I'm almost done with bestiary 1 and 2, not the statblocks, I've got HL for that stuff, but the fluff and a set of knowledge snippets for each creature that I can feed my players rather than always trying to come up with what to tell them on successful knowledge rolls. Plus now that 64 bit is a thing I'm getting the images in at as a high a resolution as I can so they look good on my 4k display I use as player view.

I never thought of that to be honest... can you give me an example ? My guys do that too all the time, and I just try and make somethign up on the fly from the bestiary entry online.

4K display - maaan... we have just started using arkenforge (which is awesome) - which they love too.... no more drawing maps for this black duck!

Ok. Let me find one of the better ones.

Giant Spider (every line is a snippet)
Some giant spiders are poisonous!​
Giant spiders cannot be affected by things that affect minds​
Giant spiders can spin and throw webs.​

There are a few more common creatures with more than three entries but realistically how often do your players make more than 3 knowledge checks on the same creature type in the same campaign?

I've been using CC3 to draw maps for about a year since there was a really great deal on Bundle of Holding or one of those sites.

That's ingenious... I am going to look at that... I have the pathfinder bestiary in csv format, but its got so much stuff in there I don't need, but I can use it to build something like that. My lot never remember to do knowledge checks, but every now and then they do and I have to scramble.

I have been playing with Arkenforge, and really like where that is going, plus the devs have said it will have RW integration at some point in the future, they were hoping late this year, but I guess that depends on how other releases go

I think Arkenforge have said they will integrate Realm Works with no real plan on how to do so. Without an API on the Realm Works side i'm not sure how much they will be able to do.

For any CC3+ users looking for a community there are heaps of us in HERE. Very helpful group of people with all levels of experience. Forums are also a great source of help as Monsen hangs there and he knows more about this application than any other person.

I am not sure they have had any conversations with LWD yet, and I am guessing that Arkenforge will do that at some point... but you are right I am not sure how they will do it, unless LWD develop some sort of API, which may or may not be in the works already - but thats pure speculation.

The beauty of Arkenforge unlike FG, Maptools etc etc is that you only need one application open to do your maps, your DM and Player view is just a toggle switch away. sure it doesnt have all the functionality of maptools and some others, but it is improving all the time, the Devs and community are very active, plus he's Aussie, how much more awesome is that! :-)

The downside, is you need a laptop with a dedicated graphics card - its pretty graphics intensive.

I've got it. They were kind enough to give me a copy so I could review it for them :)

I like the direction but not necessarily the functionality currently. Like I said to them though, I am not the core demographic that they are trying to hit. I'm an advanced and heavy user of digital tools. I don't need my tools to be easy to use, I want them to be able to do what ever I need to do with them. Arkenforge is aiming to be easy to use.

In that regards CC3+ > Arkenforge for map making. CC3+ can make publishable maps and have many advanced features.
In regards to VTT, MapTools is more efficient to use imo. I like the hot-keys and the responsiveness of the program. It also lets me put the player screen where ever I like.

But I am watching closely. Because I LOVE those animated symbols.

We all have our preferences - I like the simplifed tools. My players love it so far.

Oh yes... I personally love the lighting and shadow effects.

The Dynamic dungeons stuff is awesome.

One little tip that somebody came up with yesterday... highlighting hidden things on the map.... by adding a lighting effect to an invisible item (aka secret door), when the players notice it, you can just make it visible and the lighting effect appears.

I did the same thing for a chest hidden under a bed... players went ooooooo

And that makes me as a GM happy.

I must go back and have another look at CC3 .. but too many other toys to play with :-)

I love CC3+ BUT I found something far better. Wonderdraft. The main factor is the amount of time it takes to do a decent map in CC3+ versus Wonderdraft. OMG, Wonderdraft can do a near professional quality map in a fraction of the time of ANY other mapping program I have found. It can be customized and many people make symbols for it. It has map themes that can be changed on the fly... a procedural coastline brush that can detail your coastline in real-time as you draw the map... Not to mention you can get it DRM free and load it 100% local. It is SO FAST for making maps I can't imagine slogging through CC3+ anymore ...too much time and effort wasted versus the result. Check it out, you 'probably' wont be disappointed.

Brilliant looking program. I will buy that as soon as I'm paid again. Only shows overland maps on the website, so may have to retain CC3+ for dungeons and internal buildings.

Wonderdraft looks amazing and the maps shown in the demo video are fantastic. What I don't see is what kind of assets are included in the base purchase...

Yeah, Im afraid they don't support dungeon maps so you'll have to use something else for those. But, I have seen a very few people starting to find ways to do some basic dungeon style maps...


Their basic assets are fairly well, basic, BUT go here:

https://www.cartographyassets.com/

and you can get a ton of assets created by Wonderdraft users. Wonderdraft supports custom assets and installing them is a simple cut and paste into the asset folders. Tons of extra stuff there that is easy to use.

I've been playing with Wonderdraft for a while, too. The customizations you can do on the fly are off the charts. But the styles available in CC3+ are too amazing to abandon, and the detailed, granular editing and effects capabilities are still unmatched (plus I'm insanely loyal to ProFantasy after 25 yrs of quality software).

I've been using both. Sometimes I just make the map entirely in Wonderdraft, sometimes just in CC3+. And sometimes, I make the landmass in Wonderdraft because I find it faster (insanely fast) and easier than making it in Fractal Terrains. And then, since Wonderdraft lets you export the map in layers (so cool!), I do that and import the land layer into CC3+. CC3+ has a command that lets you trace contiguous bitmap (e.g. PNG) images, so I can quickly and easily import the landmass into CC3+ and then go to town.

One other awesome thing about Wonderdraft: You can select a portion of your map, say part of a continent, and you can create a new, map of just that selection, which means you can easily make regional maps from larger maps. CC3+ allows this too, and almost as easily, but it's still nice that Wonderdraft lets you do that. Competitors like Inkarnate don't, as far as I know.

Could you tell me what that command is? That would be super useful to me!

Me too, please

I think it's on Joe Sweeney's tutorials -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVH1fyXPQw8

There is also a way to import a file as a layer and then draw/trace over that layer and when you don't need the layer with the .png you just hide the layer.

There are two ways to trace that I'm aware of.

1. Using a draw tool you can press T to activate Trace mode. This lets you trace around objects that exist inside of CC3+. Be that land-mass or walls. This is an automatic trace.

How To use the TRACE Function

2. Import an external file (map) and then use the land-mass tool to manually trace around it. This works quite well but it a manual trace not automatic.

How To Trace Overland Map

Another handy thing you can do is put a transparency effect on external maps that you insert. This way you can line things up.

https://i.imgur.com/fWL7ctb.png

Unfortunately, as daplunk points out, the TRACE command won't work with bitmaps; it only works on CC3+ entities. And while you can manually trace a bitmap using a variety of techniques, I find them all tedious and imprecise.

The new command I'm talking about is CONTOURSM. It was introduced in CC3+ Update 16. I should point out that it does have some limitations and requirements, but they can all be met by Wonderdraft's export options. I've used it to great effect.

For a really good, detailed explanation of the command and instructions for using it, check out Monsen's excellent article on the ProFantasy Blog.

-Ash

Thanks, guys! I manually trace imported bitmaps frequently, and use the transparency effect to make it as accurate as possible - it's tedious but it gets the job done. So I was looking specifically for something that would improve my workflow.

I'll check out the CONTOURSM command and the documentation and see if it's something I can use - sounds hopeful!

I didn't know about either the TRACE or the CONTOURSM command so I'm super-grateful for that. I'll try it out tomorrow.

Here's a short video tutorial specifically for the TRACE command, if you're interested.

And, while I'm posting links, here's a smattering of other CC3+ video tutorials I've done that folks might find useful.

~ Ash

That is hugely helpful because I'd just reached a point in my D&D5e game where the characters have reasonably run out of things to do on the island I created and I need to move them to the larger landmass, and I had no idea how to get the landmass into a new map so I could work on it.

Thank you!

I probably wouldn't use trace to copy the landmass. First thing I'd do is use the 'Save As' function to make a copy of the map with a new name. Then I'd resize the new map by changing your borders. If you need to, then move the original land mass to where you want it inside the new borders and start adding what you need.

Some background things like oceans, you probably want to just resize them to fit the new larger map.

The only reasons I can think of to use trace would be if you wanted to change some style settings to the map. Maybe the size of the bitmaps used in the map could be an issue. If that's a problem, then I'd probably just draw the new land mass sans the old one and maybe put an arrow that says to 'old land mass' on the new map.