Campaign Map Walkthrough

This walkthrough takes you from a blank canvas to a fully mapped campaign world. You'll generate a world map, drill into regions, stage encounters, and create battle maps -- all connected through the map hierarchy so context flows naturally from one level to the next.

The whole process can take as little as 15 minutes. Your players will think you spent a week on it.

Step 1: Generate a World Map

Start at Generate > World Map. The 5-stage wizard walks you through everything:

1. Choose an archetype -- High Magic Empire, Gritty Low Magic, Gothic Horror, Dragon Dominion, or one of 12 others. This sets the tone for names, terrain, and landmarks throughout the hierarchy.
2. Pick a world size -- from Pocket World (500 mi, a single kingdom) up to Epic Scale (10,000 mi).
3. Select a layout -- Pangaea, Continents, Archipelago, and more. This controls how landmasses are arranged.
4. Optionally add a campaign hook -- tie the world to an ongoing plot or have the AI generate one.
5. Fine-tune details -- world name, region count, biomes, and landmark types.

Click Generate World Map and the AI creates biome zones, rivers, roads, landmarks, and zone names that all fit your archetype.

Not happy with the geography? Click New Geography in the toolbar to re-roll the terrain layout for free -- no credits spent. Each shuffle is saved to an undo stack so you can step back if the previous version was better.

For full details on every wizard stage, see World Map Generator.

Step 2: Create a Region from a World Map Zone

With your world map open, pick a zone you want to detail:

1. Right-click on the zone to open the context menu
2. Choose Add Map > Region
3. Select Generate with AI as the creation method

A slide-out panel appears showing everything inherited from the parent world zone:

• Biome and climate from the zone you clicked
• Neighbor biomes for natural border blending
• Roads that intersect the zone
• Region name pulled from the world map
• Inherited landmarks with checkboxes to include or exclude each one
• Estimated dimensions based on the zone's area

4. Select landmark types you want in the region -- cities, dungeons, ruins, camps, sacred sites, and more (15 types total, plus 4 maritime types that appear automatically on coastal maps)
5. Click Generate

The resulting region map inherits the parent's biome and climate context, so a mountain zone on the world map produces rocky terrain, alpine passes, and appropriately named settlements in the region. This inherited context is what makes the hierarchy feel like one cohesive world rather than disconnected maps.

For the full region map feature set, see Region Map Generator.

Step 3: Work with Region Map Landmarks

Once your region map generates, you'll see terrain zones, landmarks, and roads connecting settlements. Here's what you can do:

• Rename landmarks -- double-click a landmark label or select it and press F2 to edit the name inline
• Change landmark types -- select a landmark and press T to change its icon type
• Toggle GM-only visibility -- right-click a pin and choose the visibility toggle to hide it from players
• Draw roads -- use the road drawing tool in the toolbar to connect settlements. Click to place waypoints, double-click to finish the road.
• Edit existing roads -- click a road to select it, then drag waypoints to reshape the path

Landmarks on the region map are your anchor points for the next steps: staging encounters and creating child maps.

Step 4: Stage Encounters on the Region Map

Place encounter markers anywhere on the region map using either method:

Quick method: Double-click an empty area on the map to open the encounter staging picker directly.

Context menu: Right-click anywhere and choose Stage Encounter.

The picker presents three categories:

After picking a category, a name auto-populates based on the location context. Edit it to fit your plans, then click Stage Encounter to place the pin. If you're not ready to detail the encounter yet, choose Save as placeholder to mark the spot and come back later.

Encounter pins appear on the map with color-coded icons. You can manage them like any other pin -- rename, move, toggle visibility, or delete through the right-click menu.

Step 5: Create Child Maps from Region Pins

Settlements, dungeons, and landmarks on your region map can each become their own detailed map:

1. Right-click a pin on the region map
2. Choose Add Map
3. Select the map type:
   • Settlement for a city or town pin
   • Dungeon for underground complexes
   • Landmark for a detailed point of interest
4. Name the map and choose Generate with AI, Upload Image, or Drop Pin (mark it now, generate later)

The child map picks up context from the region -- biome, climate, and location -- so a settlement in a desert region gets sand-colored terrain and appropriate architecture without you having to specify it.

Step 6: Generate Battle Maps for Encounters

From an encounter pin on any map, you can generate a tactical battle map:

1. Right-click the encounter pin
2. Choose Add Map
3. Select a battle-scale map type
4. Generate with AI to create the tactical grid

Terrain context flows from the parent region into the battle map. An encounter staged in a forest zone on your region map produces a battle map with trees, undergrowth, and woodland terrain -- not a generic blank grid.

For details on battle map features, grid options, and tactical tools, see Battle Map Generator.

Step 7: Review the Full Hierarchy

At this point you have a connected chain: World > Region > Settlement/Dungeon > Encounter. Two tools help you navigate it:

Breadcrumb Navigation

At the top of every map view, a breadcrumb trail shows where you are in the hierarchy. Click any parent level to jump back up. For example: Eldoria (World) > The Ashlands (Region) > Ironhold Keep (Settlement).

Hierarchy Panel

Open the hierarchy tree view from the map library to see all your maps organized by parent-child relationships. Each node shows the map's scale type and status (Draft or Published). Click any node to open that map. Standalone maps that aren't part of a hierarchy appear in a separate section at the bottom.

Player-Safe View

At every level of the hierarchy, toggle Player-Safe View in the Layers panel (shortcut: V) to hide GM-secret elements. When active:

• Draft pins and GM-only markers are hidden
• Secret roads and hidden landmarks disappear
• The view is safe to share on screen during sessions

Player-Safe View always resets when you close the tab, so your GM notes are never accidentally exposed next time you open the map.

Tips for Building Your Campaign World

Start with the world map. The inherited context system means every child map picks up biome, climate, and naming style from its parent. Starting at the top and drilling down produces a more cohesive world than building maps in isolation.

Use draft status for work-in-progress maps. Maps start as Drafts and won't appear in Player-Safe View until published. This lets you prep areas ahead of time without spoiling anything.

Stage encounters before detailing them. Drop placeholder encounter pins across the region map during prep, then come back to generate full battle maps for whichever encounters your players actually reach. No need to detail every possibility up front.

Customize the Layers panel per audience. When prepping alone, turn on everything -- hex grid, climate overlay, political bounds, GM notes. When sharing with players, toggle Player-Safe View and let the Layers panel strip out the secrets automatically.

Use New Geography liberally. The shuffle is free and instant. If the first world map layout doesn't spark campaign ideas, re-roll until the geography inspires you. You can always polish the names with AI afterward.