Dungeon Scrawl Connects to Roll20 Tabletop

Dungeon Scrawl can now be connected to Roll20 in Jumpgate, bringing new drawing tools to the VTT! Whether planning ahead or improvising on the fly to accommodate a party going off-script, this feature lets you create and edit maps without having to manage files or impact your storage. 

In Roll20 Tabletop, use the new drop-down menu when creating a Page to either begin a new connection or connect an existing map. Read our Help Center for step-by-step instructions and FAQs. 

After giving the connection a try in your campaigns, let us know how it worked, how it impacted your prep and play, and what would make you love it even more. Plus, share screenshots of your creations and inspire others with your tips and tricks.

If you’re feeling passionate about specific future developments for the Dungeon Scrawl Connection to Roll20 Tabletop, please include and upvote them in our Suggestions & Ideas Forum.

Found a bug? Let us know by reporting it within the VTT or here!

Ben L. said:

I think this is really neat -- 

One question: In the blog post it says "Build Together: Turn map creation into part of the fun! Role-play as a general contractor while your players design their guildhall, bastion, or home base. Dungeon Scrawl lets you collaborate and bring ideas to life in real-time." 

Does "role-play as a general contractor" mean "ask the players to say what they want and the DM does it?" or is there a way to let players manipulate the same map in Dungeon Scrawl in real time? 

Hi Ben, your first inclination is correct; while multiple scrawlers cannot simultaneously edit a single map on Dungeon Scrawl, you can work together as a team to have them narrating and influencing what the GM builds in real-time.  We had a question yesterday about how players could draw their own maps, and the ideas we came up with were:

• All players create a Dungeon Scrawl rendition. You then look at all of the maps and vote on the version to sync with Roll20 and use in-game.
• A single player draws, saves the map file, hands it to the next player who opens it and adds to it cumulatively, and so on until everyone has had a turn to contribute, then sync and play.

When syncing, players can either provide the GM with the Dungeon Scrawl file or the Connect Code. Please use caution when sharing Connect Codes or map links as any edits made by you or others will reflect in the latest version of the map, which can result in lost content. Anyone accessing the Dungeon Scrawl link would have power to modify the map.

Red Archon said:

Can you make it so it integrates with Roll20's Dynamic Lighting, or do you have to build the lighting from scratch?

Ari said:

Also wondering about Dynamic Lighting. I know Dungeon Scrawl has its own lighting tools, but do those translate to Dynamic Lighting lines in Roll20, or do we still have to draw those ourselves after importing?

Dungeon Scrawl's Lighting feature (available for DS Pro users) does display on connected pages in the VTT, but isn't "Dynamic" for players (aka does not reflect line of sight). You can place Dynamic Lighting lines on your connected map page in the VTT, and those work just like any other map! (Remember that if you edit your map in Dungeon Scrawl and change the placement of your walls, the lines you've placed in Roll20 will stay where you put them).

If you're interested in linked Dynamic Lighting, please do share that idea on our Suggestions & Ideas Forum so it can be upvoted. That forum helps a lot with our internal prioritization of improvements. 

EJ Boston said:

This is wonderful. Thank you for this addition! For users that are not DS Pro users, if the website crashes/internet disconnects mid-use, does the Roll20 map reflect an 'erased' map, or does it keep the former drawing?

Hi EJ Boston - we are happy you are enjoying this, and looking forward to hearing more on how you're using it!

On the Roll20 side, the Roll20 page will maintain the latest drawing before the crash/disconnection. Unfortunately, a crash/refresh on the Dungeon Scrawl side will end the connected session and non- DS Pro users will be unable to work on that map later if they have not downloaded a copy. For that reason, we recommend that users download/save a copy of their Dungeon Scrawl maps often (additional information and 'How To' could be found here).

Ethan said:

Please develop support for isometric grids it is why I love Dungeon Scrawl! :D 

Gold said:

Improvements needed to make this useful for my games:

1. Please add support for Isometric grid
2. Add support for Hex grid
3. Add support for making the Roll20 page to be 99x99, 100x100, or 200x200, and remove the limitation of 50x50 display window

Without those it's better to just make a Dungeonscrawl, export it, and then Upload into Roll20, so that you can actually use the regular capabilities of DS. 

Very sad and disappointed that it is not infinite-in-all-directions like both Roll20 Jumpgate and Dungeonscrawl are. 

The 50x50 limitation makes this only useful for a very small dungeon, or a small building like a house. Can't use for a regular or mega dungeon, can't use for a castle or keep, as it stands now. 

Why is it making only strictly a 50x50 Roll20 page with no flexibility there?

This 50x50 limit is chopping-off the integration capability at the ankles. 

Here is how-much ^^ of my Dungeonscrawl castle I can use in Roll20 with the Roll20 Connect integration.

It allows seeing less than 1/6th of the castle yard. The original full-size DS map won honorable mention in the recent Bastions contest. And I have used it successfully in full-size in a Roll20 Page by uploading it myself manually. But it is far too large to use in the Roll20 Connect integration. I am happy to send Roll20 Devs the .DS file as a real-world test case. 

I appreciate that the Roll20 Connect display window is able to be moved with SHIFT-ARROW, that's brilliant and almost makes it useable.

If the display window capability can be upgraded to 100x100 instead of 50x50 it would be much better. 

Dream said:

Automatic dynamic lighting integration (at the very least make walls be walls) would be the killer QoL feature here.

Otherwise, awesome job.

Thanks for these suggestions and your input on supporting other grid sizes, bigger maps, and dynamic lighting! 

If you're feeling passionate about future upgrades and developments, we are encouraging users to include and upvote them in our Suggestions & Ideas Forum which helps with our internal prioritization of feature improvements. 

Connecting Roll20's Dynamic Lighting to Dungeon Scrawl already has a Suggestions & Ideas forum already started, so please feel free to upvote it!

Gold said:

Lavi, could you briefly summarize the reason why it is limited to a 50x50 viewport in the current DS Roll20 Connect integration? 

Why is it so

The display area was determined based on several factors, including but not limited to most common map size on the platform, and considerations for performance optimization for all players.

iuzbob said:

Since yesterday it is no longer working for me. I tried Chrome, Edge and Firefox. I create a new page via the drop down menu and start drawing in Dungeon Scrawl. But there is no update on the roll20 page. Anything amiss here?

Hi there - what part specifically is failing for you?

We just did a sanity check in creating a New Map and Connecting and Old map, and is working across the browsers.

There seems to be a bit of confusion here. Pressing "Create New dungeon Scrawl Map" should automatically open up a Dungeon Scrawl tab and also create the connection without any additional steps. The Help Center had a quick 1-minute video to showcase this, that many users have found helpful.

There may be some additional variation here if, for example, Dungeon Scrawl Pro users are taking steps to sign in and are pulling up their auto-saved maps from their Dungeon Scrawl library. This is where specific steps being taken would be really helpful to nail down the confusion.

Gold said:

iuzbob said:

Since yesterday it is no longer working for me. I tried Chrome, Edge and Firefox. I create a new page via the drop down menu and start drawing in Dungeon Scrawl. But there is no update on the roll20 page. Anything amiss here?

Reading this closely, you actually didn't say the proper steps. You created a new DungeonScrawl page from the drop down menu. Then comes the part you didn't mention. You need to go on the Roll20 icon in the Dungeonscrawl and copy the Connect code, and go to the Roll20 Pages and use the dropdown and choose Connect Existing DS page. 

I think maybe that's what's confusing about the Create new DungeonScrawl button in Roll20. It creates but it isn't connected, until you use the other button in the dropdown that says Connect Existing. 

Gold said:

Lavi, that has never worked for me as-you-described since DungeonScrawl integration came out and I have tested/used this many times this past week-or-2.

There is a glitch in the process you described, it maybe bugged, alternatively (seems likely) it may just be a confusing GUI and unclear instructions.

In Roll20, Create New Page > Create New DungeonScrawl Map > it opens DungeonScrawl as a webpage with a Pop-Over that offers either Open Save File, or Create New > choose Click "Create New" in DungeonScrawl > Start drawing.

In Roll20 a blank page appears. Nothing you draw in DungeonScrawl appears in Roll20.

You have to get the Connect code from DS and then put it into Roll20, then it will show the drawing.

I am not on DS Pro now (I used to be). I'm not even signed-in to DS.

Note: the DS pop-over that offers only 2 choices "Open Save File" or "Create New" is persistent and loads as a Pop-Over every time you start a new DungeonScrawl whether you are Logged-out or Logged-in, whether you are DS Pro or Free. Please see SCREENSHOT 2 below.

Screenshots in 4 steps showing what I typed out the steps to describe, and the result:

My theory -- I think that users are expected to click away from the Pop-Over and exit-out of it to accomplish what Lavi is saying, but the pop-over itself does not offer that choice, and that would be a GUI problem if that's the hang-up here.

Step 1 in Roll20 click Create New DungeonScrawl, 

Step 2, DungeonScrawl opens and the only 2 choices are "Open Save File" or "Create New" so choose Create New: (NOTE: If the instructions is not to press Create New then please make this more obvious, because please look at the screenshot and playtest this workflow again and you'll see this): 

Step 3 now you have a blank DungonScrawl that you can draw on:

Step 4 go back to Roll20 Tab and your drawing is not there, because the DS is not Connected yet:

The End.

It seems like Roll20 wants people to Exit-Out of the DS Pop-Over screen, but there is no indication to do this. It's not mentioned in the instructions that has been posted, but more-importantly it's not mentioned in the GUI (the interface). 

Thanks for your consideration of this issue.

Lavi said:

There seems to be a bit of confusion here. Pressing "Create New dungeon Scrawl Map" should automatically open up a Dungeon Scrawl tab and also create the connection without any additional steps. The Help Center had a quick 1-minute video to showcase this, that many users have found helpful.

There may be some additional variation here if, for example, Dungeon Scrawl Pro users are taking steps to sign in and are pulling up their auto-saved maps from their Dungeon Scrawl library. This is where specific steps being taken would be really helpful to nail down the confusion.

Gold said:

iuzbob said:

Since yesterday it is no longer working for me. I tried Chrome, Edge and Firefox. I create a new page via the drop down menu and start drawing in Dungeon Scrawl. But there is no update on the roll20 page. Anything amiss here?

Reading this closely, you actually didn't say the proper steps. You created a new DungeonScrawl page from the drop down menu. Then comes the part you didn't mention. You need to go on the Roll20 icon in the Dungeonscrawl and copy the Connect code, and go to the Roll20 Pages and use the dropdown and choose Connect Existing DS page. 

I think maybe that's what's confusing about the Create new DungeonScrawl button in Roll20. It creates but it isn't connected, until you use the other button in the dropdown that says Connect Existing. 

Gold said:

Dan_Grady said:

From what I gather when a user selects "Create a new dungeon scrawl" it is supposed to create a synced session and reflect the map from dungeon scrawl over to Roll20. I must be doing something wrong, the map never appears on the roll20 side. However I am able to use the Connect Existing Map feature using the code. Anybody have this issue or know why the synced session doesn't work?

Yep, I screenshotted step-by-step and Demonstrated this bug, up earlier in the thread.

Waiting for an answer from Roll20 Team on this.

In the meantime just use the Connect feature. Go to your DS first, go to the Roll20 icon on DS, copy the CONNECT link. Return to your Roll20 game, choose Create Page with the CONNECT option and enter the line you copied. Then it will work. 

Gold - thanks for the detailed screenshots and the work-around you mentioned. We'll take a look at this tomorrow to see if we can reproduce this scenario with specific circumstances. I may be reaching back out for some additional information to help us narrow this down.

Good Day, Everyone!

If you have not seen me post here before: Hello! My name is Brittany and I lead the Product Design team here at Roll20. I am sure you all have invaluable feedback on the new Dungeon Scrawl Connection feature within the Roll20 Tabletop and I would love to dig deeper into that with you. I am conducting user interviews next week for anyone who wants to take me through their experience when using this new feature on a video call. I really want to understand how you all are using it and any challenges you have faced so far, that way our team can make meaningful and impactful improvements.

If you are interested, please choose a time that works best for you. You will be given a free month of our Pro subscription as a thanks for your participation. 

Thanks and I hope to speak to a lot of you soon!

Quick Note: These specific interviews have limited availability, so I apologize ahead of time if the openings fill up quickly.

Gold - we've identified and reproduced the experience you are seeing and can reproduce it! A recent release on the Dungeon Scrawl side introduced a new step into the experience for signed-out users with the DungeonScrawl modal (asking for a selection of "Open Save File" or "Create New") . We are going to be taking a look at this in the coming days to reduce friction for the Connection.

In the meantime, there's a slightly easier workaround to avoid having to link ids. If you click out of that modal (e.g. outside the bounds of the green box) you will be able to start drawing on the  DS map immediately, and it will automatically be in sync with your Roll20 Page.

Lavi said:

Gold said:

Lavi, that has never worked for me as-you-described since DungeonScrawl integration came out and I have tested/used this many times this past week-or-2.

There is a glitch in the process you described, it maybe bugged, alternatively (seems likely) it may just be a confusing GUI and unclear instructions.

In Roll20, Create New Page > Create New DungeonScrawl Map > it opens DungeonScrawl as a webpage with a Pop-Over that offers either Open Save File, or Create New > choose Click "Create New" in DungeonScrawl > Start drawing.

In Roll20 a blank page appears. Nothing you draw in DungeonScrawl appears in Roll20.

You have to get the Connect code from DS and then put it into Roll20, then it will show the drawing.

I am not on DS Pro now (I used to be). I'm not even signed-in to DS.

Note: the DS pop-over that offers only 2 choices "Open Save File" or "Create New" is persistent and loads as a Pop-Over every time you start a new DungeonScrawl whether you are Logged-out or Logged-in, whether you are DS Pro or Free. Please see SCREENSHOT 2 below.

Screenshots in 4 steps showing what I typed out the steps to describe, and the result:

My theory -- I think that users are expected to click away from the Pop-Over and exit-out of it to accomplish what Lavi is saying, but the pop-over itself does not offer that choice, and that would be a GUI problem if that's the hang-up here.

Step 1 in Roll20 click Create New DungeonScrawl, 

Step 2, DungeonScrawl opens and the only 2 choices are "Open Save File" or "Create New" so choose Create New: (NOTE: If the instructions is not to press Create New then please make this more obvious, because please look at the screenshot and playtest this workflow again and you'll see this): 

Step 3 now you have a blank DungonScrawl that you can draw on:

Step 4 go back to Roll20 Tab and your drawing is not there, because the DS is not Connected yet:

The End.

It seems like Roll20 wants people to Exit-Out of the DS Pop-Over screen, but there is no indication to do this. It's not mentioned in the instructions that has been posted, but more-importantly it's not mentioned in the GUI (the interface). 

Thanks for your consideration of this issue.

Lavi said:

There seems to be a bit of confusion here. Pressing "Create New dungeon Scrawl Map" should automatically open up a Dungeon Scrawl tab and also create the connection without any additional steps. The Help Center had a quick 1-minute video to showcase this, that many users have found helpful.

There may be some additional variation here if, for example, Dungeon Scrawl Pro users are taking steps to sign in and are pulling up their auto-saved maps from their Dungeon Scrawl library. This is where specific steps being taken would be really helpful to nail down the confusion.

Gold said:

iuzbob said:

Since yesterday it is no longer working for me. I tried Chrome, Edge and Firefox. I create a new page via the drop down menu and start drawing in Dungeon Scrawl. But there is no update on the roll20 page. Anything amiss here?

Reading this closely, you actually didn't say the proper steps. You created a new DungeonScrawl page from the drop down menu. Then comes the part you didn't mention. You need to go on the Roll20 icon in the Dungeonscrawl and copy the Connect code, and go to the Roll20 Pages and use the dropdown and choose Connect Existing DS page. 

I think maybe that's what's confusing about the Create new DungeonScrawl button in Roll20. It creates but it isn't connected, until you use the other button in the dropdown that says Connect Existing. 

Gold said:

Dan_Grady said:

From what I gather when a user selects "Create a new dungeon scrawl" it is supposed to create a synced session and reflect the map from dungeon scrawl over to Roll20. I must be doing something wrong, the map never appears on the roll20 side. However I am able to use the Connect Existing Map feature using the code. Anybody have this issue or know why the synced session doesn't work?

Yep, I screenshotted step-by-step and Demonstrated this bug, up earlier in the thread.

Waiting for an answer from Roll20 Team on this.

In the meantime just use the Connect feature. Go to your DS first, go to the Roll20 icon on DS, copy the CONNECT link. Return to your Roll20 game, choose Create Page with the CONNECT option and enter the line you copied. Then it will work. 

Gold - thanks for the detailed screenshots and the work-around you mentioned. We'll take a look at this tomorrow to see if we can reproduce this scenario with specific circumstances. I may be reaching back out for some additional information to help us narrow this down.

Gold said:

Thanks for following up and communicating about it Lavi.

That's it. 

Lavi said:

Gold - we've identified and reproduced the experience you are seeing and can reproduce it! A recent release on the Dungeon Scrawl side introduced a new step into the experience for signed-out users with the DungeonScrawl modal (asking for a selection of "Open Save File" or "Create New") . We are going to be taking a look at this in the coming days to reduce friction for the Connection.

In the meantime, there's a slightly easier workaround to avoid having to link ids. If you click out of that modal (e.g. outside the bounds of the green box) you will be able to start drawing on the  DS map immediately, and it will automatically be in sync with your Roll20 Page.

Lavi said:

Gold said:

Lavi, that has never worked for me as-you-described since DungeonScrawl integration came out and I have tested/used this many times this past week-or-2.

There is a glitch in the process you described, it maybe bugged, alternatively (seems likely) it may just be a confusing GUI and unclear instructions.

In Roll20, Create New Page > Create New DungeonScrawl Map > it opens DungeonScrawl as a webpage with a Pop-Over that offers either Open Save File, or Create New > choose Click "Create New" in DungeonScrawl > Start drawing.

In Roll20 a blank page appears. Nothing you draw in DungeonScrawl appears in Roll20.

You have to get the Connect code from DS and then put it into Roll20, then it will show the drawing.

I am not on DS Pro now (I used to be). I'm not even signed-in to DS.

Note: the DS pop-over that offers only 2 choices "Open Save File" or "Create New" is persistent and loads as a Pop-Over every time you start a new DungeonScrawl whether you are Logged-out or Logged-in, whether you are DS Pro or Free. Please see SCREENSHOT 2 below.

Screenshots in 4 steps showing what I typed out the steps to describe, and the result:

My theory -- I think that users are expected to click away from the Pop-Over and exit-out of it to accomplish what Lavi is saying, but the pop-over itself does not offer that choice, and that would be a GUI problem if that's the hang-up here.

Step 1 in Roll20 click Create New DungeonScrawl, 

Step 2, DungeonScrawl opens and the only 2 choices are "Open Save File" or "Create New" so choose Create New: (NOTE: If the instructions is not to press Create New then please make this more obvious, because please look at the screenshot and playtest this workflow again and you'll see this): 

Step 3 now you have a blank DungonScrawl that you can draw on:

Step 4 go back to Roll20 Tab and your drawing is not there, because the DS is not Connected yet:

The End.

It seems like Roll20 wants people to Exit-Out of the DS Pop-Over screen, but there is no indication to do this. It's not mentioned in the instructions that has been posted, but more-importantly it's not mentioned in the GUI (the interface). 

Thanks for your consideration of this issue.

Lavi said:

There seems to be a bit of confusion here. Pressing "Create New dungeon Scrawl Map" should automatically open up a Dungeon Scrawl tab and also create the connection without any additional steps. The Help Center had a quick 1-minute video to showcase this, that many users have found helpful.

There may be some additional variation here if, for example, Dungeon Scrawl Pro users are taking steps to sign in and are pulling up their auto-saved maps from their Dungeon Scrawl library. This is where specific steps being taken would be really helpful to nail down the confusion.

Gold said:

iuzbob said:

Since yesterday it is no longer working for me. I tried Chrome, Edge and Firefox. I create a new page via the drop down menu and start drawing in Dungeon Scrawl. But there is no update on the roll20 page. Anything amiss here?

Reading this closely, you actually didn't say the proper steps. You created a new DungeonScrawl page from the drop down menu. Then comes the part you didn't mention. You need to go on the Roll20 icon in the Dungeonscrawl and copy the Connect code, and go to the Roll20 Pages and use the dropdown and choose Connect Existing DS page. 

I think maybe that's what's confusing about the Create new DungeonScrawl button in Roll20. It creates but it isn't connected, until you use the other button in the dropdown that says Connect Existing. 

Gold said:

Dan_Grady said:

From what I gather when a user selects "Create a new dungeon scrawl" it is supposed to create a synced session and reflect the map from dungeon scrawl over to Roll20. I must be doing something wrong, the map never appears on the roll20 side. However I am able to use the Connect Existing Map feature using the code. Anybody have this issue or know why the synced session doesn't work?

Yep, I screenshotted step-by-step and Demonstrated this bug, up earlier in the thread.

Waiting for an answer from Roll20 Team on this.

In the meantime just use the Connect feature. Go to your DS first, go to the Roll20 icon on DS, copy the CONNECT link. Return to your Roll20 game, choose Create Page with the CONNECT option and enter the line you copied. Then it will work. 

Gold - thanks for the detailed screenshots and the work-around you mentioned. We'll take a look at this tomorrow to see if we can reproduce this scenario with specific circumstances. I may be reaching back out for some additional information to help us narrow this down.

Hi Gold and Dan! Thanks again for raising this with us. We've made an update (released in the last hour) that now reduces the friction of the experience.

The steps you should now expect are as per below, and create the automatic connection/sync when you create New DS Maps.

1. Create and/or launch the Roll20 Tabletop game where you'd like to create the map
2. Open the Page Menu and select the dropdown arrow next to "Create Page"
3. Select the "Create New Dungeon Scrawl Map" option
4. A new Dungeon Scrawl tab will open
5. Your map in Dungeon Scrawl is now connected to a new Page on Roll20, and any updates made to your map will reflect on the virtual tabletop

Please let us know if how it's looking once you had a chance to try it again.

Peter D. said:

the D&D 2024 NPC sheet is not rolling damage correctly. If a monster's attack has 2 damage types it is only rolling the second and ignoring the first damage type entirely.

Hi Peter - This forum thread is specific to the Dungeon Scrawl Connection feature. There's a D&D 2024 forum thread for related feedback, questions and community discussion. In the meantime, I'll pass your feedback to our partner team!