I didn't see this question asked but is there a way to have a dm view of the map and a player view of the map? I run a game and use a TV for my players to view the maps. We tried having my friend's computer be connected to the tv but he kept loosing connection. Giving the dm an option to view as a player in a second web page would be extremely useful for groups such as mine. 

I love what you guys are doing by the way, and find it awesome that you all started a map tool! With Curse of Strahd maps that I can use. I hope this tool develops and grows quickly as I dive more into becoming a digital DM. 

Quote from rockon1207 >>

I didn't see this question asked but is there a way to have a dm view of the map and a player view of the map? I run a game and use a TV for my players to view the maps. We tried having my friend's computer be connected to the tv but he kept loosing connection. Giving the dm an option to view as a player in a second web page would be extremely useful for groups such as mine. 

 

 We were able to do this via making a fake "Maps" character/account, and use that to log into the TV (or dedicated computer/monitor for this purpose). This lets the TV see what players would see, while the DM is controlling things with a DM-only laptop. But it would be nice to be able to "view as player" as you suggested.

The Maps tool has been pretty fun so far. We have found some enhancements we'd like:

• We lose connection at least once per game session, and it isn't obvious until someone is moving a token and no one else can see it move. This requires the DM to reload the Maps followed by players reloading the Maps.
• We would like a pointer. We're just moving tokens (as a pointer) as a work-around for now.
• Adding companions is not intuitive/easy enough. We had to look it up.
• It would be great to have a "Summoned" tab of tokens, for Find Familiar, summon/conjure spells, Spiritual Weapon, etc.
• Unless we missed it, there doesn't seem to be digital dice rollers for Monsters that show up on Maps, so players can see DM rolls.
• It would be nice to have digital dice options on Maps you can roll on the fly (perhaps for an unusual combo of stat+skill) or for old school paper PCs. Vorpalboard has this.
• There have been a couple times when the Token Browser > Monster > Search doesn't work and pulls up no results for things that exist (like Imp).
• Click Fog of War > Reveal All or Cover All by accident can really suck, removing your work. Might be nice to add either "Are you sure?" or an Undo feature.
• Uploading your own map sometimes doesn't "take" the first time. Not sure why.
• Small nitpick, but not really a big deal... Fog of War > Brush could be a little clearer with the label, perhaps "Brush (add fog)" and "Eraser (remove fog)".
• Small nitpick, but not really a big deal... The Token Browser > Monster initially opens up searching for all monsters, which seems unnecessary to us. We can't think of any time we'd want to see the entire list of monsters. We'd always be using a search for that.

I run a character from another tab, even if they are never part of the party. That gives me the player's eye view 

Initial reaction, pretty good.  I was able to upload a map, and add PCs, companions, and monsters quite easily.

Really great functionality for an alpha release.  Looking forward to further testing and trying it in a game.

I've been using this as a DM for my party instead of Roll20, and honestly there's only a couple things I would like added that would straight up make it better than the free version of Roll20. We just finished Death House and I used it for that. My ideas below would have made this experience even better:

• Add cones and spheres/circles to the measure tool so I can easily map out AOE spells and effects (roll20 doesn't have this but it would make combat and measuring much easier)
• Token names need to be edited or at the very least when I add multiple monsters of the same type it needs to add letters at the end like the encounter builder
• Not as big a deal, but interaction with the encounter builder so that you can see active HP or AC on the map would be pretty nice
• Some way to add status effects or symbols for them (e.g. if concentrating, prone, poisoned, paralyzed, ect.)
• More "brush" types or sizes for removing and adding fog of war (like a square or triangle, some maps it is hard to uncover areas without showing secrets)
• A draw tool so I can quickly add something to the map like a shape or line or squiggle 

Other fun ideas that I don't think are as necessary but would enhance the experience:

• A turn based mode or something so players can only move a certain amount (toggled between 1 square at a time or their movement as controlled by the dm)
• Dynamic lighting/darkness (similar to roll20's setup with assigning darkvision or torchlight to a token)
• More integration with the encounter builder (overall its no big deal to have both windows open, but its a fun idea to merge it somewhat)

I know I am doing a lot of comparison's to Roll20, but the way I see it, Roll20 is the closest competition and it seems DnDBeyond is trying to move in on this space. I think some of these are likely easier than others, but if the goal is to replace Roll20 as a player's visualizer, then I think some of the above ideas need to be added. Overall I would much rather use this platform than Roll20, its so much easier for my players and it already has a lot of the synchronization.  

Our group is using the map for the second weekly session in a row.  So far, it's been very good, much better than the shared screen in Discord we were using.  We like the new features.

We'd really really like to be able to draw on the map and somehow have a pointer.  Ideally both players and DM would be able to draw on the map and/or have pointers, visible  by other players.

It would be great if the ruler measured squares on not feet. Because in DnD moving vertically/diagonally is the same distance because you count squares, but the ruler shows a longer distance when you measure diagonally. That's a bit confusing. 

Quote from Starbelt_Wornboot >>

I run a character from another tab, even if they are never part of the party. That gives me the player's eye view 

In the most simple version this is true, but the DMG offers rules on how to handle diagonals on a square grid in a more realistic way: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/running-the-game#OptionalRuleDiagonals

No, that's what I do but I get different results :(

Have you considered running the character form a second device, like your phone?

Also, it is occurring to me that I have a second account, just a free one, for my player DM characters. That probably makes a difference.

I'm glad they are doing the alpha this way since it gives us chances to find these issues. 

To be clear, if I buy the digital Monster Manual right now will I get map tokens for each monster unlocked?

Quote from Starbelt_Wornboot >>

To be clear, if I buy the digital Monster Manual right now will I get map tokens for each monster unlocked?

I believe so. I own the digital monster manual and those are the tokens that are unlocked. The tokens that are locked seem to be from stuff I do not own.

Here’s the kicker for me, I am the DM in my group but most of the shared content comes from one of our players. I cannot access any of that shared content with maps. Neither can I access content that DND Beyond gave away for free like Lost Mines of Phandelver, Frozen Sick, etc. The only content I can access via maps is stuff I personally purchased. Hope that gets resolved by beta.

I think they are in the process of porting a lot of stuff to maps, but Phandelver hasn't made the cut yet. I would think it should have been first on the list, since it would allow for a more effective alpha if we all could use it with an existing module. I am also waiting for Descent into Avernus to get added, since I bought it a while back and with the excitement around Baldur's Gate 3 I would expect it to be a popular module.

That all being said, I'm finding that adding maps into the maps program has been pretty easy.

Prisoner 13 map not showing up in Maps for me too.

Descent into Avernus is added!

I do like this tool,  and because it directly integrates with player sheets i feel like there are a couple of items that they could add.

1. See digital dice - I know that we can see the game log, but it would be so much cooler to see all the digital dice being rolled by everyone (except for the DMs :)) 

2. Initiative tracker for encounters - The encounter tool is very useful and I love the initiative tracker for it, but i would love to be able to show my players the order to help speed up combat. This would be great especially if we can hide the monster info and health.

3. Character sheet window - Playing on a browser and using 2 tabs is easy enough, but would be nice if my players can stay on the map screen and access their sheets as part of a slide out window ( similar to the app or mobile site interface)

4. Cast option - I play a hybrid game with a digital map case. I would love to be able to cast the map as a player view to the screen without having to worry about my players seeing whats going on. Owlbear rodeo does this very well. I know others have suggested a dm view and player view.

If people wish to submit feedback on Maps, the best place to do so is via the feedback survey here

This thread is not actively monitored for Maps feedback

So is it not possible to look at DM Map, but keep the players seeing the players seeing only the player maps?  So I can see the markers, and names of things.  I am working on Curse of Strahd, but I can't pull up GM map without revealing everything to players?

you have to use seperate accounts in 2 seperate browser sesions (e.g private sesion) for that. there is no "projection" mode

I know that the maps is still in beta, but I own the a good amount of source materials but I only have options for like 3 tokens from there. I know that I own enough source books to have some more tokens then I do. Anyone have a suggestion to get more or how to make it so that I can access them?

Thank you!