I'm a big fan of map making in D&D. Being able to have a good visual is an essential to any of my towns, cities, or worlds. I used to do all of my maps by hand. But quite frankly, I'm not exactly an artist. I would get to the point where many spots are illegible, run out of room on my graph paper, or just want to erase something I have already drawn.
Recently I started to use Inkarnate, and I enjoy it a lot. Even using the free version is very helpful, and it gets everything I need done.
Recently I've been searching for a similar tool to help me build my villages/towns/cities. I've come across random generators that help, but I want something I can build from scratch. Does anyone know how they make the maps for official WotC adventures? They seem to intricate and detailed to draw by hand (But I don't know, because some artists have insane skill).
If anyone has any good resources, your comment would be appreciated.
You could try MapForge. It has lots of content Add-Ons available for it. Below are links to the ones most suited to mapping out villages, towns and cities.
You don't need to be able to draw well (or at all) to use MapForge. The various content artists have already done that for you. You just assemble the pre-made "building blocks" provided into the layout that you want. You can also use art that you've downloaded from sites like the Dundjinni user forums or rpgmapshare.com, via drag-and-drop.
All I know about is a website called WorldAnvil, but I do not think they offer map-building services, only world building.
However, I do know a trick to drawing maps without having to be an artist. If you want to create a random map from scratch, take a large sheet of paper, then all the dice you have, and throw the dice onto the sheet. The dice will make shapes and clusters, and you can draw a border around the groups of dice and viola! You have a continent. Smaller clusters of dice can be islands, maybe the higher the roll in certain areas the more mountainous it is, or the higher the population there. My DM does this for every campaign we have in a new world, its a funny little method of making a map by hand. Every time he does this he adds new little rules, like if one of the dice rolls the highest it can there has to be an abandoned castle there, or if there are three dice of a certain color/set that land together there is a huge city. So that's the weird little map-making thing I learned from my DM.
I don't know about anything digital, though, or anything for making specific cities/villages.
I'm a big fan of map making in D&D. Being able to have a good visual is an essential to any of my towns, cities, or worlds. I used to do all of my maps by hand. But quite frankly, I'm not exactly an artist. I would get to the point where many spots are illegible, run out of room on my graph paper, or just want to erase something I have already drawn.
Recently I started to use Inkarnate, and I enjoy it a lot. Even using the free version is very helpful, and it gets everything I need done.
Recently I've been searching for a similar tool to help me build my villages/towns/cities. I've come across random generators that help, but I want something I can build from scratch. Does anyone know how they make the maps for official WotC adventures? They seem to intricate and detailed to draw by hand (But I don't know, because some artists have insane skill).
If anyone has any good resources, your comment would be appreciated.
Are you looking for gridded battle maps like this, for use with minis:
or something more like this for general use:
(That's Campaign Cartographer) Inkarnate can do something like this second one, can't it? I haven't used it, but just looking at the Inkarnate website, I found this:
Is that at the pay level? Even then, $25/year sounds okay.
I'm a big fan of Campaign Cartographer, but it's a steep learning curve. Once you do learn it, it's amazing. But if you already know Inkarnate, if that's the kind of map you're looking for, I'd say just use that.
All I know about is a website called WorldAnvil, but I do not think they offer map-building services, only world building.
However, I do know a trick to drawing maps without having to be an artist. If you want to create a random map from scratch, take a large sheet of paper, then all the dice you have, and throw the dice onto the sheet. The dice will make shapes and clusters, and you can draw a border around the groups of dice and viola! You have a continent. Smaller clusters of dice can be islands, maybe the higher the roll in certain areas the more mountainous it is, or the higher the population there. My DM does this for every campaign we have in a new world, its a funny little method of making a map by hand. Every time he does this he adds new little rules, like if one of the dice rolls the highest it can there has to be an abandoned castle there, or if there are three dice of a certain color/set that land together there is a huge city. So that's the weird little map-making thing I learned from my DM.
I don't know about anything digital, though, or anything for making specific cities/villages.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew:Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Hello,
I'm a big fan of map making in D&D. Being able to have a good visual is an essential to any of my towns, cities, or worlds. I used to do all of my maps by hand. But quite frankly, I'm not exactly an artist. I would get to the point where many spots are illegible, run out of room on my graph paper, or just want to erase something I have already drawn.
Recently I started to use Inkarnate, and I enjoy it a lot. Even using the free version is very helpful, and it gets everything I need done.
Recently I've been searching for a similar tool to help me build my villages/towns/cities. I've come across random generators that help, but I want something I can build from scratch. Does anyone know how they make the maps for official WotC adventures? They seem to intricate and detailed to draw by hand (But I don't know, because some artists have insane skill).
If anyone has any good resources, your comment would be appreciated.
Hi there,
check out this thread - you and the user that posted there may be able to share tips too!
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/arts-crafts/28998-drawing-city-maps
As well as that, I found both of these subreddits had a lot of really good info:
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You could try MapForge. It has lots of content Add-Ons available for it. Below are links to the ones most suited to mapping out villages, towns and cities.
Village
City
Hamlets
Village
City
You don't need to be able to draw well (or at all) to use MapForge. The various content artists have already done that for you. You just assemble the pre-made "building blocks" provided into the layout that you want. You can also use art that you've downloaded from sites like the Dundjinni user forums or rpgmapshare.com, via drag-and-drop.
All I know about is a website called WorldAnvil, but I do not think they offer map-building services, only world building.
However, I do know a trick to drawing maps without having to be an artist. If you want to create a random map from scratch, take a large sheet of paper, then all the dice you have, and throw the dice onto the sheet. The dice will make shapes and clusters, and you can draw a border around the groups of dice and viola! You have a continent. Smaller clusters of dice can be islands, maybe the higher the roll in certain areas the more mountainous it is, or the higher the population there. My DM does this for every campaign we have in a new world, its a funny little method of making a map by hand. Every time he does this he adds new little rules, like if one of the dice rolls the highest it can there has to be an abandoned castle there, or if there are three dice of a certain color/set that land together there is a huge city. So that's the weird little map-making thing I learned from my DM.
I don't know about anything digital, though, or anything for making specific cities/villages.
Are you looking for gridded battle maps like this, for use with minis:
or something more like this for general use:
(That's Campaign Cartographer) Inkarnate can do something like this second one, can't it? I haven't used it, but just looking at the Inkarnate website, I found this:
Is that at the pay level? Even then, $25/year sounds okay.
I'm a big fan of Campaign Cartographer, but it's a steep learning curve. Once you do learn it, it's amazing. But if you already know Inkarnate, if that's the kind of map you're looking for, I'd say just use that.
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
This is such a great idea!!
You could try https://www.masterthedungeon.com/. They have nice resources.
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playing since 1986
Yeah, that website is very useful.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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Homebrew: Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
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If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Sorry to piggyback off this thread.
Does anyone know if there is a digital version of dwarven forge style 3D mapmaking tools available anywhere. Thanks in advance!