with background

Snow Fields (no background)

Broken Lands with Background

Broken Lands Underdark with Background

Broken Lands (no background)

This is the 8th post in a series of map icons. Because each icon is just a 250×250 pixel transparent PNG you should be able to use them with many map software programs or with general image editors. As mentioned in prior posts, I’ll be adding these and the prior pairs of icons I’ve posted (infantry and catapult, shellfish and submerged battlefield; monster lair and waystation; seagrass and whirlpool; oil well and factory; palace and geyser; light and heavy fungal forest) to the next version of Hexographer. If you’re using the Pro version, you can add these now by going to “Options” and choosing “Add/Edit/Remove Custom Terrain/Features.”

This time I’ve picked two more military feature icons: an ancient soldier and a mounted knight . In Hexographer, that means they would be placed over any terrain and therefore there is no need to give these background colors.

I’ve chosen these icons because Hexographer is being used for more than just RPGs (although you may use these for RPG maps too, of course.)  Some people are using the software to create maps for hex-based strategy boardgames and wargames. These icons (and more that are coming) can support military units in those games.

Below are the icons, just right-click them and save them to your computer:

Ancient Soldier

Mounted Knight

This is the 7th post in a series of map icons. Because each icon is just a 250×250 pixel transparent PNG you should be able to use them with many map software programs or with general image editors. As mentioned in prior posts, I’ll be adding these and the prior pairs of icons I’ve posted (shellfish and submerged battlefield; monster lair and waystation; seagrass and whirlpool; oil well and factory; palace and geyser; light and heavy fungal forest) to the next version of Hexographer. If you’re using the Pro version, you can add these now by going to “Options” and choosing “Add/Edit/Remove Custom Terrain/Features.”

This time I’ve picked two more feature icons: Infantry and Catapult. In Hexographer, that means they would be placed over any terrain and therefore there is no need to give these background colors.

I’ve chosen these icons because Hexographer is being used for more than just fantasy games. Some people are using it to create maps for hex-based strategy boardgames and wargames. These icons (and more that are coming) can support those games.

Below are the icons, just right-click them and save them to your computer:

Infantry

Catapult