Hello

[Dmoffett]

So I am just Starting to learn to use GIMP to draw Battlemaps for my D&D campaigns.

[ChickPea]

Hi, and welcome to the Guild. Take a look in the Tutorials section if you're looking for some guides to get going. There are lots of Gimp tutorials there. If you need help, just ask.

[m0RV]

Dmoffett,

I’d recommend investing in Photoshop. It’s 10 USD a month and has many features unmatched by free applications like GIMP. Totally worth the investment.

[Dmoffett]

Dmoffett,

I’d recommend investing in Photoshop. It’s 10 USD a month and has many features unmatched by free applications like GIMP. Totally worth the investment.

Unfortunately I'm on a fixed income, (Disabled Veteran) So I kinda have to stick to freeware for the time being.

But here is some of what I was able to do with GIMP:

http://pandius.com/caves_of_chaos_with_furniture.jpg

and the Outdoor Part:

http://pandius.com/valley_of_caves_o...tion_study.jpg

These are the Caves of chaos from Dungeon Module B2 "Keep on The Borderlands" By Gary Gygax redrawn as a Battlemap with 5 foot squares.
I'm still wanting to make a less complicated elevation change outdoor map. Cliffs seem to be a problem with an overhead view.

I wanted to be able to project it onto my table top via a projector hanging from the ceiling and the Players used Miniatures I used MapTool to put in vision blocking both indoors and outdoors. I used 2 instances of Maptool; 1 was DM's and 2 was Players view. Im Still using Maptool that way but for the moment an sticking to tiles and or maps other people have made because time issues.

All in all I think I could have done better if I'd had more time. It was my first attempt using Gimp and I had to look at Tutorials quite a lot. So I have to Say thanks to the community here for all the Tutorials you all have produced.

Let me know if you like the Maps. Feel free to use them if you plan on running the B2 Adventure.

[Josiah VE]

Welcome to the guild!
GIMP is a great program and many in the guild use it.
Nice maps, the huge scale of that underground one is quite impressive.

[Dmoffett]

I made the Outdoor terrain cave entrances to match the underground cave entrances. They are both on a 5' battle map grid. They may not match up pixel for pixel, but I Displayed them to my players using Maptool Witch allowed me to have two different maps in the same "campaign" with vision blocking in place for tunnels indoors and blocked tree trunks and thickets on the outdoor map. I used tokens to represent the characters with light sources. When the Players moved thier Miniature I moved the token under them to reveal the map. It worked very well.
Lately I have taken to using dungeonographer because it is so fast to draw with, I then put the finished product into Gimp to add shadows and walls. As well as furniture that Dungeonographer doesn't have. But the results aren't as spectacular.

I really want to know how people create rocky terrain on a battlemap such as this person did:

Is that guy in the cartographers guild? In the file name it says by_Vipre_01. Seriously I need more outdoor encounter maps and they cant all be on flat terrain. The other question is this: Is that kind of artwork too much for a beginner like me?