Online mapping/whiteboard software

[Arc]

I'm about to start an IRC based online rpg, but am faced with a fairly large conundrum: how to do combat mapping? While the campaign will most likely be intrigue/roleplaying based, combat will probably happen from time to time. The group I'll be playing with has played both with and without battlemats, and we've found that battlemats/whiteboards help us a lot. Rather than use a complex program like OpenRPG or WebRPG, I'm looking for something simple, or at least be easily convertable to be a map with a grid, a whiteboard style function (being able to draw straight lines is an optional plus), and optionally the ability to have movable miniatures. Is there anything like this out there that doesn't try to do it all?

This isn't putting down OpenRPG or WebRPG, or like programs, but the group I'm playing with isn't all technically savvy people, and we really, really don't want to have too much in the way of complications.

 

[Staffan]

If you have Office, a relatively simple way would be to make a grid in Powerpoint (set the page size to something arbitrarily large), use some sort of blobs to represent the PCs and monsters, and have the DM move those around on the grid. Every round, export the grid to a gif or jpeg and upload it somewhere where the players can see it. The disadvantage is that the players would then be limited to saying things like "I move up to orc #3" instead of moving their own icon, but it's a quick&dirty solution.

I'm sure you can do something similar in Photoshop or similar programs, but I'm not familiar with those. It might help if you added a coordinate system of some sort, so the players can say "I move to square K5" or "I center the fireball between J9 and I10".

 

[Arc]

The chess style system seems like it would work decently well, as far as I can imagine. I think I can set my DM up with a few megs of hosting space on a private server and an easy to use FTP program, and then he can tell us what map to load and when. Hell, we can print the maps if we need, and have a few people keeping track of moves with actual miniatures, just to be sure. However, besides the powerpoint option, are there any "mainstream" mapping programs (free is a plus, but not required) that allow for Letter/Number grids?

 

[orbitalfreak]

I haven't used it much, but you may want to check out a Windows tool, NetMeeting. It comes included with XP Home i know, not sure on earlier OS versions. Not sure where it's installed at, but type conf in the Run... dialogue, that pulls it up. I know it has a whiteboard in it, not sure how well it suits you.

(more of a "this exists" post than an "I know what this is like" post )

 

[Arc]

Just messed about with Netmeeting a bit, and as far as I can tell (from using it by myself, not exactly the most comprehensive test) the "whiteboard" function is basically a multi user version of MSPaint. I suppose it could be used, but it's hardly going to be efficient.

 

[msd]

Also, if I am not mistaken, NetMeeting only works point to point. In other words, you cant play the role of host and allow multiple users to connect to you.

Could be wrong on that...

 

[DMFTodd]

Screenmonkey from NBos might work. It let's you upload a map, have figures, fog of war and such. For the users, they just connect to a webpage, little tech-savvy required. Haven't actually used it myself though.

 

[willofgod]

Try vassel
http://www.vassalengine.org/

 

[Arc]

ScreenMonkey looks to be pretty much exactly what I was looking for (although the 35$ pricetag is a bit steep), and Vassal looks like it can also be easily converted. Since our first session is later tonight, I doubt I'll have time to get everything ready with one of the programs (gonna just rough it with autocad and chess style moves), but they should be perfect for the future.

Thanks! (although more suggestions are certainly appreciated)

 

[Aeolius]

Since neither NetMeeting nor Screenmonkey work on my choice of OS or browser, I have been tempted to try Klooge.Werks ($30 for the DM/$15 per player).