how to make fictional map

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A Complete Guide On How To Make A Fantasy Map

If you’re a writer of fantasy fiction, you’ve no doubt been faced with the prospect of making a map. A lot of novels in the genre contain beautiful maps that draw us deeper into the world . We want to give our readers that same experience too. But creating a fantasy map isn’t a straightforward task.

As we’ll see below, there are lots of considerations, such as how realistic you want it to be. So in this guide, we’ll take a detailed look at how to make a fantasy map.

Not only will we cover some simple steps you can take to design a world map, but we’ll also go over the geographical laws of our own world which can help inspire your own fantastical creations.

It all ties in with worldbuilding , so if you need some prompts on that front, you can find lots of help here too. 

Click below to jump to the section you’re most interested in.

Learn How To Make Fantasy Maps

How to make a fantasy map.

• Oceans And Seas
• Mountains And Volcanoes

Hills And Valleys

• Swamps And Wetlands
• Snow And Ice
• How To Make A Realistic Fantasy Map

Planning Your World

• How To Draw A Fantasy Map

Online Fantasy Map Makers

Get more fantasy map ideas and worldbuilding help.

The aim of this guide is to provide you with the fundamentals to help you with the process of creating a fantasy world map.

It’s also important to remember that this is just a guide. A big part of fantasy writing revolves around creating new worlds. Making fantasy maps is just a part of that process.

It’s up to you whether to change the rules of your world or not. What we’ll look at below looks at more realistic mapmaking. It’s important to learn these details even if you plan to deviate, however. Plus, you may get new fantasy map ideas and inspiration. 

Before we dive into the nuts and bolts, it’s useful to provide a quick guide on how to make a fantasy map. You can then study the extra details found below, like where to place mountains and rivers. 

Step 1: Create A Rough Plan

Before you start scribbling your world into being, it really does help to have an idea of what it is you want it to be like. 

One of the best places to start with is the land. Is it an island? A mountainous place? A city? A land of dense forests? Or perhaps it’s a combination of all of them.

Once you’ve got an idea of this, one thing that helps to bring it to life is to think about landmarks. These landmarks could be symbolic of other aspects of the fantasy world you’re creating.

So, if your world is set in a medieval era, you might include a castle or tower, or perhaps the ruins of them from times past. If your world is set in an underwater or aquatic environment, you might include an underwater cave or an underwater city.

In sketching out a rough draft of your world map you begin to get a real sense of the layout and flow of your world. And using this rough draft you can add additional elements to your world, such as rivers, forests, deserts, and other terrain features, which we’ll come to below. In essence, this is the foundation of all fantasy maps.

Step 2: Add Layers To Your Map

Once you have the rough plan, you can begin to add layers of detail to your map.

We touched upon this above with the landmarks. It’s here you really want to expand. Think of the likes of towns, cities, strongholds, caves, waterfalls, forests, hills, mountains—anything that could be a place of interest on a map. For example, a fire-breathing dragon may live in one of those caves. This kind of detail draws the reader in; the world feels alive to them. 

As we’ll explore below when we discuss rivers and oceans and seas, the positioning of these landmarks is important. It always helps to start with the practicalities. For instance, if you have a city with thousands of people, they need a reliable food and water source. Placing that city by a river or coastline therefore makes sense. 

Step 3: The Finishing Touches

Making a fantasy map is actually quite easy. The last thing you need to do is to simply add some finishing touches. This could include adding a compass or key that explains some features of the map.

I also like to add interesting details like sea monsters or dragons or monsters lurking in caves or woods. Think about the type of curious fantasy maps you’ve seen over the years and the little details that have caught your eye. 

You can also add names to your towns, villages, cities and locations. You can also name rivers and oceans. If you need any help with coming up with names, check out my fantasy name generator tool.

Oceans and Seas

Given their empty vastness, oceans don’t tend to feature much on the fantasy map; seas are more prominent given they’re often found closer to land. Throughout history, humanity has made its home by the sea. Around half the world’s population live within coastal zones. It provides a multitude of opportunities to survive—food, water, bathing, energy sources, tactical advantages over enemies. It’s unsurprising then, that many fantasy stories feature a sea of some kind. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

• Oceans form over millions of years. Various theories exist as to how they came about. Some say the earth was struck by a water-rich meteoroid. The more likely theory is that they were formed by water vapour and other gases escaping from hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean. You might have seen them on Blue Planet. Other sources are rivers and rain.
• Mankind needs oceans to survive. They produce over half of the oxygen in the atmosphere. Oceans absorb the heat of the sun, transfer it to the atmosphere and distribute it around the world by ocean currents, thereby regulating the weather.
• ‘Ocean’ and ‘sea’ are terms often used interchangeably, though there is a difference between them. Seas are small than oceans, usually located where the land and ocean meet. They are often partially enclosed by land. This map of Midkemia, one of the worlds in Raymond Feist’s Riftwar Saga , is a good example of a fantasy map with various seas.

Rivers are the veins of the planet, carrying fresh, life-giving water across the land. Major civilizations have found their homes along rivers, such as the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians and the Chinese.

• Most rivers start life as a stream trickling down a mountain slope. These streams can come from underground springs, melting snow and ice or rainwater. The beginning of a river is known as a headwater.
• Rivers take their shape by following cracks and folds in the land. Small streams join together until they reach a size big enough to be classed as a river. No two rivers are the same. Each shapes the land in its own way.
• The land is shaped by the river as it makes its way to the ocean, eroding rock and carving out valleys. Rivers can change over time depending on the makeup of the river bed—soil, sand, rock, clay.
• Rivers widen and narrow and take snaking routes, called meanders.
• The small streams which flow into a river are known as tributaries.
• I’m sure you know what a river bank is. These areas are rich in nutrients as a result of flooding, but they also provide protection from flood damage, as well as filtering run-off from the land.
• The end of a river is known as a mouth or delta. Lands flatten and the water loses speed, usually around the point it meets the sea, lake or ocean.
• Some rivers flow year round, others are seasonal and form during wet seasons.
• A river can be a kilometre long or stretch the length of a continent. Some examples of the lengths of real-life rivers: Nile – 6,853km long, Amazon – 6,992km, Mersey -112km (I’m from Liverpool, I had to include it), Congo – 4,700km.
• Some countries have no rivers—there are eighteen on earth—and others have shit loads. Russia, for example, has around 100,000.

If you’re keen to learn how to make a fantasy map, then ensure you appreciate the significance of rivers.

There are a fair few lakes on earth. Around 117 million to be precise. They litter the land and invariably find their way into fantasy maps too.

• A lake is a body of water surrounded by land. They are found in every kind of environment: mountains, deserts, on plains, near coasts.
• They vary in size, from ponds to seas, the Caspian Sea arguably the largest lake on earth.
• Lakes can form in various ways. Water can fill craters left by dormant or dead volcanoes, by glaciers, or from craters left by meteors or asteroids.
• Lakes evolve over time, and like humans, they age. Over hundreds and thousands of years, their basins fill with sediment and vegetation, growing shallower until eventually, they dry up.
• Most lakes are fed by rivers, streams, run-off from the land, and rain.

The desert is a unique environment filled with a host of challenges. They feature in quite often in fantasy books . The sand city of Dorne from A Song of Ice and Fire springs to mind. They’re also quite easy to draw on your fantasy maps.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when including deserts:

• The standard definition of a desert is an area receiving less than 10 inches (or 250mm) of precipitation a year, i.e. rain, snow, sleet.
• Deserts are formed by the weather. A lack of moisture turns the land arid and dry.
• Most people assume that deserts are sandy, arid places, but in fact, the largest desert on earth is Antarctica, which receives around 200mm of precipitation a year.
• Deserts are not static, but rather change over time through a process known as desertification. This involves the desert expanding its borders. As an example, 1,000 square miles of Chinese land turns to desert every year.
• Some deserts are flat, consisting of rock and sand. The Sahara is one example. Others contain rocky mountains, such as those in North America.
• Deserts tend to cover vast areas and contain little life and low vegetation cover.

In the world map below you can see some of the hottest and driest deserts on earth. How could you apply this to your fictional map?

Forests are home to a lot of fantasy settings. Fangorn Forest in Lord of the Rings . Elvandar in the Riftwar Saga . Fantasy authors love forests. And on a fictional world map, they can look truly stunning. 

Here are the guiding principles to do with how they form and the effect they have on the wider world.

• Forests can grow anywhere in which the temperature rises above 10 degrees Celsius during the warmest months and sees average rainfall (or precipitation in general) of more than 8 inches a year.
• The difference between a wood and a forest lies in the extent of the canopy. A forest has canopies covering over 10% of the sky. A wood’s is between 5 and 10%.
• The type of trees which grow in a forest is dependent upon the temperature, amount of rainfall, and soil.
• For example in cool, subpolar regions, hardy conifers like pines, spruces and larches, dominate the land. This type of forest is known as a taiga or boreal forest. They have long winters, with between 10 and 20 inches of rainfall a year.
• In forests of a warmer climate, the type of trees mix between conifers and broad-leaved deciduous trees (those which lose their leaves each year). The substrate here is mostly brown soil with sandy sections.
• Deciduous forests occur where the average temperature is above 10 degrees Celsius for at least six months of the year with precipitation above 16 inches. The types of trees found in these forests include elms, oaks, birches, maples, beeches, and aspens. The ground here is a brown soil, rich in nutrients.
• Tropical rainforests develop in more humid conditions. Heavy rainfall, about 100 inches per year, supports evergreens which possess broad leaves to capture light. The soil is rich in iron or aluminium which gives it a red or yellow hue.

Mountains and Volcanoes

Mountains make for a challenging and unpredictable setting, with howling winds and freezing temperatures. Think of all of the scenes featuring mountains where someone is thrown into oblivion below, grasping at the air as they descend.

The Vale in A Song of Ice and Fire is a kingdom surround by a mountain range. Even The Eyrie, its keep, is built on a mountain. Gandalf tried to lead the Fellowship over Moria, only to turn back. They provide obstacles to get around, challenges to overcome. And they make a great lair for bad guys. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Mountains are the foundations of life. They act as water towers, manipulating the weather to create rain and snow which in turn forms streams, which turn into rivers. Without them, there would be no drinking water and no habitats in which life can survive.
• There is no generally accepted definition for how tall a mountain has to be. Some say 1,000 feet, others 2,000. A chap named Roderick Peattie came up with a subjective definition which I’m quite a fan of. He said a mountain ought to be defined based on its ability to command attention, their impact on human imagination, and their individuality.
• Certain types of mountains can grow. Tectonic plate movement pushes the Earth’s crust upwards. Everest, for instance, grows around 4mm a year.
• Sticking with the types of a mountain, there are four in all: fold, block, dome, and volcanic. Most are found in groups, referred to as, you guessed it, ranges. The highest point is known as a peak or summit, the bottom the base.
• Block mountains . These form when a slab of land breaks off at a fault line in the crust and is forced up as two tectonic plates push together.
• Dome mountains . These occur when magma within the earth forces the ground upward. Like a nasty boil. The magma doesn’t break the surface.
• Fold mountains . These are the most common type of mountain and occur when two tectonic plates push against each other over many years, making more folds.
• These are vital to earth’s survival, providing chemical elements and minerals to water, the land and atmosphere. There are four types with differing appearances: shield (large with gentle slopes), stratovolcano (large with steep slopes), caldera (shaped like a cauldron), and cinder cone (a straight, steep mound). All but the cinder cone volcano tend to have more than one vent through which magma erupts. On Earth, more volcanoes exist beneath the ocean.
• Plateaus are creations of mountains. When one is formed, blocks of earth can drop and lie next to each other to produce flat land. The Tibetan plateau is one example.
• The length of mountain ranges can vary. The mid-ocean ridge, for example, is about 40,389 miles long.

Mountains accompany rivers in their significance when it comes to learning how to make a fantasy map. As we’ve seen, this is where rivers begin.

But not just that, mountains can help shape the climate of regions, so they can have a big bearing on the nature of your world. It’s for this reason that these geographical features are one of the most important when it comes to making fantasy maps.

In the vast plains in between our cities, mountains, rivers and other landmarks, there lie other features which bring life and richness to our worlds: hills and valleys . Throughout history, these points in the land have made for terrific tactical and defensive positions. Rome, for instance, was built on seven hills so invaders could be sighted from afar.

Hills can be overlooked on fictional maps but they’re quite literally everywhere. I walk up enough in Liverpool to know that much. Here are some key facst about hills and valleys:

• A hill is a piece of land with sloping sides which rises higher than everything around it. They’re usually less steep than a mountain. The top is also called the summit.
• Hills can form in a variety of ways. One natural way is the result of a geologic process known as faulting. The Earth’s crust shifts and moves and changes the landscape, forming hills. They can also form as a result of glacial activity.
• Hills are also formed by erosion, when bits of rock, soil, and sediment get washed away to form a pile. But just as erosion can create hills, it can destroy them too.
• Hills can be made by people. They go by the name of mounds.
• There are different types of hills: A drumlin is a long hill formed by the movement of glaciers. A butte is a steep-sided, flat-topped hill which stands alone in a flat area. A puy is a conical, volcanic hill.
• A valley is a depressed area of land, usually shaped like a ‘U’ or ‘V’, formed by the forces of gravity, water, and ice. Rivers and streams cut through valleys and are usually responsible for the ‘V’ shape. Glaciers form valleys by slowly creeping downhill, picking up rocks on their way down and grinding anything in its path. These usually leave a ‘U’ shape in their path. There’s another type of valley called a rift; giant, gaping formations where two pieces of the Earth’s crust have been separated. The Great Rift Valley is one example.

Swamps, bogs, mires, and marshes provide another interesting option when it comes to making fantasy maps. The Dead Marshes from Lord of the Rings is one example that pops to mind.

In my experience, they’re pretty underused and make for an intriguing, spooky setting. And if you’re the creative type, they can look amazing on an intricate map of the world. Here’s a bit about them:

• Wetland is the all-encompassing term for swamps , marshes etc. Wetlands are any bit of land saturated by water, where the water level is at, near or above the surface of the ground.
• Wetlands perform crucial functions, such as flood control and coastal storm buffers.
• Swamps are a common type of wetland. It’s an area of land permanently saturated or filled with water, some even covered by it. They come in two types: freshwater swamps, which are found inland, and saltwater swamps which are found, unsurprisingly, by coastal areas.
• Freshwater swamps : these form around lakes and streams. Cypress and tupelo trees are found in such places, along with Spanish moss which hangs from trees, and duckweed which covers the water’s surface. An example of a freshwater swamp is the Everglades.
• Saltwater swamps : form along tropical coastlines. Seawater pools during high tides over time. Usually, mangrove trees are found in these places.

Snow and Ice

Beyond the Wall in A Song of Ice and Fire is a mysteriously appealing place, filled with giants, White Walkers, and dire wolves. It’s an iconic setting in the books and TV series. But how did it all come about? How did it get so cold? And how did all that ice form?

In looking at the history of Antarctica we can gain an understanding of the nature of these icy planes and how they occur:

• It’s not exactly certain how Antarctica was formed. Very helpful, I know. At one time, it was a land not dissimilar to the European Alps, with alpine mountains and all kinds of flora and fauna thriving there. Until it all turned a bit cold.
• The average depth of the ice covering the continent is about a mile thick. That’s one hell of a change.
• One leading theory is that a reduction in Earth’s carbon dioxide levels—thereby cooling the global temperatures—as well as changes in its orbit, caused a great degree of cooling. It led to glaciers forming on the land, which grew over millions of years.
• The position of the icy continent has a polar influence too, which is part of the reason for the nature of the north and south poles.

If you’re keen to add a tough, ruggedness to your fictional world, going for a cold, icy setting is a good way to go about it. Take a recent example from televison: True Detective: Night Country. It’s set in Alaska in winter. Before we even get to the characters, the setting has created conflict for our story, which is always a good thing. 

How To Make a Realistic Fantasy Map

It’s not easy to make a fantasy map that’s realistic. We may spend what feels like an age trying to position a river correctly, linking them up with mountains and factoring in lakes. Likewise, we could get stuck trying to work out the most suitable climate for your fantasy world , or how that climate has shaped the evolution of your flora and fauna.

You could spend so long trying to design your fantasy world that you never actually get around to telling the stories that happen within it.

So here’s recommendation one —don’t worry too much about how realistic your world is. It’s fantasy after all. Tolkien, for instance, is well-known for disregarding the geographical laws that we know in our world. His stories turned out well enough.

But if you are keen on making a realistic fantasy map, study the rules we’ve covered here and do your best to follow them. If you decide to deviate, make sure there is a logical explanation—or at least one that you can explain using the laws of your world.

Before you embark upon the process of making a fantasy map, it can help to plan out your world.

Creating an entire world from scratch is a daunting prospect. However, there are simple steps that you can take to achieve it. See my guide to worldbuilding for a detailed overview.

But in short, it can help to set out the physical settings of your world—whether it’s a desert, a wetland and so forth. And it can also help to look at some of the cultural aspects of your fantasy world too. So where the cities are located and how they’ve grown and developed in time to shape the landscape around them.

Armed with this knowledge, you’ll find it a lot easier to make a fantasy map.

How To Draw a Fantasy Map

It’s one thing to know how to make a fantasy map, it’s another to actually go ahead and draw it. If you’re a good drawer, then you may enjoy the process of designing your mp. Get a good eraser, some nice felt tipped pens for the detail, maybe even some high quality paper, and hand draw it as best you can. 

However, if you’re at all like me that don’t have much artistic flare, you may end up growing frustrated with your efforts.

All I can say is, it definitely doesn’t have to be the best fantasy map ever made. It just needs to be a rough creation, one that contains all of the details you need and allows you to track your story as your characters move through your world.

You can always commission an artist to turn your rough creation into a work of art down the line. Using websites like Upwork and Fiverr can help you connect with artists, as well as look on websites like Deviant Art or in groups on social media

Another way you can make a fantasy map, as we’ll see in the next section, is to convert your drawing into a sleeker, digital version by using an online map maker.

To help you out further, why not check out YouTube? This video on sketching out landmasses for your map is great for helping you get underway:

As I mentioned above, there are a number of online fantasy map makers that you can use to generate your world into digital form. Some of them are free, others you may have to pay for, but either way, the results can be particularly impressive.

And if you’re completely stumped for ideas when it comes to making a map, you can also use these tools to generate a random map which you can then weave your story around.

Here’s a quick rundown on some of the best fantasy map makers. 

• Inkarnate – this is the fantasy map maker I use more than others. With a great free option, you can simply drag and drop all different kinds of elements into an empty space, or you can use it to randomly generate a world for you. The great thing about this writing tool is that you can also create fantasy city maps and battle maps, as well as maps of the world.
• Dungeon Fog – this tool is used more by gamers and creators of computer games. With access to lots of top quality images and assets, you can create a very detailed fantasy map.
• Worldspinner – this is a great tool for those who aren’t sure about the specifics of their world and want some help generating it. Simply select your elements and the type of map and world you want to create and Worldspinner will do the rest.
• Czepeku – Czepeku, the best place for buying DND battle maps according to some fans of the tabletop game, offers over 4,000 hand-drawn fantasy maps that can really elevate your roleplaying games.

Not long ago, I spoke with the brilliant team at Inkarnate about making fantasy maps with online tools and had the pleasure of speaking with two of the best cartographers on the platform, Tyndall Doodle and Dread Maps. 

You can check out our interview in full here for lots of fantasy map ideas, as well as for lots of awesome tips and insights on making digital fantasy maps, as well as battle maps:

Below, you can find a host of resources on world building, exploring many different aspects, to help give you more brilliant fantasy map ideas. 

• To learn more about what life was like for medieval peasants and lords , check out these two guides. Or head here to learn more about killer diseases of the middle ages .
• For more information on fantasy races , check this guide out.
• And for a more general guide on how to write a fantasy novel , head here.
• Click to learn how to start worldbuilding
• Or head here to download a world building template
• Click here for more worldbuilding resources
• Head here to learn about the writing community, r/worldbuilding
• Download a free worldbuilding checklist here
• And you can find a more general guide on worldbuilding here 

Here are some tools you may find useful when creating a fantasy map:

• A guide to cartography
• Here’s a step by step guide to drawing a fantasy map

If you’d like any more help and guidance on how to make a fantasy map, please get in touch via my contact page

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richiebilling

About author, related posts, a guide to siege warfare and tactics, everything you need to know about fantasy and its sub genres, unique and cool fantasy weapons for stories and novels, 15 comments.

Hey! Where’s that map you made? I was waiting for it! 🙂 Or is it coming in part two? Also, this reminds me, I’ve yet to make that post about maps I said I would… Wait for it! 🙂

It’s under my artwork page. It’s only a small one. Yes! You need to do a post too!

Ah, dammit, I forgot! I’ve already asked you about that before, haven’t I? I’m sorry, I’m such a ditz sometimes! 😀 Anyway, it’s a very pretty map. And I appreciate that its scope is pretty small. More intimate that way. 🙂

Weather patterns come in handy sometimes too.

Good point! I may have to add that in part 2. Thanks for reading!

Excellent post. I’ve done a few maps of my setting, but I’m still experimenting with the details. Looking forward to more!

Thanks! That means a lot. And thank you for sharing and following too!

Reblogged this on Ethereal Seals and commented: An article on mapmaking I found informative. Cheers. 🙂

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As always, this site looks and screams with amazing insight and facts. Thank you for sharing it.

Thanks Elizabeth! I hope you find it useful!

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Posted on Sep 22, 2021

The 13 Best Fantasy Map Generators, Tools, and Resources

If you want to take your fantasy worldbuilding to the next level — whether that's writing your next novel or crafting your newest RPG campaign — there's nothing quite like a beautifully drawn map that's plucked from the world of your story .

To help you bring your 'other' world to life, here's a list of our favorite fantasy map generators, tools, and resources!

Base Price: Varies between illustrators Type: Marketplace

Of course, the best way to make a fantasy map is to hire a professional. For a personal and expert approach, it's definitely worth hiring an illustrator. Here at Reedsy, we have rigorously curated the best freelance illustrators in the publishing business — and they're just a click away from helping your work stand out.

Do you like the designs you see above? They were all created by Leo Hartas, one of our talented freelance illustrators who specializes in creating the finest illustrated fantasy maps. Check out Leo's profile on Reedsy and browse through our network of talented artists! 

Looking to give your maps that professional edge?

Reedsy is home to professional illustrators with mountains of experience crafting tailor-made fantasy maps. Sign up for free to meet them!

Learn how Reedsy can help you craft a beautiful book.

Not looking to hire a professional? Don't worry — there are plenty of great, cost-free alternatives to choose from below!

2. Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator

Base Price: Free  Type: Browser-based

Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator has long been the go-to for fantasy writers and Dungeons and Dragons players alike, with good reason. Azgaar currently provides twelve different rough templates to start your map, ranging from "Pangea" to "Volcano". This approach is intuitive because the majority of users already have a rough idea of what their world will look like (e.g., "a big island" or "hot with lots of mountains"), with the idea to fill in the details later.

Of course, if you don't like something in your randomly generated map, Azgaar provides a tool to paint new terrain. Numerous options allow you to label continents, countries, cities, regions, and even different religions, each of which can divide or unite the map.

If you need a map for a particularly socially and politically driven (or divided) world, then Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator is undoubtedly the one for you!

3. Watabou's Medieval Fantasy City Generator

But a world marked by dozens of complex divisions isn't for everyone — perhaps your story is set in a single large city or moves between a couple of different cities.

In that case, you'll love the Medieval Fantasy City Generator by Watabou. This software can create as many cities as you like, with customizable names (including street names), points of interest, and colors. Though there are fewer options to manipulate the city maps themselves, chances are you can find a city map that fits your needs or inspires your writing in just the right way.

And don't let the generator's name fool you: the cities you generate can fit more than just a medieval landscape. After all, no matter where you are, you may notice that the cities near you still retain a lot of their historical layout. So give this fantasy city generator a try and let your imagination run wild in whatever forms you desire. 

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4. World Anvil Worldbuilding Tools

Base Price: Free Type: Browser-based

It's often hard to make a map's layout readable and indicate its relevance to the story. World Anvil's Interactive Map is the 'go-to' tool if you are the kind of creative writer that starts with a rough map prepared.

Through World Anvil's software, you can upload your map to add whichever various (and interactive) elements suit your needs. For example, you can chart the courses of heroes and villains as they venture across the map, adding waypoints to show moments of conflict or rest. Or you can make use of the function that allows you to interlink maps — adding icons linking to city maps — and make sure that you never lose track of what's where.

Essentially, World Anvil's tool allows you to take your map to the next level through customization options that just aren't possible through traditional pen and paper drawing. 

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5. Wonderdraft

Base Price: $29.99  Type: Software download

This next entry is one of the pricier pieces of software on this list but it's also one of the best-reviewed. Wonderdraft's fantasy map-making software occupies a happy middle ground in size, specializing in creating continental and regional maps.

Wonderdraft's maps are particularly praised for their detailed, beautiful, and indeed Tolkienesque art style, as well as their customizability. It can generate countless elements to add to your map if you wish, from rivers and roads to mountains and cities. Of course, if you don't like what the software generates for you, you can also use the "paint" tool and mold the landscape to suit your needs.

The beauty of this Wonderdraft is that, no matter how many crazy combinations of landscapes you throw at it, it maintains your map's style, allowing you to fearlessly customize to your heart's content. 

6. donjon Worldbuilding Generators

If you're looking for basic ideas to help you shape your world, then consider using donjon's free fantasy world generator as your muse. Generating your initial land formations is a quick and painless process, leaving you more time to get into the details — whether that's printing it out with pen and paper, or uploading your map into a separate tool like World Anvil!

Simpler, and so maybe sweeter, than other tools, donjon allows you to customize the appearance of your randomly generated map by changing its color or style, the ice/land/water ratio, the number of cities, and the font. After you pick out the customization options that suit you, the result will appear on a new tab as an easily downloadable image.

If you need more inspiration, try sparking up your creativity by using Reedsy's fantasy plot generator as you create your map to enrich your map-making with some awe-inspiring lore.

7. ProFantasy's Campaign Cartographer 3

Base Price: $22.45  Type: Software download

With Campaign Cartographer , you can draw cartoon maps, hex maps, medieval maps, and far more than that, whether you choose to use the inbuilt landmass generation tools, or draw your own with tools to assist you.

You will have a huge variety of mapping symbols, styles, and types that are easy to access right away, without any additional paid expansions. The variety of what's available is part of what makes this map generator so good, as you're not limited to a single map style. If you want to make an 8-bit pixel art map one day, and a map inspired by the Witcher books the next, Campaign Cartographer has all of the tools to facilitate that. 

8. Nortantis

Base Price: Free Type: Software download

Nortantis is a simple fantasy map generator that creates hand-drawn-style maps. Once you've created a map you like the style of, you have the option to customize the terrains, icons, background, color, and text font.

Fancy making a spooky swamp map? Why not choose a purple background combined with a darker purple terrain outline? Or maybe your characters are journeying through a land of volcanoes — combining a dark red background with Nortantis's handy lighter red terrain outlines will surely fit the bill. Once you've created your ideal story setting , you can easily export it in whatever image file you prefer, or send it to print straight from the app.

9. FlowScape

Base Price: $10 Type: Software download

FlowScape stands out from the rest of our list as the only 3D map generator. With FlowScape you can curate multiple different types of terrain, from snowy mountains to beach paradises, or choose from 20 presets you can edit.

If we listed all of the elements you can edit, you'd be here all day so here's a sample list of what you can do on FlowScape: simulate living animals, build castles, play with physics (perfect for creating accurate castle ruins), rotate the sun, and even build on top of giant turtles. Sounds pretty fun, right?

You might be thinking that it's impractical to use a 3D map generator for the purpose of worldbuilding and writing, but many writers have confirmed the opposite. 3D means you get to delve into your world as if you were standing there yourself, edit it in close detail, and then zoom out and screenshot the map from the top-down. It's the ultimate way to control your map and put yourself in your character's shoes.

Speaking of characters, a brief aside: while fleshing out your world, don't neglect the people who live in it! Check out our character profile template below for more tools to develop your story.

Reedsy’s Character Profile Template

A story is only as strong as its characters. Fill this out to develop yours.

10. Inkarnate

Inkarnate is well-known among fans of fantasy map generators for its intuitive user interface, fast generating, and the numerous assets it has to offer. You can create large cities with sprawling angular roads or landscapes with winding hills, or, if none of that interests you, why not try building a whole town on a bridge in a canyon?

The shapes, sizes, and placement of everything from towns and dungeons to mountains is unlimited. Whatever your preference, it's likely that Inkarnate will have something for you, even offering features like the ability to create "battlemaps", which is perfect if you happen to be writing war scenes .

11. Roll for Fantasy Map Creator

Not lured in by the bells and whistles of the larger software packages here? You might like this next entry. Roll for Fantasy is a slimmed-down, grid-based map generator. You can choose to randomly generate a map and then edit it, or build it from scratch.

The system is simple: you click the square of the grid to place an element on the map (like a landmass) and then rotate it as you wish. Don't let the ease of use fool you though, with a little time and commitment, you can use the Roll for Fantasy generator to create a rough draft and then develop some astonishing map designs .

With user-friendly tools, such as a mirror to perfect your map's symmetry, this generator definitely deserves more attention than it gets — especially as it's free to use (so you won't be tempted to spend on added content). If that wasn't enough, every time you use Roll for Fantasy's website, you also plant a tree in aid of the Eden Reforestation Project. Who doesn't love a reforestation effort?!

12. Dungeon Scrawl

If you're looking to draw expansive, snaking and labyrinthine dungeons, caves, or castles then Dungeon Scrawl is the fantasy map tool for you. Imagine if Adobe Photoshop was designed for the sole purpose of creating compelling indoor maps (and also much, much easier to use) — that's Dungeon Scrawl.

With no installation required, Dungeon Scrawl gives you the chance to build on premade dungeon templates, or freehand-draw your own fantasy maps. The software's smooth user interface makes it easy to develop maps with a handmade and personal feel, creating corridors, staircases, and rooms of all shapes.

If you're worried about drawing only to potentially turn out shaky MS-Paint-looking lines: fear not, the software automatically makes your lines smoother, or more jagged, depending on your preferences. For sure, if you hadn't already wanted to, this software will make you want to play around and make dungeon maps to include in your story! 

13. HexTML Hex Map Creator

If you're a fan of the board game Settlers of Catan , you'll feel right at home with our list's charming final entry. HexTML is a browser-based fantasy map generator, with its unique selling point being its board game-esque art style.

The tessellating hexagon grid is surprisingly versatile too. For larger maps, you can combine lots of smaller hexagons to create the effect of broad territories, and for smaller maps, you can make each hexagon an individual biome. With a sizable list of symbols, flags, and colors to choose from and place on your map, you can spend hours playing around with different combinations of tile placement. And on the off chance that you don't like the resources that HexTML provides you with, you can upload your own symbols to seamlessly integrate them into your map.

Eventually, when real-life calls you away from the screen, you can easily export your map as an image file, or save the unfinished map to carry on with the next time you log on. 

So that concludes our list. Did you realize how many exciting fantasy map generators and tools were right at your fingertips? Now that your world is ready to go, journey forth and pen a fantasy story  that will knock people's socks off!

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Make your own interactive fantasy map

Turn your static maps into interactive landscapes

Bring your world to life with our interactive map maker! Just upload your map image from any fantasy map maker, and you can link everything from countries and cities, to dungeons and taverns. Players and readers will love exploring your world through interactive maps!

Chart your heroes’ adventures across the lands

Chart your characters’ progress, and show how far they’ve come, by tracking their journey! Draggable map pins will allow you to keep track of them in real time, and you can mark lines to show where they’ve been. You can also track your villains or antagonists and their armies with secret pins, visible only to you!

Reveal the full scope of your world setting

Link maps to other maps to share the full scope of your world, from a whole galaxy down to a D&D dungeon or a single room! It’ll help you as you create, and thrill your players and readers when they’re exploring your world. You can keep your secret pins and map layers private to protect spoilers.

Create Custom Markers for your interactive maps

Revealing or creating locations in-game or whilst writing is easy! It takes just a few seconds to add a map pin in our interactive map maker, or reveal one you’ve had waiting!

Add Layers to your maps, and keep spoilers private!

Layer your worldbuilding information, for example tectonic plates, climate, wind currents and political information, using World Anvil’s layers system! Choose who can see which pins and layers, to protect against spoilers!

Mark locations and events as they are discovered

Interactive maps are just one part of the ever-expanding World Anvil toolset...

World Anvil is not a map making software, you’ll need a map image to create an interactive map. Check out our reviews of the top fantasy map makers and DnD map makers in our blog!

Check out our timelines, to help you track the history of your world! Or what about our interactive family trees, to help you manage those sprawling noble houses and royal families?

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Draw Your Own Fantasy Maps

Introduction: Draw Your Own Fantasy Maps

One of my favorite things about playing tabletop RPGs is that it inspires me to create art that fits into that world. Whenever I play a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, I always feel compelled to create a very detailed world map to help me envision the place I'm in. This may seem complicated, but broken down step by step, anyone with some patience should be able to do it.

High-Quality Paper- I prefer watercolor paper because the thickness and weight make it seem more like a real, "old-timey" map

Pencil- any pencil is fine, I use mechanical. Something on the hard side would be best.

Felt Tipped Pens- I like Micron or, like I've used in this example, Zig Millennium pens for Drawing and Scrapbooking.

A Good Eraser- I have a Moo Eraser that I love. It is not just a normal eraser (although that will work). These are awesome. Get one.

Optional: Dice- I've written this assuming you will use dice, but you could drop any collection of small items or alter the first step so that instead of letting chance create randomness, you just make up the continent shapes yourself.

Step 1: Roll for Outlines

Grab a handful of dice. I usually just hold them a few inches above the paper and roll them gently.

You can adjust the position of the dice a bit if something looks off. Then, using a pencil, trace lightly around the dice. You'll need to make some decisions about which parts should be connected, what should become islands, etc. I also recommend letting the lines be jagged or wiggly to approximate a coastline.

Step 2: Solidify Continent Shapes

Go back with an eraser and refine the outlines you drew. You might want to add a few details, like tiny islands, or create some bays along the coast.

Step 3: Mountains

To select the location of mountains, I like to place dice on the page. This helps to visualize what a mountain range might look like on the continents you drew. In the example pictured, I set out dice and traced a rough line under them.

Then, you will draw a zig-zag line along the path you want the mountain range to follow. These can vary in length and can intersect, as you see in the example.

Finally, draw a small line angled down from every point in the zig-zag line. If the point is to the left, draw a line to the left. If the point is to the right, draw a line to the right.

Step 4: Rivers, Lakes, and Forests

Draw a single line to represent rivers and outline any lakes. The more you try to keep in mind realistic geography while doing this, the more believable it will be. Often rivers in real life begin in the mountains and flow into the ocean.

Sketch out where you would like the forests to be. You will add more detail to these in a later step, but for now, just lightly draw an outline.

Step 5: Add Cities

Again, thinking about where cities are located in the real world, place some city and town markers across your map. You can use any symbols you like for these. I like to have a few different types on my maps to indicate different size cities.

Name and label your cities now before inking so that you know you'll have room for the entire word. You can label every city if you want or leave some blank. Since I use these maps for D&D, I've found that it is nice to leave some room for future discovery.

For name ideas, I really like fantasynamegenerators.com. They have hundreds of categories of names that let you get really specific in what type of feel you want for your world.

Step 6: Name Areas and Add Final Details

Name any areas that are important to you. This might include oceans, bays, forests, mountain ranges, continents, and more.

You will also want to add any final details now such as cliff faces, volcanoes, large solitary mountains, or any other special landscape feature.

Step 7: Ink Coastline

Using a thicker pen, (I used a 0.8mm) trace the entire coastline and any rivers or lakes.

Then go back with a thin pen (0.3mm here) and follow the coastline again twice. On the first round, I like to draw almost a solid line with just a few breaks and then the second time, put much more space between lines. This should create the appearance of waves along the coast.

Step 8: Ink Names

Continuing to use the 0.3mm pen, carefully write the place names. For larger words, like the continent names, I've also included a serif to make it look fancier.

Step 9: Ink Mountains.

Trace the lines you made earlier to create the mountains. Then, on the right side only, add some short lines to indicate a shadow.

Step 10: Ink Forests

For the forest, start by drawing the outline. This will be a wavy line. I try to make mine look a little like the edge of a cartoon cloud, just to give the idea that it is a really dense area of trees. Then, draw lines straight down from the treetops to make it appear to have depth.

Finally, add a few lines within the borders of the forest to suggest treetops sticking out.

Step 11: Erase Pencil Marks and Add Finishing Touches

Erase any pencil marks.

Finishing touches might include inking any unique features, like the smoke from a volcano. I also typically draw a few individual trees near forests to suggest a thinner forest and some tufts of grass in the grasslands. You might also want to add in a compass rose or border to the map.

Congratulations! You've got a completed map!

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• Art / Cartography / Map Making / World Building

How to make a Fantasy Map

by janloos · Published January 5, 2017 · Updated January 23, 2019

In this guide, we make a map for your fantasy world. Even though we are making a fantasy map, we will create an earth like world.

The earth and its layers

The earth’s crust lies upon it’s mantle of hot stone. Underneath the mantle is an outer core of liquid metal. The inner core is a solid ball of metal. Even though the inner core is very hot, the pressure keeps it from melting.

The crust of our earth is like a cracked egg shell. The cracked parts of the earth are called tectonic plates. These slowly move around on top of the earth’s mantle.

Over the course of millions of years, continents have been colliding and dividing. About 250 million years ago, two great continents collided, creating the supercontinent called Pangea.

After about 50 million years, Pangea started to break apart. It slowly created the continents we have today.

If you look at our worlds map, you can see that some continents such as South America and Africa, seem to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Start drawing a supercontinent on your custom map. Make sure the landmass covers about one third to a quarter of the fantasy map.

Sketch in five to ten large tectonic plates and d ecide which way the plates are moving.

Next, start splitting your supercontinent up. This is easily done in design program.

If you are using pen and paper, grab a piece of paper in another color. Roughly cut your piece of paper up in the shape of your continents, and move them according to your tectonic plate.

Mountain-ranges

When two of the tectonic plates collide, one slides underneath the other one, pushing the other one upwards. This creates mountains.

Lets continue working on our fantasy map. The area’s where tectonic plates collide will have mountain ranges. Lets take a different color, like red, and roughly sketch in where the collisions take place.

Take another color, such as blue, and start roughly sketching in where tectonic plates would divert from each other.

When two plates collide, magma from the earth’s mantle can find a way up through the cracks in the plate edges. The magma pushes outwards with great force, causing an eruption.

When the plates continue to move, magma can find its way through the old weak spots where a volcano was previously active. The volcano will erupt once more, and the lava will add another coat of rock on top, causing the volcano to grow in size.

Volcanic islands come to exists, when magma flows upwards when two tectonic plates move away from each other. The magma is cooled down by the water of the oceans, creating a layer of volcanic rock. This continues to happen layer upon layer, until a volcanic island pops up above the surface of the ocean.

Not all volcanoes come to exist at the edge of a tectonic plate.

The Islands of Hawaii for example, are a group of islands formed in the middle of the oceanic plate. These type of islands are very rare, and happen around places called hotspots.

Scientists are not completely sure how hotspots come to exist. One theory suggests it happens when magma travels through the earth’s mantle, forming a blob of magma under the earth’s crust.

Over the course of millions of years, the volcano moves together with the tectonic plate. The hotspot however stays roughly in the same location. This creates new volcanic islands, making an island chain.

When drawing tectonic plates on your map, add some volcanic island chains around the edges. Also add three or four island chains created by tectonic hotspots.

Coastal Erosion

Now that we know the location and shape for our continents, and we know where our mountains and islands chains will be. It is time to add some details.

The force of the water changes the way the coasts of continents look. This is called coastal erosion.

The constant force of the water, slowly chips away at the coasts. The sediments are moved by the sea and may wash up somewhere else.

For now it is enough to know that our coastlines are not perfectly straight. The continents continents may look like puzzle pieces that can fit together, but erosion jagged up the edges.

Trace the continents you have drawn in, but now roughen up the coast lines a little to simulate erosion.

We already roughly sketched in where our mountains will be. Now it is time to add them. A separate tutorial on drawing mountains will be added later. 

For now I can recommend Questing Beasts youtube tutorial on how to draw mountains for cartographers.

The Climate System – Sunlight

The most important factor in our climate system is the sun.

In the movie Star Wars, you can see Luke Skywalker standing on his planet Tatooine, watching two suns set.

With the discovery of the planet Kepler-16b, scientists have confirmed that there are planets orbiting two stars. So Tatooine like worlds may be possible.

Two suns would complicate the climate system of our fantasy world by quite a bit. That is why we will stick with one sun for this guide.

We all know that our earth spins around an axis with the north pole at the top, and the south pole at the bottom. And we also know that the earth revolves around the sun.

The angle at which the earth revolves around its axis, and the angle at which the earth revolves around the sun are different from each other.

While the earth revolves around the sun, different parts of the earth catch more sunlight.. This causes the seasons of the year.

The places around the equator, receive large amounts of sunlight all year round. Causing them to be the warmer places on earth.

A little bit further from the equator, we find the tropical zones. They get more or less sunlight depending of the time of the year. So they are more affected by the seasons. However, since they are so close to the equator, they still catch a lot of sunlight, making them warm places on earth.

Next to the tropical zones, we have the temperate zones. These are much more affected by the seasons. They can go from, very warm in the summer, to very cold in the winter.

Next to the temperate zones, we have the top and the bottom of our axis, the polar regions or also known as the arctic and antarctic circle. These receive the least amount of sunlight, causing it to be cold all year around.

The Climate System – Weather Cells

Wind also plays a big role our climate system. The weather system however is very complicated.

For now it is enough to know that there are six donut shaped weather cells that surround our globe. If you want to know more details, I suggest that you do some searching on the names of the different weather cells. The cells are called Hadley Cells, Ferrel Cells, and Polar Cells.

Around the equator, the weather is warm and wet. A perfect area for rain forests.

30 degrees north and south of the equator, the weather is warm and dry. A perfect area for deserts.

60 degrees north and south of the equator, the weather is colder and wet.

At the north and south pole, the weather is cold and dry. If Antarctica would not be covered by ice, it would be as dry as the Sahara.

The wind in these weather cells follow a certain pattern. This can cause certain coastlines to be warmer or colder than they should be according to their latitude.

Start imagining what area’s of your fantasy world map would have what type of climate.

During the ice age, glacial ice covered much of the land near the poles.

Over thousands of years, the glacial ice moved back and forward over the lands. Melting and freezing over again.

Area’s with high altitude near the coasts, close to the poles, were affected by this glacial ice a lot. Creating sharp and steep narrow inlets.

On our earth, we find many fjords in Alaska, Greenland, and Norway on the northern hemisphere. But also in New Zealand, Southern Chili, and Antarctica on the southern hemisphere.

When you are drawing your custom map, add some fjords to make your map more believable.

Wind also plays a big role in the forming of rivers. When clouds hit a mountain range, they will cool down and start releasing their rain.

This is why rivers mostly start on the windy side of an area with high altitude.

Now that we know our wind patterns and where our mountains are, we can start imagining the area’s where rivers may form.

When drawing our custom map, we will draw in the world’s biggest rivers. Comparable to the Mississippi river or the Amazon river. When we make a more detailed map of continents or even lands, we can add in smaller streams and rivers.

The rivers start out as thin streams, slowly making their way towards the ocean. The direction the way a river curves is affected by wind, altitude, and the type of sediment.

Rivers do not split into new streams. However other small streams might join the river as it move downwards.

The only exception to the splitting rules is when a river forms a delta. The river carries sediment with it, creating a new landmass at the coastline. This happens time after time, creating a delta, with land poking outwards.

The world’s greatest lakes were created at the end of the ice age. The melt water of the ice sheets created enormous lakes.

Another way for lakes to form is the same way that rivers start. Rain hits the side of a mountain, the water washes down. Because of the altitude difference, waterfalls may appear. The rain collects into a pool, creating a lake.

Other lakes may be caused by meteors hitting the earth, creating a dent. Or old volcanoes, filling up with water.

When drawing your custom map. Add some big glacial lakes, and some smaller lakes near to mountains

Adding our terrain details

Now that we have a rough idea on how the climate works on our custom map, we can start adding in detailed terrain.

Keep in mind that area’s near lakes and rivers will have more vegetation than dry area’s in land.

Start drawing in your forests, deserts, grasslands, and swamps.

A separate tutorial will be added on how to draw terrain details such as forests, grassland, deserts, and swamps. For now I highly recommend the amazing tutorials of WASD20 .

Styling your fantasy map

The next part of the tutorial is set in less rules. Try to work on your own style.

When you are still trying to find your style, I advise you to be inspired by cartographers that you like.

Imitate the style of this map, use the following.

Start drawing a thick black line on the south east sides of your landmasses. This will give them a 3D effect.

Next start drawing in a thin outline along your coast. 

Last, add many small horizontal lines coming out of your landmass.

Now we will add some mapping elements, such as a longitude and latitude grid, a compass rose, and a scale. For these I let myself be inspired by old real life world maps.

Some of my favorite cartographers from history are the father and son, Willem and Joan Bleau. Search for their maps for a great source of inspiration.

Add this stage I will also add some shading to the right sides of my mountains, hills and forests.

Coloring your fantasy map

The colors of your map play a big role in your fantasy world/story/role playing campaign.

Think to yourself, what is will be the general mood. If it is going to be a highly magical story, you might want to use some purples and blues. Or maybe you are going for dark story, featuring the undead, use grey tones. When it is going to be a story featuring devils and demons, use hellish colors like reds and orange.

Maybe you want to leave mood open to interpretation by your readers/players. Then it is a good idea to keep it black and white like an inked map.

For this map, I imagined a story set in world similar to 17th century Europe but with the classic fantasy races. The western continent had just been discovered about 100 years ago, and is now being explored and colonized. I hope the colors portray a mood of adventure and curiosity.

Labeling and typography

The final touch to bring your fantasy world alive, is adding labels. This is easiest done in a design program.

I will add a separate tutorial for hand drawn labels another time.

For this map I used  the Times New Roman font.

There are many different styles of labeling in the world of cartography. The most important rule is, legibility. Make your labels easy to read.

For this map I used the following:

• Oceans, sea’s, and continent labels: All Caps, Loose tracking (much space between individual characters).
• Deserts, cliffs, and island chains labels: Small Caps, Start with a capital, Loose tracking.
• Mountains chain labels: Italic Bold, Tight tracking.
• Cities, villages, and fortress labels: Italic, Tight tracking.

For all the labels, I added a small stroke on the outside, in the color of the background.

When you are labeling an area such as a continent or a sea, try to make it fit about 2/3 the width of the area. You can do this by increasing the font size, but also with tracking, adding space between individual characters.

When you are labeling places, put them on the top right of your icon. The exception is, when labels would overlap or seem to form one word, then you can move the label in a way that increases legibility.

Click the image to see the map in high resolution (4096 x 2048)

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How to Make a Fantasy Map: No Graphic Designer Needed

As all major fantasy fans and aspiring authors know, mapmaking is pivotal to the worldbuilding process . Even if you just want to play around and it's not for a novel specifically, creating a fantasy map can help you envision it differently.

It certainly helps with plotting if you're writing a fantasy novel.

But there are many ways to make one, some of which require dolling out a few hundred dollars for a graphic designer to create it. But that's not always necessary.

Whether your goal is to write the best fantasy book series (complete with complex worldbuilding) or just map out your world as a part of your book outlining process, we'll teach you how to make your fantasy maps. The best part? They're free (or very cheap).

Table of Contents

3 methods to make a fantasy map.

The method you'll use to make your map largely depends on what you're looking for as a final result.

These are the primary options you'll have:

• Draw it yourself
• Hire a graphic designer
• Use a map-making software

They all come with their ups and downs. Hand drawn maps, for example, allow you to truly customize what's present. You can draw whatever you want, wherever you want. Below is an example of a hand drawn fantasy map, colored in.

Hiring a graphic designer is great for those who can afford it and need the map more for visual elements instead of enjoying the process of making it. If you're the type who loves to make maps but have zero graphic design experience, then choosing a software you can use is the best bet.

Most people who publish a book with a map typically use a combination of these. They might hand draw it and later hire a designer to make it print-worthy.

Choose the best option for you and move on to the next steps!

Fantasy Map Making Software to Choose From

This option for learning how to make a fantasy map is among the most popular. You can customize your map to about 90% of what you want with the higher tier softwares, even without any graphic design experience.

Take this map example from Tales of Bastunia created with the software Inkarnate :

As you can see, it's very advanced with many different features. However, it does require many hours of time to put together a map of this caliber.

If software seems like the best fit for you, here are a few recommended fantasy mapmaking software:

• TheBookDesigner
• Wonderdraft

This isn't an exhaustive list. There are new mapmakers popping up everywhere. If you want to find your own, just do a Google for “fantasy mapmaking software” and do some browsing.

How to Make a Fantasy Map No Matter How You Do It

It's not enough to have a software where you can drag-and-drop your map. Part of the fun of learning how to make a fantasy map is being able to understand how geography works and how landmasses are actually built.

It's highly unlikely that a mountain will rise directly out of flatlands with no hills or smaller mountains around it, because of how mountains form. Of course, if the sudden emergence of a mountain from nothing is a fantasy element in your world, that's different.

Let's go through the step by step process of how to start building your fantasy map.

Step 1 – Build the land

In this step, you're creating what will be land in the ocean. You're creating the shape and structure of the land. If you're showcasing a world map for your fantasy world, you'll probably shape very continent, ocean, and see.

If you're zooming in on a certain area of your world, you can just create the blank canvas and make the whole thing land.

To make these look more realistic, a good exercise is to make your world as if it was one large continent, and then imagine how the landmasses would pull apart over millions of years. This is similar to how our world used to be a sole continent called Pangea.

Over time, the land does split apart, but does so in a way that makes each continent look like pieces of a puzzle that you could move back into place. The more you can do this with your land masses—make them look like they'd fit together—the more realistic they'd be.

Step 2 – Set the geography

After the land masses have been created, you get to build more of what the landscape looks like, the geography of the world. How detailed you want to get with this is totally up to you and what's most relevant to your story.

You can go so far as to brainstorm where tectonic plates are and how those would have created mountains, rivers, and seas, or you can keep it simple and make it up as you go along. Just make sure to understand basic geography if you want to keep your world realistic.

Now, if you want to make it extra magical with the world created by magic, then it's fine for rivers to flow up mountains. Decide what level of realism you want and go from there.

At this stage, your fantasy map might look something like this—bare and plain.

Step 3 – Create major landmarks

At this point in learning how to make a fantasy map, you should know the main towns, cities, and other major landmarks, whether they be natural or manmade. Once you have the geography, you can place these landmarks in appropriate areas.

Here are a few things to remember to make your fantasy map realistic:

• Cities are often built around water like lakes or rivers
• There aren't often major settlements on mountainsides unless they're small and secluded
• Mountains tend to be disrupters of geography, making the climate different on opposite sides
• Ports for shipping are often created on bays or seas with easy accessibility

During this stage, you're not building the cities yet, you're just created the space for them by altering the geography (slightly) to clear it out for development.

Step 4 – Create roads and pathways

Once you know where the major landmarks are, you can start crafting roads from each spot. While you definitely can do this after the settlements have been built, you want to make the roadways first so you know where to place other smaller towns, train stations, or other settlements throughout.

Remember that roads are usually built for convenience. If people don't have to dig into rock or mountain, they won't. The level of technology accessible to your fantasy world people also matters. If they don't have the tools or equipment to carve, blast, or dig out rock, then roads will have to cease or go around mountains. Also consider whether bridges will need to be used.

Step 5 – Add buildings and residential areas

This step is pretty self-explanatory. Just make sure that the material of the buildings match the economic level of the users. If you have a royal palace, the buildings near it would be nicer quality since they'd be surrounded by wealthier people.

Similarly, the material of buildings in the lesser-developed part of the area would be cheaper, more basic elements. Keep this in mind when placing your areas.

At this stage, your fantasy world map might look similar to this one of Bastunia by Unfound Anamnesis:

Step 6 – Add labels

Now you get to name everything! You probably have most locations named at this point. To add them to your map, you'll want to find a font that's fitting for your world (yes, font matters), and add the names above the locations.

The example above looks like this after being named:

Step 7 – Fine tune the details

While building, you might decide to change or add a few things. After you've done the main work, you can go back and add trees, different textures to represent the landscape, and all the small details that will give your world and extra punch.

Now's a good time to also consider shading and coloring the various areas if the software you're using has those options. If you forgot anything else, add it now!

5 Iconic Examples of Fantasy Maps to Learn From

Let's take a look at the fantasy maps used in printed versions of published books thus far so you can get the idea of what you're shooting for at the end.

1. Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

If you write fantasy and have not yet read (or heard of) this series by Brandon Sanderson, you're surely missing out. As with most of his fantasy works (like Mistborn ), this one contains a map, this time of the entire world of Roshar. Because this epic spans many different perspectives from people in various parts of the world, including a whole world map is necessary.

In other series, like Mistborn , the map is only of a city. Only include what's needed when making your fantasy map.

2. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

This series is also known for its worldwide disputes with various characters residing in different parts of the lands. Again, because of this, there's a map for the world placed inside the book so readers can envision the relation of different places.

This map is different than Sanderson's in that it has a key, with different markers to help the reader visualize what's in different locations. This way, you don't have to make the map as detailed while still conveying what it might look like.

3. The Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

This is a great map to showcase the zoomed-in approach when you only need to share a portion of the world. This fantasy map example is less detailed, but still shows the overall lay of the land with an emphasis on the names of locations.

It also has a key with only a few symbols.

4. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

This up-and-coming fantasy has a more unique map than what you see with bigger epics. Instead of doing a lay of the overall lands, this author included a birds-eye view of a specific location that's even more zoomed-in than the above example..

5. The Priority of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Here's another bigger world map in a very simplistic style. This is a great example of a map that says a lot without a ton of detail. You don't need a wild, intricate map in order to help your readers understand what's going on.

If you're writing a fantasy novel – whether high fantasy or low fantasy or fantasy romance – maps can go a long way to help you showcase your world without as much exposition in the writing itself. Consider making one or hiring out for one!

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Convert Map Level to Image

Do you wish to convert the current level of you map to an image?

Your map will not be affected in any way, but the conversion process can be lengthy and may even fail, depending on the power of your computer and the size and complexity of your map. Also, the conversion will be performed on the level that was selected when the map was last saved. So make sure you save your work with the proper level selected before continuing.

Select Level Type

Please select one of the following types of levels to add

Edit Map Settings

Edit section settings.

Name Hide Initially Do not display this section until clicked when viewing the Map. Highlight on Hover Highlight this section when the cursor hovers above it when viewing the Map.

Edit Level Settings

Name Enter the link to an image that will be used as the background or leave this entry blank. Background Image (URL) Repeat Image Repeat the image so that it fills the entire map Enter the link to an image that will be used as the main image. Sections of this image can be defined that will be hidden until revealed on a mouse click, unless these sections are set to be visible by default. Leave this entry blank if no image is to be used. Level Image (URL) Hide Non-Section Areas Parts of the image not defined as a section will be hidden from the viewer.

Add Custom Item

Name Enter the link to an image that will be used for the item. url

Level Walls

Section floor.

• Background Opacity 100%
• Level Opacity 100%
• Grid Settings
• Rotation 0°

Move to Top

Move to Bottom

• Add to Item List
• Offset Left 0
• Offset Top 0
• Cell Size 100
• Reset to Default
• Changing the grid offset or size will update all Floor and Walls to match the grid, but will NOT update other placed Items.
• Apply Changes

Game master (GM) guides

Writing & other guides

• 1. Tectonic Plates
• 2. Climates

Regular puzzles

Nikoli puzzles (grid based)

• Expanding Cards
• Dr. Who Tardis Card
• Tips & Tricks

Feel free to share

Map creator

This map creator tool will allow you to the create a whole world of your own design using well over 1400 different images. I included natural parts for the inner landscape, like forests, mountains and hills. All of these elements can be dragged around if you enable this feature.

To create the maps I used a grid system, I further divided the maps into sections with 3 connection points. For the top and bottom it will be left, right and the middle, for the sides it will be top, bottom and the middle. It might sound a little confusing, but the following images should help explain it.

Instructions

If you thought 1180 different images was all you were getting you thought wrong. You can also rotate all pieces, mirror them, you can change the map size and you can drag around and resize the draggable pieces.

To do all this the instructions are as follows: - Adding a piece to the map: Click on whichever map piece you wish to change (you can select multiple), it will have a blue highlight if it's selected. Now click on any of the pieces from the selection menu (outward corners, inward corners, etc.), the highlighted square is now turned into whichever piece you selected. Note that the draggable and the label layers have to be toggled off to access the bottom pieces. - Rotating a piece: Click on whichever piece(s) on the map you wish to rotate (including draggable pieces) so it has the blue highlight again. Now click on one of the rotate buttons ("rotate 90", "rotate 180", "rotate 270", "reset") to rotate it. - Mirror: You can mirror an image by selecting it and clicking the mirror button. - Toggle grid: You can enable and disable the grid to get a better view of the map by hitting the "toggle grid" button. - Resetting: To reset the whole map, simply click on the "reset map" button. This doesn't reset the draggable piece, click "reset drags" for that. To reset an individual square back to a sea piece, click on it so it has the blue highlight and click the "reset piece" button. - Dragging pieces: Tick the "Enable draggable pieces" checkbox. Now click on one of the "Land and Sea" pieces in the selection menu to add a piece to the map. This piece can be dragged around with your mouse. - Toggle drags/labels: Toggle the visibility of the draggable pieces or labels on and off using the "toggle drags" button. You have to turn of these layers to access the bottom layer, which is the regular map. - Layer 1 & 2: There are two layers for the draggable pieces, this way you can stack parts more easily, organize elements by type, and so on. Layer 2 will be hidden when 1 is active to make sure you can access it. - Toggle resize: Toggles the ability to resize draggable pieces or labels, this allows for further customization and for customization with more precision. - Toggle Grid Snap: You can toggle grid snap on and off by clicking the corresponding button. When grid snap is on, all draggable pieces will snap to an invisible grid. This makes lining them all up much easier. - Delete draggable/label: To delete a draggable piece or a label, click it to select it, its border will turn blue. Then click the 'delete draggable' or 'delete label' button respectively to remove it. - Add label: Simply click this to add a label to the map. You can drag it around, resize it and type anything you want in it. - Toggle label borders: The borders make it easy to see the boundaries of the labels and to move them around, but once you're done you can toggle them off by clicking this button. - Random map: Click the 'Random' button below the map to have a random map generated in an instant. - Change map size: Scroll down to below the map, simply insert the values you wish to change the map size and hit apply. - Custom images: You can add custom images to the map by selecting a regular piece or a draggable piece, and then clicking "Set background" to set the selected piece to whichever image link you entered in the input field. - Hex grid: You can toggle a hex-grid overlay using the "Toggle hex overlay on" button. You can resize it using the number values, it'll change automatically as you change the numbers. This way you can adapt the map to tabletop RPGs.

Saving and loading your map

It's possible to save your map and get back to it later, you can do so by simply clicking the 'save map' button. This will save the map with all the pieces, including draggable pieces, locally in your browser. This only works if you don't use incognito mode and only if you use a modern browser (so no IE7 for example). You can close your browser after you've clicked save, it'll still be there when you open it again. toggle When you want to load your map you simply click 'load map' and it'll input all the map pieces back into their original positions. Do note that if you changed the map size you will have to change it again before loading the map.

Saving locally

It's also possible to save the map data locally. Simply click the "Save local" button to have the code create a text file with all the map code in it, then click on the download link to download it directly to your computer. Now you can use the "Choose file" field to upload your map data and use it in the future. This method makes sure there's no risk of losing all your data in case your browser data is wiped, for example, but it does mean keeping track of your downloaded file.

Important: Draggable pieces and labels

Note that when the draggable pieces and/or labels are toggled on (and thus visible on the map) you won't be able to select the squared pieces below, the draggable pieces and the labels are placed using an overlay which blocks you from accessing what's below.

Planning tool

This tool is mostly meant for planning purposes, at least if you want a detailed map. Natural elements are extremely varied, not just in size and shape, but also in positioning, their effect on other natural elements and much more. A tool like this won't be able to replicate nature well, a square grid system with predefined images would require far more images to do so. But it still works great as a tool to help you plan the ideal version of your map. You can still place elements where you roughly want them to be. To illustrate this, I made a map using this generator as a planning ground and I then fine tuned that map in an editing program to get a more natural looking map.

You can obviously go way beyond this, like DeviantArt user TheFrenchedCanadian who made the piece below. With a little time and skill you can turn the rough, planning version into a fully fledged map.

Saving the image

If you wish to save the map you've created all you have to do is click the 'Turn into image' button and an image will appear below it that looks exactly like what you've created. The only difference being that this is a single image, rather than a whole lot of separate images. Simply right click it, select 'save as' and name it what you wish. That's all there is to it.

Many of you have asked how they can use the maps created with this map creator. You're free to use maps you've created in books, games, and similar projects as long as my site's credited. Everything else (the tool, the assets, etc.) are off limits. If you have a question, feel free to send me a message with the contact form.

Tip: You can drag and resize the menus below.

Copyright© 2017-2024 RollForFantasy.com

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Create your own custom map

• Make a map of the World, Europe, United States, and more
• Color code countries or states on the map
• Add a legend and download as an image file
• Use the map in your project or share it with your friends
• Free and easy to use
• Plus version for advanced features

Color an editable map

• Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia, Oceania
• US states and counties
• Subdivision maps (counties, provinces, etc.)
• Single country maps (the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain and 20+ more)
• Fantasy maps
• Get your message across with a professional-looking map .
• Download your map as a high-quality image , and use it for free .

Get your map in 3 simple steps

• Click on any country/state on the map to color it.
• Fill out the legend with descriptions for each color group.
• Select Download map to download your map as an image.

Fully customize your free map

• Use the color scheme you want for your map.
• Suitable colors for statistical and choropleth maps.
• Colorblind-friendly palettes.
• Use patterns (dots, stripes, lines, etc.) for countries/states that belong in two groups.
• Change background color, borders, legend font, legend color and give your map your own styling.

• Get a high-resolution image of your map for free.
• Hide any country/state you don't need on the map.
• Use Zoom Mode to zoom in and focus on a specific map area.
• Resize and move the map's legend around.
• Save your work and continue your map later.

• Use the Detailed maps that show all first-level subdivisions of countries.
• Isolate countries and states.
• Color all subdivisions of a country with one click.
• Great for making alternate history scenarios.
• Import data from Excel on selected maps.

The #1 map-making website, used daily in:

• Scientific papers
• Geography AP courses
• Market research
• Sales presentations
• Infographics
• Landing pages
• Statistical surveys
• Alternate history
• Travel maps
• Cartography
• and more...

Check out the Showcase for more examples.

Ready? Select the map you want to create from below

For historical maps please visit Historical MapChart .

With Microstates

Subdivisions

United States

USA and Canada

The Americas

United Kingdom / Ireland

Historic Counties

Election Map (UK only)

Postcodes (UK only)

Provinces/Terr.

Census Divisions

Election Map

Departments

Municipalities

Netherlands

The Caribbean

Middle East

War Games World map

Europa Universalis IV

Pacific-centered World

Hearts of Iron IV

No more static pictures

Share  your

Interactive map.

You got a map of a fictional world, full of interesting places and want to share it with your roleplaying group, the readers of your book or the other fans of that game you love? You have come to the right place!  

how it works

Sharing your world as an online map akin to google maps is child’s play with our easy authoring tool. In a few simple steps you will have a neat web application to share.

Upload your map

You simply upload your map image and we automatically generate a zoomable web map application from it.

Place your markers

Just put a map pin at every interesting location. Don’t worry, you can always move and change them later.

Add attributes like name or community size and a description to your map markers

Choose icons

Assign fitting symbols to your map markers, so it is inherently evident what it depicts.

Determine zoom levels

Showing all markers at all times can result in map clutter. That is why you can choose when they appear.

That’s it! Now go and share the link to your awesome new map tool and enjoy the praise.

Beta version

Currently in early access, what does beta version mean.

This means that fictionalmaps.com does not offer all planned features yet. We're hard at work to make it your favourite place to share and explore maps of fantastic worlds, but right now it is still under development. This means bugs and errors my happen and new features are added regularly.

What is already working?

At the moment the basics are in place. You can upload your maps, place markers and detail maps, add some more map features like a scale bar or search box and share them with your audience. Best way to find out is to sign up for free and upload a map.

Note: everything in the pricing plan descriptions written in italics is still development.

What is coming next?

Glad you asked! You can see our development goals on our Roadmap. Of course this is susceptible to change and features might get pushed to a later version if they prove more challenging than expected or better yet, pulled to an earlier release if things go well.

Also, we would love to hear from you which features you want to see first and will adapt our plans accordingly.

Why should I sign up now?

In signing up you show us that what we do is wanted by people, the thing that motivates us the most. Choosing a paid plan will enables us to spend more time developing the site and thus result in earlier and more features for everyone.

Task Finder

All Interactive Maps and Locations

Mimog, a Neutral-type Pal, resembles a mixture of a mimic from fantasy lore and a dog-like creature combined to create a trickster that's cute and fun to catch in the early game!

Mimog Skills and Abilities

How to Find Mimog

As you can see from its habitat map below, you can find the all-new Mimog in almost any biome in the game, with very few exceptions. However, Mimog enjoys hiding in plain sight, so keep a close eye on the treasure chests you stumble across!

Up Next: Sakurajima: New Pals and How to Access

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