CC2, the love/hate relationship

I have this love/hate relationship with Campaign Cartographer from ProFantasy. It's a pain in the patootie to use when you're unfamiliar with it. And when you get familiar with it, if you don't use it for six months, it seems like you're starting over near the beginning of the learning curve.

It takes me a long time to get maps done, mostly because I'm not terribly familiar with it and I'm constantly fighting with the interface, trying to figure out how to do what I want. Or just trying to figure out how to easily select just one of two objects whose outlines are identical and overlap exactly. Which is something you use a lot of in CC2.

Did I mention I've been using CC2 for around five years? In that time, I've bought the Dungeon Designer and City Designer add-ons, plus the Symbol Packs 1 and 3 (Overland and Modern symbols). I bought CC2 back when it was $80… I've got more than a couple hundred bucks sunk into this tool, and I'm still frustrated with it, because I've never really spent enough time with it to get comfortable with it, let alone proficient.

But it's the most powerful mapping tool around. Fractal Mapper by Nbos Software? Not in the same league. I've got it, and even though it's a lot easier to use, it just doesn't have nearly the number of tools available… it doesn't even do fractals nearly as well as CC2, despite "fractal" being part of the name. If you just want to draw quick-and-dirty maps, FM is good. If you want to draw really pretty maps and don't mind taking the time to learn how to use the tool, get CC2.

And read the big downloadable manual, which is full of tutorials, or better yet, the Tome of Ultimate Mapping (500 pages, $17 PDF or spend more and get the printed version)… it's the downloadable manual with lots of extras. I recently discovered that part of my problem with CC2 is that I didn't know that I could right-click on a tool button and get all kinds of options and tools! Sheesh! There are far more tools available than are shown on the screen, and I'm looking at something close to one hundred tool buttons right now. Yeah, it's complex. But I'm going to force myself to learn it well and keep in practice with it… I think it'll be worth it.

Oh… and check RPGnow.com before buying directly from the ProFantasy website… some stuff is cheaper there, like the Symbol Packs are $3 (13%) cheaper, for instance.