Somewhere on this forum there was a recent thread regarding play surfaces. I was impressed with what some people had come up with and it got me wishing I had the space for a dedicated game room.
However you game with what you have, not what you want so I have been giving thought to how I can speed up my game. Currently we use a Chessex battlemat with wet erase markers. I have a very tactically minded group, and this works very well for us. However, with the great web enhancements that Paizo provides I would love to print out the occasional battlemat so my players can enjoy the great cartography as well.
Does anyone have advice for converting the high res maps to full 1 inch scale? I have experience with Photoshop and I'm currently running GIMP (essentially open source photoshop). What programs do people use to export these images from the PDFs? What do people use to assemble the maps? What about making sure of the scale? I have tried some work with Photoshop directly, but I've never been able to get the scale exactly right. Is Dunjinni useful for this?
Thanks for all the help. It would be so great to just thrown down a map for an encounter and have it be accurate and pretty.
I've only had a little experience using this software, but so far, I'm really impressed. What about an electronic battlemat? Instead of buying/printing physical mini's, you can create as many digital ones as you need. I recently bought a license for Battlegroundsgames virtual tabletop. The inspiration for the software is for remote gaming, but works perfectly well in face to face games.
You can take the maps off the PDFs, especially since Dungeon is kind enough to supply 2 versions of most maps - one with the number keys and one without. The maps can then be cropped & copied into the Battlegrounds folders, and you can create/save encounters using these image files. The maps will need to be resized, but that's not too difficult once you get the hang of it.
The beauty of this software is that the players only see what their light source shows - the lit area moves with whoever is carrying the torch or Light spell or whatever. The 'fog of war' feature is pretty cool. Plus it's got other neat stuff like sound effects and labels to indicate token status (prone, dazed, charmed, etc).
My goal is to get a projector and throw the image up on a wall, with players armed with laser pointers.
I really like the idea of projecting maps, but my players are pretty old school. They like having the actual minis on the table. Besides, I'm not really ready to shell out the money it would take to get everything that I would need.
Still, sounds like a cool program. I'll definitely check it out.
Ik zou enkel uw looppas van de molen, projector van de weduwen de gebruiksklare klaar muur kopen. U kunt hen voor ongeveer 200 oprapen. Dan kunt u gebruiken en software, gebeuren wij om Power Point te gebruiken, hebt u nodig aan.
However, with the great web enhancements that Paizo provides I would love to print out the occasional battlemat so my players can enjoy the great cartography as well.
Does anyone have advice for converting the high res maps to full 1 inch scale? I have experience with Photoshop and I'm currently running GIMP (essentially open source photoshop).
In Photoshop, you can use the measure tool to determine how wide a square on the unadjusted map is. Then multiply the width of the map by 1" and divide by the width of a square on the map. This will give you the size the map will have to be to make each square one inch wide (In Photoshop, you change this with the Image Size... function.
For example, the Upper Level of the Frost Giant Stronghold has a width of 27.778 inches and a square width of .681 inches. 27.778/.681 = 40.79, so increasing the size of that map to 40.79" makes each square 1 inch wide.
Other programs would use different tools, but the same general principle applies.
If you want to enlarge a printout of the maps on a photocopier, use the same technique as above (based on the printed map), but add the step of dividing the size you need by the size of your source map to determine what enlargement to use. The above example would yield an enlargement scale of 1.47, or 147%.
What programs do people use to export these images from the PDFs? What do people use to assemble the maps? What about making sure of the scale?
If you have the full version of Acrobat (as opposed to the free Reader), you have the option of saving the file in numerous image formats (JPG, TIFF, EPS, etc.)
As for my method of printing the maps, I use Adobe InDesign and just import the map I need directly from the PDF. It's a bit easier than the Photoshop scaling I gave above, as you can simply create 1" square guides and then scale the map to match those guides. It also allows you to easily tile the map for printing. I usually print them out on a 24" HP printer at work, cut them into tiles, then glue the tiles to cardstock or poster board.
Oh, and be careful to watch the scale. Nothing worse than realizing after burning a load of ink that what you thought was a five foot scale is actually a ten foot scale.
On the topic of miniatures, it's clear to me that D&D has too many monsters for most players to own one or more of each one they intend to use in their game, but the first page of the Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5 says that the game assumes you will be using minis and a battlemat. I'm fine with Wizards selling miniatures, but I doubt that the average DM would shell out a lot of money for a creature he's only going to use once. I imagine that the majority of games either ignore miniatures or feature a lot of "pretend this orc is the mind flayer"!
I heard of one person who used legos, and someone else who used inch square bathroom tiles which would have the monster name written on it in board marker. What do most people use?
On the topic of miniatures, it's clear to me that D&D has too many monsters for most players to own one or more of each one they intend to use in their game, but the first page of the Dungeon Master's Guide v3.5 says that the game assumes you will be using minis and a battlemat. I'm fine with Wizards selling miniatures, but I doubt that the average DM would shell out a lot of money for a creature he's only going to use once. I imagine that the majority of games either ignore miniatures or feature a lot of "pretend this orc is the mind flayer"!
I heard of one person who used legos, and someone else who used inch square bathroom tiles which would have the monster name written on it in board marker. What do most people use?
I have been using Counter Collection Digital from Fiery Dragon Productions. Almost all the MM monsters are jpegs on 1 CD. I just print out the ones I need for my game, at whatever size I need them. I cut them out, laminate them and they're good to go. You don't have to laminate them but I find that it makes them last a lot longer.
Recently I have gotten into the D&D Minis line. Yes, there are a lot of different monsters to get, but I'm sure you know which ones come up more often in your game. Start with those first and build from there. To begin with you will need to substitute minis a lot, but the more you get over time, the more often you will have the mini that you need.
Olaf the Stout
I agree with Olaf. I first got into D&D Minis for the skirmish game, and through that made the transition from 2E to 3.5E. Recently, as I've started to fade out of the skirmish game, I've started trading the Rares I don't need for the minis I do, mostly the Uncommons and Commons.
The challenge becomes finding creative ways to represent the 2526 published monsters with a selection 785 miniatures (341 of which are humanoids). While using a Mad Slasher to represent the Rhagodesa from Savage Tide is pretty obvious, things like a Small Monstrous Crab, a Masher or a Kopru require a little bit of creativity (in my case, Kruthik Hatchlings, Purple Worms and Half-Illithid Lizardfolk, respectively).
When going through the various galleries of the D&D Minis line, don't focus on what it is, but what it could be. For the price of one Fire Giant mini from Giants of Legend, you could have 3 Sand Giants from War Drums. The Stone Golem will run you about $30; Blood War's Maug, about $2.
I have a ton of minis, some I painted and some are DnD minis. When I have an encounter coming up where I do not have a mini, I use tokens. I find a picture using Google image search, copy/paste it to a word doc, size it, print it and cut it out. I use 1" and 1 3/4" steel washers to add body and weight to my minis and tokens - so I glue the picture to the washer of appropriate size and use those.
I also own a Chessex battlemat but have started using Steel Sqwire lamenated mats when I do not use 3D terrain from Dwarven Forge or any of the many cardstock model terrain thingys out there.
Using a projector and minis still works. Check out may game table:
GameArea link
My projector reflects off a mirror onto the table top.
Back to the original post topic, check out Dunjinni.com. Map-making software with galleries of fan-created material available to download and print out (or you could buy the program and recreate the Dungeon maps yourself). Unfortunately, the mods won't let anything proprietary stay up unless there is express permission, so you can get the Goodman Games adventure's maps, but not Red Hand of Doom or Age of Worms maps. Still worth a look, and a good DM can never have enough maps.
The beauty of this software is that the players only see what their light source shows - the lit area moves with whoever is carrying the torch or Light spell or whatever. The 'fog of war' feature is pretty cool.
This sounds like a pretty useful tool just by itself.
I'm trying to take my group away from the dependence we'd gotten on miniatures and battlemats and back into using our imaginations for everything that isn't tactical combat, but having an electronic map that I can refer to and track would be fantastic. Knowing exactly what is in the radius of the torch light and what is just in the dim shadowy half-light would really help out in the "evocative room description" arena.
i did a thing a while back where i took whatever map i was going to use and converted it to a adobe acrobat file and then just tilted the lap top screen back and zoomed in to where the minis fit in a square. this worked really well because it acctually forced the players to map sections of dungeon, it also kept the distance of vision in the dark realistic, because the could only see sixty to seventy feet.
also in certain situations peices from the game "hero scape" work really well
Thanks for all the feed back!
MasterofDungeons - that's a great list of programs. Pointed me to some that I had never heard of. I'll definitely be using keynote in the future.
I wish I had the space to set up a dedicated game area with the projector and all. Perhaps one day I will. In the meantime I will definitely look into some of these programs and techniques. Anything that speeds up the game is worthwhile in my opinion.
Does anyone have a suggestion on a program (preferably open source) that will allow editing of .pdfs? I would like to use some of the maps in the Dungeon web supplements to create dungeon tiles, but using the snapshot tool seems to lower the resolution.
Thanks for all the feed back!
MasterofDungeons - that's a great list of programs. Pointed me to some that I had never heard of. I'll definitely be using keynote in the future.
I wish I had the space to set up a dedicated game area with the projector and all. Perhaps one day I will. In the meantime I will definitely look into some of these programs and techniques. Anything that speeds up the game is worthwhile in my opinion.
Does anyone have a suggestion on a program (preferably open source) that will allow editing of .pdfs? I would like to use some of the maps in the Dungeon web supplements to create dungeon tiles, but using the snapshot tool seems to lower the resolution.
Others may have a better solution as the only system I've been able to come up with is multi-stage.
1) Open Dungeon supplement PDF.
2) Find Image desired
3) Use the Snapshot Tool to create a box around desired image. Once you stop holding the left mouse button the image will be snapped and saved to the clip board.
4) Drop desired image into a word processor that allows you to save files as HTML
5) If you do not have a word processor go directly to Open Office - do not pass go do not collect $200. Its open source and free.
6) Open your image manipulation program. If you do not have an image manipulation program go directly to Gimp - do not pass go do not collect $200. Its open source and free.
7) Use Image Manipulation Program to completely ruin some professional cartographers hours of hard labour in your attempts to improve on perfection.
8) Print your master piece - wait for players to ask if its a Picasso.
9) Kill player's characters for perceived slights to your artistic endeavour.
Wow--all I can say is that I'm blown away by the variety of methods used and by the technical savvy of many of you guys!
We just use Steelsqwire flipmats and D&D minis.
Director of Sales
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1) Open Dungeon supplement PDF.
2) Find Image desired
3) Use the Snapshot Tool to create a box around desired image. Once you stop holding the left mouse button the image will be snapped and saved to the clip board.
4) Drop desired image into a word processor that allows you to save files as HTML
5) If you do not have a word processor go directly to Open Office - do not pass go do not collect $200. Its open source and free.
6) Open your image manipulation program. If you do not have an image manipulation program go directly to Gimp - do not pass go do not collect $200. Its open source and free.
7) Use Image Manipulation Program to completely ruin some professional cartographers hours of hard labour in your attempts to improve on perfection.
8) Print your master piece - wait for players to ask if its a Picasso.
9) Kill player's characters for perceived slights to your artistic endeavour.
(Emphasis mine)
*wiping tears from my eyes*
Mr. Mac Donald has won this thread.
Others may have a better solution as the only system I've been able to come up with is multi-stage.1) Open Dungeon supplement PDF.
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9) Kill player's characters for perceived slights to your artistic endeavour.
This is actually almost exactly the process I've been playing with (down to the open source programs). However, my biggest gripe is we get these wonderful High Res .pdf from the good folks at Paizo, but it seems whenever I use the snapshot tool it drops whatever I'm clicking on to 72 dpi. Mostly I'm just a stickler for quality - I love how lush and detailed the maps are and I want all that pretty to come through on the final product.
I am probably being a bit too much of a stickler though....