Today I needed to add the island of Tirnanog to my campaign map using Inkscape. In order to do that, I needed to add more hexes in the background—I needed to “grow the ocean”. I looked at my Old School Hex Map Tutorial and figured I must have used the Inkscape Boardgames Extension. When I checked, however, I was unable to find the menu. Perhaps Inkscape has changed and it needs to be reinstalled? I decided to give mkhexgrid another try. Fiddling with the spec file for a bit, I determined that these were the correct settings:
output=svg outfile=hex-layer.svg hex-side=45pt rows=17 columns=14 grid-color=7a7a7a coord-color=008080 coord-size=10pt coord-distance=28pt 1. start with an odd number! coord-column-start=37 coord-row-start=01
By now the map is so big, redoing it for Hexographer or Text Mapper seems like a lot of work. When I see the efforts required to update this map in a sluggish Inkscape on a 1024×768 monitor, however, it seems like a lot of work as well.
I don’t know. I like the colors of the Gnomeyland icons. Check out Map Symbols: Trees & Forests on Old Russian Maps by John Krygier for some source material. But really – is it much better? Is it much faster? I don’t think so.
Map Symbols: Trees & Forests on Old Russian Maps
Original, from the *Wilderlands of High Fantasy* box:
/pics/9305033183_33b8bc2c37_z.jpg
My “old school hex map” style:
/pics/9305013905_c5ca700aa5_z.jpg
Text Mapper, using the Gnomeyland icons by Gregory B. MacKenzie (CC BY SA):
/pics/9307639706_3a47425285_z.jpg
☯
For the curious, here is the source for Text Mapper:
3901 water 3902 water 3903 water 3904 water 3905 water island 3906 water 3907 water 3908 water 4001 water 4002 water 4003 water 4004 water 4005 water 4006 water 4007 water island 4008 water 4101 water 4102 water 4103 water 4104 water 4105 water 4106 water 4107 water island "Andaman Isles" 4108 water 4201 water 4202 water 4203 water 4204 soil tower "Marechal" 4205 dark-green forest 4206 water islands 4207 water islands 4208 water 4301 water 4302 water 4303 water 4304 light-grey hill 4305 light-grey mountain 4306 light-grey 4307 water 4308 water 4401 water 4402 water 4403 light-grey hill 4404 grey mountain "Needles Peak" 4405 light-grey hill 4406 water 4407 water 4408 water 4501 water 4502 dark-green forest 4503 light-grey hill 4504 green forest-hill 4505 soil tower "Lanka" 4506 water 4507 water 4508 water 4601 water 4602 soil tower "Calfat" 4603 soil lake keep "Kailasa" 4604 light-grey hill 4605 water 4606 water 4607 water 4608 water 4701 water 4702 light-grey 4703 light-grey hill 4704 soil tower "Heratus" 4705 dark-green forest 4706 water 4707 water 4708 water 4801 water "Windward Peninsula" 4802 soil keep "Dalmaric" 4803 soil keep "Talimanor" 4804 dark-green forest "Pardolock Jungle" 4805 water 4806 water 4807 water 4808 water 4901 water 4902 water island 4903 water 4904 water 4905 water island 4906 water 4907 water 4908 water 5001 water 5002 water 5003 water 5004 water 5005 water 5006 water 5007 water 5008 water lake xml <circle cx="0" cy="0" r="50" fill="#6ebae7" stroke="black" stroke-width="3"/> island xml <circle cx="10" cy="10" r="25" fill="#dcddbe" stroke="black" stroke-width="3"/> islands xml <circle cx="-20" cy="20" r="20" fill="#dcddbe" stroke="black" stroke-width="3"/><circle cx="20" cy="-20" r="15" fill="#dcddbe" stroke="black" stroke-width="3"/> include https://alexschroeder.ch/contrib/gnomeyland.txt 4603-4903 fjord 4602-4902 fjord fjord path attributes stroke="#6ebae7" stroke-width="20" fill-opacity="0" stroke-linecap="round" other <text stroke="white" stroke-width="10px" font-size="50pt" x="6300" y="550" transform="rotate(330 6300,550)">Tirnanog Isle</text><text font-size="50pt" x="6300" y="550" transform="rotate(330 6300,550)">Tirnanog Isle</text>
#RPG #Maps #SVG
