Looking for advice on how to even run these module with such massive dungeon maps. I am wanting to print them off, but nothing seems to do the trick when printing. I opened the map in GIMP and scaled it to the right size for minis, but staples, UPS none of them seem to be able to print it. Or I am not finding the options online. Even the largest blueprint option on staples isnt big enough which is mind blowing.
How do you all handle this? I have a Chessex map matt, but It wont be big enough to hold the dungeon, I could have them draw it for me as they go and erase when needed? If I had a printer at home I would use adobe reader to print it all out since I can have it print each section on different paper, but I dont.
Any advice would be very helpful! I am open to anything.
If you want to print off the maps at miniature scale, it helps to have friend who works for an engineering firm. The printers they use to print blueprints are perfect for this sort of thing.
That said, I don't use minis for my games, so what I tend to do is print a copy of the map for me and mark what areas my players have explored, then later I just make versions in MS paint where the parts they haven't been are edited out, print those, and hand them to my party for future use. We have one player who is the dedicated map holder and she tracks the most current maps and takes notes of interesting things in any given location.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Do you find that your players backtrack at all or have issues with theatre of the mind? We have been playing digitally for a while now because of Covid, so all of the heist campaign was online using zoom. And it was super easy to just share screen and zoom in an only show them what I wanted and we just used text to mark on the map where everyone was and move the text boxes around.
Now that we are getting together in person and have moved onto mad mage, I am not sure how to handle it all. Theatre of the mind seems like the most feasible option, but I worry about the complexity of the maps and areas.
If most players don't have issues with it, I do like the idea of me just keeping track of areas explored already and if they do backtrack just keeping descriptions and things simple.
The only areas where it has caused a bit of an issue are places that are supposed to be maze-like. Overall though, I've had very few problems with this method, and generally the biggest issue has been our party Wizard casting Arcane Eye and using it to scout as much as he can ahead of the group, which opens up a lot of map space, but leaves a lot of places not interacted with, so I have to keep that in mind if the part enters and area they have the map open for but haven't actually been to yet.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
There are a number of ways of doing this. If you want to spend a lot of time and double purchase modules and books go Fantasy Grounds or Roll 20, they have a digital table top you can use. I took the easiest route and went with Dungeongfog + Zoom. Its fast to create the maps, use as virtual tabletop and then share them with my players. The drawback is there hasn't been a ton of those maps ported to dungeonfog by the community, and Fantasy Grounds and Roll 20 have them done already. I don't like either of those two due to the cost and time to learn the tools. It would take you probably 1-2 hours of time to create those maps in DF if you went for fastest creation (I believe they have the first 2 or 3 levels available now). Once you see the bells and whistles in dungeonfog, and you start adding extras because its fun it could eat up your time. An even more expensive but better experience would be arkanforge. It costs a lot but it has animated maps and music.
The only areas where it has caused a bit of an issue are places that are supposed to be maze-like. Overall though, I've had very few problems with this method, and generally the biggest issue has been our party Wizard casting Arcane Eye and using it to scout as much as he can ahead of the group, which opens up a lot of map space, but leaves a lot of places not interacted with, so I have to keep that in mind if the part enters and area they have the map open for but haven't actually been to yet.
Thank you! I will likely do something like this, if the players want to do something else Ill be open to it but to start I think well see how this goes. Much appreciated!
There are a number of ways of doing this. If you want to spend a lot of time and double purchase modules and books go Fantasy Grounds or Roll 20, they have a digital table top you can use. I took the easiest route and went with Dungeongfog + Zoom. Its fast to create the maps, use as virtual tabletop and then share them with my players. The drawback is there hasn't been a ton of those maps ported to dungeonfog by the community, and Fantasy Grounds and Roll 20 have them done already. I don't like either of those two due to the cost and time to learn the tools. It would take you probably 1-2 hours of time to create those maps in DF if you went for fastest creation (I believe they have the first 2 or 3 levels available now). Once you see the bells and whistles in dungeonfog, and you start adding extras because its fun it could eat up your time. An even more expensive but better experience would be arkanforge. It costs a lot but it has animated maps and music.
I actually cheked that out! Dungeon fog looks really nice. I would def use it and build the other maps if needed, but we are getting together in person now so we wont be digital anymore. The hardest part about this with my group is, its 3 of my co workers, my dad and my brother. My dad already struggles with just navigating DnD Beyond, so adding something else to mix would have been hard. But not impossible. If we have to go back to digital though, i think I will use DF.
The only areas where it has caused a bit of an issue are places that are supposed to be maze-like. Overall though, I've had very few problems with this method, and generally the biggest issue has been our party Wizard casting Arcane Eye and using it to scout as much as he can ahead of the group, which opens up a lot of map space, but leaves a lot of places not interacted with, so I have to keep that in mind if the part enters and area they have the map open for but haven't actually been to yet.
Thank you! I will likely do something like this, if the players want to do something else Ill be open to it but to start I think well see how this goes. Much appreciated!
There are a number of ways of doing this. If you want to spend a lot of time and double purchase modules and books go Fantasy Grounds or Roll 20, they have a digital table top you can use. I took the easiest route and went with Dungeongfog + Zoom. Its fast to create the maps, use as virtual tabletop and then share them with my players. The drawback is there hasn't been a ton of those maps ported to dungeonfog by the community, and Fantasy Grounds and Roll 20 have them done already. I don't like either of those two due to the cost and time to learn the tools. It would take you probably 1-2 hours of time to create those maps in DF if you went for fastest creation (I believe they have the first 2 or 3 levels available now). Once you see the bells and whistles in dungeonfog, and you start adding extras because its fun it could eat up your time. An even more expensive but better experience would be arkanforge. It costs a lot but it has animated maps and music.
I actually cheked that out! Dungeon fog looks really nice. I would def use it and build the other maps if needed, but we are getting together in person now so we wont be digital anymore. The hardest part about this with my group is, its 3 of my co workers, my dad and my brother. My dad already struggles with just navigating DnD Beyond, so adding something else to mix would have been hard. But not impossible. If we have to go back to digital though, i think I will use DF.
Well this is how I use Dungeonfog in person. I bought this TV case specifically for mad mag because there was no way to communicate to the players where they were at without giving them the maps and spoiling everything. I'd run out of a dry eraser marker every 3 levels if I tried to draw everything. You buy your TV, ship it to them and they build a case around it and send it to you. It will not get there quick. It took me about 6-8 weeks from payment, mailing to getting to my house, but it works and its portable. I use it at my hobby shop to play open Adventurer League with my laptop running dungeonfog. If you really need a big map you can shrink down the zoom to get all the grid in for large maps and use the tokens. For mini play I can get a fair bit on the map.
I like playing in person, but once you use digital maps and how much better the experience is, you don't want to go back to grid lines and markers. Rolling is the fun part, and the digital maps takes away the sucky part of telling everyone to wait 5 minutes as you draw out the room, only to have the party leave, do nothing and have to draw another map, but then come back, redraw and do an encounter. We've all been through that.
The only areas where it has caused a bit of an issue are places that are supposed to be maze-like. Overall though, I've had very few problems with this method, and generally the biggest issue has been our party Wizard casting Arcane Eye and using it to scout as much as he can ahead of the group, which opens up a lot of map space, but leaves a lot of places not interacted with, so I have to keep that in mind if the part enters and area they have the map open for but haven't actually been to yet.
Thank you! I will likely do something like this, if the players want to do something else Ill be open to it but to start I think well see how this goes. Much appreciated!
There are a number of ways of doing this. If you want to spend a lot of time and double purchase modules and books go Fantasy Grounds or Roll 20, they have a digital table top you can use. I took the easiest route and went with Dungeongfog + Zoom. Its fast to create the maps, use as virtual tabletop and then share them with my players. The drawback is there hasn't been a ton of those maps ported to dungeonfog by the community, and Fantasy Grounds and Roll 20 have them done already. I don't like either of those two due to the cost and time to learn the tools. It would take you probably 1-2 hours of time to create those maps in DF if you went for fastest creation (I believe they have the first 2 or 3 levels available now). Once you see the bells and whistles in dungeonfog, and you start adding extras because its fun it could eat up your time. An even more expensive but better experience would be arkanforge. It costs a lot but it has animated maps and music.
I actually cheked that out! Dungeon fog looks really nice. I would def use it and build the other maps if needed, but we are getting together in person now so we wont be digital anymore. The hardest part about this with my group is, its 3 of my co workers, my dad and my brother. My dad already struggles with just navigating DnD Beyond, so adding something else to mix would have been hard. But not impossible. If we have to go back to digital though, i think I will use DF.
Well this is how I use Dungeonfog in person. I bought this TV case specifically for mad mag because there was no way to communicate to the players where they were at without giving them the maps and spoiling everything. I'd run out of a dry eraser marker every 3 levels if I tried to draw everything. You buy your TV, ship it to them and they build a case around it and send it to you. It will not get there quick. It took me about 6-8 weeks from payment, mailing to getting to my house, but it works and its portable. I use it at my hobby shop to play open Adventurer League with my laptop running dungeonfog. If you really need a big map you can shrink down the zoom to get all the grid in for large maps and use the tokens. For mini play I can get a fair bit on the map.
I like playing in person, but once you use digital maps and how much better the experience is, you don't want to go back to grid lines and markers. Rolling is the fun part, and the digital maps takes away the sucky part of telling everyone to wait 5 minutes as you draw out the room, only to have the party leave, do nothing and have to draw another map, but then come back, redraw and do an encounter. We've all been through that.
That looks sick! I would love to have something like this someday. I am sure its expensive though. Looks like they are on pause for the time being, But will def look into this for the future.
This doesn't help. I know how to scale everything. And if I had a printer I could print it out. But I dont. the problem is finding a place that can print the file after scaling. Thank you for the link though!
The only areas where it has caused a bit of an issue are places that are supposed to be maze-like. Overall though, I've had very few problems with this method, and generally the biggest issue has been our party Wizard casting Arcane Eye and using it to scout as much as he can ahead of the group, which opens up a lot of map space, but leaves a lot of places not interacted with, so I have to keep that in mind if the part enters and area they have the map open for but haven't actually been to yet.
Thank you! I will likely do something like this, if the players want to do something else Ill be open to it but to start I think well see how this goes. Much appreciated!
There are a number of ways of doing this. If you want to spend a lot of time and double purchase modules and books go Fantasy Grounds or Roll 20, they have a digital table top you can use. I took the easiest route and went with Dungeongfog + Zoom. Its fast to create the maps, use as virtual tabletop and then share them with my players. The drawback is there hasn't been a ton of those maps ported to dungeonfog by the community, and Fantasy Grounds and Roll 20 have them done already. I don't like either of those two due to the cost and time to learn the tools. It would take you probably 1-2 hours of time to create those maps in DF if you went for fastest creation (I believe they have the first 2 or 3 levels available now). Once you see the bells and whistles in dungeonfog, and you start adding extras because its fun it could eat up your time. An even more expensive but better experience would be arkanforge. It costs a lot but it has animated maps and music.
I actually cheked that out! Dungeon fog looks really nice. I would def use it and build the other maps if needed, but we are getting together in person now so we wont be digital anymore. The hardest part about this with my group is, its 3 of my co workers, my dad and my brother. My dad already struggles with just navigating DnD Beyond, so adding something else to mix would have been hard. But not impossible. If we have to go back to digital though, i think I will use DF.
Well this is how I use Dungeonfog in person. I bought this TV case specifically for mad mag because there was no way to communicate to the players where they were at without giving them the maps and spoiling everything. I'd run out of a dry eraser marker every 3 levels if I tried to draw everything. You buy your TV, ship it to them and they build a case around it and send it to you. It will not get there quick. It took me about 6-8 weeks from payment, mailing to getting to my house, but it works and its portable. I use it at my hobby shop to play open Adventurer League with my laptop running dungeonfog. If you really need a big map you can shrink down the zoom to get all the grid in for large maps and use the tokens. For mini play I can get a fair bit on the map.
I like playing in person, but once you use digital maps and how much better the experience is, you don't want to go back to grid lines and markers. Rolling is the fun part, and the digital maps takes away the sucky part of telling everyone to wait 5 minutes as you draw out the room, only to have the party leave, do nothing and have to draw another map, but then come back, redraw and do an encounter. We've all been through that.
That looks sick! I would love to have something like this someday. I am sure its expensive though. Looks like they are on pause for the time being, But will def look into this for the future.
This doesn't help. I know how to scale everything. And if I had a printer I could print it out. But I dont. the problem is finding a place that can print the file after scaling. Thank you for the link though!
You’re welcome? The very last part of the video shows you how to print it from a normal printer to scale. Like the last 2 minutes of the video.
Since I run one of my games over Discord, I just copy image of the map, use a free image program called Irfanview to block out the areas they haven't been, and update their view as they explore.
The only areas where it has caused a bit of an issue are places that are supposed to be maze-like. Overall though, I've had very few problems with this method, and generally the biggest issue has been our party Wizard casting Arcane Eye and using it to scout as much as he can ahead of the group, which opens up a lot of map space, but leaves a lot of places not interacted with, so I have to keep that in mind if the part enters and area they have the map open for but haven't actually been to yet.
Thank you! I will likely do something like this, if the players want to do something else Ill be open to it but to start I think well see how this goes. Much appreciated!
There are a number of ways of doing this. If you want to spend a lot of time and double purchase modules and books go Fantasy Grounds or Roll 20, they have a digital table top you can use. I took the easiest route and went with Dungeongfog + Zoom. Its fast to create the maps, use as virtual tabletop and then share them with my players. The drawback is there hasn't been a ton of those maps ported to dungeonfog by the community, and Fantasy Grounds and Roll 20 have them done already. I don't like either of those two due to the cost and time to learn the tools. It would take you probably 1-2 hours of time to create those maps in DF if you went for fastest creation (I believe they have the first 2 or 3 levels available now). Once you see the bells and whistles in dungeonfog, and you start adding extras because its fun it could eat up your time. An even more expensive but better experience would be arkanforge. It costs a lot but it has animated maps and music.
I actually cheked that out! Dungeon fog looks really nice. I would def use it and build the other maps if needed, but we are getting together in person now so we wont be digital anymore. The hardest part about this with my group is, its 3 of my co workers, my dad and my brother. My dad already struggles with just navigating DnD Beyond, so adding something else to mix would have been hard. But not impossible. If we have to go back to digital though, i think I will use DF.
Well this is how I use Dungeonfog in person. I bought this TV case specifically for mad mag because there was no way to communicate to the players where they were at without giving them the maps and spoiling everything. I'd run out of a dry eraser marker every 3 levels if I tried to draw everything. You buy your TV, ship it to them and they build a case around it and send it to you. It will not get there quick. It took me about 6-8 weeks from payment, mailing to getting to my house, but it works and its portable. I use it at my hobby shop to play open Adventurer League with my laptop running dungeonfog. If you really need a big map you can shrink down the zoom to get all the grid in for large maps and use the tokens. For mini play I can get a fair bit on the map.
I like playing in person, but once you use digital maps and how much better the experience is, you don't want to go back to grid lines and markers. Rolling is the fun part, and the digital maps takes away the sucky part of telling everyone to wait 5 minutes as you draw out the room, only to have the party leave, do nothing and have to draw another map, but then come back, redraw and do an encounter. We've all been through that.
That looks sick! I would love to have something like this someday. I am sure its expensive though. Looks like they are on pause for the time being, But will def look into this for the future.
This doesn't help. I know how to scale everything. And if I had a printer I could print it out. But I dont. the problem is finding a place that can print the file after scaling. Thank you for the link though!
You’re welcome? The very last part of the video shows you how to print it from a normal printer to scale. Like the last 2 minutes of the video.
Sorry I was not trying to be disrespectful, I was appreciative of the time you took to give me link. I had watched it before. But I don't have a printer. So being able to open it in adope reader and get it all to print out on different sheets doesnt help. Its what I was hoping to do with Staples or UPS but they dont have the same options.
Since I run one of my games over Discord, I just copy image of the map, use a free image program called Irfanview to block out the areas they haven't been, and update their view as they explore.
Ohh ill have to check out Irfanview, I have not heard of this!
I've been using it since 2002 or so, it's a great little program for viewing images.
Just open the map in a separate tab or window, right click and copy image, paste in Irfanview, then you can highlight sections the party hasn't explored and hit Ctrl+ X to black them out.
I don't know if you can see this or not but I just paste it into the Discord channel we game in.
The way my DM would do mega-dungeons is to just describe them verbally as in "you see a corridor 40 feet long with a door on the left side, the end of the corridor is a T-junction". Then the players draw their own mini-map on gridded paper. The map they draw will be wrong. This is fine, it is expected and it makes exploring the dungeon more fun. Whenever a fight breaks out you can draw the current room layout on the Chessex mat.
Considering the group I'm doing this for is located in 3 different states in 5 different locations over Discord that's not viable. There's no shared Chessex mat to draw on.
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Looking for advice on how to even run these module with such massive dungeon maps. I am wanting to print them off, but nothing seems to do the trick when printing. I opened the map in GIMP and scaled it to the right size for minis, but staples, UPS none of them seem to be able to print it. Or I am not finding the options online. Even the largest blueprint option on staples isnt big enough which is mind blowing.
How do you all handle this? I have a Chessex map matt, but It wont be big enough to hold the dungeon, I could have them draw it for me as they go and erase when needed? If I had a printer at home I would use adobe reader to print it all out since I can have it print each section on different paper, but I dont.
Any advice would be very helpful! I am open to anything.
If you want to print off the maps at miniature scale, it helps to have friend who works for an engineering firm. The printers they use to print blueprints are perfect for this sort of thing.
That said, I don't use minis for my games, so what I tend to do is print a copy of the map for me and mark what areas my players have explored, then later I just make versions in MS paint where the parts they haven't been are edited out, print those, and hand them to my party for future use. We have one player who is the dedicated map holder and she tracks the most current maps and takes notes of interesting things in any given location.
Do you find that your players backtrack at all or have issues with theatre of the mind? We have been playing digitally for a while now because of Covid, so all of the heist campaign was online using zoom. And it was super easy to just share screen and zoom in an only show them what I wanted and we just used text to mark on the map where everyone was and move the text boxes around.
Now that we are getting together in person and have moved onto mad mage, I am not sure how to handle it all. Theatre of the mind seems like the most feasible option, but I worry about the complexity of the maps and areas.
If most players don't have issues with it, I do like the idea of me just keeping track of areas explored already and if they do backtrack just keeping descriptions and things simple.
The only areas where it has caused a bit of an issue are places that are supposed to be maze-like. Overall though, I've had very few problems with this method, and generally the biggest issue has been our party Wizard casting Arcane Eye and using it to scout as much as he can ahead of the group, which opens up a lot of map space, but leaves a lot of places not interacted with, so I have to keep that in mind if the part enters and area they have the map open for but haven't actually been to yet.
There are a number of ways of doing this. If you want to spend a lot of time and double purchase modules and books go Fantasy Grounds or Roll 20, they have a digital table top you can use. I took the easiest route and went with Dungeongfog + Zoom. Its fast to create the maps, use as virtual tabletop and then share them with my players. The drawback is there hasn't been a ton of those maps ported to dungeonfog by the community, and Fantasy Grounds and Roll 20 have them done already. I don't like either of those two due to the cost and time to learn the tools. It would take you probably 1-2 hours of time to create those maps in DF if you went for fastest creation (I believe they have the first 2 or 3 levels available now). Once you see the bells and whistles in dungeonfog, and you start adding extras because its fun it could eat up your time. An even more expensive but better experience would be arkanforge. It costs a lot but it has animated maps and music.
Thank you! I will likely do something like this, if the players want to do something else Ill be open to it but to start I think well see how this goes. Much appreciated!
I actually cheked that out! Dungeon fog looks really nice. I would def use it and build the other maps if needed, but we are getting together in person now so we wont be digital anymore. The hardest part about this with my group is, its 3 of my co workers, my dad and my brother. My dad already struggles with just navigating DnD Beyond, so adding something else to mix would have been hard. But not impossible. If we have to go back to digital though, i think I will use DF.
Well this is how I use Dungeonfog in person. I bought this TV case specifically for mad mag because there was no way to communicate to the players where they were at without giving them the maps and spoiling everything. I'd run out of a dry eraser marker every 3 levels if I tried to draw everything. You buy your TV, ship it to them and they build a case around it and send it to you. It will not get there quick. It took me about 6-8 weeks from payment, mailing to getting to my house, but it works and its portable. I use it at my hobby shop to play open Adventurer League with my laptop running dungeonfog. If you really need a big map you can shrink down the zoom to get all the grid in for large maps and use the tokens. For mini play I can get a fair bit on the map.
I like playing in person, but once you use digital maps and how much better the experience is, you don't want to go back to grid lines and markers. Rolling is the fun part, and the digital maps takes away the sucky part of telling everyone to wait 5 minutes as you draw out the room, only to have the party leave, do nothing and have to draw another map, but then come back, redraw and do an encounter. We've all been through that.
https://www.collabrewate.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KuBYxpK5B8
That looks sick! I would love to have something like this someday. I am sure its expensive though. Looks like they are on pause for the time being, But will def look into this for the future.
This doesn't help. I know how to scale everything. And if I had a printer I could print it out. But I dont. the problem is finding a place that can print the file after scaling. Thank you for the link though!
You’re welcome? The very last part of the video shows you how to print it from a normal printer to scale. Like the last 2 minutes of the video.
Since I run one of my games over Discord, I just copy image of the map, use a free image program called Irfanview to block out the areas they haven't been, and update their view as they explore.
I ran it using Fantasy Grounds on an embedded TV in my table.
Sorry I was not trying to be disrespectful, I was appreciative of the time you took to give me link. I had watched it before. But I don't have a printer. So being able to open it in adope reader and get it all to print out on different sheets doesnt help. Its what I was hoping to do with Staples or UPS but they dont have the same options.
Ohh ill have to check out Irfanview, I have not heard of this!
Yeah maybe one day we will be able to get a setup like that. Would be awesome!
I've been using it since 2002 or so, it's a great little program for viewing images.
Just open the map in a separate tab or window, right click and copy image, paste in Irfanview, then you can highlight sections the party hasn't explored and hit Ctrl+ X to black them out.
I don't know if you can see this or not but I just paste it into the Discord channel we game in.
The way my DM would do mega-dungeons is to just describe them verbally as in "you see a corridor 40 feet long with a door on the left side, the end of the corridor is a T-junction". Then the players draw their own mini-map on gridded paper. The map they draw will be wrong. This is fine, it is expected and it makes exploring the dungeon more fun. Whenever a fight breaks out you can draw the current room layout on the Chessex mat.
Considering the group I'm doing this for is located in 3 different states in 5 different locations over Discord that's not viable. There's no shared Chessex mat to draw on.