Token movement request

I was watching a campaign run through on YouTube which used Fantasy grounds and I noticed they had a kind of movement request system. Basically the player character would use a tool similar to the tape measure tool and draw a line to where they wanted to move to. The DM would then click a button to “accept” the requested move and the token moved to the indicated tile. Does roll20 have anything similar? I know about token lock API, but I’m constantly searching for other solutions to stop players from playing the maps like some sort of computer game dungeon crawl. Any other solutions or tips would be appreciated. Val

I've never heard of such a thing, but I see no reason it couldn't be done with the API.

keithcurtis said: I've never heard of such a thing, but I see no reason it couldn't be done with the API. This is interesting.  How would you create graphic objects that are only visible to a specific player and the GM?

I didn't see anything in the suggestion about visibility. And also, I'm not a scripter. I just know that the capabilities to do this sort of thing are evident in other scripts. Token Mod can move things, Spell FX can position things according to a drawn line, as well as delete said line afterward.

Valiant, if you are interested in controlling player movement, I'm pretty sure that there is a script out there which locks all player-controlled tokens which are not currently highlighted in the turn tracker. That way, only the character whose turn it was could actually move.

I'll certainly take a look at the current scripts available. I just stumbled across this while prepping for a sessions and it looked interesting how the players had to "Request" movement and the DM could get to them in his own time.

Here is TokenLock , which I believe is the script that locks movement as I described. I don't think anyone has written exactly what you are describing though.

Thanks, I'll give that a try :)

TokenLock certainly  sounds like a good start if someone tries to create the "movement request" thing.

If you are planning to let players lay out their movement path when it isn't their turn yet and then submit it to the GM for approval on their turn, that's where you would need the ability for players to create something graphical (line, token) that only that player and the GM can see.  Otherwise, it would be super annoying :)  [PS: and also future knowledge for the other players, which isn't ok.] I do not believe there is anything in the API that allows this sort of thing, because the system doesn't have that visibility mode.  I am hoping I am wrong, which is why I posed the question.

Well, you could do it in a hacky sort of way by creating a chain of transparent tokens with an aura set to be visible only to the controlling player and the GM which would then sketch out the path, but I'm wondering if you are aware of the ability to use movement waypoints while you move a token? It doesn't incorporate the movement approval, but does allow the GM to check the movement path and the total length of movement and easily move the token back to it's starting point. To use this feature, simply press 'q' while you have a token picked up for dragging, then hit q at each point you want to drop a way point. The player or the gm can then select the token and hit 'x' to see the last movement including all way points.

In the video I described, the DM uses this system outside of combat when everyone is exploring to stop people moving their tokens all over the place. I guess it acts like a sort of imitative based exploration and gives the DM time to explain and narrate without him having to tell everyone to stop and back up. Obviously that can be done with tokenlock as you just toggle it on and off but there’s plenty for a DM to do and players constantly asking to unlock their tokens gets annoying.  it would require a tape measure style directional arrow/waypoints that’s only seen by the single player and DM, and a way for the DM to click thon token and accept the movement.

Scott C. said: . To use this feature, simply press 'q' while you have a token picked up for dragging, then hit q at each point you want to drop a way point. The player or the gm can then select the token and hit 'x' to see the last movement including all way points. You can also click the right mouse button as your dragging the token

Ah, that's a little more complex than what I gleaned from your initial post. That might be beyond the API. Vallant said: In the video I described, the DM uses this system outside of combat when everyone is exploring to stop people moving their tokens all over the place. I guess it acts like a sort of imitative based exploration and gives the DM time to explain and narrate without him having to tell everyone to stop and back up. Obviously that can be done with tokenlock as you just toggle it on and off but there’s plenty for a DM to do and players constantly asking to unlock their tokens gets annoying.  it would require a tape measure style directional arrow/waypoints that’s only seen by the single player and DM, and a way for the DM to click thon token and accept the movement.

If you just want orderly exploration, you could have people roll an initiative (reorder it for marching order if need be) and tell people to only move on their turn.  That doesn't force lock them, but I the people I play with are willing to run that way.

Another thing you could try is using the Traps API in combination with token lock to have items that are important if discovered immediately trigger a token lock. It allows one to give people a freedom to explore, but stops them as soon as they trigger something important. 

Also, don't underestimate the value of tricks like covering special areas with regular Fog of War, hiding opponent tokens on the GM Layer, and/or using Dynamic Lighting boundaries to block movement (and Only Update on Drop).

Rabulias said: Also, don't underestimate the value of tricks like covering special areas with regular Fog of War, hiding opponent tokens on the GM Layer, and/or using Dynamic Lighting boundaries to block movement (and Only Update on Drop). Great point about the lighting boundaries.  If the real problem the OP is trying to solve is that people run around willy nilly looking at the dungeon, you could place lighting boundaries (yes they would block light also, so it would be a bit less 'realistic' looking temporarily) across the corridors every 100 ft or so, and also before you get to anything interesting.  These would all be tagged with a specific color or otherwise identified (by API script data) and then you could have a macro button that moves these boundaries out of the way.   Basically, let the kids run around.  When they settle down, hit the macro button again and any boundaries within 60ft of any of the players would be automatically moved to the GM layer, effectively "unlocking" the next region.   It would have to be this automatic to not suck for the GM, and it isn't hard to write.  Another command from the same API script would reset all these blocking lines to the lighting layer when you are done with the session. PS: or we could actually place a giant octagon of lighting boundaries (circles are too expensive) around the party's center point that updates whenever you hit a button.  Almost the same with way less effort.  Sort of like saying "we aren't in initiative, but you can only move/see this far, until everyone in the party has had a chance to move.   Then the DM just mashes this button repeatedly to create "phases" of movement without having to be in initiative.

On a related note, yes we could lock/unlock tokens whenever tokens get too close to something like an enemy for example.  However, wouldn't this just train players to move their token around feeling around the map until it locks?   I am concerned this would break the feeling of immersion and tension (of not knowing whether there is something there or not.)

And just to keep players on their toes, you can block out areas with FoW or DL where there is nothing interesting/dangerous... or even where there is no room/space to get to! This can drive metagaming map-running players crazy. :-)