buzz Posted September 23, 2006 Report Share Posted September 23, 2006 Just looking for recommendations for creating galactic/interstellar campiagn maps (as opposed to battlemaps) for my Star HERO campaign. Any software or sites with basic maps that can be folded, spindled, and dodgered would be appreciated. (Yeah, I have Illustrator and PhotoShop, but am looking for any other suggestions. My Illustrator-fu is still pretty weak.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted September 24, 2006 Report Share Posted September 24, 2006 Re: Galactic maps Commercial: Astrosynthesis. It is a pretty incredible piece of software. The interface sometimes bugs me (only used the demo thus far), but the sheer amount of stuff you can do with it is pretty amazing. Freeware: ChView or It's Full of Stars. I prefer It's Full of Stars due to the overall comprehensiveness of the package, but ChView is not a bad program either. You can do a web search for any of those and get a link. Add the name Claus Bornich to the It's Full of Stars search, or you'll have to go through a couple of pages to find his little piece of web sunshine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt JT Kohonez Posted September 25, 2006 Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 Re: Galactic maps Commercial: Astrosynthesis. It is a pretty incredible piece of software. It is when it doesn't lockup or freeze. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted September 25, 2006 Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 Re: Galactic maps It is when it doesn't lockup or freeze.As I said, I only used the demo. I had hopes that the actual commercial release would have been more stable. Oh well, It's Full of Stars is going to be what I use. Well, I am tentatively looking at creating my starmap with Celestia. There is a lot more work to doing that. Each star must be coded into a text file that instructs the Celestia program to display the star and bodies associated with it. A good analogy is a browser displaying an html file. If I do that, it is going to be after my current spike in work hours decreases. Would be fun though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prodigyduck Posted September 25, 2006 Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 Re: Galactic maps I've got Astrosynthesis 2.0 and it looks pretty neat. Combine it with Fractal Mapper, and it makes an interesting combination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starwolf Posted September 25, 2006 Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 Re: Galactic maps These programs are cool looking. From the author's web sites I think I prefer the look and detail of the mpas from Its Fulll of Stars (ifos). In addition on the ifos site I found maps of the B5, Spacemaster, and Traveller universes. Pretty snazy for freeware Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnTaber Posted September 25, 2006 Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 Re: Galactic maps I played with Astrosynthesis and found it much too complex for my taste. I wanted a simple hex map ala Traveller. I ended up using the Cosmographer pack for CC2. In fact...I just posted copied of the maps I did on my site this Sun! Follow the link in my name to the Downloads page then the Star Aria section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted September 25, 2006 Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 Re: Galactic maps There is a list of 3D mapping software here: http://www.projectrho.com/smap07.html but I have to agree with the suggestions already given. I prefer Astrosynthesis, since it is by far the most powerful of the programs. It also has nice RPG features (planet and system notes have two levels of passwords: player and game master, a list of all systems can be output in HTML format and hosted on your website for all the players, etc.) There are some already done maps of nearby stars here http://www.projectrho.com/smap12.html especially http://www.projectrho.com/smap12.html#frame Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted September 25, 2006 Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 Re: Galactic maps These programs are cool looking. From the author's web sites I think I prefer the look and detail of the mpas from Its Fulll of Stars (ifos). In addition on the ifos site I found maps of the B5' date=' Spacemaster, and Traveller universes. Pretty snazy for freeware [/quote']Funny you should mention that. The Frontier map was done in IFoS, exported to bmp and overlayed onto a screenshot of space from X3: Reunion. I only wish that I could run it in Linux so I didn't have to keep jumping back to my Windows partition. Overall, I would rate it as the second most useful of the programs listed above and it is both older that Astrosynthesis and freeware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Steve Posted September 30, 2006 Report Share Posted September 30, 2006 Re: Galactic maps Google Star Control II Map and you'll get a few hits. I've got the map in PDF. If you want systems and names to use as a backbone, its handy. It is labeled for Starcon II, so editing is needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 Re: Galactic maps I will second Nyrath's amazing starmaps page. It's easily the best resource on creating starmaps on the Internet, and possibly the best every published (I don't know, I haven't found any good ones on the subject in the bookstore). It led me to the Astrogator's Handbook, the best book of real starmaps printed in a perfect gamable fashion ever. (I can recommend the Expanded Edition, which I got, which will make my next Star Hero campaign a snap.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 Re: Galactic maps Agreed. The Astrogator's Handbook is solid gold. The standard edition is a free PDF download. The delux version is pricy, but contains about ten times as many stars. At the very least download the standard version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 Re: Galactic maps I will second Nyrath's amazing starmaps page. It's easily the best resource on creating starmaps on the Internet' date=' and possibly the best every published (I don't know, I haven't found any good ones on the subject in the bookstore).[/quote'] I couldn't find one either. That's why I made the website. I'd love for a professional to make such a resource, but until then you are stuck with my work. Over the years I just patiently scrounged enough bits and pieces to puzzle out how to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPT Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 Re: Galactic maps I have used Campaign Cartographer 2 and the Cosmographer expansion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publius Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 Re: Galactic maps Is this the sort of thing you were looking for? I made it for a Trek Campaign, but is this the style you were looking for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt JT Kohonez Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 Re: Galactic maps That's a NICE map Publius. What did you use as software to make it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publius Posted October 9, 2006 Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 Re: Galactic maps Illustrator, what I use for all of my maps. Because it was a 20ly square Trek Sector, I used a d20 and a d10 to assign the planets in their respective spots. That ensured a random element and created some clusters of systems that I would not have otherwise created myself. I also have a white background map for printing here. The concept was that the PCs were part of a survey crew assigned to that sector (operating out of a Nova-class vessel). I had the various races and a few of the planets worked out and I wanted them to get a feel for the original Trek Style. If they had mined out all of the story ideas in that sector, I would have created another one next door. Along with the emergency distress calls, scientific conference meetings and Espionage cases, I figured I had a good dozen or so adventures in that map before I had to even start reaching, which was well more than my group at the time would do in any one game before moving on to something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzz Posted October 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2006 Re: Galactic maps Is this the sort of thing you were looking for? I made it for a Trek Campaign, but is this the style you were looking for? Heck, sure. That looks gorgeous. Was this a mapping app or just Photoshop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publius Posted October 10, 2006 Report Share Posted October 10, 2006 Re: Galactic maps Heck' date=' sure. That looks gorgeous. Was this a mapping app or just Photoshop?[/quote']Nope just done with Illustrator, no other software used. System positions are all randomly rolled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.