I wanted to throw a couple of tools your way, just in case you weren’t aware of them. Yes, I’m talking to you, “Mr. New DM who has no money to pay for expensive mapping software”. These are free and kick ass. One is for maps, and the other renders out cinematic landscapes to use as playing aides for your table. Don’t describe Mount Doom, show them Mount Doom.
Let’s begin with the mapping. This is a program called AutoRealm. It is free, open source and will certainly satisfy your need for computer mapping while you are starting out as a digital DM. Here’s the link: http://autorealm.sourceforge.net/
It is a fractal mapper, comes with symbols, and has a slight bit of a learning curve. It’s free, so download it, play with it, and soon you’ll be making maps like this:
Map courtesy Roy Altman at the Autorealm website
Now, I’m not so sure, but it seems by the website that the last developement took place in 2005. I have version 2.2.1 installed on my system and it is cool. To be honest, I still haven’t completely gotten the hang of it, but I’m dense for these things anyway. Don’t use me as a benchmark. 🙂 You can find a bunch of tutorials here: http://tutorials.autorealm.org/
Now, this next program kicks some serious ass. It’s called Terragen, a photorealistic animator for making landscapes. How would you use this for D&D? Well, if you are setting the scene by describing a mountain range, a lake, a river bed, show your players exactly what it looks like. Take a look at these pictures from their website. These are actual renders.
Image created by Manel Giuli, copyright Manuel Giuli
mage created by Frank Basinski, copyright Frank Basinski
As you can see, two very different landscapes created by Terragen Classic. Guys, these pictures move. They are animations. The camera can pan around the mountain, do whatever you want.
Check this video out:
Yeah. Your players will flip if you show them your version of The Shire, as rendered by you.
Terragen takes some learning, but if you look, you’ll find plenty of tutorials that’ll teach you the basics. I was making animations back in 2002 on that thing, with a crappy computer. Rendering time was an issue back then, but today’s machines are much faster, although I can’t really say I’ve rendered anything in a while.
Guys, these programs are free. Go get them, and learn to use them, they’ll spice up your campaign and make your sessions a little more memorable.
www. Newbie DM .com 
bobzilla76
June 24, 2009
The old version of Terragen was great. I’m having major problems learning the new version of it though.
Geek Ken
June 25, 2009
I have to say the examples from Terragen are amazing. I’m eagerly awaiting having an image of the landscape for my group’s next outdoor trek.
I’ve doodled around autorealm. It has a bit of a learning curve, but it is pretty functional for freeware. Good finds.
Ethalias
June 25, 2009
Great post. I’m gonna dive right into autorealm. I must say though i found the orchestral version of my LEAST favourite Pink Floyd song over the video.. extremely. disturbing.
Jesse
June 25, 2009
Don’t listen to Etholias about the PF song, it was awesome 😉
Terragen seems really cool, but is it strictly height-mapped scenery? Can you add structures / buildings?
newbiedm
June 25, 2009
No, strictly scenery.
For structures you’d need something else. I thought it could be cool to bring your maps to life so to speak though…
bobzilla76
June 25, 2009
The new version is a bit more advance now. Vegetation and objects can be added quite easily apparently. I think ive only managed adding stones though :S
Jesse
June 25, 2009
Sure, though as it stands, it’s limited to only “bringing to life” remote vistas with no trace of civilization 🙂
It’s a great first step, though. I’ll bet you can import it into another modeling program. There’s lots of free drop-in models out there, so you wouldn’t have to learn to model.
Jesse
June 25, 2009
oops… bobzilla’s post didn’t show up until after I’d submitted my last one 🙂 Thanks for the update!