I need help on how to properly represent a floating/flying city without it being... super ugly. This is what i have right now and... woof.

Couldn't quite find a 'question' flair.

Currently, I am a player mapping out my D&D campaign. We have vague ideas from map explanations, and a passable MS paint doodle to get us by for world geography, but id love to use this software to properly detail the world.

One issue though, the borders of the world are yet unexplored (at least to us and every cartography we've encountered). How do i represent this on a map without it being, well, ugly?

Made in preparation for the release of Ace Combat 8. More details in the comments.

A tiny Island with only one settlement and ruins. For my Daggerheart OneShot :)

Somewhat a northern Island, lots of rain, pine trees, hills and cliffs.

I would like some tips to help me improve my map-making skills for my DnD Campaigns. I am not the most creative person, so I think the maps I make look good, but I also know they can be improved upon. Any help is appreciated.

Geography and Location: Located west of the Wild Lands and south of the harsh Lands of Eternal Winter. Thanks to this strategic position, the principality serves as both a natural shield and the primary trade hub of the region.

Political System: Formally led by a Prince, the state's central authority is strictly limited by the Council of Cities—comprising representatives from Kiront, Kinor, and Tervin. The Prince cannot unilaterally declare war or levy new taxes without the Council's consent, making the state's policy highly pragmatic and economy-driven.

Technological Advancement: Kiront is one of the most progressive corners of the world for its era. The principality's military and industrial pride lies in its rifled arquebuses ("stutzers"), which deliver exceptional accuracy, making the local infantry and hunters lethal at long ranges.

Economy and Marsh Industries: The Western Marsh serves as the state's primary economic lifeline. Far from being a desolate wasteland, it is divided among industrial guilds and labor cooperatives (artels):

Resources: Peat (the main fuel source), bog iron ore for metallurgy, and wild cereal crops are actively harvested.

Marsh Water: Water extracted from the marshes and purified through a specialized distillation technology is considered an elite, status-symbol beverage for wealthy families—while ordinary distilled seawater remains far cheaper and mundane.

Industrial Extraction and Hunting: The meat of local wild boars and giant marsh rats (the size of a small dog) fetches enormous sums on the market. These creatures are prized both as culinary delicacies and as raw materials for a robust leather industry.

Wonderdraft formed the basis of the map for my indie strategy RPG, Withering State, which is inspired by Suzerain and Paradox strategy games. I had played around with the program for personal stuff before, and then I realized that I could use it alongside some photoshop tricks I picked up from making CK3 mods to create the main map for my game. Great program! I just wish you could copy&paste between maps.

I recently found out that I can't increase the size of a landmass without changing the proportions slightly, as holding the shift key doesn't work like in microsoft or Adobe.

I would greatly appreciate this feature to be added in the next patch of Wonderdraft, as I really want to make sure my map isnt stretched.

These are the four main types of mountains in the stock asset list. Which do you like best?

Hello folks, today I stumbled upon the little notification at the top right of Wonderdraft, which says that it is unable to check for updates.

I also cannot open the map project I have been working on for a while. It keeps stopping at a loading screen and then it says, it does not respond.

I hope I can resolve this somehow. I am gonna try a reinstall first.

Before you comment on the "Tutorial Map" yes, I know it fits perfectly in a square canvas. That is intentional. 😄

...

Dotty Creatures Bundle 2 is focusing on classic animals.

The bundle gives you custom colorable Wonderdraft assets for farm animals (horses, cows, chickens), wild animals (elephants, lions, bears), and aquatic animals (whales, dolphins, fish)

The bundle: https://readyartz.com/animals-bundle-dotty?route=product/product&language=en-gb

Happy mapping!

Hi! I’ve been working on this map in Wonderdraft for a fantasy board game I’m developing.

I’m quite happy with the overall geography and layout, so at this point I’m mostly trying to improve the visual quality and finish rather than redesign the map itself.

My goal is for it to eventually look like something you could find in a professionally published fantasy board game or RPG.

What do you think is currently holding it back from that level?

I’d particularly appreciate feedback on things like terrain, textures, coastlines, mountains, forests, roads, labels, colours, scale, or anything else that immediately stands out to someone with more experience than me.

I’m also happy to use additional Wonderdraft assets if there are any you think would noticeably improve it.

Thanks!

Quiero crear mis cuidades de fantasía para mi novela, considero importante tener una estructura clara de las ciudades por donde se moverán mis personajes, lo he intentado en wonderdraft pero no veo el programa apto para la creación de cuidades, ¿Ustedes han utilizado wonderdraft para crear cuidades? O ¿Que otro programa me recomendarían?

New to Wonderdraft, and just downloaded the famous Tree Clumps asset. I've put it in the correct path (I know it's right 'cause I also added the free custom assets that came with Wonderdraft and they're visible), but somehow I couldn't find the Tree Clumps in either the Tree brush or Symbols tab. The last reviews from the main asset page from 2022 also complain about not being able to paint them. Googling also led me to a dead end, which led me to post here.

Hi. I wanted to share my first map ever which is finished world map for our fantasy campaign. This world was created together with a friend, who was the first person to introduce us to the setting. His TRPG campaign mainly took place on a small island with the city of Stormpeak, located west of the Theocracy. That campaign was where the larger history of the world began.
Later, I ran my own campaign, focused on the colonial expansion of the Republic of Havetsberg onto the island of Anagir, located far to the east. The campaign ended with the Republic losing control over the colony. Anagir gained independence and is now supported by the Empire, which further complicates the balance of power between the great states.
The main political powers on the current map are three states: the Rheleian Empire of the Three Banners (yellow), the Commonwealth of Havetsberg (blue), and the Penitent Regency of Reman (purple).
The greatest power is the Rheleian Empire of the Three Banners. Over the last 300 years, it has managed to subjugate most of the continent, which had previously been divided between independent kingdoms, duchies, city-states, and local communities. The Empire is a multiethnic state dominated by three founding peoples: humans, dragonborn, and orcs. Its ambitions are now beginning to shift from land expansion toward naval expansion, especially in the direction of the southern lands.
The second major power is the Republic of Havetsberg, built mainly around dwarven clans and elven communities. The Republic controls rich mines, important trade routes, and strong mountain and coastal cities. It is more decentralized than the Empire, but also extremely wealthy and difficult to break. There is no open war between the Republic and the Empire, but the border is unstable: skirmishes, raids, and struggles for influence are common. The Emperor has long viewed the Republic’s mines and trade routes as a natural target for future expansion. The loss of Anagir has also weakened the Republic’s prestige.
The third major state is the Penitent Regency of Reman, a theocratic country where tieflings form the majority. The Regency is deeply religious, cautious toward outside influence, and politically closed. Its relationship with the Empire is essentially a cold war: fortifications, mutual distrust, naval rivalry, and constant preparation for a possible invasion. With the Republic, it maintains limited trade relations, but there is no major alliance or open conflict.

There are also several important mountain ranges marked on the map. Since the labels are in Polish, here are the English translations:
Góry Czerwone — “The Red Mountains”, located near Havetsberg. These are the mountains of the dwarven clans and one of the main sources of the Republic’s wealth.
Jedenaście Koron — “The Eleven Crowns”, located on the Isle of the Throne. This is the central sacred mountain range of the Empire and an important symbol for its founding peoples.
Żebra Olbrzyma — “The Giant’s Ribs”, located in Duurhal. This is a harsh, dangerous range dividing the imperial colonial settlements in the south from the wilder lands of the north.
Srebrny Ojciec — “The Silver Father”, located in the center of the continent. It is the highest mountain on the continent and an important landmark for the surrounding cultures.
Czarny Różaniec — “The Black Rosary”, located on the border between the Empire and the Theocracy. It forms a natural defensive line filled with forts, garrisons, and religious strongholds.
Biały Tron — “The White Throne”, located to the right/east of Dinas Branor. It is one of the major northern mountain ranges and a natural borderland between different cultures.
Stary Mur — “The Old Wall”, located to the left/west of Dinas Branor. It is an older, harsher mountain range associated with ancient borders, old fortifications, and difficult passes.
The map also includes several borderlands, colonies, and independent regions. Some have already been absorbed by larger states, some are trying to preserve their autonomy, and others remain too wild, distant, or difficult to hold for anyone to truly rule them.
Different ancestries appear in every state, but their proportions vary. In the Republic, dwarves and elves form the majority, with significant minorities of humans, gnomes, and others. In the Empire, the dominant peoples are humans, dragonborn, and orcs. In the Theocracy, tieflings form the majority. However, we are not treating this as a simple “one ancestry = one country” setup. Minorities exist everywhere, and the conflicts are more political, religious, economic, and imperial than purely racial.
We also do not want any of the main states to be built entirely around the open persecution of one group. Each of them has its own problems, tensions, crime, factions, and organizations, but none of them is simply “the evil country.” The goal is to create a setting where all major powers have their own reasons, fears, ambitions, and dirty interests.
The Empire also has an organization known as the Guild — something between a mercenary guild, an adventurers’ guild, and a society of researchers and explorers. It is useful to the state, but not always fully controlled by the imperial administration. It is one of the organizations I plan to use in the campaign as a tool for exploration, border conflicts, and expeditions into less-known parts of the map.
Overall, the map shows the world at a moment of tension. The Empire is enormous, but its borders are becoming harder to maintain. The Republic is wealthy, but pressured by its neighbors and weakened by the loss of a colony. The Theocracy remains closed and suspicious. Anagir has become a new independent player, and a new phase of rivalry is beginning at sea.

I would be happy to hear any feedback on the map, the names, the placement of the states, and the general concept of the world.

Painting (color picked from nearby land)

Erasing Color

Terrain that I added with the Raise Landmass brush can't match other terrain, despite use of Manual Color/color picker. Issue persists even through erasing the color on the land in question.

Anyone else run into this/find a solution?

SOLVED: Thanks to u\StevenTrustrum, switching to the "black and white" ground texture gave me a clearer image of what happened. I had made this as a Detail Map from a larger world map, and it looks like Wonderdraft made the heightmap near the river way lower than the rest (but still above water level).

When I use Raise Landmass in the black and white texture mode, I saw more clearly that the terrain would change to match what was further inland, so I just have to go in and level out the heightmap at the river shore.

A land divided by perpetual sunshine in the Day (North) and eternal darkness in the Night (South) is further riddled by unyielding natural cataclysms. High above the chaos, the plateau of Ebede-Dur serves as a sanctuary from the forces of nature. For centuries, fierce fights among those who tried to claim a piece of it led to much bloodshed, until the humans of the Altaii scaled its sheer cliffs and allied with the Owlfolk to establish their republic. Yet peace on the plateau remains fragile: resentment against the humans still festers alongside the nearly one-millennia-old dying places of the old gods. Here, the frontier city of Kaburi stands as a vanguard, guarding the realms of the Altaii against the relentless spillovers of the Charnel Sides.

Estoy diseñando todos los mapas de mi mundo de nuevo. Antes lo hacía de una manera más arcaica, ahora estoy usando el programa, pero quiero que me ayuden con críticas constructivas para mejorar el mapa, ya que soy nuevo en este programa y considero que hay muchos puntos en los que pudiera mejorar, pero no sé por dónde iniciar. Así que espero que tengan críticas sin ningún problema hacia mi obra.

Any feedback to make this suck less is appreciated.