As a GM, not only do i hate making maps of dungeons, villages, cities, or even just towns. I fucking suck at it. Yet I can't not do it - It's expected of a GM. How the hell do I shortcut this, or make it easier on me?
I mean i know i can just use other peoples maps.. But they rarely fit like i want them to do and force me to change shit just to make them integrate well.
Is it a problem of making them look good, or is it a problem of designing the layout?
For dungeons I honestly just carve a few square rooms at random, then decide what would be in them afterward.
For little villages, I use dice to randomly decide the elevation of the land. Then I decide where a river would run based on that elevation. Then I just draw random rectangular houses.
>It's expected of a GM
You mean your group expect it?
Do you actually need them?
I'm asuming you are playing D&D or similar. So if you need a dungeon just do it on a graph paper and then draw it on the grid as the players go.
If you want to use them as props, then use Inkarnate for the region/kingdom/world map. It's the best "work to looks" ratio tool.
For town/city I think there is a random city map generator that could help you. It doesn't look so good but the program has algorythms for everything from walls to population scatter. I don't remember the name but you can google it.
>>46427254
Automate it, pal.
https://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/world
Alternatively look into pyromancers map generator, Google it.
Whereas I really dont enjoy running games any longer, all the local players are arseholes, but love making maps.
>>46432340
Is this photoshop? Paintscratch on google seems to be for car scratches.
>>46432374
no, it was literally some scratched paint.
some anon a few years ago was sitting on a train, and looked at the scratched to fuck paint on the table in front of him (or her), and thought it looked like a map, and took this photo of it - so I turned it into a map.
>>46427254
Get better at, and begin enjoying it.
Wish I hadn't killed my computer that had my maps on it. Don't have an external SDA drive reader at the moment, so I can't retrieve them.
But being good at things makes doing them fun. All you need to do is practice, OP. Once you start liking the way your maps look, you'll start liking making maps. Because the fact that you're using them in a game means that other people are going to see something you're proud of doing.
So just practice.
>>46427254
Just do a shitty sketch.
I typically pick a random town on google maps and use that. It's pretty effective.
Internal areas I just draw on grid as we go.
Most of my players were competantly imaginitive enough that a basic grid map for memory assistance was plenty.
>>46432389
> literally some scratched paint
My dick.
The patterns don't look particularly watercourse-like, but it DOES look natural which most handmade maps don't.
>>46427254
>It's expected of a GM
Is it? I make maps up on the fly if we need them, sometimes I vaguely describe it and get the players to draw the map.
Change your players' expectations. There's plenty of stuff GM do need to do, meticulously mapping stuff isn't one of them.
>>46432340
Similar situation here, although I do have non-arsehole players. I've made way more maps than I've run games.
Not all RPG stuff, I did pic related for wargaming for instance. Also kind of as a GIMP exercise.
