Hello all. Just got the core rule book a few days ago and have been reading it like mad. I am loving how this RPG works compared to others. It has alot of the feel as the old Westend Star Wars. I have not played a pen and paper RPG in years. So really excited to get into this as I loved GMing the old WE Star Wars games.

Anyway here is my question. Where do you all get your mapping resources? I see them all over and have been downloading a ton of maps I have seen that I think would work with my campaigns. But a few maps I need to make myself. Do you have links to resources for the various items you place on a map?

I suck at art so I will be doing alot of cut and pasting. I have done a few maps already with a few places I have found resources at. Hoping to find alot more to help me with my first campaign.

I got my hands on map tools awhile ago. Just trying to get it to work for me since the java isnt right. But anyway I love you can RP online now too. Just amazing.

Anyway thanks for any help I get.

My friend who is a "career" GM has two Chessex Battlemats that we sketch maps on. Having two double sided mats is handy for drawing up all the session's maps at once and not taking the time during play. Luckily we usually have artistic players who are into drawing the maps so the GM doesn't have to do everything.

For extra special encounters I may find myself printing off a fancy, detailed map.

Yeah I have one of those and a few of the glossy ones Paizo put out that I sketch maps out on.

That said I think the original poster was looking for programs for map making that could be used for online play. I bought a program for fantasy games (can't remember the name now) but I think a lot of the stuff you see is Adobe made

Edit: profantasy was the name of the software

You can get some pretty good double sided poster maps over at Maps of Mastery.

My blog, mentioned in my signature, has some maps that aren't very fancy, but do represent a number of the buildings that a group of heroes is likely to encounter.

-Nate

If you want a CAD type program instead of the usual hex/square makers, you can try AutoRealm for free. I've made ship maps (Traveller, sorry, not Star Wars) with them and I'm no artist at all.

During play, I sometimes have butcher block sized of graph paper at 1" squares. This was important for d20 type games, but may not be that helpful for this system since tactical maps aren't needed. Example here.

Others have hit the go to things I would have suggested, but here is another that is fairly cheap.

Take a Battlemat.

Get a roll of tracing paper from an art store. (Or really thin paper I can't remember exactly what it is called)

Put the paper on the mat to use the lines as a guide.

Make some maps with whatever tool ya need!

Roll up map and store in a tube you can get from an art store!

I have a battlemap. I was meaning resources online for making maps on the computer.

Like for example if I wanted to do part of this campaign in a cantina on naboo, I would want to make it for use in play. I can draw out the map yes. And prolly will for games at home. But I am also thinking of doing some games online. And would like to make maps for that use as well.

Campaign Cartographer seems like a good thing to get. But with the price, well its kind of expensive for me with it just being a dedicated drawing program.

Yeah, I think Chris Perkins over at WotC did an article on how he makes maps. I want to say he used Adobe but it might have been Paint. I will try to find it for you.

Here it is, and it was Photoshop he used https://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dmxp/20110505

The other really popular software people use for maps for rpgs is dundjinni which you can review at www.dundjinni.com

Yeah, I think Chris Perkins over at WotC did an article on how he makes maps. I want to say he used Adobe but it might have been Paint. I will try to find it for you.

Here it is, and it was Photoshop he used https://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dmxp/20110505

This is what I found when I went looking for Chris Perkins + how to make maps in google: http://www.meetup.com/NYC-DND/messages/boards/thread/22489662

For some odd reason this line "Here it is, and it was Photoshop he used https://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dmxp/20110505"

does not show up for me in the post above however, it did when I use the quote option. Hmm, weird. Anyone know why that is?

Hmm must have been an edit after I had the page open?

Campaign Cartographer seems like a good thing to get. But with the price, well its kind of expensive for me with it just being a dedicated drawing program.

Don't get CC. It apparently isn't what you are looking for. You are looking for one of the many block/hex "tile" map makers out there. There are many for free. Here is another one to add to those suggested above: Tiamat. Make sure to select the scifi set.

I have both Campaign Cartographer and AutoRealm and have used both for years. They are CAD vector-based programs that don't plop down squares or hexes for you. They can easily do hex/square overlays, but that does not seem what you want. If you do go for a CAD style and are worried about price, AutoRealm is free and is MUCH more easy to use. I can do almost anything in can do in AutoRealm that I can do with CC, more easily, and for free. Everytime I fire up CC there is a learning curve all over again. More powerful, but difficult to use unless you master it then refresh yourself monthly (seriously).

Wish I had heard of AutoRealm back in 2006 or so when I got CC. I have used AutoCAD at work so I am OK with it, but free and easier to use is much better

Wish I had heard of AutoRealm back in 2006 or so when I got CC. I have used AutoCAD at work so I am OK with it, but free and easier to use is much better

If you get it, I have a tutorial I started (not quite finished, but it's a start) for making starship maps using AutoRealm. I also have my personal pack of icons I made for AutoRealm. They are Traveller style, not Star Wars, but they are available for download if interested.

CC with the scifi pack does prettier maps then AutoRealm, but AutoRealm can do the same without all of the heavy use of color and art that kills a printer cartridge.

I am interested. Thanks. Not sure what the best way to coordinate the exchange.

Lately I have been getting my color intensive printing done at Staples just to save my ink :-(

I am interested. Thanks. Not sure what the best way to coordinate the exchange.

Lately I have been getting my color intensive printing done at Staples just to save my ink :-(

Just go here. You will probably want to skip to Step 3, since Steps 1 and 2 are primarily about drawing Traveller ships. Step 3, subsection D has a link for my AutoRealm symbols. Again, they are Traveller in appearance, don't have a Star Wars feeling at all, but it is someplace to start. There are a few Traveller ships I built with AutoRealm here for examples of what it can do. If I were doing Star Wars ships for EotE, I would probably work on a new set of symbols that had a better look and feel and completely remove the graph overlay.

Awesome. Thanks