this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2025
9 points (100.0% liked)

MapMaking - A Map Making community for DND/TTRPG

1251 readers
1 users here now

Welcome to the TTRPG/DND/D&D/Fantasy Map Makers Community!

We're thrilled to have you here! This community is all about the art and craft of creating TTRPG maps. Whether you're a seasoned cartographer or just beginning, this is the perfect place to delve into the world of map making. Here, we exchange knowledge, seek advice, explore techniques, and bring our imaginary worlds to life.

Our Main Focus: Map Making Discussions

Primarily, our community thrives on open discussions about all aspects of map-making. Topics can range from tools, techniques, and asset sharing to queries about scaling and more. This open forum is where we share knowledge, learn from one another, and celebrate the process of map creation.

Other Acceptable Posts Include:

Map Making Prompts: Feel free to post prompts that others can interpret through their unique artistic perspectives. Create maps inspired by these prompts and share your process!

User Requests: If you have a specific idea for a map but lack the skills to bring it to life, you can post your request here. Our talented community of artists may choose to fulfill them. Remember, this isn't a place for paid requests, and we reserve the right to revisit this policy if the number of requests becomes overwhelming.

Artist's 'Make a Request' Posts: Artists in our community can start a thread inviting others to make requests, which they can then attempt to fulfill. This keeps the requests contained and easy to follow. This section also doesn't cater to paid services, and the policy may change in the future.

Rules:

We're here to foster a collaborative environment where map makers can learn from each other and improve their skills. This community is about celebrating the process of map creation and exploring innovative ways to illustrate adventures. While sharing completed maps is not our primary goal, feel free to join !battlemaps@lemmy.world to showcase your completed creations.

Find more TTRPG/DND:

--!battlemaps@lemmy.world

--!dnd@lemmy.world

--!worldbuilding@lemmy.world

--!tabletopminis@lemmy.world

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm talking more about maps on the scale of a country or continent than a city or dungeon here.

How do you show that a mapped area has sections of more positively or negatively (spherical or hyperbolic) curved space, besides crocheting the map and actually adding more or less surface area to those parts? Actually, that might not be a terrible idea.

My only other idea is to add a grid over the whole map and distort it in those places, make it look pinched or like a bubble in the map. Is this something anyone here has already found a good solution for?

top 1 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] INeedMana@piefed.zip 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_map_projections

But since this is probably going to be a fictional map, I'd just put on a square grid/hexes that will be used for calculating movement without the projection

If you want to have a hole in the ground, check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contour_line#Elevation_and_depth
Adding lines themselves might be tricky. I think I would rather open the map in GIMP and modify the colour of the area with a mask layer. I guess there should exist some map software where you could just "click and carve" but I haven't heard of it