With Dynamic Lighting, how do you avoid the players moving through the full map and unveiling all the content?

Hi everybody! I  am pretty new to Roll20 and although I have learned a lot about the tool, I still do not completely understand how I should manage character movement with Dynamic Lighting. I mean when everything is ready, the game starts and the character token is there, should I allow the player to move it freely? That would be ideal, but as the vision is automatically updated when the token is dropped, how can I avoid a player uncovering the full map? I want to avoid a player moving wildly a token reveals all surprises in a dark cavern! Is there a way to limit the movement or to control how they remove the fog of war? Should I drop the content into the token layer only when it is in vision range? The only option I see is to lock the movement of character tokens so only the GM can move it, but then I have to guess exactly how they want to move and for sure will slow down the games and make them less funny for them.  How is your experience? Am I missing something? Thanks in advance! Andrés.

I would suggest reading through the Roll20 Dynamic Lighting Wiki , as well as looking at various Youtube videos. Make sure they are not too old (within the past two years) as there was a revamped 'Updated Dynamic Lighting' system introduced, and you don't want to watch videos for the older 'Legacy Dynamic Lighting' system. One of the settings on a page for Dynamic Lighting is 'Dynamic Lighting Barriers Restrict Movement', which prevents players from moving tokens through Dynamic Lighting lines. This is what you are looking for. You can't prevent the players from dropping tokens onto the map themselves, so that's just a behavioral issue to address if it becomes a problem. In my experience it's better for me as GM to place tokens on the map where I want them and then use the 'Shift-Left-Click' to pull all players view to that area. You can also turn on 'Update when Token Drop' so that nothing new is shown to players until they finish moving their token, not while they are clicking and dragging it around. I also typically keep NPCs and other things on the GM layer until my players arrive at the area where their tokens can see it, specifically to not accidentally ruin any surprises.  Using the Advanced Keyboard Shortcuts makes it easy to move them back and forth, or because you have a Pro subscription you can also use a script like Bump . As an FYI, you as GM can always move tokens through Dynamic Lighting lines and what you see is different from your players, so I strongly suggest that you use a Dummy Account  to test out all DL changes as you make them. It is a better alternative to using Ctrl-L (which only shows a token's Line of Sight, not a player's view) or 'Rejoin as Player' (which requires permissions to be set up correctly, and is much more fiddly than simply using a second account).

Thank you very much Jarren! I explored the barriers, but I was more concerned about things like tokens they would find after some turns moving through a place. So your suggestions about how to deal with the situation in games help me a lot. I will go for the dummy account and will prepare games for placing tokens first in GM layer and then moving to the token layer only when needed.

Jarren's advice is excellent. The only thing I would add is that if you need to really hide an area of the map from accidental viewing, the Dynamic Lighting system has a tool for creating or deleting "permanent" darkness. You can prevent certain sections of the map from being seen even if a sighted and lit token is sitting in the middle of it. Kind of like the Fog of War tool.

In addition to the tools mentioned by everyone else, some discussion needs to be had with the players so that they don't randomly move out of turn. Also, I always insist that the players tell me the exact route they take ... because traps are a thing. When players are on a town map or anything else non-tactical, they roam free, but in a tactical situation or when they are exploring caves or new buildings, I always use the turn tracker, that way players only move on their turn and only to the limits of their movement. If for some reason a player still wanders about in a disruptive manner, you probably need to have a discussion with them outside the game. 

Thanks keithcurtis and Rick! I will go deeper into the permanent fog of war. I explored it but not enough and now I see the point.  Regarding players' behavior, for sure I do not expect anything deliberated, so your advice about the way to play the scenes is excellent and they will appreciate it. Sounds like a great plan. 

There are two options that should be on by default, but aren't. (Shakes fist at Roll20 devs) a) DL lines Restrict Player Movement b) Do not update lighting until player drops token These two options prevent pretty much any shenanigans or cheating that players can get up to with regard to Dynamic Lighting.

Noted! Both seem not optional for a standard game, and if you forget to activate them you can spoil the adventure...

Another thing to do is create a start/intermission page and switch to that page when not running a game.  If your players are constantly roaming after you ask them not to, then the Looking for Players forum may provide a solution.

If you do not want your Players to move their token, there is another thing you can do: Lock their Tokens Positions. Right click on a Token > Advanced > Lock Position. If you want your Players to move their Tokens again, simply unlock it.

You can use the Token Lock scrip to lock token position when they are not at the top of the turn order. This keeps players from moving when it is not their turn. I haven't used it for this feature, but I believe it is set up so that the GM can still move any token that has no "controlledby" entry.

al e., for my first games I will focus on friends so hope there is no need to replace them, but good to know about the forum for looking for players. TheMarkus1204, lock position is solving the problem. I will have to explore how players feel because if I were a player, I think I would enjoy taking control of my movement. keithcurtis, the Token Lock script is new to me and seems very useful. I will check them as can be a nice compromise. I was not aware that level of customization was possible!

Nostromo said: keithcurtis, the Token Lock script is new to me and seems very useful. I will check them as can be a nice compromise. I was not aware that level of customization was possible! A google search should turn up a lot of threads on the forum with something like "recommendations for API scripts". They crop up from time to time. People will list the ones that are their favorites, often with a brief description of what they do. Some people go Pro for the Transmogrifier or increased storage. For me it's mod scripts.