Monster Maker

There has been some considerable excitement in these parts surrounding the use of GiffyGlyph's Monster Maker.  This post is a pointer to it and a few supporting notes.

Home Page for the tool: giffyglyph.com/monstermaker/

The system the author is introducing substitues Monster Points for D&D 5E's rather bastardized CR ratings for building challenging encounters. It also provides an easy to use custom moneter building UI that crafts useful monster cards.

Overall this seems like amazing stuff.  Something that I look forward to using. So much so I have added a link for the app to the side bar in the DM section.

Drawing Roofs for Battlemaps

Roofs are a critical element of some battlemap drawings, my current focus with Campaign Cartographer.  While a lot easier to deal with than crenelations and arrow slits, there are some tricks of the trade so to speak that I have been trying to acquire.  This posting will summarize my findings so far.

Here is a barn roof that I drew with this information. 

Drawing Crenelated Walls

Crenelated walls and Arrow Slits are signature items of our typical fantasy castles.  Since I wanted to be able to draw these castles in Campaign Cartographer, I needed it puzzle out how to do it.  It's not a feature that comes baked in, though there are a number of techniques and one product that can do the the job.  This article will contain my learning to date on this subject.

Finding Symbols in CC3+

After you've collected a bunch of symbols, the next challenge may be finding the one that you want.  There are some that are handy for any given setup and then there are all the rest.  I'll address both types.

Adding Symbols to CC3+

Like so many things in the D&D world, working with CC3 to draw maps is fun.  It is also quite challenging, at least early  on.  I used to be simply frustrated with it as the program's learning cliff, not curve, cliff, is daunting.  I have managed to summit a few foot hills on my way toward the top of that cliff and I have to say I enjoy the challenge.

As I make this ascent, I am trying to write articles on this blog to give myself a toe-hold in the future and perhaps help someone who is following me.

This installment is all about gathering more symbols for my library and hopefully how to use them.