How to Make and Use DnD Maps
The Power of Visualizing Your World
DnD maps can be a fantastic asset for your campaign! Though some tables prefer the flexibility of the theatre of the mind, others might prefer the specific, visual nature of a grid, utilizing it to keep player and monster movement in clean order. If you are a new Dungeon Master, though, the prospect of creating these locations might seem scary. There are a million different kinds of layouts, and it can be hard to know exactly where to start. While the specific type of map is entirely your call, we can certainly help you with the process! Here are a few tips on how to effectively make maps and use them at your table.
Make Maps for Your Campaign
Define Your Scale: City Maps to World Maps
When you sit down to prep for your session, you might want to draw a map of the whole city, then a specific neighborhood, then the local tavern, and finally the sprawling dungeon underneath that tavern. While you certainly could do that, it is probably overkill.
The first step might be to simply define what scale you want your drawing to be. Perhaps your players have just arrived in a new settlement, and you think they could use broad city maps of the different districts. Or maybe you are designing vast world maps for a new campaign. Whatever it is, you must pick a scale and maintain a level of detail appropriate for that exact perspective. It would be very hard to draw both a massive metropolitan district and the small square room of a tavern at its heart. Pick one focus, and keep the momentum going!
Sly Flourish's 10 Locations
Famous "Lazy DM" Sly Flourish uses a simple trick: defining 10 locations of interest and letting the players take the lead of the story from there. Having 10 different locations on your image gives the players plenty of choice and portrays a living, vivid world. For new players in a new city, it is a great way to give them the lay of the land while also encouraging adventure and creativity galore. You could simply add a few markers to your grid and let them explore.
Consider the Terrain for Battle Maps
Considering terrain might be an absolute must when you want to create engaging battle maps for combat encounters. Players will likely love the opportunity to put a lava river between them and the goblin horde chasing them, or duck behind crates and walls to avoid the pirates searching for them. Consider adding fun terrain, textures, and cover to your layout, because your players will absolutely love to use it!
Map Tools: How to Use Your Creations
Now that we have the design started, here are some fun ideas on how you might actually use these map tools at your table!
Reveal a Little at a Time
Maybe the visual at your table could be updated as time goes on. You might achieve this by showing a more complete layout as your players progress through dungeons, or by revealing new areas only as they hear exciting rumors about the town. Utilizing a fog of war feature keeps the players from knowing too much, letting them feel the rush of new areas being unlocked or the agony of finding another dead end.
Let Your Maps Lie!
You probably can't do this all the time, but think about it: how often are hastily drawn maps perfectly correct? Wouldn't it be pretty realistic to have your players handed a treasure map, only for it to be missing some key features or oriented in the wrong direction? If you prepare this correctly, giving them a map with inconsistent details could be a great way to keep them on their toes.
Don't Be Afraid to Think Outside Combat!
Are you running a heist? Give the players a blueprint of the place they are robbing. This way, they can get more creative with their plans. Most political intrigue plots in a game don't involve a map, but perhaps that could change. A royal masquerade could use a map showing who is walking with whom, helping the party separate a scheming advisor from the king. You could introduce timed mechanics, moving guards at regular intervals and having distracted targets resume their scheming after a successful roll.
The Ultimate DnD Map Generator
When it comes to putting these ideas into practice, you might be looking for the best program to help you build your settings. While you might have used services like Dungeon Scrawl or the resources from modules and official Wizards of the Coast books, WorldSmith is the ultimate DnD map generator.
Operating directly in your browser, WorldSmith allows you to generate unlimited maps with incredible ease. As one of the most versatile homebrew generators for tabletop RPGs, you can create complex layouts instantly using their generative features, or draw from scratch using freehand tools. You can effortlessly edit walls, load custom fonts, and adjust the grid without any frustrating effort.
A Massive Library of Assets
WorldSmith features a massive library of tokens, stamps, and props. You can easily drag and drop barrels, beds, and bridges to fill your empty rooms and customize your adventure. Whether you prefer to export these files to virtual tabletops like Foundry VTT, share a link with the community, or print them out to display on a table for in person parties, WorldSmith supports it all. You can legitimately create entire worlds for your dragons and monsters to inhabit, and you don't even need to enter a credit card required to log in and start using it for free!
