Dungeon Alchemist feels like cheating when it comes to D&D.
With this map-making software, all you need to do is… well, drag and click. That's it. There's no trawling the internet for designs that sort of fit the bill. You don't need to fork out for plastic D&D kits, or cobble together a DIY solution. Instead, you just hit 'go.' And there it is – a dungeon full of loot and secrets.
I'm not entirely convinced it isn't sorcery. However, I've been reliably informed that Dungeon Alchemist is powered by AI which figures out where assets the developer has created should go. Yes, you can place everything from walls to chairs yourself. But if you're cutting it fine before a session or have to create a battlemap on the fly, this will do the job in seconds.
Honestly? This sort of tech could change everything for time-strapped Dungeon Masters everywhere.
Cutting corners
Making maps or dungeon tiles for D&D – or any of the best tabletop RPGs, actually – is hard. Unless you opt for ready-made kits and pre-existing campaign maps, the process can be a real faff. It's fun, of course. But when you're short on time, that's not always what you need.
Dungeon Alchemy promises to let you cut those corners.
This software (which is available via Steam) was developed by Briganti to streamline the process of making battle maps for D&D and other TTRPGs. While it was originally meant for top-down designs that could be used in virtual tabletops, things quickly escalated; before long, it offered the ability to place miniatures (taken from DIY miniature store Hero Forge) into a fully 3D environment and look around in first-person mode. In terms of immersion, it's beaten only by Mirrorscape (which uses AR to create what might be the best virtual tabletop yet).
Price: $44.99 / £31.99
Platforms: Steam
Minimum specs: Intel i5-650 / AMD Phenom II X4 973, Geforce GTS 450 / Radeon HD 5770, 8GB RAM, 2GB of available space
I'll admit that I was skeptical. I've been running D&D adventures for years (be it from Dungeons and Dragons books or campaigns I've written myself), and I feel like I've tried almost every map-making method out there. I've drawn them. I've used Patreon subscriptions for individual pieces I can combine in Photoshop. I've carved foam into modular dungeon tiles that are held together by magnets. I've tried papercraft. And even though Dungeon Alchemist sounded promising, how could it match the detail of something you've hand-crafted over the course of a week?
Quite easily, apparently. The software populates desks, dungeons, and kitchens with artfully-placed greebles that bring the whole thing to life. It makes my homemade efforts look utterly crap.
Fan-fiction
What's more, it's a bit like The Sims; you can spend hours manually creating taverns, castles, forests, ruins, and anything else you can dream up bit by bit. This can then be printed out (with your own printer or having it put onto a rubber-backed mat via Kraken Wargames), transferred to a virtual tabletop like Roll20, or used as-is by importing your custom Hero Forge miniatures for a first-person 'walkthrough.' The latter in particular is wild; you can use your creation as a visual aid when describing what your party witnesses.
Seeing as other gamers can upload their own maps to Dungeon Alchemist's Steam Workshop (and assets that'll populate them), the options start to get overwhelming. The level of creativity on display is absurd, and it's reminiscent of community builds for Minecraft. Leave the fans alone to their own devices for five minutes and they'll make something you couldn't even dream of. And the best thing is, that'll only improve in time.
The level of creativity on display is absurd
It has to be said that Dungeon Alchemist isn't perfect. There's obviously a limit to its asset library, and it can't do everything. Go beyond the standard fantasy staples like dungeons or wildernesses and you may struggle to find what you need. I'm not trying to say it should replace dungeon-tiles or hand-drawn maps on graph paper, either. But if time and energy are things you're short of, this will be a godsend.
For an alternative, check out Fablecraft - it takes D&D-style virtual tabletop and makes it so much better. As recommendations of what you should play next, be sure to check out the best board games or the best card games.
