Want To Buy - supplements for VTT games


Paizo General Discussion


So, I'm going all-in on VTT gaming, and have to say that it would be nice if there was some support for that directly from Paizo.

I know that AP subscriptions include the PDF for free, but after thinking about it, that's not what I really want. When it comes to the AP books, I'll always buy the dead tree edition just because I like that analog feeling probably.

What I really want is a "map pack" that includes all the maps from the AP (with and without squares, with and without GM labels). And as long as we are going that route, I wouldn't mind a similar "image pack" for things like NPCs faces and treasures. Anybody who has ever played the original, "Tomb of Horrors," knows that pictures are awesome. I want to bring that awesomeness to VTT.

Now, I know about the cards you sell for NPCs, and even the item cards for various APs, and I have purchased some of them in the past. But, again, I would rather just purchase from Paizo a ready made images and map pack, rather than do all the work needed after buying a physical product.

So, will you take my money? Please?

P.S. And if there is something else I need to do to make you take my money, please feel free to enlighten me :D


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

In addition to the pdf (which you could get free with the dead tree version) you get the interactive (grid/no grid, gm notes/no g, notes) maps.

And you can extract (or copy and paste) all of the images in the pdf. There is a little work, in that you have to name the files, but it works really well.

Webstore Gninja Minion

We don't have anything like that currently in the works for Paizo products, but there's a whole section of the webstore for VTT-friendly downloads.


Here's a prepared Pathfinder VTT module in Roll20:
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/module/2/the-breaking-of-forstor-naga r

We have another on the way soon, and we'd love to have more official products to offer down the line as well.

Silver Crusade

Liz, I appreciate the honest feedback. Unfortunately, I think Paizo is missing out on a decent market here. I think all that most players are asking for are higher resolution(and complete in the case of Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition) maps. From my initial experience, I can say, I will not be buying another digital copy of an Adventure Path. What I am looking for is simply not there.

I just purchased the RotRL Anniversary Edition specifically for the Interactive PDFs and, the base PDFs for the images. I wanted to quickly get up and running this amazing campaign using a VTT software platform (Maptool). I understand some of the limitations of extracting images from Protected PDFs. However, I think the broader concern is the resolution, at least in my case. The highest resolution on the first two maps alone is 22 pixels per 5' square.

In most cases, at a minimum players are running their VTTs at 50 Pixels per Square; while players (like myself) with higher end hardware prefer 200 Pixels per Square.

I also completely missed the fact that these would be very ideal for printing out on large format printers, as well as poster cropping the images on a desktop printer. Something any player would appreciate.

I can't imagine that it would be that difficult to export from the imaging software (I can only assume Photoshop) maps as images for use in VTT environments. Ideally, like the rest of the zip files I downloaded, one would contain high resolution map images, with and without marks and grids on them).

The challenge I imagine, and most likely the biggest reason is copyright protection. I don't know if you could watermark an image like you do the PDF files. Also, there's the storage. I could see these maps being quite large in size, but players who want this will tolerate slow downloads for the content.

But overcoming these challenges, I can't seem to find a reason not to provide this? As I stated before, I just purchased the Anniversary Edition, but unfortunately that will be all at this point because of these limitations. I can only guess that players are fanatical and many would buy these for the maps alone for use in the own campaigns.

Webstore Gninja Minion

Dietmar von Eppelheim wrote:
Liz, I appreciate the honest feedback. Unfortunately, I think Paizo is missing out on a decent market here.

I have a laundry list of things that I'd like for Paizo to be able to do, but there is a similar laundry list elsewhere that takes a higher priority. We are constantly thinking of new ways to make gaming more awesome, but we only have so many hours in the day (and only so many staff). So, the reason it's not provided is that we don't have time in the schedule to do so. Rest assured, how to leverage technology for gaming is very much at the forefront of my mind—and we do have software developer positions open right now if you know some developers who feel the same way. :)

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

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Dietmar von Eppelheim wrote:

However, I think the broader concern is the resolution, at least in my case. The highest resolution on the first two maps alone is 22 pixels per 5' square.

In most cases, at a minimum players are running their VTTs at 50 Pixels per Square; while players (like myself) with higher end hardware prefer 200 Pixels per Square.

Please read this. (In this context, "resolution" and "scale" are fairly interchangable terms.)

Silver Crusade

Thank you for the prompt feedback, and I apologize for not getting back sooner.

The problem I have with that post is, I've already seen cases where Paizo has offered higher resolution maps for the SAME maps that are in an AP. So it's hard for me to buy that as 'the answer'.

For example, the Town Square (Swallow Tail Festival) in the AP PDF is 923 x 1292 pixels, while the Flip Map PDF is 3605 x 4505 (which looks good by the way). I should note that this map is not part of the interactive PDF (which has also generated negative comments about the Interactive PDF).

Let's look at another example, the Glassworks from Rise of the Runelords as well. When you output the image from the PDF (not interactive), it exports as 3.33" x 2.08" at 96dpi. So from what you've said, this is what the source file is created at, 96 dpi....for a 3" x 2" image, really?

I'm sorry if I'm missing another piece of the puzzle, I just really find it hard to imaging anyone creating anything in any graphics design tool at these resolutions, and this small. It would seriously be more complicated than creating a high resolution image and shrinking it down for print. I mean, you would have to literally draw pixel by pixel, because traditional brushes just wouldn't work in Photoshop at these sizes effectively.

I do appreciate you getting back with me so promptly. And I love your products, this isn't a knock on them in anyway. The digital products just aren't where 'I' need them to be for my purposes.


Dietmar von Eppelheim wrote:

Thank you for the prompt feedback, and I apologize for not getting back sooner.

The problem I have with that post is, I've already seen cases where Paizo has offered higher resolution maps for the SAME maps that are in an AP. So it's hard for me to buy that as 'the answer'.

For example, the Town Square (Swallow Tail Festival) in the AP PDF is 923 x 1292 pixels, while the Flip Map PDF is 3605 x 4505 (which looks good by the way). I should note that this map is not part of the interactive PDF (which has also generated negative comments about the Interactive PDF).

Let's look at another example, the Glassworks from Rise of the Runelords as well. When you output the image from the PDF (not interactive), it exports as 3.33" x 2.08" at 96dpi. So from what you've said, this is what the source file is created at, 96 dpi....for a 3" x 2" image, really?

I'm sorry if I'm missing another piece of the puzzle, I just really find it hard to imaging anyone creating anything in any graphics design tool at these resolutions, and this small. It would seriously be more complicated than creating a high resolution image and shrinking it down for print. I mean, you would have to literally draw pixel by pixel, because traditional brushes just wouldn't work in Photoshop at these sizes effectively.

I do appreciate you getting back with me so promptly. And I love your products, this isn't a knock on them in anyway. The digital products just aren't where 'I' need them to be for my purposes.

I'm not familiar with the exact map you are speaking of, but I can say with virtual certainty that there is no way any image got sent to print with a resolution less than 300 dpi. So, the images exist, we just aren't welcome to them.

Silver Crusade

BigDTBone wrote:
Dietmar von Eppelheim wrote:

Thank you for the prompt feedback, and I apologize for not getting back sooner.

The problem I have with that post is, I've already seen cases where Paizo has offered higher resolution maps for the SAME maps that are in an AP. So it's hard for me to buy that as 'the answer'.

For example, the Town Square (Swallow Tail Festival) in the AP PDF is 923 x 1292 pixels, while the Flip Map PDF is 3605 x 4505 (which looks good by the way). I should note that this map is not part of the interactive PDF (which has also generated negative comments about the Interactive PDF).

Let's look at another example, the Glassworks from Rise of the Runelords as well. When you output the image from the PDF (not interactive), it exports as 3.33" x 2.08" at 96dpi. So from what you've said, this is what the source file is created at, 96 dpi....for a 3" x 2" image, really?

I'm sorry if I'm missing another piece of the puzzle, I just really find it hard to imaging anyone creating anything in any graphics design tool at these resolutions, and this small. It would seriously be more complicated than creating a high resolution image and shrinking it down for print. I mean, you would have to literally draw pixel by pixel, because traditional brushes just wouldn't work in Photoshop at these sizes effectively.

I do appreciate you getting back with me so promptly. And I love your products, this isn't a knock on them in anyway. The digital products just aren't where 'I' need them to be for my purposes.

I'm not familiar with the exact map you are speaking of, but I can say with virtual certainty that there is no way any image got sent to print with a resolution less than 300 dpi. So, the images exist, we just aren't welcome to them.

That was sort of what I was trying to imply. I produce all my images for my career in marketing at 300 dpi for web, let alone print. The argument in the thread above is that they aren't, which I found quite hard to believe.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Dietmar von Eppelheim wrote:

For example, the Town Square (Swallow Tail Festival) in the AP PDF is 923 x 1292 pixels, while the Flip Map PDF is 3605 x 4505 (which looks good by the way). I should note that this map is not part of the interactive PDF (which has also generated negative comments about the Interactive PDF).

Let's look at another example, the Glassworks from Rise of the Runelords as well. When you output the image from the PDF (not interactive), it exports as 3.33" x 2.08" at 96dpi. So from what you've said, this is what the source file is created at, 96 dpi....for a 3" x 2" image, really?

I did *not* say that we're giving you the highest resolution we have available in the PDFs. We're not—that would make the PDFs much larger (and less usable on less powerful devices). I was just explaining that we don't generally commission the maps in our books at the resolution you desire (200 pixels per 5' square). When we commission a map, we almost always know whether it's going to be a quarter page, a half page, a full page, a Flip-Mat, or a poster map, and the files we get from the cartographers are at a suitable resolution for the assigned size (and the time and cost it takes to make those maps scales as well). The Town Square map was commissioned specifically to be a Flip-Mat, which means it would have about 4 times the resolution of a map of a similar sized area that was commissioned as a full page, and about 16 times the resolution of one that was commissioned as a quarter page. (And obviously, if the map we've commissioned is at 1 square=10' scale instead of 1 square=5' scale, it's that much further away from what you're asking.)

Scarab Sages

As I use VTT's, I'm interested in this. Is it at all possible to provide, maybe with the PDFs, maybe as a separate purchase, the original higher resolution map files for any individual AP? You, presumably, already have them before compressing them into an AP, and those higher resolution files would be worth a lot to those of us on VTT. Then you wouldn't need to increase the space in a PDF. :)

I'd love that, personally.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I think most people using VTTs on MapTools/Roll20 generally go with 50-70 pixels per 5 inch square, which may not be too far from what you have available pre-pdf packaging. Even if it's smaller then that, anything higher resolution then what's in the AP would be fantastic.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

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We have plans, but things keep getting complicated. That's likely all I can say for quite some time.

Silver Crusade

Vic, thank you again for the response, it does mean a lot.

I guess that's what I was getting at. At a minimum, just higher res maps, in image format, in various states (with markings, without, with grid, without).

I didn't mean to imply that every map needs to be 200 pixel per 5', but rather that would be the 'perfect' scenario of course.

Again, thank you so much for responding, it means a lot engaging with your community. I'm also only pushing this, because I genuinely care about the product. I have found myself purchasing a new book every time I go to B&N! And love pouring over them.

I am just concerned that if 'another company' embraces this market first, the other will lose those players to the company that provides the answers. I work in an industry currently fighting for mind share among our separate and shared customers over online collaboration and 'other' tools. We have and are losing customers to our competition because we were late bringing our technology to the table. I honestly believe we now have a better solution, but it's too late for those who have left; and brought other customers with them in the process. This then shifts where our customers, their customers, their suppliers, etc. turn for these products now.

I just worry a DM says, well 'the other company has what I'm looking for', invests, and the players around his table follow suit.

So please keep investing in the future!


So, I'm a little late to this party, but here's my two cents anyway.

Paizo is building their own VTT. If they are going to make their maps available in a package like what's being requested it seems counter productive to offer it for competitive products. Or, at the very least, it seems like they wouldn't want it available for competitive platforms before it was available for their own platform.

Of course, the Paizo VTT has been delayed for a variety of internal reasons. We are assured that it's still coming, but no guesses as to when.

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