Do you fancy yourself a great DM, but not a great artist? Good news: You don't have to be an incredible artist or architect to make great D&D maps. You don’t even need elaborate software!
All you need is a game to run and the willingness to give it a go.
Since we launched Dungeon Scrawl, we’ve seen thousands of first-time mapmakers create perfectly functional battle maps, often in less time than they ever expected.
The secret? Your D&D map doesn't need to be perfect. It just needs to work for your table! Once you let go of perfectionism, you’ll find that you can start crafting some pretty impressive maps for any campaign (and you’ll get better each time you do it!)
To get you started, let's walk through everything you need to know to start making your own maps, even if you've never done it before.
Start With What You Really Need
We’ve all been there with a D&D campaign. Players will spend three hours in the tavern you improvised on the spot, but they’ll completely skip the dungeon you spent all week preparing.
So, make this your first rule of mapmaking: Don’t overprepare. Just start.
Before you build your map, ask yourself what you actually need for your next session:
- A quick battlemap for an ambush? You’ll need a road and a few terrain features.
- A dark dungeon for exploration? Focus first on building interesting room shapes and creating multiple paths.
- A sprawling city district? Don’t get overwhelmed. Just add the essential buildings and streets your players will use.
We designed Dungeon Scrawl with this "just enough" philosophy in mind. You can sketch out a serviceable tavern interior in about 60 seconds, or you can spend hours crafting to your heart’s content.
The tool gets out of your way and lets you focus on the map itself, not wrestling with software.
The Geography of Good Maps
The best battle maps benefit from thinking about geography. But don’t get too high-level with the geography. Here are a few quick considerations for interior and exterior areas:
For dungeons and interiors:
- All of your rooms should have a purpose: kitchen, barracks, throne room, prison
- Make sure your corridors connect things logically, unless it fits the story. (As in, don't put the treasury right by the entrance)
- Multiple entrances and paths make exploration more interesting
For outdoor battle maps:
- Think about hills and elevation as being there for combat advantages
- Like pillars or walls indoors, rivers, roads, and forests give players tactical options outside
- A few distinct features (a bridge, a ruined tower, a copse of trees) can easily make the map unique
The best thing about working with a tool like Dungeon Scrawl is that you can experiment quickly.
Use the tool to draw a room in an instance. Decide you don't like it? Press Ctrl+Z, and try something else. The rectangle tool and regular polygon tool let you block out spaces fast.
Start Simple, Then Add Layers
If you talk to a professional mapmaker, they’ll likely tell you the secret to cartography: they build maps in layers. Most will start with simple layers and add complexity gradually. Do the same for your maps!
Layer 1: Basic shapes
In the first run, keep it to basics. Block out the fundamental layout. For a dungeon, this means rooms and corridors, which could be made up of just rectangles and circles.
This philosophy is built into Dungeon Scrawl, as it's literally the first thing you do. The rectangle tool is selected by default when you open the app because it's the most important tool.
Layer 2: Walls and doors
Now, add walls where you need them (Dungeon Scrawl's wall tool works by clicking points and double-clicking to finish). Then, once your walls are in place, pop in doors using the door tool.
Layer 3: Features and details
Now your map can come alive. Start adding columns with the regular polygon tool (press b 4 for a circle). Then, draw stairs between levels and place images from the asset library to fill out the space.
Layer 4: Style and polish
The last step is to change colors and experiment with different visual styles – but this is totally optional. Dungeon Scrawl includes preset styles that can instantly change the feel of your map.
The Principle of "Interesting Choices"
Now that you’ve got the basics, it’s time to add one more tool to your mapmaking arsenal: Jaquaysing.
Named after legendary game designer Jennell Jaquay, Jaquaysing suggests that dungeons should give players interesting and multiple choices. This means your map should have:
- Multiple entrances and exits
- Loops and interconnected paths
- Shortcuts that reward exploration
- Secret doors and hidden passages
- Asymmetrical layouts
You don't need to understand complex design theory to implement this. Just ask yourself: "If the players want to avoid this room, could they?" and "Is there more than one way to reach the treasure?"
In Dungeon Scrawl, it's easy to sketch out multiple paths. Draw your main route, then add a secondary corridor that loops back. Cut out a secret passage using erase mode (press E to toggle).
What About Map Scale and Measurements?
This step is where many get lost. The concepts of map scale confuse people, but in reality, it can be kept fairly simple.
In general, think in terms of 5-foot squares (the standard D&D grid). A typical room might be 4-6 squares across. A corridor is usually 1-2 squares wide.
For larger maps, don’t get stuck in miles and kilometres (unless you really want to add road signs with distances!).
Think in terms of travel time instead: "The journey will take three days on foot" is way more helpful and conceptual at the table than "This is 72 miles."
Luckily, Dungeon Scrawl’s grid system does the scale work for you. Each grid square is one standard 5-foot D&D space.
When you export your map, the filename includes the dimensions (like "dungeon-30x40.png"), so you know exactly how big it is when you import it into your virtual tabletop.
Remember, "Good Enough" Is Perfectly Enough!
Don’t let perfectionism keep you from creating a great D&D map for your party. The first step is often just to make one and learn from there! Use the map at your table, and then watch how your players navigate through it. Learn, iterate, and improve.
If you've read this far and haven't made a map yet, here's your homework: make a tavern. Just a simple, humble, ready-for-a-barfight tavern.
To get started, head over to Dungeon Scrawl and open the builder. Draw a large rectangle for the main room, add a few smaller rectangles for a kitchen and storage area, stick in some doors, drop in a few tables and chairs from the asset library. Done!
(Once you’re done, share it with us over on our Discord community so we can celebrate together!)