rpg

Photoshop if I want to make something really nice.

Otherwise, I just use one of those dice map generators, roll them on a piece of paper, and then draw around it. This is my favorite one https://i.pinimg.com/736x/c4/a2/96/c4a296f1201b05073413eae7938356bd.jpg

I use inkscape for overland maps. I use Watabou Medieval City generator for city maps. I use Dungeon Alchemist for dungeon/indoor battlemaps.

I used worldographer for my world map for my current campaign.

I've used inkarnate in the past for battle maps, but I was not happy with performance when you have a lot of assets.

I recently got Canvas of Kings which seems awesome and perfect for what I want but I have been pretty busy and haven't had a chance to make any completed maps in it yet.

Honorable mention for small village photos and maps: Tiny Glade.

Pencil and paper.

Inkscape enjoyer here. The vector based tech makes it not that limited to my skill at drawing but rather how I can manipulate the vectors and points. Make things thinner or wider, change a curvature etc. And nothing is set in stone. I'm using it for everything. World maps, region maps, settlements, dungeons. You name it. For dungeons (and inside locations) I gathered all my most used assets to save time.

Some examples

Inkarnate works great and has a lot of usable styles and assets.

I use Gimp and just hand-draw everything. I've learned that players don't really care too much about maps, so going above and beyond with high quality, ultra detailed stuff is wasted effort unless you derive joy from the creation process.

I settled on Campaign Cartographer 3+.

It has a steep learning curve, but seems to be the most powerful tool by far.

I've been using Wonderdraft. It's resource heavy for my little laptop, but it's easy to use.

A couple years back I got illwinter floorplan [Link[(http://www.illwinter.com/floorplan/) on steam sales. Which for "indoor map" fits my need.
I don't play D&D, in general do not use "battle map" but still sometimes like to take time to visualise/describe a situation (and because it can be fun to do)

Wonderdraft

I really like Inkarnate. Very reasonable yearly subscription and a great tool. Obvious caveat that if you want something completely custom built, rather than using their textures and artwork, something else will probably work better. For my needs it works though.

For large-scale maps, a combination of Inkscape, Gimp, and Wilbur for me! The general process is:

• Rough out landmasses in Inkscape
• Rough out a heightmap on those landmasses in Gimp
• Simulate erosion on Wilbur
• Bring it back to Gimp for colouring and manual details
• Back to Inkscape for labelling

I made this as a fancied-up version of a Quiet Year game I played with some friends https://i.imgur.com/gB3sIEs.jpeg

For smaller-scale ones like D&D battle maps, just plain old Gimp (or sometimes some layout with Inkscape beforehand, and also sometimes some textures made in Inkscape). I made this version of Biete Mariam, a church in Ethiopia https://i.imgur.com/nz1ysvY.jpeg

Tiled. You can even cut up (in Gimp) a bunch of other maps and create your own tilesets. So now I have a bunch of them, one with most often used rooms, one with basic walls, one with security measures etc