Electronic Copies of Maps and Art - No longer just a nice add-on, they are necessary.


Paizo General Discussion

Sczarni

Dear Paizo,

In my campaigns, we have been trending towards more virtual campaigns via PbP, Fantasy Grounds, Roll20, etc.

However, even in our in-person game now, we are using Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds to handle our maps and player token locations via a flat screen TV situated near the monitor.

Players are bringing iPads with their electronic character sheets on them.

Downloaded art flashed on the screen adds a great deal to the descriptions of monsters, rooms, items, etc.

This tendency is driving many of us towards products that are very friendly to converting to electronic platforms.

In contrast, with Paizo, I often find myself spending frustrating hours pulling art out of the .pdfs that I paid good money for, then having to erase all the secret doors, traps, etc. painstakingly in PhotoShop and pulling art for tokens in a similar fashion.

In contrast, many publishers are now providing electronic "Player Maps" with no grids, no secret doors, no traps, etc. that save me hours and hours of prep time as graphical files that are ready to load straight into systems.

I'll be honest, I'm not going to be buying Paizo products unless they start providing maps in .png, .gif, .jpg., or similar format for ease of integration with the current trends in gaming.

The cost of automatically making these files available to those of us who purchase .pdf's through paizo.com is negligible when compared to the utility that these Player Map graphical files provide. Likewise, including token-ready images from the art just makes sense.

Liberty's Edge

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I agree such things are beneficial and it's great when publishers provide them.

However, make no mistake - the additional cost and effort required on the publisher's part is far from negligible!

The Exchange

Perhaps the answer is an extension of the license that allows us to print a copy of a PDF product. Something along the lines of "You may upload a copy of maps and tokens created from this work to 'Sanctioned Website' with an attribution showing the source. These derivative items may be downloaded for the sole purpose of online play of this work and all other uses are strictly forbidden."

At least that way we can share the workload across the player base.

Sczarni

Marc Radle wrote:

I agree such things are beneficial and it's great when publishers provide them.

However, make no mistake - the additional cost and effort required on the publisher's part is far from negligible!

We are talking about simply taking art they already posses electronically and make a second version available for download. If the charged a reasonable amount (maybe 10-20% of the .pdf price) then they would certainly make a profit.

Scarab Sages

Some of the AP's already already have map packs that allow you to hide certain aspects.


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Part of the problem is once art is made available for download, then it is easily shared and next thing you know Paizo art is no longer controlled nor owned, instead its all over the internet. This is something that Paizo or any publisher does not want to happen.

Paying artists to create art has the goal of owning and controlling the art once complete. Then providing that art to purchaseable products like APs, modules, guides, etc. for cover designs and interior art. Control can be made with hidden watermarks added to the product, so if any piracy occurs, whoever is the pirate can be identified and handled legally.

Once you separate the art from the products the control is gone. So I don't think this is a problem that is easily solved, and actually creates problems if it were done.

For example, while I don't work for Paizo, I do freelance work for Rite Publishing, and the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG) (for example), is my own published setting. When I create maps for Kaidan products, they are part of the PDF. There are ways to take a PDF apart to separate art and maps, but as you say, you need to jump through some hoops for that to work - and if you're not computer literate, it may be harder than it should be.

I usually create a separate map only product for use in VT apps - its a separate product from the module it was created for. I do this for all maps I create. However, I don't do that for the art that comes in those same supplements, simply because controlling art is a lot tougher to do than maps.


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game-printer has the nub of the problem, essentially. You - as the purchaser - can have all the art you want. But you can't upload it anywhere. The moment you do, you're releasing control over the material and you don't have the right to do that. As long as the files are solely on hardware you control, Paizo can trust you. Heck, storing the files on Dropbox and Google Drive and the like is very likely against your licensing agreement.


Crellan wrote:
Marc Radle wrote:

I agree such things are beneficial and it's great when publishers provide them.

However, make no mistake - the additional cost and effort required on the publisher's part is far from negligible!

We are talking about simply taking art they already posses electronically and make a second version available for download. If the charged a reasonable amount (maybe 10-20% of the .pdf price) then they would certainly make a profit.

The OP has decided that, for him, this is a condition of Paizo making profit on the primary product.


gamer-printer wrote:

Part of the problem is once art is made available for download, then it is easily shared and next thing you know Paizo art is no longer controlled nor owned, instead its all over the internet. This is something that Paizo or any publisher does not want to happen.

Paying artists to create art has the goal of owning and controlling the art once complete. Then providing that art to purchaseable products like APs, modules, guides, etc. for cover designs and interior art. Control can be made with hidden watermarks added to the product, so if any piracy occurs, whoever is the pirate can be identified and handled legally.

Once you separate the art from the products the control is gone. So I don't think this is a problem that is easily solved, and actually creates problems if it were done.

For example, while I don't work for Paizo, I do freelance work for Rite Publishing, and the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG) (for example), is my own published setting. When I create maps for Kaidan products, they are part of the PDF. There are ways to take a PDF apart to separate art and maps, but as you say, you need to jump through some hoops for that to work - and if you're not computer literate, it may be harder than it should be.

I usually create a separate map only product for use in VT apps - its a separate product from the module it was created for. I do this for all maps I create. However, I don't do that for the art that comes in those same supplements, simply because controlling art is a lot tougher to do than maps.

It may not be capable today, but "graphic packs" could be run through the Paizo personalizer before downloaded. Actually, this could be done and then the image flattened and it would be far less likely to be removed that with the PDF.

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
BigDTBone wrote:
Crellan wrote:
Marc Radle wrote:

I agree such things are beneficial and it's great when publishers provide them.

However, make no mistake - the additional cost and effort required on the publisher's part is far from negligible!

We are talking about simply taking art they already posses electronically and make a second version available for download. If the charged a reasonable amount (maybe 10-20% of the .pdf price) then they would certainly make a profit.
The OP has decided that, for him, this is a condition of Paizo making profit on the primary product.

The sheer economic reality is that Paizo can't afford to lose control of it's artwork just to please one customer.


Good point Lazar, unless the OP represents a movement toward more digit and peripheral aids. I'm with the OP in that I like to use every available device or graphic enhancement.


LazarX wrote:
BigDTBone wrote:
Crellan wrote:
Marc Radle wrote:

I agree such things are beneficial and it's great when publishers provide them.

However, make no mistake - the additional cost and effort required on the publisher's part is far from negligible!

We are talking about simply taking art they already posses electronically and make a second version available for download. If the charged a reasonable amount (maybe 10-20% of the .pdf price) then they would certainly make a profit.
The OP has decided that, for him, this is a condition of Paizo making profit on the primary product.
The sheer economic reality is that Paizo can't afford to lose control of it's artwork just to please one customer.

Oh, well it's good the customer didn't ask for Paizo to start screen printing their artwork directly onto wild boars.

This is the most stupid responce I could possibly imagine. THE ARTWORK IS ALREADY PART OF THE DIGITIAL PRODUCT!!!! Nothing is preventing anyone from taking their PDF's and stripping the art out, TODAY! The OP wants it done for him in a convenient way.


Oceanshieldwolf wrote:
Good point Lazar, unless the OP represents a movement toward more digit and peripheral aids. I'm with the OP in that I like to use every available device or graphic enhancement.

Hopefully their Gamespace will be able to fill this need for people. I don't personally have any interest, but there definitely seems to be a growing demand for electronic support.


BigDTBone wrote:
This is the most stupid responce I could possibly imagine. THE ARTWORK IS ALREADY PART OF THE DIGITIAL PRODUCT!!!! Nothing is preventing anyone from taking their PDF's and stripping the art out, TODAY! The OP wants it done for him in a convenient way.

You play an RPG, yes? I'm just surprised that that's the stupidest response you can possibly imagine. I mean, what about "walruses will eat your tax forms if you don't put the moon in your pocket first"?

But seriously, that stupid response... it's not stupid at all. See, the locks on the doors of your car? They just make it inconvenient for someone to steal your radio. The locks on the door of your house? Again, merely slowing down the fine folks who want to take your valuables. I mean... glass. Seriously.

That's the whole point. Paizo at the very least can't close the analogue hole: you could take a photo of your screen, if they somehow disabled every other digital extraction technique. They only need to make it inconvenient to break their licenses, not impossible. My making it inconvenient, Joe Original Poster (evidently) won't do it. Problem solved, from their perspective.

Paizo sells a product that the vast majority of customers "can't" violate the integrity of. That's retaining control.

Sczarni

But driving stolen cars is not becoming the predominant mode of transportation. Online play or using maps/tokens another way is becoming the predominant mode of play. Your metaphor is essentially flawed because using the on Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds is not stealing it... It is proper usage. What they are doing is like requiring me to crank-start the car in the rain every time I want to drive it, while other companies are providing remote ignition.

Other companies are providing artwork (Adventure A week for example). Paizo can as well if the make the business choice that making me work for hours manipulating the product into a usable format is not providing a customer friendly experience.


Crellan wrote:

But driving stolen cars is not becoming the predominant mode of transportation. Online play or using maps/tokens another way is becoming the predominant mode of play. Your metaphor is essentially flawed because using the on Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds is not stealing it... It is proper usage. What they are doing is like requiring me to crank-start the car in the rain every time I want to drive it, while other companies are providing remote ignition.

Other companies are providing artwork (Adventure A week for example). Paizo can as well if the make the business choice that making me work for hours manipulating the product into a usable format is not providing a customer friendly experience.

Most comparisons by metaphor are flawed.

Maybe they will offer a graphics pack in the future, but I would expect to see those products either go up in price or cause the release schedule to get screwed up. Even with them having the assets someone has to actually put them into a packaged customers can download and use. This means more of someones time, or more money so they can being on another set of hands to help handle the extra work (And from what I have read elsewhere office space at Paizo is getting a little tight).

I'm going to be completely honest, I have no idea how much time and effort it would take to do this. I don't know what format images are kept in in house. While I know how long it takes me to do format conversions on a handful of things for my own use in my own home, I don't know how much added work this will add for a business trying to put together a product. I personally don't think it will be the same. Unfortunately, I see many people who seem to think something along the lines of, "They have the art so it shouldn't be a bit deal". I don't think any of us (except maybe for a handful of people freelancing for some 3PPs) knows how long it will take them. We are not the ones who have to actually do it and deal with it along with whatever else needs to get done.

Do I hope that such an image pack with Key npcs and maps will come into being, yes. I hope they take their time so they can integrate the added steps without causing any hiccups. I've only dabbled in Online play, but I know many people can't play without it.

Liberty's Edge

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Woah, woah. Slow down everybody.

Nearly ten years ago when Paizo was publishing Dungeon, there were a few of us who were using LCD projection technology to shine an image on the table during the game so we could move our minis directly on the map image surface. We wrote into Dungeon and asked if they could make it easier for us to access their maps so we could use them for that purpose.

LCD projectors were seen as avante garde cool tech at that time and Paizo, being made up of gamers, thought it was cool, too. They listened. At some expense, they began to break out the maps then published in Dungeon only in paper form and release online supplements to the issues of the mag. They were sometimes delayed a few months after publication -- but they listened.

Fast forward several years and during a conversation I asked Erik Mona if there was something that Paizo could do to make it easier for electronic maps to be accessed for GMs as part of VTT play. Paizo listened again. One of the significant problems users of VTTs faced was having the grid line up properly in the VTT display. The realities of having to size and rescale art as part of the publishing process meant that a grid that was embedded in the image made this very difficult.

Paizo listened again. In the products in which they could rigidly control their image sizes, all grid alignment problems went away, so that the Flip-Mat and Map Pack lines were easy to import into VTTs.

While that approach was impractical in dealing with the realities of deadlines and variable image sizes in a print publication where maps had to be resized to fit the page in an arbitrary way, they still tried their best. At considerable expense, they began to publish the Interactive Map pack as part of their .PDF downloads for each issue of Pathfinder Adventure Path. The images are produced so that we can turn on and off the secret doors and grids.

Using screen captures, we can take those images we need, capture, crop, copy and paste the images into a VTT for easy use during play. I do this for all my online games and the process is very easy now. I can prep an AP volume of maps for use in a VTT in a few minutes now.

If there is something the OP is finding difficult about the technical part of this, it may be he is doing it wrong -- and it may be that he wants to use maps and art for some other purpose where problems are occurring which might be remedied.

My point: you'll catch a lot more of your quarry with honey rather than vinegar. Paizo has been extremely accommodating on this issue over the years. They aren't playing catchup -- they've been at the front of the pack in this issue. So explain your technical issues, difficulties, preferences and druthers concerning images patiently and precisely. It might be that there are tips we can provide you on how to do it better -- and it may be that Paizo can take some steps so that they they can do it better, too. And it might be that there are reasons your preferences cannot be accommodated as easily as the OP would prefer.

Point is, you need to be more precise concerning the technical difficulties you are facing than the rant in the initial post.

Seriously: what's the problem? How can we help and how could it be made better for you by Paizo if we can't?

Grand Lodge

I dont find it hard to strip out most of the stuff (secret doors being the exception) out with a right click copy image and then paste into Paint (yep, not photoshop etc). People with photoshop experience can get everything out with a min of work.

Now, I get what the poster wants - more convenient graphics that doesn't need him faffing around and yes, it would be nice if paizo were to do it for us all but in the interim, with some work (normally 10 mins tops, otherwise 2-3 mins if there are just 1-2 secret doors) with some minor graphics editing I can have a map thats great for my VTT.


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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

Steel wind, thank you for bringing much needed reality to this discussion. Being an avid VTT user, I would also likeVTT-ready packs, and I believe Paizo is well aware of that and their history shows they listen. Based on the Gamespace discussions it seems inevitable given time.

Side note, as soon as I see bystanders/fans start talking about how easy it would be to do "x" I can only smile and shake my head. Devaluing someone else's work from the sidelines never works. Not to mention it shows a profound sense of ignorance wrapped in an unwillingness to understand.

Good luck.


Elorebaen wrote:

Steel wind, thank you for bringing much needed reality to this discussion. Being an avid VTT user, I would also likeVTT-ready packs, and I believe Paizo is well aware of that and their history shows they listen. Based on the Gamespace discussions it seems inevitable given time.

Side note, as soon as I see bystanders/fans start talking about how easy it would be to do "x" I can only smile and shake my head. Devaluing someone else's work from the sidelines never works. Not to mention it shows a profound sense of ignorance wrapped in an unwillingness to understand.

Good luck.

Profound ignorance? Or perhaps just the opposite, that many people have experience in web development, digital product distribution, and graphic design. And perhaps those people are able to use their experience to look at what is already provided and determine just how little work would be needed to provide what the OP asks for.

It isn't a matter of devaluing someone else's work. It is a matter of asking for that work to be provided in a manner most convenient for consumption.


BigDTBone wrote:
Elorebaen wrote:

Steel wind, thank you for bringing much needed reality to this discussion. Being an avid VTT user, I would also likeVTT-ready packs, and I believe Paizo is well aware of that and their history shows they listen. Based on the Gamespace discussions it seems inevitable given time.

Side note, as soon as I see bystanders/fans start talking about how easy it would be to do "x" I can only smile and shake my head. Devaluing someone else's work from the sidelines never works. Not to mention it shows a profound sense of ignorance wrapped in an unwillingness to understand.

Good luck.

Profound ignorance? Or perhaps just the opposite, that many people have experience in web development, digital product distribution, and graphic design. And perhaps those people are able to use their experience to look at what is already provided and determine just how little work would be needed to provide what the OP asks for.

It isn't a matter of devaluing someone else's work. It is a matter of asking for that work to be provided in a manner most convenient for consumption.

Or maybe just enough knowledge to be "dangerous". What follow is my opinion and so very likely may be wrong. I don't think a person con judge how easy or hard it will be to do something extra if they don't have to deal with everything else that is already going on. So while a task might seem easy, from an out side perspective, there might be complications that they simply aren't aware of. Again, given some of their history with this sort of thing, I also hope we'll see additional VTT components as part of the products. However, until I see a staff go "Yeah that's no problem we just need to integrate that extra step into our process.", I'm going to assume it isn't as simple as dropping a few assets in a file and clicking publish.


XperimentalDM wrote:
BigDTBone wrote:
Elorebaen wrote:

Steel wind, thank you for bringing much needed reality to this discussion. Being an avid VTT user, I would also likeVTT-ready packs, and I believe Paizo is well aware of that and their history shows they listen. Based on the Gamespace discussions it seems inevitable given time.

Side note, as soon as I see bystanders/fans start talking about how easy it would be to do "x" I can only smile and shake my head. Devaluing someone else's work from the sidelines never works. Not to mention it shows a profound sense of ignorance wrapped in an unwillingness to understand.

Good luck.

Profound ignorance? Or perhaps just the opposite, that many people have experience in web development, digital product distribution, and graphic design. And perhaps those people are able to use their experience to look at what is already provided and determine just how little work would be needed to provide what the OP asks for.

It isn't a matter of devaluing someone else's work. It is a matter of asking for that work to be provided in a manner most convenient for consumption.

Or maybe just enough knowledge to be "dangerous". What follow is my opinion and so very likely may be wrong. I don't think a person con judge how easy or hard it will be to do something extra if they don't have to deal with everything else that is already going on. So while a task might seem easy, from an out side perspective, there might be complications that they simply aren't aware of. Again, given some of their history with this sort of thing, I also hope we'll see additional VTT components as part of the products. However, until I see a staff go "Yeah that's no problem we just need to integrate that extra step into our process.", I'm going to assume it isn't as simple as dropping a few assets in a file and clicking publish.

Perhaps our definitions of what is "easy" are different.

Why I mean by "easy" is:
(1) the work is purely mechanical. Ie, there is no creative aspect or solution solving involved. The procedure could be itemized and repeated by any person who is able to follow instructions well.

(2) the time involved is less than 0.1% of the project development as a whole. I don't know the exact amount of time (human-hours) it takes to complete the average AP issue but between writers, artists, cartographers, graphic designers, layout, page setting, editing, digital prep, and the other 30 highly important tasks I'd rather not take time to enumerate, I would be shocked to learn that all of this is accomplished in less than 1,000 hours. So 1 hour of time falls inside the 0.1% of project time.

So yes, I agree that the task requires a bit more work than clicking "grant customer wishes" button on the keyboard, but in the sense of what is a reasonable request, this certainly qualifies. Even without intimate knowledge of the exact production process employed by Paizo.

Sczarni

BigDTBone has the gist of my point. Of course there is some labor involved, but it is relatively small compared to the benefit achieved. Asking for more creative design work, art, pages, etc... these have significant direct cost increases. Taking a piece of art and re-formatting the manner in which it is available takes considerably less.

Really, it likely takes me more effort to adapt a map for a VTT than it does for them to create a VTT friendly version, watermark it, and make it available for all who are willing to pay to download. That is my point.

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder Adventure, Maps, Starfinder Accessories, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Paizo is a company that does quality assurance before they release things. Mistakes still get through, but their products have fewer mistakes than most other role playing companies I interact with. Even if all they have to do is save as jpeg and package it, I bet they will then have people test the package to see if it has any problems that slipped through, such as the grid or items aren't perfectly square for a VTT format or their copyright ownership declaration is missing. Add that on their already heavy load they currently have and it may not be feasible at this time for them. The truth is we don't know how many man hours they would spend testing because we don't know their full process. We got a glimps of it in their blog when they made a mistake on the Advanced Class guide within the last few weeks.

Oh and technically, since we do not own the copyright to the images in the PDFs we download, to even put them in a virtual tabletop, we'd need permission to convert/use them in that format from the copyright owner because we would be distributing the images to our players. Now Paizo might be ok with us extracting the images ourselves and using them in our own personal use but without their permission we could get in trouble. They may have given it somewhere but I haven't seen it on these boards or this website. I've only seen some form of consent when I asked them about how their copyright works when I had a Pathfinder Society player demand I give him my PDFs from Paizo... I knew it wasn't but he wouldn't take no for an answer until I had a response from. Paizo... Once for him demanding I give him my scenarios and once for him demanding i give him my PDFs from their campaign/companion/core books.

Note: I did not say exactly what that permission was because I have no way of knowing what they said to me applies to every one else.

Edit: Fixing punctuation.


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Pathfinder LO Special Edition, Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

Let me get this straight. Some J. Random Player did not ask, he demanded that you give him things you bought with your money? A saying occurs to me. Something about "and the horse you rode in on." :-(

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Maps, Starfinder Accessories, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Yes, no matter how many times I said no, he would not drop it until I had two emails from paizo. The first one to say I couldn't give him my scenario PDFs to him.

Then he demanded my other Pathfinder PDFs, he wanted me to at least print out the pages he needed for additional resources for his PFS characters. To get him off my back I sent Paizo another email to which they confirmed what I already knew.

Then he insisted I get Paizo to post that on their site because it wasn't clear. I didn't even bother asking Paizo to do that.

The guy kept calling it fair use, and I knew the entire time it was piracy.

However, at least I did learn some allowances that Paizo does give out but I haven't seen those posted on the boards so I won't say exactly what they are.

Grand Lodge

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Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Terek wrote:

Yes, no matter how many times I said no, he would not drop it until I had two emails from paizo. The first one to say I couldn't give him my scenario PDFs to him.

Then he demanded my other Pathfinder PDFs, he wanted me to at least print out the pages he needed for additional resources for his PFS characters. To get him off my back I sent Paizo another email to which they confirmed what I already knew.

Then he insisted I get Paizo to post that on their site because it wasn't clear. I didn't even bother asking Paizo to do that.

The guy kept calling it fair use, and I knew the entire time it was piracy.

However, at least I did learn some allowances that Paizo does give out but I haven't seen those posted on the boards so I won't say exactly what they are.

You're more tolerant than I am. My response would be when he started getting obnoxious and/or belligerent would have been. "Sod off".

The second response would have been to tell him to spend a couple of bucks and buy his own copy of the scenario.

Grand Lodge

+1 LazarX


LazarX wrote:
BigDTBone wrote:
Crellan wrote:
Marc Radle wrote:

I agree such things are beneficial and it's great when publishers provide them.

However, make no mistake - the additional cost and effort required on the publisher's part is far from negligible!

We are talking about simply taking art they already posses electronically and make a second version available for download. If the charged a reasonable amount (maybe 10-20% of the .pdf price) then they would certainly make a profit.
The OP has decided that, for him, this is a condition of Paizo making profit on the primary product.
The sheer economic reality is that Paizo can't afford to lose control of it's artwork just to please one customer.

There's actually not a lot of factual evidence to back up that claim.

There is a lot of evidence though that expanding your customer base to fulfill as many of their needs as you can is good for business.

VTT use is expanding. The companies who cater to the needs of VTT users are going to see better sales to those people. The companies that don't meet their needs are going to see reduced sales. Ease of use is just one need (adventure quality, art quality, product predictability are all valuable aspects to the customer also), but it's still a need.

The OP didn't say he's going to stop playing Pathfinder. He's saying he's going to go with adventure publishers who fulfill his primary need of ease of use.

Adventure prep can be time consuming. Spending 1-2 hours per session just getting the graphics right can be a big chunk of time, particularly for a GM with a job, spouse and kids. For most GM's, that time would be better spent reading the adventure, learning it well and making modifications necessary for their group... to the adventure. Not the image file for the map.

Other companies are already making money off providing easy to use products for VTT gamers. Paizo is free to ignore this aspect of the market. I'm sure that right now it's actually a pretty small slice of the overall pie.


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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

You know you can use utilities to extract the artwork from the pdfs, right? It works really well on the map artwork, less well on the character artwork because of transparency issues (fully transparent parts seem to always translate to black pixels, which is awkward).

1) Buy pdf of module
2) Download a free (or not free, take your pick) program from the internet to extract every piece of artwork from that pdf
3) Use that artwork in Maptools or TTS or whatever your favored VTT is.

Additional benefit: Extracted artwork is not the same as screenshot-ed artwork. A screenshot will contain overlays (room numbers, trap locations, etc). Extracted artwork doesn't. Secret doors and rooms will still be an issue, but much more manageable at that point. You can use the fog of war option in Maptools to hide parts of the map that you don't want the players to see yet. Not sure on Roll20 or TTS.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

When using Adobe Acrobat (not just AA Reader), extracting all of the artwork in a given PDF to .png format is, essentially, a 2-click process. (Sorting it out is another matter, and takes a few minutes.) Between that and Photoshop, prepping adventures for the virtual tabletop I use (D20Pro) is usually quick and painless.

Liberty's Edge

Alright, I'm still not getting the complaint.

Maybe the OP can explain his workflow of what he does now to extract his maps to "prep" his maps for use in a VTT. Because I don't have these problems and I work pretty fast.

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