using DL i need players to be able to still see map layer just not token layer

Hi all, I know this is most likely already answered but im in hurrey since play session is today.. I have tried google and will continue to try and search for the answer but since i need a quick answer i chose also to post here.. Im building a small town where i know my players will venture in when its nights. So i wanted to use dynamic lightning on the houses and other large obstacles so the players can see past conors and such.. this is working fine but i have really spend allot of time on makeing this pretty and they can't see the houses themselves because the DL lines are blocking it. Since what im looking is only to keep LS on token layer so they can't see encounters up front i would really like them to see the map layer so they also can enjoy my hardwork on creating this town.. Is that possible?

I've never experimented with it much, but some people uses "X"s, so, rather than outlining your buildings with the DL lines, put an X through them. The reason they can't see the houses is probably because of where you have the DL lines drawn. That's all just a guess, hard to give better advice without seeing the image your talking about and where the DL Lines are drawn, though. EDIT: Oh - and make sure you have light sources scattered around. If you have DL enabled, but no light sources, then they won't be able to see anything either.

If you know which direction your players will be coming from you can always only apply DL to 3 of the 4 walls, leaving their approach angle open so they can see the house (you would also need to lay a roof over the top of any 'open/explorable' buildings which you could then delete as they 'enter' the buildings. If you are wanting to do a more manual (pain in the butt) approach you could do each houses wall in a different colour so that you can quickly remove one as they approach from whatever angle... Otherwise i'd suggest the X as G V said.

G.V. You are right in your asumption,, And Ziechael you confirm that there is no way this is implemented so i need to do a work around like you describe.. Thanks for not letting me wast more time finding a solution :)

Another tip which i think works perfectly actually .. still not as good as a complet solution is to draw the DL line well within the building. That way they can see maybe 1 cm from the edge and into the building before LS is cus. it doesn't give a complet overview but you do get a sense that its houses your are walking among like this.. before i had set the line on the edge of the building which removed the view of what it was.. it was just a big black spot which had the siluet of a house

i found that it's better not to use dynamic lighting and just hide your encounters on the GM Layer. The dynamic lighting system with line of sight just blocks too much of the map, makes everything look ugly, slows the game down, too many accidental reveals... its just a hassle. Some people like it but as a GM I don't. I rather use the Reveal tool, it allows for more ontrol and less tweaking.

some like blonds other brunettes :)

Poor red heads don't even get a look in?

Something else you can experiment with is placing tokens that give off light and are controlled by all players inside each of the buildings. I think you can put them on the map layer and the players won't be able to move them but will still be able to see the insides of all your buildings.

hmm interesting Aaron... i will try that out later today

Seconding The Aaron's suggestion above... I ran into a similar problem a while back, and posted this: Dynamic Lighting, Solid Objects, and You In my case, the players were inside a ship. There were piles of boxes and stuff I wanted them to see, but not see past. My solution was to outline them, and illuminate them from within, as The Aaron said. The problem with this is that players nowhere near the items could still see the items... for example, a pile of crates, shining brightly, all alone in the darkness on the far side of the ship. I was able to reduce the negative affect of this by only illuminating the items as at least one player came close. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it worked. For an outdoor situation, where you wish to block line-of-sight but still have the building visible, this should work fairly well. I agree that a fully-illuminated map layer would be a much better solution. Hopefully they'll figure a way to make that work someday. Your mileage may vary. -Phnord

Phnord Prephect said: Seconding The Aaron's suggestion above... The problem with this is that players nowhere near the items could still see the items... for example, a pile of crates, shining brightly, all alone in the darkness on the far side of the ship. I was able to reduce the negative affect of this by only illuminating the items as at least one player came close. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it worked. You could also combine this technique with fog of war to hide some areas (those far off objects in the dark) until the token would normally be able to see them.

Just for fun, I made these sample images based on Russ Hapke's Small Town . The Yellow squares are a clear token with an aura the players can't see on it, emitting light to a great radius. The first picture is a GM view, the second is Player view. You can see the visible at a distance issue Phnord was talking about with that building at the right.