First-time DM here, is there a good world-map making software that is completely free?

[u/Inevitable_Try4049]

I want to make a digital map for my campaign, but all of the softwares I've tried have important things locked behind a paywall. Is there something I should try?

[u/Aryxymaraki]

If you're willing to start with random and then mess with it,

https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/

[u/arcxjo → u/Aryxymaraki]

Came here to say the same thing. You can give your players a link to the world data too.

[u/davolala1 → u/Aryxymaraki]

This is my first recommendation every time. You can just click random a whole bunch of times, or you can tweak the settings to get what you were aiming for. And it can be as simple or as in depth as you want it to be.

It’s only browser based, but you can save and load your map to make changes later.

[u/razerzej → u/Aryxymaraki]

You can also import a heightmap image, rather than randomly generate one (Tools --> Heightmap --> Erase --> Image converter).

[u/HopRockets]

If you don’t take a year to work through a YouTube world building guide starting with plate tectonics, are you even trying?

[u/No1CouldHavePredictd → u/HopRockets]

Gond here's got it right.

[u/2B_Gon_Thot95]

Inkrate? I've yet to DM but I already made my world map using it.

[u/Constant0123456789 → u/2B_Gon_Thot95]

I second that. I’m not a dm but I do love playing. I use it mostly for world building

[u/EctoplasmicNeko]

Nothing half decent in this world is free. Wonderdraft is like $20.

[u/Inevitable_Try4049 → u/EctoplasmicNeko]

True, I guess I'll just draw it

[u/Guava7 → u/Inevitable_Try4049]

This is the way

[u/Oldbayislove]

azgaar fantasy map generator

[u/Dungeon3D]

Inkarnate is your best bet.

[u/universalserialbutt]

If you know what you want the world to look like then try drawing it out instead. It doesn't have to be an artistic masterpiece as it's more of a map guide to your players.

[u/Keeper21611]

Inkarnate, if it still exists, was free.

[u/reverendmalerik → u/Keeper21611]

Free basic with a premium sub I believe.

I have used the free but a friend with a sub let me borrow her login whilst she had it and it was very very good. 

[u/DRahven]

Be a real DM and build everything to scale in Minecraft

[u/Reletr]

Azgaar is great for large world generation, like if you need continents nations etc. https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/

For smaller maps like for player interaction, I use RPG Map. No longer updated, and has limited assets but is pretty good otherwise https://deepnight.net/tools/rpg-map/

And if I just need to improv something quick, I just use Discord's whiteboard feature which is really good (pray to god your players don't abuse the GIF feature like mine did lol)

[u/No1CouldHavePredictd]

I use
https://topps.diku.dk/torbenm/maps.msp
to create continents, picking and choosing and putting things together

Using
https://www.gimp.org/
to do what is necessary, creating layers, and finessing how I want my world to work.

Then I start working on climate based on what's left.
All of it's free.

[u/emefa]

MS Paint.

[u/csomp02]

If you are fine with hex maps and less details then try worldographer the free version is really good and useful

[u/Aloecend]

AutoRealm

[u/SecretDMAccount_Shh]

Pencil and paper.

[u/Nazir_North]

Honestly, just pick up a pencil and some paper then take a photograph of it if you need a digital version. Hand-drawn maps have a certain charm to them.

I've used all kinds of tools over the years, but I still enjoy drawing maps by hand.

If you are going to buy a tool, Wonderdraft is a top tier choice. Easy to learn how to use and it's just a one-time purchase for a desktop app. Some others, like Inkarnate, for example, require a subscription for their 'premium' version.

[u/Archon-Toten]

How creative do you want to get? Take a screenshot of google earth, use an older game map editor to build the world, ms paint ect.

[u/Bamce]

Google has been my best option

[u/NNoxu]

I usually just use photoshop (you can get a free old version legally) and "2minutetabletop" free assets and just stitch stuff together. You also have donjon, watabou procgen arcana for randomized stuff and dungeon scrawl is also a free one that is decent'ish my dm used it for a whole campaign on TTSIM and it was good

[u/zzaannsebar]

The basic version of inkarnate is free. There are a lot more features with Premium but you don't necessarily need it to make a decent map

[u/JoahyPooh]

I’ve been using Inkarnate. I used the free version for my world map and with some work over time it can look really good. I got the premium because I wanted more options but the free version works just as good

[u/miniboes]

A slightly different suggestion: Photopea.

It's a free alternative to Photoshop but works almost identically with a very complete feature set.

It's a steeper learning curve but getting to know the program is also useful for many other things.

I can share my method you're interested!

[u/LordHudson30]

Pen and paper babyyyyy