How to print battle maps


Rise of the Runelords


Hi im hoping to start rise of the runelords this Saturday and am wondering how do i print out the amazing battlemaps the community has kindly created. I have access to a A3 printer but how do i know how to make the maps the right size for miniatures?

Any help appreciated

Thanks


Just print one - then see how it came out. If it needs to be bigger , make it a bit bigger.

Once you've done a couple you'll figure out the right setting.


I have seen my best results from using photoshop to size the photo and then saving to PDF for the printing as it can ensure the size of the picture stays the same.

I used to print the maps out, but simply have found digital VTT's are much more cost effective.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Yossarian wrote:

Just print one - then see how it came out. If it needs to be bigger , make it a bit bigger.

Once you've done a couple you'll figure out the right setting.

This is how I did it. The nice thing is you don't need to print out an entire map on large paper to get the size right, just print a portion of it on regular size paper and measure the squares. If they're off a bit then reprint at a different scale, rinse and repeat. Once you find the scale is perfect (or close enough) print out the entire map on the paper size you want.


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So, what I've been doing is a little different. Especially because a lot of the maps floating around - as awesome as they are - don't have a battle grid on them.

So, what I do is set up an Excel file with 1" columns and 1" rows, and turn all gridlines on.

Then I import the image of the battle map. This is easy if you have an older version of Excel, because you can directly manipulate the image. If you have a more recent version of Excel, you need to draw a shape, then use the image of the battle map as the fill of the shape.

Then it's just a matter of stretching it out and (in my case) setting the transparency to about 30% so the gridlines show through.

The nice thing about doing this in Excel is that when I print it (I don't have access to a large-format printer), it automatically cuts the image into tiles, and the gridlines make it relatively easy to line the pieces up.


I have the Runelords interactive maps and I cant get it to scale up or down to print out sections. I was unable to figure out any of the above suggestions.
I am not as computer savvy as I should be for this maybe.
Thanks for any additional step by step help.

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