The Ten BEST Tools for Fantasy Map Making

If you’re looking to create maps for your fantasy world building project, be it for fun, for a book, or for DND, then you’ve come to the right place. There are plenty of ways that you can make your own map with technology if you’re not someone! that enjoys hand-drawing things by yourself. So, for today’s post, I’ll be covering ten of the best tools for fantasy map making for your next world building project and talk about the pros and cons of each option.

1. Azgaar’s Fantasy Map Generator

The first one on this list is Azgaar’s Fantasy Map Generator. This web-based map generator allows you to create tons of different maps that include pretty much anything that you want on them. This is a great way to create a base for your map ideas and designs.

You can choose to create maps based on the distribution of religious adherents (which is a good option if religion is a big thing in your fantasy world), biomes, cultural distributions, political boundaries, and more.

There are a lot of things that you can add and remove from your map and there are lots of markers that you can design as well. You can also see your map in a 3D scale and global scale so you can get an idea of the more nitty-gritty details like elevation and more.

The tool is opensource and you can download it onto your PC if you don’t want to have to go through the online version. Azgaar also posted some tutorials on Github with information on how to get started using this tool in case you find yourself feeling a little bit lost.

2. Inkarnate

Inkarnate is another very popular and well-known option that you can use to create your own fantasy maps as well. This one has a free and pro version, so do be aware that some things will be looked behind a paywall.

Inkarnate was made for authors, map enthusiasts, and game masters, which means that it has plenty of robust and intricate tools to allow for you to create your own ultimate fantasy map for your next book or project.

Inkarnate features stamps that were made by artists that allow you to place things like mountain ranges, castles, cities, and more.

You can make maps for things like individual cities, regions, battle maps, interior maps and more. There’s a lot of room for you to be as creative as you want with this tool.

Although Inkarnate is a subscription tool, you can still use all the maps you make in it for commercial purposes even after your subscription expires. So, if you want to sell a poster of your map, you can do that even if you don’t feel like paying anymore.

If you’re interested, the pricing models are as follows:

It’s honestly not bad at all for $25 in a whole year! There’s so much that you can do with Inkarnate and if you need a whole year for it, it’s pretty cheap compared to some other tools out there. Even if you only need it for a month or two, $5 in a month is great honestly. It’s affordable and the free version does have some good features as well if you just want to play around with the tool before committing any money to it.

3. Donjon

Donjon is another tool that you can use to generate quite a lot of things besides just world maps, but it has a fantasy map generator tool that is a bit different compared to Inkarnate and Azgaar. I think Donjon is a great tool so you can get inspiration for the names of locations in your world rather than just producing maps, as you can input a few options and it will generate a map for you that includes the names of locations based off of your options.

As you can see, this map above is something I generated after inputting a few options into the generator.

This above list are names of locations that Donjon basically generated for me randomly. You can use Donjon to make maps so you can get an idea of what the general view will look like and you can use some of the other generators for things like names and locations to enhance your world more.

4. Kassoon

Kassoon is a web-based map generator that you can use to create randomly generated maps for free. If you want to customize the map more, you’ll have to get access to the premium features by subscribing to Kassoon’s Patreon.

Basically, as you can see in the image below, this is what one of the randomly generated maps looks like. You can have it include the names of countries or not and then work from there. I think it’s a great way to create the base for a map and then you can go from there to build onto it using a digital art software like GIMP.

5. Rock 3

If you own a gaming PC and you want something a little different compared to some of the other options on this list, then let me point you towards this free, Steam-based game called Rock 3.

Rock 3 allows for you to create worlds and maps that are based on Earth. The software does things like model tectonic plates, the climate, and allows for you to add things like realistic biomes, continents, islands and more.

The app itself uses procedural generation, which means that planets are randomly generated based on a set of options inside of the software and you can adjust and tweak them to your liking.

Rock 3 does use the computer’s GPU to generate the planets, and this is why I said that you should have some type of gaming PC or gaming laptop that has a good, more updated graphics card since the resolution might not be as nice if you have a slower, older laptop.

6. Nortantis Fantasy Map Creator

Nortantis is a free and opensource map generator that was designed with authors in mind so that you can create a fantasy map for your next book.

The neat thing about Nortantis is that you can generate random maps that use tectonic plate simulation in order to create features like continents, regions, cities, mountains and more. You can adjust the shading of the coastline and even pick from 4 ocean wave styles.

There’s the ability to add coloring based on the political regions and you have tools with brushes for things like lakes, land, rivers, mountains and more. Plus, it automatically comes on paper backgrounds to make it look older and more fantasy-like.

You will need to download Nortantis on your computer and you should have 6 GB of RAM minimum. The average laptop comes with 8 GB of RAM, so you’re most likely fine. Unfortunately, for Mac users, Nortantis is not available. There is source code for Linux users though if you’re one.

7. World Anvil

World Anvil is definitely one of the most popular world building tools out there and I’ve talked about it before on my blog if you’re interested in a more in-depth review. In any case, World Anvil also includes the ability to generate your own interactive fantasy map if you want to keep everything within one app.

With World Anvil, your map is interactive and you can link documents you make within the app about things like cities, towns, countries, regions, etc… and include it on your map so you can refer back and forth to the map and the documents.

You can also chart the progress of your characters in the story onto your map, which is honestly great for putting things into context, because it can be a bit confusing sometimes to do that by yourself. You can also make custom markers, hide spoilers from readers and more. ]

The thing with World Anvil is that you will need a pre-made map to put into their interactive map maker. The only thing that World Anvil lets you do is to basically turn the map you made into something that you can move around, add details to, and well, interact with.

If you’re interested in World Anvil, check it out today.

8. Wonderdraft

Wonderdraft is another option that lets you create tons of different fantasy maps with different types of realistic landmasses. You also have access to tons of brushes and you can draw realistic rivers and roads and make them look like professionally-drawn maps easily.

There are map themes and presets in case you want a bit of help and direction with some of your designs. Plus, your content is royalty free and DRM free. If you’re someone that’a also a bit artistic and have your own digital pen like the Wacom, then Wonderdraft has support for that.

Wonderdraft does have minimum specs required for your device. You need to have Windows or Linux, a dedicated GPU (NVIDIA GTX 760 and above), 4 GB of RAM, and your CPU must be an Intel i3 2.5GHz or similar and above.

The software does cost $30 USD to buy but it’s a one-time purchase. There are two art packs (pirate and fantasy building) in case you need something more and each one costs $5 USD.

9. Flowscape

Flowscape is the most different option on this list because you’re not generating maps in the 2D space–you’re generating them in the 3D space and it looks almost exactly like a video game, which is honestly super cool.

It’s honestly such a cool system and you can do pretty much anything you want in the 3D space and make it look like a real, physical thing that exists and not just a paper map. There are lots of models of things like plants and animals and making the maps themselves is actually pretty simple. You can basically just paint a brush over an area and add the model that you want to add to that particular area.

It’s also available on Steam if you prefer that! It’s a great tool for people to use to create references if you’re a graphic designer, an artist, or something of that type. And if you’re an avid world builder, it might be a bit fun to see your world feel more real and present.

10. Canva

Finally, we have Canva. I know that this doesn’t seem like it would be the first option to come to mind when it comes to map generators for fantasy worlds, but Canva does have graphics, tools, and shapes that allow you to basically make your own map as if you were drawing something in real life.

I will say that Canva is not a generator for maps and that you’ll have to play around with the different tools to achieve what you want, similar to something like Adobe Photoshop. However, Canva is a bit easier because it already includes the graphics and tools that you’ll need to create your map instead of you needing to get them someplace else or hand-draw them.

I will say that the only negative to Canva is the fact that it’s more designed for productivity and businesses rather than fantasy artists and authors, so you’ll need to keep that in mind.

If you want to learn more about Canva, then check out my review.

Conclusion

There are a lot of ways that you can use technology to your advantage when it comes to creating maps and designs for maps. If you’re an author, a game master, or you just want to world build for whatever reasons you have, then these map generators, makers, and tools are great ways to do just that. Fantasy map making shouldn’t feel like it’s so complicated that you need to hire a professional to do it since you can easily do it yourself just with the right tools!

Check out these other tools I recommend for world building and writing:

Before you head on out, be sure to check out my series, The Fallen Age Saga, and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter to get the first updates on all my latest WIPs, book releases and more!