Map-making software

[italianranma]

What are the community's picks for map making software. I'd want something broad enough that I could make a world map, country maps, town maps, and dungeon maps.

For the dungeon maps, it wouldn't be necessary, but I'd like something with enough detail that I could print it out and mount it on poster board and use it as a battle map with minitures.

Also if there's a trial version of the software, please let me know.

 

[Derren]

If you want to do all this you probably need the Campaign Cartographer with its Addons.
In its newest Version (and its correct addons) the Campaign Cartographer can make good looking world/country, city and dungeon maps.
The downside is that the CC is quite expensive and hard to learn.

http://www.profantasy.com/library/demo.asp

A other alternative for city and dungeon maps would be http://www.dundjinni.com
With that programm you can easily make good looking maps and the programm is, compared to CC, cheap. Then you only need to search for a free/cheap world mapping programm and don't need the Campaign Cartographer.

 

[Imruphel]

You should be aware that Dundjinni is a resource hog and may cause your PC to practically shut down even with small maps. The results are fantastic but I have given up because it's not practical to use.

I've given up on electronic mapping and instead buy every map product I can find. Skeleton Key Games and 0One Games produce my favourite products; 0One Games, in particular, has very reasonable prices.

 

[Pbartender]

The downside is that the CC is quite expensive and hard to learn.

Fractal Mapper is less so on both counts. A trial version is available here.

 

[Merkuri]

I don't think Fractal Mapper can do dungeons very effectively. I mean, it'll add a grid, but it looks more like it's made for overland maps.

 

[rounser]

Lior's Map Creator is good for grid mapping, but be prepared to make your own tiles (it's got an inbuilt editor for such purposes which makes things easier):
http://www.liors.net/software/map_creator/index.php
Arr-Kelaan's Hexmapper is popular for hexmapping, and is a bit more robust than Lior's when scaled to large maps (Lior's tends to slow down a bit):
http://home.paonline.com/zaikoski/ak/TOOLS.HTM

Put them together and you've got dungeons and wilderness sorted (well, you could skip Arr-Kelaan altogether and use Lior's for wilderness too if you chose, but Arr-Kelaan offers the advantage of being able to lay a hex grid over existing maps you might have as image files).

Urban areas remain a bit of a problem, because they're not served very well by painting on tiles (which is by far the quickest and easiest way of making RPG maps IMO). Arr-Kelaan offers a Town Mapper, but I think that the range of tiles available need a lot of expansion before it would be truly usable - you'd probably have to copy and paste images cut from RPG town maps already available to you to expand the range of stampable buildings in it.

The advantage of hexing and gridding maps should be obvious; they give you a handle on discrete areas, which makes populating them easy. It also allows PCs and NPCs alike to be tracked like pieces on a board when in the wilderness, for example.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I haven't used them for city or dungeon maps yet, but I have started a Cartography Workshop which explains how to use freely downloadable Open Source programs for creating overland maps...

 

[lior_shapira]

Lior's Map Creator is good for grid mapping, but be prepared to make your own tiles (it's got an inbuilt editor for such purposes which makes things easier):
http://www.liors.net/software/map_creator/index.php
...

I'm really flattered that people still use that I haven't touched the code in over 7 years. I've thought about doing a new version from time to time, but with all the commercial options available today I didn't think anyone would be interested.

lior

 

[rounser]

I'm really flattered that people still use that I haven't touched the code in over 7 years. I've thought about doing a new version from time to time, but with all the commercial options available today I didn't think anyone would be interested.

I'm surprised there isn't more of a stir over your program in the same way as Hexmapper has gained such a following, actually. I find it a lot more user friendly than grid mapper alternatives like Dungeoncrafter, MapX and so forth.

 

[Pbartender]

I don't think Fractal Mapper can do dungeons very effectively. I mean, it'll add a grid, but it looks more like it's made for overland maps.

The website and previews tend to highlight the overland maps, but...

I actually use it for quick, functional DM dungeon maps a lot more than I use it for overland maps. The fractal functions are great for making cavern complexes, not just coastlines and rivers.

Overland maps I usually do mostly with Photoshop.