Making DND Maps
November 16, 2011 8:49 AM   Subscribe

Help me (low/no Photoshop skill) make maps for my online DND campaign.

I run a DND game on GoogleWave (I know, it's an obsolete site, but it works for me, and I can access it through my work's firewall). For combat, we use a Wave gadget that lays a grid over a jpg cached online (photobucket, etc.).

The problem is, making maps is a pain. What I've been doing so far is cutting pieces out of official WotC maps and putting them together in Photoshop. But it's an inelegant solution. Having never made a map from scratch, I'd like to learn how. My players definitely deserve better.

Where do I start? Do I have to learn more Photoshop skills? I'd rather not spend any real cash.
posted by marcin_zissou to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (6 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
If you haven't already, start with a google search for Dungeon map making and just play the field for a while. There are quite a few free and/or online tools for generating or creating your own maps. Some of them have pretty good art, some of them handle outdoor spaces, not just dungeons, etc.

Give a bunch of them a try out, you'll probably find one that you really like.
posted by -harlequin- at 8:53 AM on November 16, 2011


(Many of them are free)
posted by -harlequin- at 8:59 AM on November 16, 2011


Response by poster: Sorry, forgot to mention in my original posting that I'm working on a Mac. most of the google searches I've gone through start with, "oh, this looks awesome" and end with "oh, it's only for windows".
posted by marcin_zissou at 9:21 AM on November 16, 2011


Have you seen Dave's Mapper? (It's browser-based.)
posted by seikleja at 9:40 AM on November 16, 2011


http://donjon.bin.sh/d20/dungeon/ is simple but fun.
posted by Strass at 10:04 AM on November 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


Go to cartographers guild and read the guides and howtos there: http://www.cartographersguild.com/

Dunjinni is easy to use, though outdated & expensive.
Maptools is harder, but also more powerful: http://rptools.net/
Both let you fit pieces together, lay tokens (Chairs, tables, etc) on the map, stuff like that. I think Dunjini also has draw tools that fill in textures and such.
posted by Canageek at 8:07 PM on November 16, 2011


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