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Mapping Software or online tools?

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Sun, 2014-08-03 03:00

#1

Knives

Knives's picture

Mapping Software or online tools?

I'm new to the message boards but I've been playing EP for just over a year, running my own campaign. I usually use Paint to generate these crude bare bones maps for my players, that usually look like an elementary school student put them together in their free time. Examples include a habitat that my players currently control, an asteroid mining operation, and more recently, a bubble-hab on a different asteroid in the belt. I live in mainland China and theres a big gaming convention (big=100-200 people hehe) this fall. I have a one shot written up, but what I don't have are cool things like detailed maps for the players. I have the morph recognition guide, which is a great visual aid for immersement. But what about for players coming from D&D or pathfinder, used to grids and what not? I don't want to get to intricute but once or twice I've had a player say, well if I knew there was a door there, I'd have done this instead... So my thoughts are always to ad supplementary information, such a map. Let me know of any solutions, please. Also, would anyone be interested in me posting my one shot somewhere for others to access?

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multi-tasking? Is it still multi-tasking when its a different instance of myself handling a task that I am currently not? How about 1,000 other instances?

Sun, 2014-08-03 05:33

#2

ORCACommander ORCACommander's picture

ORCACommander's picture

there is a java based program

there is a java based program out there called maptools which is the online go to default for internet dnd type roll playing. i just do not know how well stocked it is with space assets

Sun, 2014-08-03 07:51

#3

Knives

Knives's picture

Sounds Interesting

Thanks for the advice. I'm looking into it now. Here's the link: http://www.rptools.net/?page=maptool In case anyone else needs it

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multi-tasking? Is it still multi-tasking when its a different instance of myself handling a task that I am currently not? How about 1,000 other instances?

Sun, 2014-08-03 16:35

#4

Googleshng Googleshng's picture

Googleshng's picture

There's a slight learning

There's a slight learning curve with maptool (and it uses a port most routers block by default so hey, remember to set up port forwarding), and there are SERIOUS performance issues if you try messing with the dynamic lighting stuff, but generally speaking it's the most reliable, user-friendly piece of software for this sort of thing.

Mon, 2014-08-04 02:50

#5

Knives

Knives's picture

Played with it a little this afternoon

I had a chance to play with it this afternoon. There is definitely a learning curve to it. Would there be a way to add labels? Preferably labels that are dynamic: Mostly for InOp updates, for example: Before clearing the laboratory, its labeled: Lab:???, after cleared: Lab: Resleeving and medical resources available. I am a huge fan of this. What I usually do is save two JPegs, one without info and one with. IT worked well during an asteroid session with no mesh access. Keeps players from having to keep asking "Whats in that floor again?" It also helps shape the story telling. In game its more of a passive thing, I don't use tokens, etc. And my maps are usually large and abstract, like an entire hab or asteroid. So that the usage of the map is to keep the players on the same level as myself. Its also funny to hear their responses, when seeing a whole map: "Oh yes, "mining operation: Unknown Biological life detected. Now we know where not to go if we want to stay alive". My crew tend to have a great sense of humor. I'll get back to you in a few days to a week. If it works, I'll share my maps here.

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multi-tasking? Is it still multi-tasking when its a different instance of myself handling a task that I am currently not? How about 1,000 other instances?

Mon, 2014-08-04 03:05

#6

Knives

Knives's picture

Update: Found this

http://rpgvirtualtabletop.wikidot.com/mapping-software This seemed like a nice site with a few resources listed. Thought it was worth mentioning. Haven't tried anything from it yet.

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multi-tasking? Is it still multi-tasking when its a different instance of myself handling a task that I am currently not? How about 1,000 other instances?

Mon, 2014-08-04 05:56

#7

Googleshng Googleshng's picture

Googleshng's picture

Knives wrote:I had a chance

Knives wrote:
I had a chance to play with it this afternoon. There is definitely a learning curve to it. Would there be a way to add labels? Preferably labels that are dynamic: Mostly for InOp updates, for example: Before clearing the laboratory, its labeled: Lab:???, after cleared: Lab: Resleeving and medical resources available.

Yeah. From left to right along the main toolbar- Select, Drawing, Tempates, Fog, Vision Blocking. Under select, there's the select tool, and measuring tool (handy for checking things discreetly without telling the whole group. Under drawing, you have freehand lines, straight, rectangles, elipses, and, what you're looking for, text. Click where you want, type a label. At any time, come back to the text tool, you can drag it around, or double click to change it. For everything else, note that you can change the fill color by right-clicking, and that red slash in the palette is for unfilled. Also, everything but free-hand goes click once to start, again to finish. Annoying, but hey. Templates are like drawing, they all go from corners, specifically designed for D&D, but sometimes it's nice to have a rough cone. Fog of war is removed with the same interface as the drawing tools, hold shift to put it back. Most other handy features hide under the map and view menus. When creating a new map, you can import import an image to use as a background (use artifact-y jpgs where you can, it's not built to handle files over a few dozen K really), it'll automatically grab the filename for the map. From there, adjust grid under the map menu lets you use the scroll wheel to very quickly get things to the right scale. Bunch of features if you right-click a token too, which you can handily add just by drag and dropping any image onto the map (pro tip: Name an image something like "Thug 1.gif" and it'll start incrementing the number from there as you drop on a bunch. Otherwise you get Thug, Thug 1, Thug 2, etc. and the numberless one throws you the heck off.