2010-11-14

Re-learning Campaign Cartographer 2

The afternoon was spent in playing 3rd edition D&D, in a campaign where I'm a mere player.  It's been going on for 9 years now, on a once-monthly basis.  The combat takes soooooo long to resolve.  My thief got hit with a poison needle trap, and I figured I was dead dead dead.  I had forgotten that 3rd edition traps do damage, rather than save-or-die.  13 hp damage.  It was kind of a letdown, no rush for the neutralize poison or anything like that - just write off some hit points.  So now I like to think that when I force the players in my campaign to save-or-die, I'm adding excitement to their lives.  Well, to their deaths.

My few spare hours I had left after the day's festivities, I spent re-learning Campaign Cartographer 2.  I used to know how to do this, but that was ten years ago, so I've been doing the tutorial - about halfway through now.  I really only want to do dungeon maps, but I've got to learn the basics first, so I've been putting together a terrible little outdoor map as I follow the tutorial.  It's pretty easy getting the hang of it again though.  I'll take more care with the aesthetics once I'm doing the dungeon levels "for real".

ProFantasy has released Campaign Cartographer 3, but I don't know that I want to plunk down more than $100 to upgrade CC2 and the 2 expansions I got way-back-when (City Designer 2 and Dungeon Designer 2).  I don't really want any fancy coloring, just various shades of grays, and rooms with 10' square grid lines.

Anyhow, here's the fruits of my tutorial labor.  Click to get a larger view.

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