The coast map generator draws a stretch of shore on five-foot squares. The sea comes in from one edge of the sheet, deep water first and then a band of pale shallows with a line of surf where it meets the sand. Above the tide line the beach gives way to dune grass. Outcrops of grey rock break the shore here and there, standing on the land as low cliffs and out in the water as islets. On nearly every map there's a ship wrecked on the sand at the waterline, tide pools among the rocks, a smugglers' fire with crates beside it above the tide line, and a sea stack standing alone in deep water with surf around it. On about three maps in four there's also a sea cave in the face of an outcrop. Driftwood lies along the beach. Every landmark is numbered and keyed.
How the shore is drawn
The sea can come in from any of the four edges. Every point on the sheet gets a height from how far it is from that edge, roughened with noise, so the shoreline wanders in coves and points instead of running straight. The lowest ground is deep water, the next band is shallows, then wet sand, dry sand and finally grass. A second noise field decides where rock breaks the surface, and those outcrops are traced the same way, so they sit across the shoreline as real rock does: half in the sea, half on the beach.
Then the landmarks are placed where they'd be. The wreck lies right at the waterline, where the tide left it. The tide pools sit in the band that floods and drains. The smugglers' fire is on dry sand above the reach of the sea. The sea cave is cut into rock where it meets the sand, and the stack stands in the deepest water on the sheet.
Running a fight on the shore
The terrain does a lot of the work. Deep water means swimming, and swimmers can't do much else. The shallows are difficult terrain, and the surf line hides whatever is in the water. The rock outcrops are high ground and full cover. The wreck is a ruin to fight through, with its ribs for cover and a hold that may not be empty. A landing party coming in from the sea meets defenders on the dunes, or smugglers caught unloading turn on whoever found them. The sea cave is where the contraband goes, and possibly where the tunnel up to the town begins.
Free SVG and PNG downloads
Both formats are free for your games, streams and published adventures. The PNG is a 1920-pixel render ready for Roll20, Foundry or Owlbear Rodeo, and the Print button gives you a black-and-white sheet for the table. The SVG is the vector original: open it in Inkscape, Affinity or Figma to move the wreck, add a rowing boat or raise the tide. Everything on the map is drawn by our own code, so there's no attribution to carry and no asset licence to read.
What it won't do
It draws one stretch of coast at battle-map scale. It doesn't draw the whole coastline, the inside of the sea cave, or the town above the cliffs. For the coastline on a regional map, roll a fantasy map; for the port, a harbor map; for the caves behind the beach, a cave map.
Name the sea, then land on it
The ocean name generator names the sea and writes its history, and draws this same shore beside its result with the generated name on the sheet. The ship name generator names the wreck, and the pirate name generator names whoever is sitting by the fire.