Happy Birthday! Haha, two days late, oh well ^^" I think I got the same tablet as you just a few months ago, they're really handy, aren't they?
This map project you are working on sounds really cool. That's quite a lot of maps so I'm really looking forward to seeing your finished map pack. I wish you all the best with it and I can't wait to see it!
Good luck with those maps then! I'd gladly search for any meshes you need too as a map maker.
Also, a tablet? Wow. Do tablets work on Gimp 2.8? That's what I'm asking. Sounds neat you got a wacom bamboo tablet!
Can't wait to see that map pack. c: (I've recently been working on a huge map pack myself.)
Tablets work on just about any program! It pretty much is like another kind of mouse. Also, thank you!
Just adding on, I don't think GIMP has the "pressure sensitivity" option enabled. Meaning if you put pressure on the pen the line your drawing (for example) is thicker, the less pressure you put on the pen the thinner the line gets. I found this little video tutorial on how to enable or activate that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQl6ZQFDiJ4-Plug in your tablet before opening GIMP
-Open GIMP, click Edit and select "Preferences"
-Select the "Input Devices" tab then click "Configure Extended Input Devices"
-You should see a list with your main mouse (mine is "Core Pointer") followed by a few other listings. Select ones that have "Tablet" in the name. Depending on what type of tablet you have the name will vary, but pick the one that looks like your specific device.
-The "Mode" will likely be set to "Disabled", so change it to "Screen" or "Window"
-Now your tablet should be set up and GIMP will make a darker line when you write harder
-If it doesn't work, try restarting GIMP
-Experiment with the different Dynamic options (on the bottom left) to get the effect you are looking for
(Pretty sure "Pencil Generic" is the one I was talking about?)
So yeah, I hope you find that useful, it helps especially when it comes to really detailed drawings and maps