I am relatively new to Pathfinder and recently started running a Rise of the Runelords campaign. Some modules appear to map packs or flip mats associated with them, but not this one I believe. (Also, this gets expensive.) The modules come with nice maps - how do you incorporate them into your games?
Do you draw each room on a game mat? (some of the maps are quite detailed, making this tedious)
Do you scan & print out the maps and try to get the scale correct? (or export them if from PDF)
Any other suggestions?
I found that the maps in Paizo's adventures are hit and miss. Taking Council of Thieves as an example:
In the 3rd module, the Pathfinder lodge has a much better layout and scale.
In the 4th module, the Council safe house obviously was built by an insane architect. Again, the rooms are too small and the layout makes no sense.
I also found that the maps in the map packs are the same as in the module. That means that they contain every secret door and trap, which makes them useless as handouts or floor plans. The only option you have in this case is get the PDFs, extract the maps and modify the pictures yourself.
If you check out the Rise of the Runelords forum here, you'll find many, many, many wonderful community-made resources to take care of all your map needs.
What I did for a little while was I would clip the maps out of the PDF version, save them as PNG, and put them up on a screen using Roll20. You could do similar, or simply project the map onto a screen or wall from the PDF. Otherwise, you could draw them out.
But seriously, check out the Community Created stuff thread on the RotRL forum. There are so many printable maps there your head will explode. You're lucky, because you picked the best AP for community-made stuff -- it's the oldest and has been run the most times, so there are pleeeeenty of resources available to you.
I found that the maps in Paizo's adventures are hit and miss. Taking Council of Thieves as an example:
** spoiler omitted **
I also found that the maps in the map packs are the same as in the module. That means that they contain every secret door and trap, which makes them useless as handouts or floor plans. The only option you have in this case is get the PDFs, extract the maps and modify the pictures yourself.
I wanted to point out that if you buy the PDF versions of the APs (at least RotRL, not sure of the others), you get "interactive" maps, where you can toggle on and off both the grid and the traps/secret doors/other GM-only stuff.
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I am currently running RotR as well. I like my printed color maps so I use a combination of programs (MS Paint, Gimp and Posterazor) to print my maps out. There are, however, a bunch of very large (1 square = 10') maps or just maps for areas that the PCs won't be in long enough to need a detailed description. Those I just tend to draw out. I pre-draw them though with as much detail as possible and just cover it and reaveal during play.
I wanted to point out that if you buy the PDF versions of the APs (at least RotRL, not sure of the others), you get "interactive" maps, where you can toggle on and off both the grid and the traps/secret doors/other GM-only stuff.I found that the maps in Paizo's adventures are hit and miss. Taking Council of Thieves as an example:
** spoiler omitted **
I also found that the maps in the map packs are the same as in the module. That means that they contain every secret door and trap, which makes them useless as handouts or floor plans. The only option you have in this case is get the PDFs, extract the maps and modify the pictures yourself.
Now that's useful. I only own APs as books.
Now that's useful. I only own APs as books.I wanted to point out that if you buy the PDF versions of the APs (at least RotRL, not sure of the others), you get "interactive" maps, where you can toggle on and off both the grid and the traps/secret doors/other GM-only stuff.I found that the maps in Paizo's adventures are hit and miss. Taking Council of Thieves as an example:
** spoiler omitted **
I also found that the maps in the map packs are the same as in the module. That means that they contain every secret door and trap, which makes them useless as handouts or floor plans. The only option you have in this case is get the PDFs, extract the maps and modify the pictures yourself.
I started RotRL using the PDF version but found that having my laptop in front of me was too distracting. My tablet is an older model and is a little too unwieldy to use as a PDF reader, so that was out. I went out and bought the RotRL AE AP hardcover after that, and it's been great.
Still, I'm seriously glad I got the PDF version the first time around despite having spent the extra cash, because having the interactive maps and the handouts PDF has been excellent.
Now that's useful. I only own APs as books.I wanted to point out that if you buy the PDF versions of the APs (at least RotRL, not sure of the others), you get "interactive" maps, where you can toggle on and off both the grid and the traps/secret doors/other GM-only stuff.I found that the maps in Paizo's adventures are hit and miss. Taking Council of Thieves as an example:
** spoiler omitted **
I also found that the maps in the map packs are the same as in the module. That means that they contain every secret door and trap, which makes them useless as handouts or floor plans. The only option you have in this case is get the PDFs, extract the maps and modify the pictures yourself.
Printing out the maps to have separate from the module room text is helpful but it is not set up for battlemat size printing.
You still need to either draw out the map on a mat or figure out a way to take the pdf and blow it up yourself to 1 inch square dimensions for printing.
For many APs others have already done this and shared them but it would be nice to have a toggle to have the pdf combat maps be tabletop size for printing from the get go.
Now that's useful. I only own APs as books.I wanted to point out that if you buy the PDF versions of the APs (at least RotRL, not sure of the others), you get "interactive" maps, where you can toggle on and off both the grid and the traps/secret doors/other GM-only stuff.I found that the maps in Paizo's adventures are hit and miss. Taking Council of Thieves as an example:
** spoiler omitted **
I also found that the maps in the map packs are the same as in the module. That means that they contain every secret door and trap, which makes them useless as handouts or floor plans. The only option you have in this case is get the PDFs, extract the maps and modify the pictures yourself.
Printing out the maps to have separate from the module room text is helpful but it is not set up for battlemat size printing.
You still need to either draw out the map on a mat or figure out a way to take the pdf and blow it up yourself to 1 inch square dimensions for printing.
For many APs others have already done this and shared them but it would be nice to have a toggle to have the pdf combat maps be tabletop size for printing from the get go.
With FoxIt PDF reader you can easily take snapshots of the PDF maps. From there it's as simple as loading into GIMP and resizing until the grid is equivalent to 1". Since PDFs are largely vector based, you can blow up (zoom in 1000%) the PDF maps before snapshotting them so you don't lose quality when you blow the maps up. That's how I handled importing them into Roll20. If you want the maps as handouts for players, they'll work fine as is.
However, this is largely irrelevant, because as I mentioned previously, if you want printable, full scale battle maps, there are tons of resources in the RotRL message board Community Created Stuff thread, HERE.