I think it’s obvious from this blog that I love the awesome Cartographer’s Annual from Profantasy Software! However, too often I download and admire the new style, but don’t get round to actually using it in my mapping!

So, a few weeks ago I (perhaps foolishly…) set myself a mapping challenge for 2013. My goal is to use each issue of the Annual in the month that it comes out. The map however, can’t just be a random ‘play-around’ with the style, my mapping time is too precious for that! No, the intention is to create a meaningful map for my world (Tolrendor) or my 4E campaign (The Amber Tower). 

So, a bit of a dilemma when the first issue for the 2013 Annual turned up – and it was a ‘Investigation Props’ style aimed at modern/horror/sci-fi games!! Hmm, how to turn that into my first ‘challenge’ effort …

Well, as my D&D campaign progresses, the number of NPCs and rumours etc that the kids are involved with is increasing, and often they forget some of the details (especially when we don’t get to have sessions as often as I’d like…). I’ve been using a technique from Chris Perkins ‘DM Experience’ column ‘Previously in Iomandra’ to recap at the beginning of each session (if you’re not reading this column, you should be, regardless of your RPG of choice!), and thought a graphical representation as a handout might help! So here is my effort (click on the image for full-size view):

Of course, as my campaign is a D&D one, I decided that white- or cork-boards didn’t really fit my needs, so after using the style to create the basic handout, I added a ripped parchment background (from a previous Annual issue) as well as some more ‘medieval’ props like wax blobs to hold the images on, nail-heads etc! Hope you like it!

Now that I’ve got the basic image template, my plan is to update this for each session as a prompt to the kids of all the information they’ve gleaned!