D&D 5E Wave Echo Cave map

[Nebulous]

Well, i could just draw it out on erase board, or i could really snaz it up with a full color battle map. But i can't find one. How have other people done WEC? It's pretty darn big.

Nebulous

 

[Jan van Leyden]

For $ 1.25 you can get the player version of the map (sized 4,500 x 6,136) from the artist: Mike Schley.

 

[Nebulous]

For $ 1.25 you can get the player version of the map (sized 4,500 x 6,136) from the artist: Mike Schley.

Yes, that's what I actually ended up doing. I'll print it at 10' scale, it's still going to be 3 feet by 4 feet. I figured whatever we can't fudge in scale, I can just redraw on a zoomed in erase map.

 

[Rabbitbait]

I've put it on Roll20 and set up dynamic lighting. I have my laptop as DM, and the players have one mouse that they use on their turn to move their characters around on another computer connected to the 40" screen in the lounge.

We find that this works really blimmin well for us, and the dynamic lighting is really cool - I've seen the party get lost on a map which is great.

We have one player who lives in another town, and the rest of us turn up depending on how demanding life is. Adulthood really cuts into our gaming time. Those that can't turn up can generally be there online.

But I digress- Roll20, Roll20 is a cool and easy way to show maps in all their glory in a useable fashion.

 

[Nebulous]

Ok, so maybe someone else is better at math than me. The original map is at 10' scale, 4500 x 6136 pixels, 15" x 20.5" at 300 resolution.

What if I did want to convert it to 5 foot squares? I counted the actual blocks, the map is technically 38 inches across if every square = 1 inch.

So what I have now is a 3'x4' map at 1" = 10 feet.

 

[Nebulous]

I've put it on Roll20 and set up dynamic lighting. I have my laptop as DM, and the players have one mouse that they use on their turn to move their characters around on another computer connected to the 40" screen in the lounge.

We find that this works really blimmin well for us, and the dynamic lighting is really cool - I've seen the party get lost on a map which is great.

We have one player who lives in another town, and the rest of us turn up depending on how demanding life is. Adulthood really cuts into our gaming time. Those that can't turn up can generally be there online.

But I digress- Roll20, Roll20 is a cool and easy way to show maps in all their glory in a useable fashion.

That's pretty cool. Ideally I want one of those ceiling mounted projectors so I can do that, or something newfangled and ridiculously expensive.

 

[Rabbitbait]

One of the players has one of those. It's OK, but the definition isn't so good and you kinda need to have the room darkened which isn't ideal.

 

[doctorhook]

I've put it on Roll20 and set up dynamic lighting. I have my laptop as DM, and the players have one mouse that they use on their turn to move their characters around on another computer connected to the 40" screen in the lounge.

We find that this works really blimmin well for us, and the dynamic lighting is really cool - I've seen the party get lost on a map which is great.

We have one player who lives in another town, and the rest of us turn up depending on how demanding life is. Adulthood really cuts into our gaming time. Those that can't turn up can generally be there online.

But I digress- Roll20, Roll20 is a cool and easy way to show maps in all their glory in a useable fashion.

Ditto! I can't say enough good things about Roll20; it's much cheaper and more flexible than minis and physical maps, and it's probably the most user-friendly VTT ever made. I use it exclusively for in-person, non-digital sessions; I've never even used it for online play!

(Side note for anyone considering this option: Roll20 is free to use, but the free version caps the size and number of files you can upload. IIRC, the player map of Wave Echo Cave is huge, and larger than the upload cap, so you may not be able to use it with Roll20 for free. Still, by the time I reached that point, I was so thrilled with Roll20 that I was more than happy to try out their paid membership.)

That's pretty cool. Ideally I want one of those ceiling mounted projectors so I can do that, or something newfangled and ridiculously expensive.

Go with a new flatscreen TV instead. I use a 55" Sony Bravia that I bought on sale last year for $800 Canadian. The price of a large, decent TV is competitive or better than the price of a new projector, and you'll likely get a lot more use out of it.

 

[Nebulous]

Well, for now i've printed the map in 10' scale, it's 25 sheets of paper i have to put together, so it will be big. It looks really good, i bumped up the saturation levels in Photoshop so it's popping with color. If combat really needs to be broken down to 5' scale then I'm going to zoom in with the dry erase map. But we've run fights on the 10' scale, the more abstract nature of 5e makes it easier. Depends on how many combatants are crowded in.

 

[Nebulous]

Ditto! I can't say enough good things about Roll20; it's much cheaper and more flexible than minis and physical maps, and it's probably the most user-friendly VTT ever made. I use it exclusively for in-person, non-digital sessions; I've never even used it for online play!

Now that's an interesting take. I know some guys who've used it for online play for years and swear how good it is. I have a few reservations, well, A) I'm fortunate to have 3 players local, and B) I have thousands of dollars invested in miniatures and maps already, and i really love miniatures. C) I'm not in the market right now to buy a screen just for gaming, I need a new laptop more than anything and the Macbook Pro is calling my name and it is &#$%*#$ expensive!!!

And the physical maps are fast and with the pre-made Paizo erase maps they're brimming with as much detail as a VTT.

But, all that said, I do want to upgrade eventually to a more integrated electronic approach.