Ye Olde Inn

Has anyone used the Campaign Cartographer software for their campaigns, HQ or otherwise? I love the HeroScribe software for creating quest maps, but I have been playing around with the idea of creating a campaign-style map where I can locate the HQ quests - both the canon stuff and quests of my own design.

My overarching plan is to create a sort of 'trail map' that uses the D&D 2nd Ed Forgotten Realms campaign setting. I've looked into the old (and very expensive) Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas, but it doesn't work on today's systems. (I contacted an ebay seller who tried to install the software on his Win7 64-bit platform - same as mine - and it wouldnt install at all.)

Just wondering what people think of the software.

I've used it a bit. It's a bit clumsy and clunky to use; instead of clicking things on your map then a button to do something with them, you have to click a button to say what you want to do, then click on the items you want to do it to, then right-click and select "Do it". I really wish they'd change this, because it's frustrating and totally unlike any other Windows program. Also, to this day I can't figure out how to resize a map after initial creation - I end up making it much larger than it needs to be, then exporting and cropping in Photoshop. I'm sure it's possible, but it beats me how.

However, with those criticisms out of the way, it's capable of producing some absolutely spectacular results. When I first got it, I spent all day and the next evening working on a map for an RPG campaign I was running; and I ended up with a visually stunning, evocative map of a game world that had previously existed only as ham-fisted scrawls on a scrap of paper. Once you get the hang of it, it's possible to come up with something truly superb.

tl;dr: it's clunky, but can be used to create something brilliant.

Here is what I use.

http://www.rpgmanager.net/

The basic version is free. For a simple donation (I think any amount is acceptable - I donated $5, if I remember correctly),
you get the full version. This is what I make all of my maps with. It has that old-school D&D look to it.

This program has extreme diversity for making almost any map you would ever want to make. Make sure to look at the
screenshots, if I want some proof.

Just a thought - you could email the guy who programmed rpg manager and ask if he has a copy of
version 1.8 still available. That is the version I use mostly - the newer version is really nice, but much
more complicated than 1.8. The graphics are more updated, as well...so it doesn't have as much of that
old-school look to it.

If he doesn't, ask him if he would mind if I gave you the v1.8. I'm not sure how that would work, but we could
try it. If he is okay with it...just have him email me to let me know - zargonheroquest@gmail.com. Maybe I could
put it on a cd and mail it to you. We'll work it out, if it comes to that.

Thanks for the info, the rpgmanager site looks worth checking out tomorrow and messing around with this weekend. I'll try the version that he has out, and if it's not working for me, i might take torilen up on the offer. I do have some things in mind that I want to be able to do with a mapping program (yea, i'm crazy like that, just ask my wife) so we will see how it goes.

Thanks again!