To be more specific, my computer crashed and while I was able to recover all of my documents, I lost the majority of my art/picture files and everything I had managed to make with Campaign Cartographer. This means no world map; no region maps and about half of the encounter / battlemaps I planned to use simply no longer exist. So now I must start from scratch.
With that being the case, what I would really hope to find is something that can make simple maps quickly. I would like color. I would also like both regional / overland and city options, if that is possible. Building interiors would also be nice, but are less essential. I know there are a lot of options, so I am seeking input from all you wonderful and wise community members. What is best and easiest to use?
Ideally, I need something with a very low learning curve; something inexpensive, and something that won't take tens or hundreds of hours to produce a decent piece. Dose such a thing exist?
I believe Inkarnate has some free options. Not sure how much they let you do without paying.
Wonderdraft will do world/continent/region maps and you can force a clunky city map out of it. DungeonDraft will do nice interiors. Each is about $30 price, one time fee.
DungeonFog requires a subscription but does nice interiors.
Worldographer will do world, regional, city, and dungeon maps (with the Dungeonographer and Cityographer add-ons). I think the whole shebang (world + city + dungeon) is about $80, one time fee.
There are many others, but those are the ones I know the best.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I use inkarnate, not only to a it a great tool in itself it has a great community who share so many map designs there is always something I can borrow if in a rush
I’m a huge fan of gimp since it’s completely free and high quality, although that’s a ‘more work’ approach as you need to track down brushes on your own.
off topic but I also recommend getting a 2-bay NAS (I use synology)- low power requirement, useful tools, and syncs all your documents (or subset) across all your PC’s and phone so never have to worry about loss/damage again
I’m a huge fan of gimp since it’s completely free and high quality, although that’s a ‘more work’ approach as you need to track down brushes on your own.
off topic but I also recommend getting a 2-bay NAS (I use synology)- low power requirement, useful tools, and syncs all your documents (or subset) across all your PC’s and phone so never have to worry about loss/damage again
I also recommend a NAS if you can afford it. I have a two bay Synology NAS with two 8Tb drives running in RAID 1 used to back up my PCs and Linux boxes on the home network. Unfortunately, it costs a few hundred dollars to set up but does provide the ability for automated backups.
As for map makers, there are several options that folks have mentioned. I've tried the free version of Inkarnate and it was ok. However, it is really limited in terms of textures etc. so you may find that to create a set of maps quickly and efficiently you may need to purchase something.
P.S. Although I think Gimp is a great image editing program ... I wouldn't recommend it for making maps ... it is really going back to the basics and would be a lot of work in my opinion.
Midway through my campaign, I lost the world.
To be more specific, my computer crashed and while I was able to recover all of my documents, I lost the majority of my art/picture files and everything I had managed to make with Campaign Cartographer. This means no world map; no region maps and about half of the encounter / battlemaps I planned to use simply no longer exist.
So now I must start from scratch.
With that being the case, what I would really hope to find is something that can make simple maps quickly. I would like color. I would also like both regional / overland and city options, if that is possible. Building interiors would also be nice, but are less essential. I know there are a lot of options, so I am seeking input from all you wonderful and wise community members. What is best and easiest to use?
Ideally, I need something with a very low learning curve; something inexpensive, and something that won't take tens or hundreds of hours to produce a decent piece. Dose such a thing exist?
I believe Inkarnate has some free options. Not sure how much they let you do without paying.
Wonderdraft will do world/continent/region maps and you can force a clunky city map out of it. DungeonDraft will do nice interiors. Each is about $30 price, one time fee.
DungeonFog requires a subscription but does nice interiors.
Worldographer will do world, regional, city, and dungeon maps (with the Dungeonographer and Cityographer add-ons). I think the whole shebang (world + city + dungeon) is about $80, one time fee.
There are many others, but those are the ones I know the best.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Definitely wonderdraft/dungeondraft. Amazing tools for the price.
I use inkarnate, not only to a it a great tool in itself it has a great community who share so many map designs there is always something I can borrow if in a rush
I’m a huge fan of gimp since it’s completely free and high quality, although that’s a ‘more work’ approach as you need to track down brushes on your own.
off topic but I also recommend getting a 2-bay NAS (I use synology)- low power requirement, useful tools, and syncs all your documents (or subset) across all your PC’s and phone so never have to worry about loss/damage again
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
I also recommend a NAS if you can afford it. I have a two bay Synology NAS with two 8Tb drives running in RAID 1 used to back up my PCs and Linux boxes on the home network. Unfortunately, it costs a few hundred dollars to set up but does provide the ability for automated backups.
As for map makers, there are several options that folks have mentioned. I've tried the free version of Inkarnate and it was ok. However, it is really limited in terms of textures etc. so you may find that to create a set of maps quickly and efficiently you may need to purchase something.
P.S. Although I think Gimp is a great image editing program ... I wouldn't recommend it for making maps ... it is really going back to the basics and would be a lot of work in my opinion.