Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheSword" data-source="post: 8175281" data-attributes="member: 6879661">I think with lighting I pick my effects to match my maps.1. You have have the fog of war grey out previous explorations so they can see what they’ve explored but not what has changed there. Very useful for ambushes.2. You can set it so each player can only see what their token can see, but you can also set it so you can see what any other player can. At times this is really useful.3. You can vary lines of sight and quality. So for instance a character who has darkvision can only see dimly. Whereas a character with a torch can see brightly and also illuminate for other people.4. You can create a torch token for if characters drop these. Or cast light on an object.5. If a character is blinded or affected by darkness you can literally switch off their sight, forcing them to feel their way around the map by wall boundaries - a lot of fun online with other players trying to tell them where they are.It takes me about my 5 minutes to put the dynamic barriers in for a typical dungeon level. Use blue lines so they stand out and keep them narrow width so you can see the walls. I tend to use regular width for the doors so they’re easier to delete when opened. The key to this is matching the grid to the walls. Most dungeon maps mark to grid lines anyway. Holding shift+Z snaps to the grid meaning you can just approximately click in that area and it will always snap. If you have a weird bit or a curve don’t press it and you can shape it. Don’t worry about exactly tracing a shape. Pull back a 1/4 square and show some wall. It doesn’t need to be perfect. In fact rougher looks a little better I think.The most annoying thing is having to move to the light sheet in order to open doors but you soon get used to that.When moving I just tell players that when the action starts and I call roll initiative that’s where there character are. Most players don’t want to waste a turn of combat moving to the door. It encourages them to move up.When I’m reading descriptions I give them chance to move. What’s the harm in letting them catch up? If a player says they’re interacting with an object and they’re not close to it. I move them next to it. I there is something like a trap or ambush I say okay everybody stop. If players keep moving I move them back. This isn’t every fight so it’s not that jarring.I find that the limited lighting and knowing exactly where they are encourages players to be more engaged and aware - particularly when exploring say a haunted mansion. There is something very exciting about revealing a map a section at a time as your line of sight changes.On a technical note, I find it helpful to keep maps under 1000 x 1000 pixels and under 30 x 30 squares where possible. It speeds things up a lot. Use smaller where you can.</blockquote>

Verification