I have a 55 inch TV that we want to convert to a D&D table so we can have digital maps and put our minis on it. We have the box and protective acrylic sheet, so no worries there. What software should we use for displaying maps? What maps should we use? We don't need bells and whistles such as monster stats or encounter management. We just want digital grid maps that are easy to navigate. If they could also hide secrets from players that would be a bonus, but if not, that's ok as well.
What options are most user friendly and quick to set up? I am not worried about cost.
EDIT: So far, I have found that displaying PDFs with Adobe Reader and displaying images with my web browser pops them up quickly and it's easy to zoom the squares up to 1" or very close to it. And I can switch to full-screen mode so there's no other junk on the screen to distract. What I am looking to do is make an easy interface for doing fog of war without having to mess with something like Roll20 and a DM console on my laptop. I don't want to clutter up my table with that stuff.
What if you used an ACTUAL fog of war - dye cotton balls black using some food coloring. Then the players themselves can remove, based on their actions, which is both fun for them and less work for you during the game.
I started using a TV when I got the legendary bundle here. Having all the player maps available digitally made it an easy choice.
When I first started I used the map feature of the software from combatmanager.com. It is designed for Pathfinder, but I liked the map feature and used just that part of the software. Very easy to use, very easy to overlay the grid, and has fog of war. Bonus of that software is that you don't need to be online. Maps are stored on your PC, and you can just connect to the TV via HDMI. (I still use it from time to time if the wireless signal is acting up.)
After a while I decided to give Roll20 a try because I wanted to use tokens for some things. Once you get the hang of it it's not too bad. The added bonus in Roll20 is that I had one of my players join the campaign. That way, he can use his computer to display on the TV. Makes it easy for me to concentrate on enemy tokens and fog of way reveals because he can now control the map scroll on the TV. (I have only used the free version of Roll20, so no dymanic lighting experience with that.)
Over the past week I have downloaded Maptool and have been playing around with it. So far I like the perspective fog of war reveal that it lets you do. More set up on my part, but I might switch over to it. (I have not used it in a session yet)
There are a few others out there that do maps and more, but my experience has mostly just been with the map parts of those 3. Good luck and have fun with it. My players and I love using a TV.
I’d personally connect a raspberry pi, but any pc will work...just use Gimp (free) and take off all the toolbars.
then just create another black layer on top of your map....and just use the eraser to remove the black as you go (thereby showing the map). Very simple. Sounds fun actually
Personally use Arkenforge. It's still in beta and regularly goes through updates. But it serves my purposes well for displaying maps, creating line of sight via fog of war, and working with multiple floors in a dungeon. It of course by default has a grid that can be manipulated to your liking.
The DM logs onto roll20 then have one of the other players log into roll20 on their own computer as a player then connect to the tv through HDMI so the DM can link the map and choose to reveal what to show n the player can pan, zoom etc on the map.
Roll20 actually does have a feature that darkens n illuminates rooms based on the lighting or lack of... But that's a paid for feature (Or a feature granted to subbed customers?) Not sure exactly but it's there but not free. We're still loving the free features though
And I can say that I have been using Arkenforge for at least a half a year, and love all of the software, support, and content packs!
Check it out if you haven't!!!
Cheers :)
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Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty. Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers; Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas. Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
I did all my maps in Dungeonfog, then used a tablet and a photo viewer (zoomable for scale) to display them onto the TV tabletop. I had a template made in Dungeonfog set to the dimensions of the TV so it would display perfect 1" grids.
Another DM in our group is using Dungeonfog to create the maps, then running foundry and screen sharing to display them so he can use Fog of War - a lot more complicated, but it works.
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Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
I use MapTool by RPTools. Supports fog of war and everything. A little bit of a learning curve but well worth it as its 100% free. I use a laptop to move a token around to explore fog of war. If you have the patience you can pre-build walls so you just run through and the software does the line of sight calculations for you. I run two sessions of maptools on one computer, and I set one session as the server (used for GM) and use the second session to connect to the server as a client. The client sits as the TV one and I full screen it and hide all tools so it just takes the entire space of the TV. I add notes to all the rooms so im not looking through the book for descriptions. And I can lay down where my traps are and where their radius' are without the players seeing so it's an easy reference. You can make the notes visible to you and not the players as well or it supports hybrid where some notes are visible to the players but theres a separate GM section of notes if you want to put in your plot hooks or whatever.
I have a 55 inch TV that we want to convert to a D&D table so we can have digital maps and put our minis on it. We have the box and protective acrylic sheet, so no worries there. What software should we use for displaying maps? What maps should we use? We don't need bells and whistles such as monster stats or encounter management. We just want digital grid maps that are easy to navigate. If they could also hide secrets from players that would be a bonus, but if not, that's ok as well.
What options are most user friendly and quick to set up? I am not worried about cost.
You're going down the same road I am, and with a lot of the same questions: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/arts-crafts/28790-using-a-tv-as-a-battle-map-suggestions-and-advice
EDIT: So far, I have found that displaying PDFs with Adobe Reader and displaying images with my web browser pops them up quickly and it's easy to zoom the squares up to 1" or very close to it. And I can switch to full-screen mode so there's no other junk on the screen to distract. What I am looking to do is make an easy interface for doing fog of war without having to mess with something like Roll20 and a DM console on my laptop. I don't want to clutter up my table with that stuff.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
What if you used an ACTUAL fog of war - dye cotton balls black using some food coloring. Then the players themselves can remove, based on their actions, which is both fun for them and less work for you during the game.
I started using a TV when I got the legendary bundle here. Having all the player maps available digitally made it an easy choice.
When I first started I used the map feature of the software from combatmanager.com. It is designed for Pathfinder, but I liked the map feature and used just that part of the software. Very easy to use, very easy to overlay the grid, and has fog of war. Bonus of that software is that you don't need to be online. Maps are stored on your PC, and you can just connect to the TV via HDMI. (I still use it from time to time if the wireless signal is acting up.)
After a while I decided to give Roll20 a try because I wanted to use tokens for some things. Once you get the hang of it it's not too bad. The added bonus in Roll20 is that I had one of my players join the campaign. That way, he can use his computer to display on the TV. Makes it easy for me to concentrate on enemy tokens and fog of way reveals because he can now control the map scroll on the TV. (I have only used the free version of Roll20, so no dymanic lighting experience with that.)
Over the past week I have downloaded Maptool and have been playing around with it. So far I like the perspective fog of war reveal that it lets you do. More set up on my part, but I might switch over to it. (I have not used it in a session yet)
There are a few others out there that do maps and more, but my experience has mostly just been with the map parts of those 3. Good luck and have fun with it. My players and I love using a TV.
If you guys have an iPad Encounter + is a great tool
Dungeonfog.com
I’d personally connect a raspberry pi, but any pc will work...just use Gimp (free) and take off all the toolbars.
then just create another black layer on top of your map....and just use the eraser to remove the black as you go (thereby showing the map). Very simple. Sounds fun actually
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Deck of Decks
Personally use Arkenforge. It's still in beta and regularly goes through updates. But it serves my purposes well for displaying maps, creating line of sight via fog of war, and working with multiple floors in a dungeon. It of course by default has a grid that can be manipulated to your liking.
The DM logs onto roll20 then have one of the other players log into roll20 on their own computer as a player then connect to the tv through HDMI so the DM can link the map and choose to reveal what to show n the player can pan, zoom etc on the map.
Roll20 actually does have a feature that darkens n illuminates rooms based on the lighting or lack of... But that's a paid for feature (Or a feature granted to subbed customers?) Not sure exactly but it's there but not free. We're still loving the free features though
Arkenforge is built to run on TV tables. https://arkenforge.com/tv-table-software/
And I can say that I have been using Arkenforge for at least a half a year, and love all of the software, support, and content packs!
Check it out if you haven't!!!
Cheers :)
Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty.
Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers;
Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas.
Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
I did all my maps in Dungeonfog, then used a tablet and a photo viewer (zoomable for scale) to display them onto the TV tabletop. I had a template made in Dungeonfog set to the dimensions of the TV so it would display perfect 1" grids.
Another DM in our group is using Dungeonfog to create the maps, then running foundry and screen sharing to display them so he can use Fog of War - a lot more complicated, but it works.
Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
I use MapTool by RPTools. Supports fog of war and everything. A little bit of a learning curve but well worth it as its 100% free. I use a laptop to move a token around to explore fog of war. If you have the patience you can pre-build walls so you just run through and the software does the line of sight calculations for you. I run two sessions of maptools on one computer, and I set one session as the server (used for GM) and use the second session to connect to the server as a client. The client sits as the TV one and I full screen it and hide all tools so it just takes the entire space of the TV. I add notes to all the rooms so im not looking through the book for descriptions. And I can lay down where my traps are and where their radius' are without the players seeing so it's an easy reference. You can make the notes visible to you and not the players as well or it supports hybrid where some notes are visible to the players but theres a separate GM section of notes if you want to put in your plot hooks or whatever.