Assets such as world maps, maps of a city, or battle maps help tabletop roleplaying games create a sense of tangibility. I love defining the geography of the world I am playing in to help immerse the roleplaying experience, understanding where things are, and give a sense of adventure if I’m playing in a game where exploration is a key theme. The only problem is: I suck when it comes to drawing. Luckily there are many digital tools that can help create whatever you like. Here are a few I use for my tabletop games:
Wonderdraft
I don’t usually create home-brewed worlds in my tabletop games, but Wonderdraft empowered me to make a bunch of custom countries in my Forgotten Realms settings. It is intuitive and detailed. The first time I used Wonderdraft, I spent 6 hours creating a continent and didn’t realize how late in the evening it was. You can customize the look and feel of the map by downloading art packs, which contain a bunch of custom assets. You can buy Wonderdraft through their website here. The same company (Megasploot) makes my favorite battle map tool…
Dungeondraft
I’m not going to lie, and I usually buy other people’s battle maps. I have a problem visualizing what I want, and other artists on the internet have better vision than I do. Dungeondraft is a fantastic tool for someone who knows what they want to create. Like Wonderdraft, Dungeondraft has a ton of asset packs where you can genuinely make any dungeon, mansion, castle, etc., you want. Other artists have used Dungeondraft to create unique landscapes, and I have purchased and used my own game. When I got more comfortable with the tool, I made my own “basic” dungeon maps and found the application super easy to use. I strongly recommend this tool if you have a lot of time to prepare for your game because you can get very detailed with this tool, and it can take a lot of time to create what you want correctly. My favorite part of this tool is creating your lighting effects. Most virtual tabletop platforms allow you to import these maps with the lighting maintained, which is super handy. You can purchase Dungeondraft through the website here.
Hobbyte Dungeon Builder
I am starting to get into Isometric Dungeon Maps to help give my players a sense of height in any dungeon, and I stumbled upon Hobbyte’s Dungeon Builder. I have tried other tools but found most of them very difficult to use. Hobbyte’s Dungeon Builder, on the other hand, was insanely easy. There’s a great community of users willing to share ideas and assets. When I plan to run a new Dungeons & Dragons game, I will use isometric dungeon maps exclusively, so I plan to use this tool heavily to build what I want. You can purchase this app via their website here.
These tools are just my favorite ones. There are many more out there, especially ones I don’t know about. What tools do you like to use? Let us know by reaching out in a comment here, or comment on our social media accounts.
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