So I've been tasked with drawing the dungeon for a PBP game on the Paizo forums as we, the players, start exploring. I did a quick search on the forums and found a number of potential tools such as MapTools. The thing is that they talked about pdfs, images, layers, and all kinds of things that plain scared me. I don't want to download and delve into a complicated system that will require hours of learning. For now, I just need a simple dungeon mapping tool. On the other hand some day I want to try my hand at GMing PBP. There seems to be no end of hoards of players just dying for a GM and, heck, with society play I would even get credit! So, having said I want an easy app to get going on, I also want to eventually be able to learn how to do all that PDF/layering stuff.
So, what do you think would be the best app for me, and why is it superior to the others?
MapForge should fit the bill. The "why" part of the question should be answered on that page.
Dungeon Painter is a pretty good mapper I use when I need to make maps. While it doesn't have everything, it's both free and online, so you don't need to download anything to test it out. I usually complete the maps as thoroughly as I can on Dungeon Painter, then save the file and do any finishing touches myself.
They also have Dungeon Painter Studio, which looks interesting, though I haven't tried it out.
WorldEngine from MesaMundi is what I'm looking forward to. It's web based, so Windows & Mac, but also Linux, iOS, and Android. The pre-alpha demo is impressive and the alpha should drop by the end of this month. After trying to us Campaign Cartographer (Essentially a reskinned CAD system for windows only) and giving up because of the non-intuitive interface (and did I mention it only runs on Windows, which is almost a showstopper for me), I'm looking forward to some more fit-to-purpose systems. As huruca mentions, MapForge looks sweet as well if you're on Mac or Windows.