Hexatlas

Inkarnate is a powerful, web based cartography suite that allows users to create everything from sprawling world maps to highly detailed tactical battlemaps. Unlike software that requires a local installation, Inkarnate runs entirely in the browser, making it accessible from any computer with an internet connection. In December 2025, the platform launched its massive 2.0 Update, introducing a completely refined interface, advanced custom layering, and a marketplace for community assets, solidifying its position as the most versatile map making tool in the industry. Description Inkarnate is the "all in one" solution for fantasy cartography. It offers distinct styles—including Parchment, Watercolor, and High Fantasy—that allow GMs to match their maps to the tone of their campaign. While it was once seen primarily as a world and regional map tool, the 2.0 update dramatically improved its battlemap capabilities, bringing it into direct competition with specialized tools like Dungeondraft. It is a subscription based service, but the sheer volume of its asset library (over 30,000 stamps) makes it a favorite for GMs who want an endless variety of visual options. System Overview & Key Features Advanced Custom Layers (v2.0) The 2.0 update introduced a professional grade layering system. Users can now group assets, lock specific layers to prevent accidental movement, and apply transparency or blend modes to entire groups. This allows for complex "multi level" maps where you can toggle a roof or upper floor on and off during play. Brush Tool 2.0 and Layer Masks The painting system has been completely rebuilt to feel more like a traditional art program. Every layer can now have its own mask, allowing you to "paint" terrain or transparency with pixel accuracy. This is essential for creating organic transitions between biomes or hiding secret rooms behind "hidden" layers. Massive 30K+ Asset Library The paid tiers grant access to an enormous catalog of high definition stamps. From elven architecture and dwarven machinery to sci fi terminals and eldritch horrors, the library is updated weekly, ensuring that GMs always have new visuals to inspire their world building. 8K and 16K Exporting Inkarnate is famous for its high resolution output. The Creator tier allows for 8K exports, while the 2026 Studio tier supports beta 16K exporting. This level of detail is perfect for GMs who print their maps or use high resolution 4K monitors for their virtual tabletop sessions. The Inkarnate Marketplace New for 2026, the Marketplace allows professional cartographers and artists to sell custom asset packs and map templates directly within the platform. This has expanded the "Inkarnate Look" far beyond its original art style, offering community driven variety for niche genres like Cyberpunk or Steampunk. Interactive "Explore" Feed The platform features a social gallery where users can share their maps. Many of these are "Cloneable," meaning you can open another user's map in the editor, see how they built it, and modify it for your own campaign, making it an excellent learning tool for new cartographers. Additional links inkarnate.com - Official Inkarnate website and editor r/inkarnate - Official subreddit for map sharing and feedback

Discord is a versatile, all-in-one communication platform that has become the "virtual table" where most modern TTRPG games actually happen. Originally launched in 2015 as a gaming-focused alternative to Skype and TeamSpeak, it has evolved into the industry-standard social layer for roleplaying. It provides the voice, video, and text infrastructure that bridges the gap between digital tools and the human connection of a live session. Description For tabletop players, Discord is the lobby, the game room, and the after-party. It allows groups to organize their lore in persistent text channels, coordinate schedules through integrated calendars, and play with low-latency voice and video. While it doesn’t provide a native "map and minis" grid, its ability to integrate "Bots" for dice rolling and its high-quality screen sharing make it the essential companion to every other tool in the digital RPG toolkit. System Overview & Key Features High-Fidelity Voice and Video Discord’s core is its "Go Live" technology, which allows GMs to stream their entire desktop or specific windows (like a VTT or a PDF) in real-time. With recent 2026 performance updates, the platform offers ultra-low latency audio, ensuring that the natural "flow" of roleplaying—interruptions, laughter, and dramatic pauses—feels organic. Text Channel Organization Servers allow GMs to create a structured home for their campaign. You can have separate channels for #lore-and-worldbuilding, #character-sheets, #scheduling, and even #in-character-roleplay where players can interact between weekly sessions. TTRPG Bot Ecosystem Discord’s greatest strength is its bots. Tools like Avrae (for D&D 5e), Dice Maiden, and Tupperbox (which lets players "speak" as their characters with different avatars) allow for a fully functional gaming experience directly within the chat interface. Built-in Soundboard and Music The integrated Soundboard and Activities features allow GMs to trigger environmental sound effects or share music directly into the voice channel. This creates an immersive atmosphere without the need for complex external audio routing. Threaded Conversations Threads allow players to dive deep into a specific tactical discussion or a piece of lore without cluttering the main chat channel. This is essential for long-running campaigns with complex plots and massive amounts of shared information. Cross-Platform Accessibility Whether a player is on a PC, a tablet, or a smartphone, they can stay connected to the game. This portability makes it the primary tool for "Play-by-Post" gaming, where a single story unfolds slowly through text over weeks or months. Additional links discord.com - Official Discord website top.gg - The primary directory for finding TTRPG Dice and Lore Bots

Merak is a map maker for worldbuilders. Five kinds of map live in one document: a political map of Earth, an editable Earth with real terrain, a blank world, a fantasy map and a city board, and factions, units, labels, cities and lore carry across all of them. Land can be raised, lowered, smoothed, flattened, roughened and worn down with droplet erosion; biomes paint on top; a thin river tool cuts channels without shattering the coast. The world generator builds plates, mountain chains and weathered coastlines from a single seed, and the Planet Advisor checks whether the result could exist at all, whether rivers have anywhere to drain, whether the biomes suit their latitude. An elevation probe reads back true metres and slope, and any map can be viewed in 3D or wrapped onto a shader globe. Custom empires are drawn freehand with a lasso, and a coast mode clips the outline to the actual shoreline so borders follow the water instead of cutting across it. The arsenal and battle system has faction tinting and stacking counts, alongside commanders carrying portraits, ranks, decorations and an order of battle. Operational arrows play out as scripted advances with per-province combat. On a battle map, Fight animates the whole clash: infantry and armour close to melee under a counter system, artillery bombards from range with splash damage, aircraft strike fast and hard, and badly wounded units break off to a field hospital, heal, and return to the line. The timeline holds the progress of the map over the years. Lore notes form a small in-map wiki placed anywhere or pinned to a city, unit or flag, and linked to one another. Raster paints layers with blend modes, pressure and grain; an Asset Studio for custom symbols; flag and insignia makers; a colour studio. Finished maps exported as PNG up to 16K.

Golden Squad is a superhero actual play audio drama using Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition, hosted by Luke and featuring a rotating cast of people he's legally allowed to call friends. Set in a custom world pulled directly from Luke's overcaffeinated brain, things tend to get weird, wild, and occasionally even heroic. The chaos is kept mostly family-friendly thanks to our tireless editorial staff—a flock of highly trained birds with strong moral values and questionable grammar. Links youtube.com - Youtube channel spotify.com - Spotify feed podcasts.apple.com - Apple Podcasts feed patreon.com - Patreon page

RPG advice and discussion. Let's talk gaming! Actual play channel with multiple campaigns on Bandit's Keep Actual Play. Links youtube.com - Youtube channel discord.gg - Discord server patreon.com - Patreon page

Starfinder Second Edition is Paizo's sci-fi/science-fantasy tabletop RPG, a full rebuild of the original 2017 Starfinder Roleplaying Game announced at Gen Con 2023 and released across 2025 following a year-long public playtest. Rather than running on its own separate rules the way 1st edition did, Starfinder 2E is built to be fully cross-compatible with Pathfinder Second Edition and its 2023 Remaster, sharing the same three-action economy and switching from Wizards of the Coast's Open Game License to Paizo's own Open RPG Creative (ORC) License. The line launched with Starfinder Player Core in July 2025 and Starfinder GM Core that September, with an Alien Core rounding out the initial trio of core rulebooks. Description Playing Starfinder 2E means playing across the Pact Worlds and beyond, a galaxy-spanning science-fantasy setting where mystic spellcasters and laser-rifle-toting soldiers operate side by side, using rules deliberately built to share a common language with Pathfinder 2E. Since it launched on the same PF2E chassis, a GM comfortable with one system can pick up the other with relatively little relearning, and material can be ported between the two settings with GM permission. Reviewers have noted the 2E launch trimmed the class list to six at release - with the Mechanic and Technomancer, mainstays of 1st edition, still finishing their own playtest for a later release - while significantly expanding species and other player options compared to the original core book.