Dungeons & Dragons 5E is lucky to have such a huge community around it. That same community has created some of the best D&D map makers and tools in the tabletop scene.
A good map not only helps players visualise the world they are exploring, but also adds an extra layer of immersion to the game. It’s certainly better than relying on the theatre of the mind when you’re on a Discord call with your party.
Best D&D map makers
- The best simple map maker for D&D: Donjon
- The best city map maker for D&D: Medieval Fantasy City Generator
- The best D&D map maker for creating continents: Wonderdraft
- The best D&D map maker for generating whole worlds: Inkarnate
- The best battle map maker for D&D: Wonderdraft
- The best 3D AI map maker for D&D: Dungeon Alchemist
- The best old-school map maker for D&D: Dungeon Scrawl
- The best free virtual tabletop map maker for D&D: Roll20
- The best customisable map maker for D&D (that’s also open-source): MapTool
- The best premium virtual tabletop map maker for D&D: Foundry Virtual Tabletop
However, creating a detailed and accurate map by hand can be a daunting task. Luckily, there are many tools and resources available to help even the most inexperienced player.
From the simplest of grids to AI-generated 3D landscapes, here are some of the best D&D map makers and tools you should use in your next campaign.
1. Donjon
The best simple map maker for D&D
There are tons of map makers out there, but for people who want to just dabble and learn the craft, Donjon is the best tool to use. With its simple user interface and handy guides, anybody can create dungeons, named NPCs and even random encounters with a click of a button. Donjon has everything a newbie map maker needs to start their games quickly.
In addition to the map maker, Donjon also happens to host a whole suite of tools, including a spell book generator, a name generator and even a hilariously specific generator for teams inspired by animated series RWBY, if that’s your thing.
Either way you slice it, Donjon is a simple and comprehensive platform with all the basics a dungeon master needs to make their world.
Find the suite of tools, including map makers, over on the Donjon website.
2. Medieval Fantasy City Generator
The best city map maker for D&D
Of course, Donjon can only do so much with its simple tools. If you find yourself wanting an entire city for your party to play around in, then the Medieval Fantasy City Generator is the perfect tool. With a single click, the map-making tool generates entire towns or cities for your campaign to be set in. The generator even includes important landmarks with their own fantasy names.
These maps are also easily customisable. From the city’s layout to its landmark names and even the map’s colours, Medieval Fantasy City Generator is a complete package as far as making a map for a fantasy city goes. Pair it with Donjon’s NPC generator to make fully-realised towns with both a town map and interior maps.
Find Medieval City Fantasy Generator over on developer Oleg Dolya’s Itch.io page.
3. Wonderdraft
The best D&D map maker for creating continents
Why stop at cities? Why not create an entire continent? Wonderdraft is the first premium tool on this list, costing $30 as a one-time purchase. However, its subreddit would be the first to tell you that it’s a purchase you won’t regret, especially if you spend a lot of time as a dungeon master. Wonderdraft is a map-making tool that can be as simple or complex as you want it to be.
Continental Map Maker streamlines the process of making maps for D&D with its great user interface, handy tools and compatibility with a large library of third-party assets. It’s heavily specialised in world/region maps, however, so make sure to use this tool in conjunction with the other tools previously discussed, such as Donjon and Medieval Fantasy City Generator. With all three, you’ll be building fleshed-out worlds in no time.
Buy Wonderdraft from developer Megasploot’s website.
4. Inkarnate
The best D&D map maker for generating whole worlds
Continents? Why not entire worlds? Inkarnate is a fantastic and stylish map-making tool that covers almost all aspects of map-making, from battle maps to the world stage. With a huge pre-installed asset library, great support, a solid user interface and plenty of options for tweaking maps, Inkarnate does have quite a lot of advantages over Wonderdraft in some aspects.
However, it’s important to note that Inkarnate al
