I have found myself reaching for Inkarnate most of the time I am creating a straightforward battlemap. Inkarnate can be used to create regional maps and battlemaps. UI can get slow on big maps with lots of assets or slow internet connection.

Subscription model, not a one time purchase.

Walls don’t “snap” together, which can make the creation of dungeons or other indoors areas clunky.

Pro version allows for commercial sale of maps.

UI is thorough enough to create amazing maps but streamlined enough to build maps quickly.

Completely online, no software download or install.

Easily the most fleshed out, versatile map building option.

It’s got a slick UI, tons of assets, and can create detailed maps in a matter of minutes. Inkarnate is easily the best fantasy map making software on the market. The below-featured map makers will list the pros and cons of each software, as well as their best use case. There will never be a straight-up “best” D&D map maker. In this article, we will explore which software is best for which purposes while making D&D maps. There are plenty of ways to use digital maps, you could print them off or use a communal screen for in-person sessions, or use them with virtual tabletops for online sessions. Mapmaking software, due to the sheer number of options, is a much less straightforward solution. Hand-drawn maps can be drawn on anything from a piece of printer paper to whiteboards, but in recent years, wet-erase grid maps have become the crème de la crème solution. These maps, most commonly used for in-person games, can be combined with terrain pieces or miniatures. Hand-drawn maps have been around since the inception of D&D. There are two primary ways to make maps they can be hand-drawn or made using online software. Typically, they are self-contained for a single encounter, though they can grow to display the entirety of a dungeon or building that players are working their way through.īattlemaps are usually overlaid by a standard 5-foot by 5-foot grid to make player movement and scaling consistent. These maps are usually on a smaller scale than regional maps. This type of exploration is typically called a “hex crawl” and is addressed in depth in the D&D Adventure Tomb of Annihilation. If used for exploration, then these maps can contain a grid. These maps can be anything from a world map, provincial map, or city map. They show the region from a bird’s-eye view. These maps are typically on a larger scale than battlemaps. There are two main types of maps used commonly in D&D: regional maps and battlemaps.

Whether you play in-person or online and with or without battlemaps, chances are you will be creating a map for something while playing D&D. Some groups may rely on the DM’s descriptions of the locations they find themselves in, while other groups use maps. Because it is a tabletop game, most of the visualization in D&D is left up to the imagination.

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