• Weekly Round-up - 19th February, 2018




    Welcome to the weekly round-up, a summary of what's been happening at the Guild over the past seven days.



    Challenge News


    Lite Challenge
    The Jan/Feb 2018 Lite Challenge was inspired by an idea from XCali, who suggested we "Create a map around a mysterious entrance, like a village having this ancient door in nearby woods. Or a city built to protect a door that hides a great secret. Or underwater ruins that obscure a lost tomb. Or a hidden pirates cove, the entrance to the inside of a hollow asteroid, The back way into Alcatraz like Sean Connery used on "The Rock".

    We had a bunch of great maps as usual, and thanks to all who entered. Our congrats this month go to Eri, who wins a first silver compass with the gorgeously coloured entry ‘Lizardfolk Shrine’.

    Honourable mention to runner-up aeshnidae for entry ‘Hidden Tomb of the Gryphon Riders’.


    Regular Challenge
    February's regular challenge has about a week and a half to go, and it's shaping up to be another great one. There's still time to enter if you're fast. Remember, February's a short month, so don't put it off. Our topic this month is 'Elevator Pitch Prophecies' and we're using our favourite Donjon random generator once again. Check out the entries here.


    Challenge Suggestions
    We've had a couple of suggestions for future challenges, so vote if you like 'em.

    Map an area in a Desert!, suggested by XCali
    Option 1 : Map a sandy desert with dunes and hidden secrets beneath the sands. It can be a fantasy desert or a sci-fi one with giant creatures living beneath the sands....(more ideas at the link)
    Option 2 : FROZEN DESERT map! To make things more interesting (continues at the link)

    Map a historical event/period, by MapMappingMapped
    "Any event or period from the French Revolution to the Greek-Persian wars, or even, to be more original, the Ice Age ... or the Tikal hiatus. It can be a campaign map following an army's advance, or a map of the concerned territories at the time of whatever event/period you've chosen."

    Remember, if you've got an idea for a challenge, post it in this folder. Keep 'em coming, folks!



    Five threads to check out


    The latest work-in-progress threads, interesting discussions, new tutorials etc etc. It's all here.






    Five Lots of Finished Maps


    We had so many great maps posted in Finished Maps last week, it would an injustice to restrict ourselves to five only (also, I couldn't choose between them!)






    Atlas Awards


    The nomination threads will close in less than two weeks, so if you haven't picked your nominations yet, get moving! You can see all of 2017's finished maps in this thread. Pick your favs and nominate them in the Atlas Awards folder. Remember, you can't nominate a map that's already been nominated for a particular category (though you can nominate it for a different category).



    Around the web


    Some links for your reading/viewing pleasure...










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    Comments 7 Comments
    1. ThomasR's Avatar
      ThomasR -
      Thanks CP ! The creepy lullabies made me laugh and I really can use the help
    1. Blaidd Drwg's Avatar
      Blaidd Drwg -
      The summary is good, but the extra links are the best. Loved that map of Italy. Thanks!
    1. ChickPea's Avatar
      ChickPea -
      Thanks guys!

      And apologies to Jo and Wired, as I made a little mix-up their maps, but it's fixed now.
    1. - JO -'s Avatar
      - JO - -
      No problem.... I was very flattered for a while !
    1. Diamond's Avatar
      Diamond -
      Great post, CP. The links are great.
    1. J.Edward's Avatar
      J.Edward -
      Let me say, Clip Paint Studio [ie Manga Studio] is a wonderful program. I have done several maps in it.
      Skenara was drawn in Manga Studio. Loads of fun and useful features.


      sorry, just wanted to shout that out so people would see it and grab a copy while it's cheaper.
    1. Falconius's Avatar
      Falconius -
      Good stuff ChickPea. Thank you and J.Edward for that heads up on Clip Paint Studio, it looks really interesting.