I enjoy world building and writing campaigns that I expect will never see the light of day. I haven’t run or played in any RPGs in a few years, but I still like to goof around dreaming up spells, items, and maps.
I’ve previously written about the tools I used to use, but since I’m not running games anymore, some of them are no longer relevant to me so I have cancelled subscriptions to any of the sites I had to pay for, but I’m always on the lookout for tools I can use to generate ideas. (Although I’m still paying for my son’s subscription to D&D Beyond, which he does routinely use)
Mapping is the main thing for me at the moment so let’s take a look at my current favourite mapping tools, from macro to micro:
- World maps
- Region maps
- City/town maps
- Dungeon maps
- Battle maps
World maps: I just discovered Azgaar Fantasy Map Generator. Gods this is good. It looks like it’s been around for a few years, but is still under active development, which is great. What is also great is that it’s free. At first, I thought it was just another random map generator that made particularly good looking maps, but it’s an amazingly comprehensive web based app that runs in the browser. Almost every aspect of the maps is customisable, down to naming conventions for regions and towns. I’m looking forward to spending more time with this app.
Region maps: I’m not sure about region maps. I’ve been drawing them by hand, but I wonder if Azgaar might be able to handle this as well. I’ll post something about it once I figure it out.
I should also mention Hexkit. It’s not free, but it’s not expensive at $15USD as a one off price (no subscription). It has a particular aesthetic, with bold hex lines and simple graphics, but it’s a lot of fun to play with. If you are happy with the aesthetic then it’s worth checking out.
City/town maps: I still love Watabou’s Medieval Fantasy City Generator. It’s very customisable and generates great looking maps. There’s a bunch of other cool stuff by this developer as well. Completely unrelated to map making, Watabou also has a great little game called Patient Rogue, which I love playing.
Dungeon maps: I enjoy drawing these by hand. I’m sure there is smart software for this, but I haven’t found one I’m happy with yet. I’m happy for suggestions.
Battle maps: I’ll stick to hand drawing these for now.
I tried using Inkarnate, but the learning curve was steep and I don’t think I ever got the most out of it. It’s meant to be a very capable mapping app, doing everything from the world scale maps down to battle maps, and to be fair, people do great things with Inkarnate, but it’s not for me.
While writing this post, I logged in and found all my maps had been downgraded to the free plan and all my map assets were gone and the maps now look shite. The funny thing is that I see some tile icons I made myself in this map which are also missing from the current Inkarnate view. How is it that my own content is “premium” and I don’t have access anymore? If I pay the $25USD a year subscription, I’ll get my maps back, but I think I’ll walk away.
I found a map I made in Inkarnate that I had uploaded to Owlbear Rodeo (before my Inkarnate plan was downgraded). I’m happy with this map, but it would only be worth the subscription fee if I used it regularly.
Oh well. Like I said; I’ll stick to hand drawn battle maps.
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