Map Making Tools

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
Rogerdee

Rogerdee

Legendary Pubber
Joined
Nov 24, 2018
Messages
619
Reaction score
801
Hi folks,

What are some of the best ones out there for making a bespoke world?
Any links would be appreciated.
 
I've yet to find a sane encounter map-making software. The only one that's worked for me has been Adobe Illustrator, where I have full control of everything.
 
Rogerdee said:
Hi folks,

What are some of the best ones out there for making a bespoke world?
Any links would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about a truly bespoke world, where even the symbols are unique to your creation? I can make a bespoke world using Campaign Cartographer, but I'm still using a specific style of a predefined set of symbols. If you are artistic and can create your own symbols, they can be imported into Campaign Cartographer.

Pros:

Currently very, very cheap if you grab it at Black Friday prices.
Great community support.
Great technical support.
Lots of tutorial materials available - manuals, style guides and videos.

Cons:

Learning curve: Making a simple, good looking map is easy using a predefined style if you spend a few hours watching tutorial videos and reading some of the material. If you don't, you won't find things intuitive unless you have experience with CAD. The more professional you want the maps to look, the more of learning curve there is, but its worth it.

It can be expensive when not on sale, especially if you want all the addons like extra symbols, annuals and Dungeon Designer, Cosmographer, Perspectives, City Mapper etc. etc.
 
Nemesis said:
I've yet to find a sane encounter map-making software. The only one that's worked for me has been Adobe Illustrator, where I have full control of everything.
Click to expand...
My biggest gripe with Adobe Illustrator is that it's not very good at roughening curves. It could benefit from a decent fractal roughening tool (unless I'm missing something).
 
If you are happier with the analog, 3-D universe, 'Hexplorer' is an excellent new system of magnetic 1.5" tiles that can be tessellated into landscape maps. I'd say you could use it effectively for a wide range of scales, down to perhaps a half mile per hex and up to perhaps 10 miles per hex (beyond those limits you'll probably want different levels of granularity for terrain and feature types). It is a pretty great tool for playing out a hexcrawl at the table because you can reveal the map one tile at a time as the players move and look around. It is also a fun way to make a map. But of course you have to figure out for yourself how to make permanent digital or hard-copy versions of the maps.
 
Winterblight said:
Are you talking about a truly bespoke world, where even the symbols are unique to your creation? I can make a bespoke world using Campaign Cartographer, but I'm still using a specific style of a predefined set of symbols. If you are artistic and can create your own symbols, they can be imported into Campaign Cartographer.
Click to expand...

Symbols will be the same, but the landmasses, mountains etc will be totally bespoke - such as you quite often see in various other rpg's, whether Atlantis the Second Age, Farland, Conan etc.
 
Nobby-W said:
My biggest gripe with Adobe Illustrator is that it's not very good at roughening curves. It could benefit from a decent fractal roughening tool (unless I'm missing something).
Click to expand...
Have you considered brush patterns?
 
I can't say it's the best, because it is the only one I have ever used. But the fact that I never needed anything else says something. Other World Mapper does stylized maps of continents, city maps, and interior layouts, although I think the landscape mapping is stronger than the other components. The learning curve is very reasonable. Without seeing any tutorials, I just started playing and within the first hour had a map that was good enough for my gaming needs. Here is the website: https://www.otherworldmapper.com/
 
I'm guessing from this you're primarily talking about terrain map makers rather than things primarily for battle-map production? If so, I've probably found Fractal Mapper the best compromise between my limited artistic talents, learning curve, and the versatility of the software.
 
Vidgrip said:
I can't say it's the best, because it is the only one I have ever used. But the fact that I never needed anything else says something. Other World Mapper does stylized maps of continents, city maps, and interior layouts, although I think the landscape mapping is stronger than the other components. The learning curve is very reasonable. Without seeing any tutorials, I just started playing and within the first hour had a map that was good enough for my gaming needs. Here is the website: https://www.otherworldmapper.com/
Click to expand...

I picked up Other World Mapper early this year, and I've been fairly happy with it. I've played around a bit with some free mapping software like AutoREALM in the past, but OWM has been money well spent for someone wanting something closer to professional looking maps. There are tutorial videos on YouTube, which helped me get over the learning curve.
 
Found a great source here

Cartographers' Guild

A website and forum for enthusiasts of fantasy maps mapmaking and cartography of all types. We are a thriving community of fantasy map makers that provide tutorials, references, and resources for fellow mapmakers.
www.cartographersguild.com
 
Rogerdee said:
Found a great source here

Cartographers' Guild

A website and forum for enthusiasts of fantasy maps mapmaking and cartography of all types. We are a thriving community of fantasy map makers that provide tutorials, references, and resources for fellow mapmakers.
www.cartographersguild.com
Click to expand...
Cartographers Guild is awesome!!! I used several of the tutorials written by the members to learn how to use GIMP to create maps.
 
Rogerdee said:
Hi folks,

What are some of the best ones out there for making a bespoke world?
Any links would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
I used GIMP a freeware Photoshop clone to create numerous maps. It is a powerful tool, and absolutely fantastic for creating all kinds of different styles. I even used it to make several photorealistic satellite style maps. The only complaint I had was how long it took to render large multi-layer maps, though that could have also been my not awesome computer. It is a very useful tool for map making.
 
I just came across this one:

pendicepaper.com

HEXROLL: Roll a Sandbox

Generate a random hexcrawl sandbox with maps, cities, dungeons, NPCs, quests and potential storyline. Save it online or download for offline use.
pendicepaper.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top