BattleMaps and D&D Insider

[Xorn]

To each their own. FG2 feels closer to a tabletop setting than MapTool, to me. Plus the dice rolling and hotkeys for dice rolls are great, coupled with the encounter/DM tools.

http://www.eugee.net/fg21.htm

I don't know the first thing about XML, by the way.

 

[Aria Silverhands]

I think Trevor is looking to add skins to MapTool which could let you mimic the feel of FG2 for the most part. There's a huge macro window which lets you create all kinds of text, die roll, and more for macros. The only thing missing is the actual roll of the dice you pick up.

 

[Nebulous]

Well, i've finished printing out the first 11 encounters. I've only got up to 5 assembled, but i'll try to work on that tonight. When all together, this is going to easily be the biggest map i've ever put together. I'll post some more pictures when i get it done.

 

[Bayuer]

*****SPOILERS!!!!!!**********8


If you're going to play in Keep on the Shadowfell, you probably shouldn't look further. Not a major spoiler though.




So, i've been working very hard on these maps, and i've decided to map out ahead of time the entire first level of the Keep.

Damn, this has turned into a hell of a project, and i don't know if it's worth the effort. HOWEVER, i do think it looks very good. I think the players will appreciate it quite a bit, and it does look better than random tiles stuck together.

See, what bothers me is that the campaign comes with beautifully drawn maps of the keep, but they are all but useless in print scale unless you do what i've done here, or recreate them like some others have done. I elected to go the scan/print/cut route because that's the most viable option for me.

I spent all morning arranging this, and here are the first 3 encounters:

What do you think? It looks better in the finished state than the tile i posted earlier. I didn't intend for the excavation site to be a different color, i added too much contrast by accident, but it hardly ruins it. There's a seam you can see that i'll probably color over with crayon or marker, but it's not bad. I should have enough space in my game room to arrange the entire floor plan, but i have to admit this is HIGHLY time consuming, and if i wasn't such a dork i wouldn't bother.

Again, which was the point of this thread, having actual hi-res tiles pre-sized for print would save dozens and dozens of hours of time. At least these maps are reusable, so it's not exactly a one-shot deal.

Could you please put those maps to download somewhere? you will make my life so simpler

 

[Nebulous]

Could you please put those maps to download somewhere? you will make my life so simpler

Well, this is the same problem Xorn was having, we don't know about the legality of making these things available for download.

 

[Stoat]

Excellent work, Nebulous. When are y'all playing?

IMO, WotC is missing out on a tremendous opportunity if they don't make their adventures compatible with their own VTT. It seems to me that the best way to promote the service is to make it easy and familiar to use, and the best way to do that is to provide whole adventures online. I've been playing with various VTT's for about two years now, and I've got two beefs with 'em. (1) They have a steep learning curve. I gave up on Fantasy Grounds because I was having too much trouble figuring it out. (2) They take a lot of additional work. At a minimum, you need a digital version of the map and digital versions of the NPC's/PC's. Doing those right takes a fair amount of time.

Providing maps, digital minis, etc. for published adventures eliminates problem 2, and will get my money.

 

[Xorn]

I love Fantasy Grounds, so don't take this as me being disagreeable--but I find I have a lot less prep work over FG2 than playing IRL. To make my encounter map for FG2, I just scan the encounter in the book, size it to 50 pixels/square, and save it.

If I want it for IRL use, then I have to tile-print it, and spent some arts and crafts time cutting and taping stuff, not to mention watch the ink-levels on my printer go down. (I have a really nice printer though, so this isn't that bad.)

Note that I'm not accounting for the fact that I have a OCR'd PDF of Keep on the Shadowfell that I made myself, so I can literally cut-n-paste the whole adventure into FG2.

Do not ask for a copy of my PDF here or in PMs. I made it for my own personal use.

 

[Nebulous]

Excellent work, Nebulous. When are y'all playing?

IMO, WotC is missing out on a tremendous opportunity if they don't make their adventures compatible with their own VTT. It seems to me that the best way to promote the service is to make it easy and familiar to use, and the best way to do that is to provide whole adventures online. I've been playing with various VTT's for about two years now, and I've got two beefs with 'em. (1) They have a steep learning curve. I gave up on Fantasy Grounds because I was having too much trouble figuring it out. (2) They take a lot of additional work. At a minimum, you need a digital version of the map and digital versions of the NPC's/PC's. Doing those right takes a fair amount of time.

Providing maps, digital minis, etc. for published adventures eliminates problem 2, and will get my money.

Thanks Stoat! We're looking to play on occasional Friday nights, for now anyway. It is possible that 4e will kill all desire to play SW, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I completely agree about the VTT, and their potential adventure support for it. Providing full maps and minis for online would be a definite incentive.

 

[Bayuer]

@Nebulous
Well, could you send it on e-mail to me or sth? If not i can understand that. I will have to turn my scaner on and pray to God that I can do sth with this...

 

[Nebulous]

Well, here is the full map for level 1 of Keep on the Shadowfell. I think it turned out really good, and i'm glad i spent the time. I got faster at doing it and it didn't take as long as when i started. In fact, i might do Level 2 as well. Players can only see the general layout, no encounter specifics, but still...



***SPOILERS****

The maps are printed on heavy white cardstock, so they're pretty durable, as far as paper goes. If i were to run this in smaller chunks, per encounter room, i would slide it under the plexiglass on my game table.

I still haven't decided yet if we're going to game on the floor around the keep itself, leaving it intact as you see it, or break it up into chunks and move it back to the game table.