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Campaign Cartographer

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Example of a fantasy map generated using Campaign Cartographer.

Campaign Cartographer is a Windows program created by ProFantasy Software originally in 1993.

Description

The program is designed to draw maps for role playing and miniature war games.[1] The CAD engine is based on FastCAD,[2] although most of code is written by the publishers. It includes a variety of add-ons for different genres, including fantasy, modern and science fiction.[3] Campaign Cartographer 3, was released on 30 June 2006 and has since been updated 9 times. There are currently 9 add-ons for Campaign Cartographer; 6 drawing add-ons that add tools, templates, and symbol catalogs and 3 symbol set add-ons consisting of thousands of symbols. Campaign Cartographer has been used to illustrate novels such as Shades of Gray by Lisanne Norman,[4] Le Temple Des Eaux-Mortes by Eric Ferris,[5] and Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard.[6] The Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas, published by TSR, Inc. in 1999, was likewise constructed using Campaign Cartographer.[7]

Add ons

The following are commercial add-ons available for the Campaign Cartographer tool.[8]

City Designer This set is used to draw settlements. It includes approximately 2000 symbols, and several drawing tools for buildings and streets.
Dungeon Designer This is used to draw corridors, caves and rooms of a dungeon map. It adds about 1,000 symbols for fantasy, modern and science fiction genres.
Character Artist Pro Used to create portraits of characters for role-playing games.
Dioramas Pro Create terrain and props that can be used to create three-dimensional models.
Cosmographer Create plans for science fiction games, including interstellar space, planetary systems, planets and starport plans for a game set in space. It can create linked, multideck drawings of starships.
Perspectives Pro Create 3D isometric views of floorplans
Symbol Sets These four sets add additional symbols.

Reception

In the September 1994 edition of Dragon (Issue 209), Lester W. Smith found Campaign Cartogragpher almost too good, and the 334-page manual almost too much, saying, "For those who like to invest multiple hours into creating detailed maps for their campaigns, and who have the hardware to take advantage of the program, the Campaign Cartographer software allows them to create, store, modify, and copy maps more beautiful than they could have hoped before. But for GMs with limited time to spend, the program may just be too much." However, Smith concluded that too much program was better than too little program, and gave this an above average rating of 5 out of 6, saying, "The Campaign Cartographer software is sort of like a limousine of mapping programs, and some people might be better served with a rough-and-ready truck. On the other hand, this limousine isn’t that expensive, and playing with its multitude of 'buttons' and 'switches' is a lot of fun."[9]

In the December 1995 edition of Arcane (Issue 1), Andy Butcher reviewed both Campaign Cartographer and Dungeon Designer.

  • Butcher admired Campaign Cartographer, giving it an above average rating of 8 out of 10 and saying, "Campaign Cartographer is an incredible program. It really does make it easy to create highly detailed maps of anything from a planet to a small forest."[10]
  • He was even more enthusiastic about Dungeon Designer, giving it an excellent rating of 9 out of 10 and commenting, "Considering how often these kind of maps are needed in most games, this makes Dungeon Designer even more useful than Campaign Cartographer for most gamers, which is high praise indeed."[10]

Two issues later, in the February 1996 edition of Arcane (Issue 3), Butcher gave City Designer an average rating of 7 out of 10, saying "If you're lucky enough to [have access to your computer during your game] then City Designer's very handy indeed. On the other hand, if all you want to do is create maps to print out, Dungeon Designer is far more useful overall."[11]

Reviews

  • Shadis #24 (Feb., 1996)
  • Arcane #14 (Christmas 1996) - Campaign Cartographer Pro / Campaign Cartographer Perspectives

See also

References

  1. ^ Fannon, Sean Patrick; et al. (2000), Fantasy Roleplaying Gamer's Bible (2nd ed.), Obsidian Studios, p. 161, ISBN 0-9674429-0-7
  2. ^ Armintrout, Bill (March 28, 2002), "Making Maps with Campaign Cartographer 2", The Miniatures Page, retrieved 2011-11-29
  3. ^ Milawe (2009-03-29). "Create Fantasy Maps on the Windows Platform with Campaign Cartographer 3". Bright Hub. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
  4. ^ Norman, Lisanne (2010), Shades of Gray, Sholan Alliance Series, vol. 8, Penguin, p. 7, ISBN 0-7564-0199-2
  5. ^ Ferris, Eric (2007), Le Temple Des Eaux-Mortes, p. 437, ISBN 0-615-14224-9
  6. ^ Howard, Jonathan L. (2011), Johannes Cabal the Detective, Random House Digital, Inc., p. 5, ISBN 0-7679-3077-0
  7. ^ "Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas", RPG.net, Skotos Tech, Inc., retrieved 2011-11-29
  8. ^ Tresca, Michael (2010), "Campaign Cartographer 2", All Game, Rovi Corporation, retrieved 2011-11-29
  9. ^ Smith, Lester (September 1994). "Roleplaying Reviews". Dragon (209). TSR, Inc.: 30.
  10. ^ a b Butcher, Andy (December 1995). "Games Reviews". Arcane (1). Future Publishing: 76.
  11. ^ Butcher, Andy (February 1996). "Games Reviews". Arcane (3). Future Publishing: 78, 80.
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