Pre-made maps are convenient, but sometimes a particular encounter, settlement or world needs something custom. Map-making tools range from simple black-and-white dungeon sketchers to detailed art applications and procedural generators.

Start with the map’s job. A world map needs readable regions and travel routes; a battle map needs a useful scale and clear obstacles; a player handout may care more about mood than tactical precision.

World & Regional Maps

• Inkarnate — browser-based editor for world, regional, city and battle maps, with free and subscription tiers.
• Wonderdraft — downloadable world-map editor purchased with a one-time payment and expandable with custom assets.
• Campaign Cartographer — powerful CAD-like map-making suite with a substantial learning curve and a large catalogue of add-ons.
• Azgaar’s Fantasy Map Generator — free procedural world generator with extensive controls for terrain, nations, cultures, routes and labels.
• Other World Mapper — downloadable vector-oriented editor for world, regional and battle maps.
• Worldographer — desktop hex-map editor for worlds, settlements and battlemats, descended from Hexographer and Cityographer.
• Hex Map Maker — lightweight browser tool for quickly creating and exporting labelled hex maps.

Battle Maps & Dungeons

• Dungeondraft — downloadable battle-map editor with a one-time purchase and a large ecosystem of third-party asset packs.
• Dungeon Alchemist — Windows, macOS and Linux editor that procedurally furnishes rooms and exports maps for print or virtual tabletops.
• DUNGEONFOG — browser-based vector battle-map editor with a free tier, community maps and separate premium and commercial licensing.
• Dungeon Scrawl — fast browser editor for clean, old-school dungeon maps.
• RPG Map Editor 2 — free, lightweight browser editor for top-down grid maps.
• Dungeon Map Doodler — quick hand-drawn-style dungeon sketching in the browser.
• Dungeon Builder — downloadable isometric dungeon editor with a hand-drawn tile set, image export and a free demo.
• Arkenforge PaidIn-person VTTDesktopIn-person — creates animated maps and also presents them on a screen at an in-person table.

Procedural & Tile-Based Generators

• Watabou’s generators — free procedural cities, villages, dungeons, caves, neighbourhoods and other map experiments.
• Donjon — random dungeons and world maps alongside many non-map game generators.
• Dave’s Mapper — assembles community-created tiles into dungeons, caves, cities, villages and science-fiction maps.
• Mapgen4 — interactive procedural island generator with editable terrain and water flow.
• Gridmapper — keyboard-driven old-school dungeon mapper that stores maps as text.

Drawing Your Own Maps

General illustration applications such as Procreate, Affinity Photo, Krita or Photoshop can be excellent map makers when paired with appropriate brushes, symbols and textures. The Assets page lists fantasy-map brushes and asset libraries, including packs for Dungeondraft and Wonderdraft.

Exporting & Licensing

Check both the application’s terms and the licenses of any imported asset packs before publishing or selling a map. A tool may permit commercial exports while an individual brush, texture or symbol pack permits only personal use. Also confirm resolution, grid size and whether your target VTT can import walls, doors and lighting data or only a flattened image.