Maps

[HumbleGamer]

My DM is using the maps given in AoA adventures.

He said that it is cool to have an option to remove numbers from the map, in order to have a Clean map, but that you can't remove neither trap spots nor secret doors.

Currently he is editing the map manually, but since it seems to take a lot of time ( not to say that given a color map on a A3, it could be easy to spot external modifies.

Then he cuts the dungeons in parts, and add them to the map the more we proceed and explore.

So here's my question.

Is he doing anything wrong or there is no way to remove stuff like secret doors and traps from the map before printing it?

If not, then would be very nice to see an option to hide them in the new books ( and eventually, time permitting, in the old ones too ).

[Fumarole]

Check out the Age of Ashes Community Created Content thread, there are maps posted in there that address this.

It is filled with spoilers, so you may want to just point your GM towards it instead of reading it yourself.

[HumbleGamer]

Thank you very much!

[Nicolas Paradise]

If your GM owns the PDFs they can open them in Sumatra and right click the maps and click copy image and than paste it into an image editing software like GIMP and it will only have the map and grid with no numbers or extra markers.

This is how I do my maps fr roll 20. For my tabletop games I usually just use a dry erase flip-mat unless the map or room in question fits on a standard 8.5x11 piece of paper than I may print it.

[thenobledrake]

Nicolas Paradise wrote:

If your GM owns the PDFs they can open them in Sumatra and right click the maps and click copy image and than paste it into an image editing software like GIMP and it will only have the map and grid with no numbers or extra markers.

While this is true in general, some maps have some markers baked-in to the map image for some reason.

Specifically the first map in Age of Ashes that has secret doors, their marked on the map image rather than laid in as separate objects like the room numbers.

I am not sure why this happens, but I've run into it with multiple publishers and multiple artists so it's probably a procedure thing (one I would assume can't be avoided because of how obvious it is that it'd be better if it were different).

[ofMars]

thenobledrake wrote:

Nicolas Paradise wrote:

If your GM owns the PDFs they can open them in Sumatra and right click the maps and click copy image and than paste it into an image editing software like GIMP and it will only have the map and grid with no numbers or extra markers.

While this is true in general, some maps have some markers baked-in to the map image for some reason.

Specifically the first map in Age of Ashes that has secret doors, their marked on the map image rather than laid in as separate objects like the room numbers.

I am not sure why this happens, but I've run into it with multiple publishers and multiple artists so it's probably a procedure thing (one I would assume can't be avoided because of how obvious it is that it'd be better if it were different).

None of them are baked in that I've seen so far, at least for Paizo pdfs. it could be what he's using to extract the image just taking a picture of the pdf rather than isolating the image file. Fumarole's maps, though are pretty great and easier to align in roll20

[Nicolas Paradise]

ofMars wrote:

thenobledrake wrote:

Nicolas Paradise wrote:

If your GM owns the PDFs they can open them in Sumatra and right click the maps and click copy image and than paste it into an image editing software like GIMP and it will only have the map and grid with no numbers or extra markers.

While this is true in general, some maps have some markers baked-in to the map image for some reason.

Specifically the first map in Age of Ashes that has secret doors, their marked on the map image rather than laid in as separate objects like the room numbers.

I am not sure why this happens, but I've run into it with multiple publishers and multiple artists so it's probably a procedure thing (one I would assume can't be avoided because of how obvious it is that it'd be better if it were different).

None of them are baked in that I've seen so far, at least for Paizo pdfs. it could be what he's using to extract the image just taking a picture of the pdf rather than isolating the image file. Fumarole's maps, though are pretty great and easier to align in roll20

I agree with ofMars I haven't coma across any that have them baked into the the actual image I can test the AoA maps tomorrow morning as I am at work currently and have my in person game tonight. But my guess would be that the GM is maybe using the interactive map files or is just taking a screenshot as opposed to extracting the image. IF for some reason the markers or secrets are baked into the base image you can use the interactive maps and turn those options off and than take a screenshot and than crop out the map but this will result in a lower resolution image.

[Fumarole]

I just extracted the maps in Hellknight Hill using Acrobat Reader. The secret doors are indeed on the same layer as the map itself and not separate like the room numbers. Curiously the trap locations are on the same layer as the room numbers.

[Nicolas Paradise]

That is odd but secret doors are easier to hide than trap markers just cover the whole area with black.

[thenobledrake]

Or use a tool like Photoshop's healing brush to make that part of the wall look like any other part of a wall. That way even keen-eyed players aren't likely to see that an alteration has been made which can be just as much information as seeing the "s" would be for them.