# Mapmaking Discussion & Philosophy (WIP/Critique) > Building/Structure Mapping >  The Society for Exploration and Adventure of Maracasar - Guild house

## Chronist

Hello all, i´m a very new Member of the Guild and also  totally new user of ProFantasys Campaign Cartographer 3 Plus. After having my fights with CC3/DD3 and a lot of help from the Guild See here  - Mouse inspired me to open a thread and show my progress.

The object i´m working on is a Guild house. Its the house of the Society for Exploration and Adventure of Maracasar, which mainly acts on a fantasy island with a hard carribean touch. 
Its part of my rpg group.

After a lot of Adventures the group had to much gold and they decided to build their own guild house. The House is inspired by this picture and the maincharacter and guildleader Eberhard Brettschneider.



and here is what they get:
Ground floor


like i said i have to figure out a lot with this CC3/DD3 Programm - so i will have a lot of qquestions to all of u  :Wink:

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## Mouse

Hello again, Chronist  :Smile: 

That really is a beautiful map already - and its your first!  :Shocked:   Wow!

Already rep-worthy, I think  :Wink: 

('rep' (reputation) is where I click the star thing at the bottom of the comment you just made, and make a comment to show my appreciation of your map.  It results in you collecting little green blocks above your avatar  :Wink:  )

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## aeshnidae

What a great map! I agree with Mouse, it's already rep-worthy...especially since this is one of the only maps I've seen that includes a garderobe! =) As a native Marylander, I am also partial to the blue crab.

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## Chronist

Thnx a lot its a good object to learn - meanwhile details have changed and i try this and that  :Very Happy:  i will upload the progress in the next days

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## ScottDA

Very nice, and an impressive first map!

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## Tenia

Very nice, have some rep !

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## Wired

Looks splendid! The only criticism I have is that the winding stairs in the south-east tower look rather oversized compared to the rest of the interior.  :Smile:

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## Chronist

Thnx a lot to all your comments and rep, hopefully i find the time to work on the Map this week again, reallife ist interfiring to much the last days.

@wired - i see what u mean, maybe i will make the whole tower a little smaller, so the steps will fit into it perfectly or i find a nice looking way to make just the steps a little smaller ;-)

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## Mouse

Hey Chronist  :Smile: 

You're very new to this mapping game, but already you're making maps that others are appreciating and linking to from other web sites.  (that's why if you hover over the map you will see that there have already been over 500 views, even though this isn't a finished map thread)  

Although when I found your map on another site you had been clearly credited as the author by your Guild avatar name, "Chronist", maybe you might like to add a little map-maker's mark to your work in the future, or even a copyright notice?  If you look around in the Finished Map forum you will see there are lots of different ways of doing this.  Some people just add a copyright note, but others also add their webpage address, and/or a little emblem or design - their 'mark'.

It helps to identify your work and promote your skills if you should ever decide to go professional  :Wink: 

It is up to you, of course...

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## Chronist

hey mouse, yeah well i didn´t thought about this becouse i still train my skills at the moment, but i like that people like what i´m trying to do ;-) if it is finished ..at some day ... i maybe will mark it somehow ;-) but thnx a lot for the hint. i hobe i can upload the finished Ground floor in the next days.

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## Chronist

ok everyone, this is the update for the Ground Floor - i will change a few details at some point. But till I finished the 1st Floor I do not want to lose myself in anymore details  :Wink:

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## Mouse

That's good  :Smile: 

If you are going to mark your work, then mark it from the outset.  Make it one of the first things you put on the canvas  :Wink: 

_I've edited this comment here, because we made our comments at the same time and I didn't see your last comment.  That's perfect - a really great map, Chronist.  I see you have expertly remedied the spiral staircase_ 

When you finish your map you should start a new thread for it in the Finished Maps forum, following the guidelines in this thread here.

That way it can be considered in next years Atlas Awards - the annual mapping awards.

I think it is fairly safe to say that if this is your first map, and you continue to improve from here, you may stand a chance of being nominated next year.  We'll see how it goes - but you have to have your maps in the Finished Maps forum to be able to qualify for nomination  :Wink:

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## Chronist

next update:
u see the Firstfloor -of the Society for Exploration and Adventure of Maracasar. In the right wing u have a alchmie laboratory and the private rooms othe different founder of the company. All very different types of  adventurers. In the left wing there is an area for combat training and a room with many doors and traps and a large planning room. In the back wing is a dining room and the library and a veranda overlooking the sea.


upcoming next is the is the flat roof with a few very special places

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## Mouse

Oh that is every bit as attractive as the ground floor.

A beautiful map, Chronist  :Smile: 

There's just a couple of small mistakes I can see.  A few of the rugs appear to be on the wrong sheet, since they are casting a shadow as if they are on the same sheet as the chairs and tables.  This is a very common mistake.  I've done it myself  :Razz: 

If you right click the hourglass icon on the left hand toolbar you can pick "Move to Sheet" and then select all the offending rugs and move them to the OBJECTS FLAT sheet (exact terminology may be slightly off - I can't open CC3 at the moment, sorry!)

Other than that, another delightful map  :Smile:

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## Chronist

thanks for the note :Wink: 
on my next update i will change it  :Very Happy: 
and thnx for the compliment

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## Mouse

You're welcome - the praise is well deserved.  You have great taste in selecting fills and objects for your maps.

I can't count the number of times I accidentally pasted rugs on the wrong sheet back in the days when I used to do battle maps.  Its very easy to do.  I think I once made the excuse that they were flying carpets  :Razz: 

Here is a tip that might help with the map a bit.  You don't have to use it.  Its just something I've picked up along the way.

If you want to give the illusion of height on the first floor and rooftop maps, you can add a new Sheet between the sheets with all the walls and interior décor, and the outside ground, and place a rectangle of one of the transparent fills (black or white, but about 10 or 20% only) on it that covers the entire map, then and add a blur sheet effect to that sheet.  Just a very tiny one. Providing you've got it between the ground and the rest of the Guildhouse it should make the ground look very slightly out of focus and either darker or lighter, depending on whether you have used the black or white transparent fill.

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## Chronist

Ok, i played a little bit with the Sheets and Blur. I put a transpaerent fill, like mouse said and a outsidewall-shadow, that gives a little more illusion, that we are in the 1st Floor plus i gave the steps down a new shade, so it looks more going down and  put the rugs to the right sheet.

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## Chronist

Hola dear Cartographers, here is the next update of the Society for Exploration and Adventure of Maracasar Guild house.  
I create a flat roof which is more a super sized terrace with a tavern furnishing on the left wing + a bedroom for romantic nights  :Very Happy: . 
The right wing has a big pool and the privat room for the healer, one of the founders of the guild, occupying the whole right tower.
In the south wing is another meeting room with a fantastic view. I tried to make the terrace not so crowded (The weather influences on a roof are not to be despised) :Razz: 
As u see i also changed the Garden in a more exotic one.


In the next step, I will go through all the sheets again and hopefully find a good solution for the shadow effects and then finally make a reasonable frame.

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## Chronist

As a further addition, the vault. Which you can also see on the ground floor. the room goes down to the basement. Here the guild leaders save their personal treasures. One room contain a "big boom" trap and one a secret door & a trap  :Razz:

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## Mouse

Love it!

I only wish I could afford a pad with a roof like that!  LOL!

Your group are possibly the luckiest gamers ever!  :Very Happy:

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## Chronist

i would say the basic is done, what i need now is a nice frame, ups and just see that I forgot to make the left tower smaller on 1st and 2nd floor ... :Shocked:  damn

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## Mouse

Oh yes!  Well I didn't notice it either, but since you've pointed it out I can't stop looking at it now!  LOL!

I have a suggestion for the blurring effect.

Instead of using one sheet on the first floor and two sheets on the second floor, how about using one sheet that is in all three stories of the building, but having no blur on the ground floor, a small blur on the first floor, and a slightly bigger blur on the second floor.

Its different for cliffs being shown all in one file like I explained before, because that's all in one map.  You have three separate maps here, so there's no need to have more than one blur sheet - just more blur on the same sheet in the second floor.

I would also consider using a transparency effect _before the blur effect_ on the blur sheet so that the colour is less affected by the actual colour of the polygon on the blur sheet.

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