Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Don Durito" data-source="post: 8176705" data-attributes="member: 6687260">This has been my process over the last year.Tried the fancy map and lighting process.  After many hiccups where players were presented with a blank screen we got it working.After experimenting with it discovered the following:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">it became a hassle if for any reason not everyone could sit there and move their token to keep up with the party (i.e, their internet dropped, out they went to the toilet, there child demanded attention for the moment etc) then the token could suddenly be left behind with no connection to the rest of the party.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It created an information gap in some combats.  Sometimes players couldn't actually see what was happening with other characters who were not in their line of sight - and while this may have brought about an element of 'realism' it was disengaging.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It couldn't handlle some things at all, such as for example where a corridor dips under another tunnel on the same level and they cross over.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">it stopped players asking questions about what they could see, and somewhat disrupted the natural pause of play upon entering a new room or location where the GM describes what there is to see.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The above seemed to naturally lead to drift in two directions - either the map was so detailed that little description was needed - there was a token for a book case if there was a book case, if there was a chest it was on the map, or I needed to go minimalist to break the illusion that the map matched up with the fiction.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Going for detail was largely a waste of my time, - I noticed that when I played online that whether dynamic lighting was used or not had bugger all impact on whether the game was fun or not.  (Seriously, if the map was some beautifully painted thing or some scratched thing in Roll20 - it made no different except for a vague aesthetic appreciation of the map when it first appears).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I tend to run sandboxes, so there was always going to be situations where I didn't have a map prepared so level of detail was going to be inconsistent anyway.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">When I went minimalist, dynamic lighting served a lot less purpose - it seems to be intended to make the map immersive - but I was trying for the opposite effect so I dropped it.  (Plus in any case, in Roll20 at least dynamic lighting doesn't look and feel remotely real).</li> </ul>That said I would still use it for some things, but the traditional dungeon crawl where you enter one room at a time really doesn't need it.  It's actually a lot simpler to just reveal the whole room with fog of war a bit at a time.  And there are things you can do that are more immersive anyway - such as for example having an image of the room - so when the players enter you can blow it up and say "you see this".I can see how if you are using an adventure path and all the maps are done for you, it may be fun.  But in 20 years of gaming this is not really a feature I've ever felt was lacking and I really don't see how it's worth the time investment if you're making your own stuff.</blockquote>

Verification