Hoppefully i can ask this here, if not please delete

What software/programs do people use to draw maps/dungeons.

Many thanks

Ash

Hello,

I use Inkarnate for the world map, it's an online tool. You can use it for free and it's possible to make a taller map with the pro subscription. (5 dollars a month or 25 dollars a year).

I really suck at drawing but the result is cool anyway!

You can look at my previous post to see an exemple: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/dungeon-masters-only/26256-beginner-dm-world-size

Hope that help you!

if you have photoshop (or gimp which is afree download) then go to gogots on deviant art, they have a full set of brushes which are free to download for non commercial purposes, and to be honest, they're absolutely fantastic, you could draw anything from an apple floating on water to a full area map with them. particularly good for things like dungeons and towns.

for area maps up to whole worlds, then inkarnate is your best bet, i drew my continental maps in there, you can then export them and work on them further if you like in photoshop or gimp, it is possible to draw multiple map sections in inkarnate, then glue them together in photoshop or gimp also

I will also recommend the pro version of Inkarnate, not only for big world maps, but you can also make great "local" maps and city maps. 

Cheers, so I've got Gimp, but i'm not sure how i'm meant to use the brushes , sorry to be a pain  

It really depends on what the map is for.

Is this supposed to be a player handout? Then you might want to get artistic - in the vein of what others have suggested. Or maybe not, if the map they have is scrawled by Orcs, or Bandits.

Is this just for the DM to keep track of where everything is in relation to everything else? Honestly, a simple hex map with appropriate colors for terrain types and labeled dots for locations is more than enough.

I find a lot of people get "map paralysis": they want to make a perfect, hyper-detailed, Tolkien-style map. And then somehow we get the idea that the map is now "real" and we as DMs are bound by it. 

Conversely, even just some place names connected by lines, with a few notes next to those lines about travel times is enough for you to start describing how the world is structured locally, and to describe party journeys from point A to point B. Most of my towns and city maps - for my own use - are like this: wards, districts, and neighborhoods as labels, with a few sketched in major roads, and notes as to what can be found in each district, with call-outs for specific or unique buildings. It's enough for the DM to run things.

Quote from Ashtroboy >>

Cheers, so I've got Gimp, but i'm not sure how i'm meant to use the brushes , sorry to be a pain  

 i use photoshop, in that you open the single image file that you want to use as a brush, select edit,  then from that drop down select define brush preset, from there you have a defined brush,
such as a roof for example, do that for each brush you want to use for your map, then save it as a set of brushes for future use.

draw your land lay out colour that in.

open a new file set it to transparent background something like 3000 by 3000 pixels at 72 pixels per inch (can be smaller depending on your brush size but some of the large brushes are 1500 pixels )
in the painting section, you then simply select something like a 9b pencil preset first, this will set it nice and dark and put plenty of definition down. then select the brush preset you want to use, your roof for example, paint it on a new blank file is best then you can be cunning and save it for re use later, you simply copy it and paste it you can select it and move it round rotate it and resize it once it's on your main map.

when doing this next bit write down the setting you use so that you can reproduce then from one piece of map furniture to another such as opacity, %ages colour settings and suchlike .

however.as i was saying. paint your roof shape, use your selection tools, to select the bit you just drew add a new colour fill layer mode normal at about 50 to 70% opacity, 
(you can define patterns in the same way that you define brush presets.) reselect your layer and add a pattern fill layer, fiddle with the scale so that it just makes your roof look a little dirty, the mode for this will be either multiply or darken. save your shape there if you're going to be reusing it multiple times.
next bit reselect your layer again and add a 3rd fill layer of gradient, that will apply lighting shadow across your room, if you play with the settings you can vary it for light strength angle,
next select all layers and merge them,  
make it into a smart object or whatever gimp calls them, copy it place it on your back ground,  if you have some at the same orientation, just repeat the paste and place,

make all the shapes you want place them on your background, 
once you're happy save it as an editable document. then merge layers flatten image and export it as a jpeg, 

it will take a bit of learning, but on the plus side there is a vast ammount of photoshop tutorials out there and gimp is supposed to be very similar to use, they just call some of the functions slightly different names.

you end up with something like this which you place where you want it on your background.
this is still in the process of being drawn before placement. on the back ground

 oh well i give in it doesn't seem to want to allow the pic

actually i've just made a discovery that speeds things up massively, if you select a square with fill it with colour then put the brush down on top things are much quicker, you can cut it and paste it on a new document from there, that takes seconds previously it had been taking me a while to select the brush for the fill.10 minutes or so, the colour first method takes 20 seconds tops to get it drawn cut and onto a new document for further editing