Best DnD maps

DnD maps are one of many tasks on a Dungeon Master’s plate. Dungeons and Dragons 5e is a complicated game, and though the system’s mechanical depth and variety of abilities and enemies is a selling point for many, it can put a lot of work on the person running the game. Good D&D map makers are therefore time-saving tools that cut out loads of stress.

Luckily, in the digital age of virtual tabletops like Roll20, many have stepped forward to answer the call for a better way to make DnD maps on the go. We’ve assembled a list of ten programs, five free and six paid, to give you a starting point for what to use to put together your maps for next week’s game.

Once you’re equipped with your favorite map maker, be sure to check out our guides to other TTRPG tools – we can help you find everything from the best DnD character creator to the perfect DnD character sheets. We’ll even point players to the right DnD classes and DnD races for their next DnD character build.

A few technical notes about the list before we dive in. We concentrated on programs that create a square grid battlemap, not isometric or hex maps. We also weighted unique features highly, and tried to pick a variety of D&D map makers for a variety of tables with different needs. With that out of the way, let’s get right into it.

These are the best free DnD map makers:

• Mipui’s Mapmaker – best simple DnD maps
• Pymapper – fiddly but flexible DnD maps
• Inkarnate (free version) – for fast DnD map-making
• Deepnight’s RPG Map Editor – high-quality DnD maps made easy
• Dungeonscrawl – best free DnD map maker

Mipui’s Mapmaker

Best simple DnD maps

Open-source software Mipui’s Mapmaker is, by design, simplistic. It boasts little bloat, and focuses on an iconographic style of map design that is reminiscent of analogue grid paper maps and old-school dungeon maps.

Within this scope, it has a lot of options – there are tons of stamps and tools to manipulate them to suit your needs. If you’re looking for fancy, the program won’t deliver, but its maps are functional and clean.

The real draw of Mipui’s Mapmaker, however, is its unique ability to bring multiple editors to the same map simultaneously. Maps are saved on the cloud, never expire, and editing or viewing links can be sent to players and collaborators. Users can even create their own forks of maps if they want to!

Pymapper

Fiddly but flexible DnD maps

Do you admire the look of legacy maps from D&D 3.5e and beyond? Do you not really want to fiddle with dropping in every single shrub, table, and chair on your map? Pymapper might be your mapper of choice.

It’s tile-based, which means that you’ll be stitching together preset tiles from a great variety of dungeons and other locales. This is at once a boon and a bane, as you can quickly construct rooms from piecemeal but give up some fine control in the process.

A word of warning: Pymapper is not a very intuitive program by modern standards. What it does have going for it, however, is that it’s free, open-source, and there are a great variety of free tile sets available along with anything custom you want to drop in from your own collection.

Inkarnate (free version)

For fast DnD map-making

Inkarnate, a freemium mapmaker, is incredibly easy to pick up and map with. While some mapmakers struggle with an intuitive user interface, Inkarnate cleverly takes its cues from modern illustration software to shorten the learning curve required to use it effectively. And, as an in-browser program, it’s as simple as ‘open it and go’.

Inkarnate also provides plenty of free resources outside its program to help make your map-making experience even better. Check out this example below from the Inkarnate YouTube channel:

There are some downsides to the free version: there aren’t a lot of assets to work with, the tools are somewhat restricted, and the map size and exports are limited. However, if you need a basic fantasy map that looks good and you need it now, Inkarnate‘s free version will provide in spades.

Deepnight’s RPG Map Editor

High-quality DnD maps made easy

Boasting a simple set of tools, DeepNight’s RPG Map Editor gets a lot of mileage out of its interface. It’s got an in-app tutorial, the typical terrain and room-making tools, and also a much-appreciated simple lighting tool.

It’s not terribly hard to make a good-looking map once you sit down and spend some time with it. You can download it or run it from the browser, and download is pay-what-you-want, and either version works just fine and exports without issue.

The program’s assets have a very sprite-based RPG feel, and the whole program is built around that look. No other mapper really makes anything that looks like it, and if you want that classic RPG aesthetic, DeepNight’s RPG Map Editor is for you.

Dungeonscrawl

Best free DnD map maker

Dungeonscrawl is perhaps the best free D&D map maker, in terms of being incredibly easy to throw something together that looks presentable. It’s very hard to make something that looks bad in this program, and, though it’s not as powerful as something like Inkarnate, it is built from the ground up with everything a DM would need in mind: quick turnaround to make a map; an asset catalogue with use licenses baked in; import of maps from the random dungeon generator Donjon for tweaking; and easy and flexible export options.

Everything is laid out well, it’s simple with no unnecessary bells and whistles, and it’s very easy to do everything you need to do in Dungeonscrawl.

And now, part two – the best paid D&D map makers. If you’re hitting the limits of free software and have some money to burn, fear not – we’ve also taken a look at a wide variety of paid mappers. Whether it’s a one-time cost or a subscription, we’ve got a grab-bag of the best options available.

These are the best paid DnD map makers:

• The Calamus – for making DnD maps on mobile
• Dungeon Painter Studio – filled with assets for DnD maps
• Inkarnate Pro – still a great DnD map maker, now premium
• Arkenforge – luxury DnD maps (and luxury price)
• Dungeon Alchemist – best AI DnD map maker
• Dungeondraft – best premium DnD map maker

The Calamus

For making DnD maps on mobile

The Calamus earns its spot on the list for being the only mapper to be easy to use on, and indeed built for, mobile devices.

Priced at $2.99 (£2.35) per month, $30 (£23.54) a year, and $0.99 (£0.78) a month for players to access, it’s a combination mapper and virtual tabletop, and, while it lacks a huge asset library, everything it has adheres to a charming, app-wide parchment and paper fantasy aesthetic.

It’s easy to make good-looking maps, and the controls are simple and intuitive. The fact that it has no real export functions does hold it back as a mapper, but, if your group is heavily mobile-dependent, there is nothing else better suited.

The prices noted above are accurate at press time, but The Calamus team did inform Wargamer it would soon be moving to a freemium business model.

Dungeon Painter Studio

Filled with assets for DnD maps

Dungeon Painter Studio is, at press time, in early access on Steam, and looks extremely promising. Priced at $14.99 (£10.99), there’s a good interface with all the requisite tools, an in-app reference for hotkeys, and an export engine that has presets to export optimally to a number of different Virtual Tabletops. It’ll likely take some sitting down and experimenting for you to get something that looks good, but all of the pieces are there.

The big selling point of Dungeon Painter Studio is the asset library – not what comes with the app itself, but the Steam Workshop page. The price point is almost paltry for the number of free mods you can download to add to the library, and of course, you can always upload your own, too.

While early access implies there may be more promising content to come, we also offer a guarded warning. Dungeon Painter Studio hasn’t seen an update in over three years, and recent reviews complain it’s falling behind other DnD map makers in terms of quality. Dungeon Painter Studio has a lot to offer, but it may not evolve to keep up with the competition.

Inkarnate Pro

Still a great DnD map maker, now premium

Inkarnate is good enough to be on the list twice. That should tell you something. Upgrading to Inkarnate’s pro version (for $5 (£3.25) per month or $25 (£19.61) a year) nets you a much wider variety of assets to make use of; the path tool; and a few other goodies, like the ability to export maps at higher resolutions.

As for downsides: Inkarnate‘s subscription model just isn’t for everyone, and obviously you lose the premium access to features if you decide not to renew your subscription.

Arkenforge

Luxury DnD maps (and luxury price)

Arkenforge is a powerful program, with all the assets you could want, a slick and variable lighting system, a good-looking UI, and lots of optional add-ons. Maps made by a skilled user look amazing. At $35 (£27.46) each for the Fantasy and Sci-Fi Essential Bundles, it’s a hefty price tag  and probably out of the range of a lot of people, but you get what you pay for.

Arkenforge also boasts the ability to seamlessly export into Foundry and other virtual tabletops with wall and lighting data intact.

Dungeon Alchemist

Best AI DnD map maker

Dungeon Alchemist is the ideal choice for GMs who want high-quality maps with minimal effort. It uses AI to randomly generate dungeon rooms – all you need to do is choose a theme and click and drag to start creating rooms. You can tweak and redesign rooms to your heart’s content in the 3D map builder, and you can export your finished 2D map to most virtual tabletops with ease.

At $44.99 (£31.99), Dungeon Alchemist is the priciest DnD map maker we’d recommend. It’s also still in early access, so some features are still in development.

Dungeondraft

Best premium DnD map maker

Dungeondraft is the Super Mario of mapmakers; it isn’t really bad at anything, and it’s good at a lot of things. At $19.99 (£15.68), it’s affordable and easy to pick up and use, makes pretty maps, has a lot of assets to work with, and has a robust light source tool.

It exports to all the common virtual tabletops, has onion skinning for different levels of a map, and has an excellent and extremely finely controlled object scattering tool. Oh, and it also exports to the popular virtual tabletops directly, too. You know. As a treat.

This list is ultimately about what’s best for DMs working on a game schedule, and Dungeondraft has the crucial ability to make good maps easily and quickly on a cheap, one-time purchase. It’s all around a solid, good program that is absolutely the best bang for your buck available.

Finally, part three. Here are the best pre-made DnD maps:

• 2 Minute Tabletop – the best free DnD maps
• Dyson’s Dodecahedron – the best simple DnD maps
• Forgotten Adventures – the most detailed DnD maps 

Dyson’s Dodecahedron

The best simple DnD maps

If the maps made by Dyson’s Dodecahedron look familiar, it’s because they are. These maps are so popular that the DnD map maker Dungeonscrawl has adopted their visual style. Rest assured that Dyson’s maps are the original thing – and they’re an excellent resource for lovers of easy-to-use maps.

All the maps at Dyson’s Dodecahedron are free to use. Their minimalist pen-and-ink look makes them simple to read, meaning they’re ideal for theatre of the mind games with plenty of combat that relies on a clearly marked battlemap. Bear in mind, however, that these aren’t optimized for virtual tabletops, so you’ll need to do a little fiddling to make a map fit perfectly on Roll20. 

2 Minute Tabletop

The best free DnD maps

If you’re looking for pre-made maps that won’t break the bank, 2 Minute Tabletop is one of the best places to start. This website is filled with detailed, colorful maps that bring a variety of settings to life.

Need to stage a battle in a pirate’s grotto, outside a circus tent, or on the back of a giant snail? 2 Minute Tabletop offers maps you’d struggle to recreate with a DnD map maker.

Each of the maps is available on a ‘pay what you want’ basis. $1 is the recommended amount, but 2 Minute Tabletop also gives you the option to download the maps for free.

The maps are gridless, so you’ll need to factor this in when uploading them to your virtual tabletop. They’re also only available as JPEGs – downloading them comes with minimal bells and whistles. 

Forgotten Adventures

The most detailed DnD maps

Forgotten Adventures makes highly detailed maps for every classic D&D scenario. These pre-made maps have a traditional fantasy style that means they’ll slot seamlessly into any 5e game, looking consistent with any official DnD maps you might be using.

Maps from Forgotten Adventures are available gridded and gridless. They’re even more VTT friendly, in fact, as you can find modules specific to Foundry and Roll20.

Most maps must be paid for – either individually, as a pack, or as part of a Forgotten Adventures Patreon subscription. But there are several free options you can test before deciding if you want to invest.

And there you have it – excellent options for all your mapping needs. Pick what’s right for you and your DnD campaign, go forth and let your creativity loose on your players, and don’t forget the secret door full of DnD monsters!