I just got back from TERRA INCOGNITA: Maps of Imaginary Worlds at the Soho Gallery for Digital Art. The gallery features lots of maps by many fantasy artists from Cartographers’ Guild.

The maps are displayed on large-screen monitors so you can get up close and really see the details. If you’re inclined to take one home on paper, prices range from $95-$125.

In addition to the maps, there are also a couple of panels displaying quotes from the artists and some writing/poems of past literary giants. This was one of the most interesting parts of the gallery in my opinion – it helped put the maps into context as part of our individual and collective imaginations.

The show has been extended to September 1^st, so if you’re in the NYC area I definitely recommend you go check it out.

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Terra Incognita Gallery Show

I don’t usually do any overtly promotional posts, but I think this is too good of an offer not to tell you…

If you’ve been considering getting CC3 or any of the software add-ons, now is the time to buy!

There is a 15% sale on all software items until midnight Sunday. I assume that’s midnight London time, so if you’re in the US or anywhere other than UK, make sure you check your time zone! In all the years I’ve owned Profantasy products, I don’t remember them ever having a sale, so this is probably a good opportunity to take advantage of if you’re missing anything.

Click here to see all the discounts.

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Campaign Cartographer Discount – Only a Few Hours Left

I hereby grant you permission to use any map on my website (unless specifically prohibited) for any purpose whatsoever, be it commercial, personal or otherwise.

No need to ask me for permission, just copy the file to your computer and have your way with it. If you feel like being generous, please link back to my site, Fantasy Map Maker, to let other people know where the map originated.

All maps are offered “as is.” What you see is what you get. You’re free to modify them however you’d like. If you need me to do a basic modification for you (resize to a higher resolution, remove text labels, etc), please consider making a small donation to my maintenance fund. After you donate, send me an email to let me know you donated and what modification you’d like me to make for you.

Fantasy Map Maker maps by Fantasy Map Maker are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Contact me if you have any questions regarding permissions beyond the scope of this license at http://www.fantasymapmaker.com/contact/.

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Steal My Maps

Most of you subscribe to Fantasy Map Maker via email or RSS feeds – and for that I am grateful. If, however, you wouldn’t mind stopping by the site, I’ve implemented a new rating system for my maps and I’d love to get your feedback.

Rating the maps will help me see what you like (and what you don’t like) so hopefully I can then give you more of what you like.

At the bottom of each post you’ll see five lonely stars waiting for your sweet caress. Click on the star that best expresses how much you like that map (or post).

1 star = horrible, 5 stars = awesome.

Abuse me. Praise me. Just don’t ignore me! =P

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New Fantasy Map Maker Blog Feature – Rate My Maps

If you love reading fantasy literature, you know that most good stories require a good map. If you’re having trouble finding a map for the story you’re reading, try the Fantasy Cartography website. They have a great collection of maps based on fantasy worlds you’re already familiar with.

In their own words:

It happens all the time. You’re reading one of your favorite novels, and you wish you had a good map to use as a reference. Here you will find a collection of maps from various fantasy and science fiction works for your viewing. I might also include other goodies from literature, the Bible (not fiction), or television programs, movies, and video games.

Check out their maps!

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Fantasy Cartography – Find Maps from Your Favorite Novels

Firstly, I’d like to thank those of you who frequent this website for your interest and words of encouragement. I enjoy the map-making process immensely and I’m grateful to be able to share it with you.

For those of you who are new to the site, and to those of you who come back often just by remembering the website address, I’d like to suggest you subscribe to the blog. Subscribing means you don’t have to come back every day to see if there’s a new map yet because the maps are sent to you. There’s no spam because you can turn off your subscription any time you like. There are two easy ways to subscribe – RSS and Email.

Subscribe by RSS

RSS is a technology which allows you to receive updates without actually coming to the website. If you read a lot of blogs, RSS is a life saver. Just sign up with a blog reader (my favorite is Google Reader) and then click on the “Subscribe via RSS” button in the sidebar. You may also see a similar orange RSS icon in the URL bar at the top of your browser – you could also just press that button.

Once you subscribe to the RSS feed, my maps will be delivered to your blog reader every time I post a new one. The nice thing about the feed reader is that you can track unlimited amounts of blogs from one location instead of trying to visit each site every day, which would take forever. I track a couple hundred blogs and the blog reader is the only way to make that possible.

If you’d like to learn more about RSS, I have a whole page devoted to it! Read more about RSS.

Subscribe by Email

If you’re not quite ready to adopt that newfangled RSS nonsense, email may be more your speed.

Just put your email address in the “Subscribe by Email” form in the sidebar and press the Subscribe button. Then, check your email for a message from us and click on the link in that email to confirm your subscription. From now on, you’ll get each new map sent directly to your email. How’s that for service?!

Just like with RSS, there’s no spam. If you decide that my maps suck or that I’m a deplorable wretch and not worth your attention, you can easily unsubscribe and never be bothered by me again.

Bookmarking Options

Another option is to bookmark this website. You could just bookmark it in your browser favorites, but there is a better way.

Online bookmarking services let you keep all your bookmarks in one location that you can access from anywhere with an Internet connection, which is handy if you’re traveling or spending an excruciatingly painful weekend with the in-laws. My favorite online bookmarking service is Delicious.

Other services, like StumbleUpon, combine bookmarking with community, so you can share what you discover with like-minded people.

At the bottom of each of my posts you’ll see icons for a few of these bookmarking sites. If you like the map, just click on one of those icons, sign up for the service (it’s free of course) and bookmark away.

If you have any questions about RSS, email subscriptions or bookmarking, please ask them in the comments section below. And thanks again for reading!

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Subscribe to Fantasy Map Maker

RPG Tonight has a useful list of mapping and gaming resources that I stumbled on.

Apparently, they provide a virtual tabletop environment for gamers who play at a distance. I hope to check it out soon – right now we use a combination of skype and tokbox, but it looks like RPG Tonight might do the trick.

Have you used the RPG Tonight virtual tabletop?

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Mapping and Gaming Resource List from RPG Tonight

I finally scrounged up enough cash to get Campaign Cartographer‘s Dungeon Designer 3. Expect to see some PC-killin’ underground goodness coming soon.

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Dungeons are Coming

For the 3 of you who actually found my web site interesting and/or useful, thanks for dropping by. And don’t worry – there will be more maps coming soon. I’m spending the month of February in Thailand getting some much needed R&R, which means not touching a computer more than a couple time per week. Expect to see some more maps in early March, which, as always, will be completely free.

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Doing Nothing in Thailand

The first few maps are live! They’re not the best maps you’ll ever come across, but what do you expect for free?

Hopefully the learning curve won’t be too steep and I can start producing much better stuff soon. I’ve been told that “practice makes perfect,” so you can look forward to a lot of mediocre stuff in the near future while I practice =P.

Any comments or suggestions would be most welcome.

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In the beginning…