What programs do you use to draw your world maps up?

[MonkeySage]

I am not a good artist at all, and I've been looking for a program that would make it easier to draw my world map up. Which programs do you use for this? I've tried GIMP, but wasn't actually happy with the results...

[Xervous]

Tried Azgaar’s at all? https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/

I’ve found it entertaining for worlds, may be of some interest to you.

[Marcarius5555]

http://worldographer.com

[Alcore]

Hexographer


Depends on what you use the map for... i just need function; to see how big, how far or what factors might shape local society. Unless really good maps are a thing any hand drawn maps will suffice for say... a medieval world.


The quality of maps today is partially a by product of satellites. Maps did get much better between the dark ages and satellites but that was when it really jumped.

[Sam113097]

I love Inkarnate! Even the free version has a good amount of features and can look pretty nice! I've made a few for my current campaign world (Link in my signature).

[Xuc Xac]

Paper, pencil, pen, and colored pencils.

Hex Kit with various tile sets (I recommend "Highland Paranormal Society Cartography Kit" and "Tiles of Xark!").

Watabou on itch.io has a lot of automatic map generators for dungeons, villages, cities, pirate treasure maps, etc.

[Atarax]

Can totally relate. Gimp is probably amazing but it's way too complex for what we're trying to do. You could write several adventures in the time it took you to conquer that learning curve.

Graph paper and ArtStudio pro for my versions and for creating them. You want something simple but not too simple. Having layer functionality is huge. Something that will add a grid is also important for lining up scale and zooming in for new maps. Then you take that scratch version, use it as an overlay (halfway transparent) and line the grid up for whatever app/program you decide to use to creat a final copy.

I use Wonderdraft for the versions that players see. Since the pandemic forced me online, I've been using Dungeondraft (by the same folks who made Wonderdraft) for dungeons. I figured out how to add custom assets so that I can choose the textures for my walls, floors, and terrain. I download what I like off the internet, edit it to get the scale right, then save it in the right folders, and before you know it, I can add rooms and halls that look exactly that way with a click and a drag.

Inkarnate is nice and quick, but I don't like it for large scale maps. The symbols (cities, mountains, trees etc...) always feel too big for me. I also have some trouble with aligning the grid to maps I copy from overlays.

[Edenbeast]

Gimp is probably amazing but it's way too complex for what we're trying to do. You could write several adventures in the time it took you to conquer that learning curve.

Gimp IS amazing. I disagree that it's complex, at least not necessarily. I guess you can make it as complex as you want, especially if you want to make a map from scratch. The way I use it, and how it works for me, Gimp actually has quite a modest but useful role. I draw my maps by hand (on paper), basically the geography with colours, etc. Then I scan it, and open it with gimp. In different layers I then add towns, legend, and other locations, giving me the option to create both a map for myself, and one for the players by turning off some layers. For visuals I also like to add edges and some filters so it looks old and torn.

[Max_Killjoy]

I love Inkarnate! Even the free version has a good amount of features and can look pretty nice! I've made a few for my current campaign world (Link in my signature).

Read their TOS.

They claim ownership of anything made with their site/software.