Player Mapping Tool

I know as a DM I can create battle maps, and this has been the normal mode of play for since 3rd edition launched.  I am looking to go back to some old school and want to allow my players to create the map as they go along... Anyone have any ideas?

Players should be able to draw on the grid, just like the GM. Simply have them draw it out as they go. Hold down SHIFT to lock a line to the grid.

If you want the players to actually create the map, I would suggest using the drawing tools. Holding the alt/opt key down will constrain your lines to the intersections of grid squares. It's not "realistic" looking, but it definitely has an old school feel, and the players have ultimate creative control.

Sounds fun! Drawing tools, Wiki docs, <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Drawing_Tools" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Drawing_Tools</a>

Notes / advice.. 1. Remember that when you enbiggen the Page Size later, the new squares added will be on the Right Margin, and the Bottom Margin.&nbsp; The Page cannot be expanded to the "Northwest".&nbsp; Keep this in mind when you give them a starting position (the "cave mouth" or dungeon entry, for example). 2. I would start with a decently large Page size (like 30x30 or 50x50), if you need to expand the size later (it will only expand East and South) you could go as big as 100x100 or even 160x180 and up. 3. Set page background color to grey or brown or something dark, nicer to draw on than the overly bright white. 4. Set the grid color to light blue, looks nice, looks kinda old school. Set the grid opacity fairly light so the grid isn't very prominent. 5. I would set the Grid Size to .5 this gives you more discrete squares and intersections. Finer detail. Collaborative drawing and mapping is fun. Happy adventuring.

Gold said: 2. I would start with a decently large Page size (like 30x30 or 50x50), if you need to expand the size later (it will only expand East and South) you could go as big as 100x100 or even 160x180 and up. I've never gone higher than 100x100 (At this point you start getting the "large map warnings"). Is 160x180 really viable? I guess in my case 100x100 is a big load because all the rooms/hallways are furnished and filled with NPCs and other graphics objects. If you're just using a blank map and the drawing tools I guess it wouldn't be as intensive a load compared to what I do with my maps...&nbsp; What's the largest you've ever gone without it bogging down the game Gold?

Kastion said: Gold said: 2. I would start with a decently large Page size (like 30x30 or 50x50), if you need to expand the size later (it will only expand East and South) you could go as big as 100x100 or even 160x180 and up. I've never gone higher than 100x100 (At this point you start getting the "large map warnings"). Is 160x180 really viable? I guess in my case 100x100 is a big load because all the rooms/hallways are furnished and filled with NPCs and other graphics objects. If you're just using a blank map and the drawing tools I guess it wouldn't be as intensive a load compared to what I do with my maps...&nbsp; What's the largest you've ever gone without it bogging down the game Gold? The size-warnings start at 50x50 or above, I believe, last time I checked. Things that are too large in Roll20 will start to affect lower-end computers (laptops) first; it's more a matter of overloading your browser and computer's graphics, than overloading Roll20 itself. The largest that I have used in-game with Players was around 180x220, maybe 220x260. It worked, and this was with a moderate amount of graphics and tokens (not exclusively drawing-tools). There are lots of caveats. Works fine with regular Fog of War. Might bog or malfunction with Dynamic Lighting. Definitely usually causes problems if Advanced Fog is on. Definitely usually would crash if this size gets set to Hex map, especially (don't try this at home kids) if you turn the Hex Label Numbering on --- recipe to crash. All of the other features that generally cause slowdowns, could be worse on a page this large. Games' load-size isn't just the current Page content, but also all the Characters and Attributes even ones that don't have a token on that page. The freehand tool uses a bit more overhead than the Polygon (line) tool.&nbsp; Maximum efficiency on a huge page would be no Fog, no dynamic, few Characters, few graphics, only use drawing tool, and mainly use Polygon or Shape tool not freehand, although it would take a LOT of freehand sketching before the drawing tool alone starts to create issues. Warnings aside, a fairly new blank game, with a new empty Page that is 200x200, square grid not hex, no dynamic features, would work on most peoples' browsers easily and probably zooms-and-pans fairly smoothly. It's not much more than a big blank webpage at that point. Empty / blank real-estate on a webpage doesn't add much overhead, in and of itself.

Another approach would be to pick one or more of the tile based mapping packs from the marketplace, and create a script that let players pick and place a tile. You'd need to a script that printed a chat menu showing thumbnails of the tiles so players could see their options, and you'd need to download the marketplace graphics and reupload them, because API scripts cant manipulate marketplace graphics directly. But it could be a fun approach if you wanted to work with tiles.

G G said: Another approach would be to pick one or more of the tile based mapping packs from the marketplace, and create a script that let players pick and place a tile. You'd need to a script that printed a chat menu showing thumbnails of the tiles so players could see their options, and you'd need to download the marketplace graphics and reupload them, because API scripts cant manipulate marketplace graphics directly. But it could be a fun approach if you wanted to work with tiles. I actually set up a card deck for random draws...it was a lot of fun and the players had a blast. Monsters were also random draws from a deck of cards.

Good solution. Allowing players to build a random dungeon and pull random monsters with a card deck is worthy of a Stupid Trick .