Region Map Generator

Region Map Generator

Generate detailed region maps for hex-crawl exploration and overland travel. Region maps show the terrain, landmarks, roads, and settlements within a single geographic area -- typically 50-200 miles across.

Quick Start

From a World Map (Recommended)

1. Open your World Map
2. Right-click a zone to place a pin
3. Choose Create Region Map
4. Review inherited context (biome, climate, neighbors) in the slide-out panel
5. Select which landmark types you want (cities, ruins, dungeons, etc.)
6. Click Generate

This approach inherits biome, climate, and neighbor context from the parent world map, making the region feel like a natural part of the world.

Standalone

1. Navigate to Generate -> Region Map
2. Choose a biome and region name
3. Set map dimensions
4. Click Generate

What Gets Generated

Each region map includes:

• Terrain zones -- sub-biome detail areas (dense forest, rocky hills, marshland) with Voronoi boundaries
• Landmarks -- settlements, dungeons, ruins, and points of interest placed by the AI
• Roads -- connecting settlements via minimum spanning tree routing, with curved waypoints for natural appearance
• Zone names and landmark names -- AI-generated to fit the biome and setting
• Scale bar and compass rose
• Legend showing terrain types

Landmark Types

The generator supports 15 landmark types:

The four maritime landmark types (Lighthouse, Shipwreck, Sea Fort, Reef) appear automatically on coastal region maps -- those with terrain zones bordering ocean. They're placed outside the coastline in shallow waters, so you don't need to request them manually.

Road Types

Roads come in 8 types, each with distinct visual styling:

Editing Your Region Map

Region maps have a full set of interactive editing tools. Select any element by clicking it to bring up the contextual toolbar.

Editing Landmarks

Click a landmark to select it. The toolbar offers:

• Edit Label (F2) -- rename the landmark inline
• Landmark Type (T) -- change the landmark type from the 15 available types
• Visibility (H) -- hide from Player-Safe View
• Delete -- remove the landmark

Editing Roads

Click a road to select it. The toolbar offers:

• Edit Label (F2) -- rename the road
• Road Type (T) -- change between the 8 road types
• Visibility (H) -- hide from Player-Safe View
• Delete -- remove the road

When a road is selected, waypoint handles appear along the path:

• Endpoint handles (circles) -- drag to move the road's start or end point. Endpoints snap to nearby landmarks and pins.
• Midpoint handles (diamonds) -- drag to adjust the road's curvature.

Adding waypoints to an existing road

Double-click anywhere along a road to insert a new waypoint at that position. A new diamond handle appears and the curve adjusts to pass through it.

Removing a waypoint

There are three ways to remove a midpoint waypoint:

• Right-click the diamond handle and select Remove Waypoint from the context menu
• Click the diamond handle to focus it (it highlights), then press Delete or Backspace
• Click the diamond handle to focus it, then click the trash icon in the toolbar -- it changes to Remove Waypoint when a waypoint is focused

Endpoint handles (the road's start and end) cannot be removed. To delete the entire road, make sure no waypoint is focused, then use the toolbar trash icon.

Drawing New Roads

1. Click the Route icon in the header toolbar (or hover for tooltip: "Draw Road")
2. Click on the map to place waypoints along the road path -- a live preview shows the curve as you go
3. Each click adds a waypoint -- the road curves smoothly through all of them
4. Double-click to finish the road
5. Press Escape to cancel at any time

Waypoints snap to nearby landmarks and pins automatically. The new road starts as a "trail" type -- change it via the toolbar after creation.

Editing Zone Labels

Click a zone name to select it. You can:

• Rename the zone (F2)
• Toggle visibility (H)

Zones themselves can't be deleted (they're structural).

Player-Safe View

Toggle in the Layers panel. When active:

• Hidden landmarks, roads, and zones are filtered out
• Secret paths are automatically hidden (no need to manually hide them)
• Safe to share your screen with players

Map Styles

The same four styles available on world maps work here too:

• Parchment -- warm fantasy tones (default)
• Clean -- modern, high readability
• Dark -- dramatic dark background
• Print -- black and white for printing

Locator Box on the Parent World Map

When you generate a region from a world map, the parent world map gains a locator box for that region. Hover over the region's pin on the world map to see a highlighted outline showing exactly where the region sits. To display all region coverage outlines at once, toggle Region Coverage in the world map's Layers panel.

Pins, Drill-Down, and Staging Encounters

Just like world maps, you can right-click anywhere on the map to place pins for encounters, locations, or child maps. The Hierarchy Panel shows where this region sits in your world -> region -> location tree.

Staging Encounters

Region maps let you mark encounter locations directly on the map. There are two ways to open the encounter staging picker:

• Double-click empty space on the map (anywhere that isn't near a road)
• Right-click and choose Stage Encounter from the context menu

The picker presents three encounter categories:

After you pick a category:

1. A name field auto-populates based on the category and nearby location (e.g., "Combat at Thornwood Crossing"). Edit it to whatever fits your campaign.
2. Click Stage Encounter to place the pin on your map.
3. Alternatively, click Save as placeholder if you want to mark the spot without generating content yet.

You can right-click any encounter pin afterward to edit its name, delete it, or navigate to its content. Combat encounter pins can later be used as the starting point for generating a battle map at that location.

Adding Child Maps

Right-click anywhere on the region map and choose Add Map to create a child map linked to that location. A pin appears on the region map, and clicking it drills down into the new map.

Available child map types from a region:

After selecting a type, name the map and choose a creation method: Generate with AI, Upload Image, or Drop Pin (to mark the location now and generate later). Each child map is linked in the Hierarchy Panel, so you can navigate the world -> region -> location tree at any time.

Context Inheritance

When generating from a world map pin, the region inherits:

The pre-generation review panel shows all this context so you can choose which landmark types to include before generating.

Neighbor Biome Influence

Under Roads & Borders, the panel shows which biome categories border your region in each compass direction (North, South, East, West). Each neighbor has an influence toggle:

• ON (default) -- The neighbor biome affects terrain generation at that border. For example, if East is "Underwater", the generator places coastal terrain zones near the eastern edge, creating a natural land-to-sea transition.
• OFF -- That border is ignored during generation. The region generates as if nothing notable is in that direction, producing a uniform biome throughout.

Use this to control how much the surrounding world bleeds into your region. Want a pure tundra region with no coastal influence? Turn off the Underwater neighbor toggles. Want a region that feels like a transitional zone between biomes? Leave them on.

Regenerating with Different Options

Changed your mind about settlement density or landmark types? Click the Options button in the header toolbar to re-open the generation panel with your previous choices pre-filled. Adjust what you want and regenerate -- the previous version is saved as a snapshot you can restore later.

This is different from the Regenerate button, which re-rolls everything from scratch with the same settings.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Exporting

Click Export Map in the toolbar to save or share your region map. The dropdown offers several options:

• PDF (Print view) -- opens a print-ready view in a new tab. Use your browser's print dialog to save as PDF or send to a printer.
• B&W Print -- same print view in black-and-white, optimized for ink-friendly printing.
• PDF with Settings -- opens the export settings dialog where you can choose paper size, orientation, grid visibility, scale bar position, color mode, and tiling for large-format printing.
• Copy text -- copies the map's name, description, and read-aloud text to your clipboard.
• Download JSON -- exports the full map data as a JSON file for backup or integration with other tools.

The print view respects your current map style (Parchment, Clean, Dark, or Print) and Player-Safe View settings -- hidden elements stay hidden in the export, so you can safely hand a printed map to your players.

Tips for Best Results

• Generate from a world map when possible -- inherited context makes regions feel connected
• Use the landmark type selector in the pre-generation panel to focus on what matters for your campaign
• Draw roads after generation to connect landmarks the AI missed
• Adjust waypoints on generated roads to route them around terrain features
• Use secret paths for hidden routes only the GM knows about -- they auto-hide in Player-Safe View

Related Documentation

• World Map Generator -- parent world maps
• Map & Dungeon Generator -- battle maps and multi-room dungeons