Any good free map making software? (Moved from General)

[IamTheTest]

Any good free map making software?

Our group has only been playing together for a couple months and I want to get them a little something as a GM day present (Im adding in the players since we all like presents). At the moment the map we are using is just a pencil/marker sketch on a piece of computer paper. Id like for my character, who has ranks in profession(cartographer), to produce a map for the group. Is there any software that could help me out? Thanks.

 

[Pinotage]

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but you could try out DungeonCrafter or AutoRealm. I think they're more dungeon based (tile sets etc.) than anything else so I'm not sure about their applicability to wilderness maps.

Pinotage

 

[JimAde]

Actually AutoRealm has pretty spiffy tools for outdoor maps. It does these cool fractal lines for rivers, coatlines, etc. that look great. I think it's better for wilderness maps than it is for indoor stuff.

 

[IamTheTest]

Thanks for the advice, I'll look into AutoRealm.

 

[Pbartender]

I'm very fond of Mapmaker Plus.

It's a font pack for creating old medieval and renaissance style maps. The fonts are all based on actual historical cartographer like Ortelius. Some of the fonts are actual fonts, but others are bits and pieces of art that can be pieced together into a map using any image editing program. The deluxe version also comes with dozens of images of antique maps.

This is a sample map from their tutorial...

 

[ElvishBard]

Personally, I love Interactive Dungeon. Type it in Google. It's fast, it's easy, and best (most) important of all, it's free! It works really good though, I use it for all my maps that I make.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I'm very fond of Mapmaker Plus.

It's a font pack for creating old medieval and renaissance style maps. The fonts are all based on actual historical cartographer like Ortelius. Some of the fonts are actual fonts, but others are bits and pieces of art that can be pieced together into a map using any image editing program. The deluxe version also comes with dozens of images of antique maps.

This is a sample map from their tutorial...

It is however not free, part of what he was asking for. It is in fact fairly pricey.

There is also Dewmap which is free.

The Auld Grump

 

[Pbartender]

It is however not free, part of what he was asking for.

Oop... Hadn't noticed that, as he had only mentioned it in the title.

It is a little pricey, but it's the only mapmaking software (or font pack, for that matter) that I've ever bought. So far, it's been worth the money... But that's just me.

As far as free software goes, the only one I've found that's worth downloading is AUTORealm. Last I time I used it, I ran across several annoying glitches that would ruin an entire map in a fraction of a second.