By Charles Kiernan

It’s map time! For all you world builders out there, a fun, fantasy map is a must, I think. Given the state of applications today, un-artistic idiots, like me, can make a pretty decent map at little expense.

If you google “fantasy map generators,” you will see many options. Let me direct you to  the article 16 Best Fantasy Map Generator Tools: A New Tool by Shannon Clark. This piece is less than a year old but may be a little dated. Some of the generators she lists are free or have a free version. Many of these were developed with gamers in mind but can be used for illustrations as well.

I settled on Wonderdraft, largely for its intuitive nature and the modest price of $30. The program is downloaded and installed on your computer, as opposed to being in the Cloud. It comes with a large array of images (mountains, trees, buildings), but more can be purchased.

The program starts off by having you select a background (the sea) along with some other parameters, and then you plop in a land mass. There are a limited number of choices for the background and the texture of the land mass, but you can change the colors, intensity, and shapes. There is a manual plus tutorials. Here is a tutorial I found useful for getting started.

My other approach to learning Wonderdraft was to play with all the options and delete the out-of-control results. Rather much fun

The other map making program that temped me was ProFantasy. It is significantly more expensive. There are various products ranging from $74 to $620. It is also more extensive site, involving a community of fantasy map makers. The orientation is toward gamers, particularly Dungeons and Dragons.

Inkarnate and Azgaar are two free map generators, which look pretty powerful. Inkarnate has a free version. Azgaar appears to be open-source. Both are on-line programs.

I think you will find there is a learning curve with any of these programs, but there is much fun to be had.