DMing Question

[Sornjss Lichdom]

This is asked about everyother week but..

Where do you make Battle Tables for PbP?

an explanation or guide would be usefull

[Crow]

I think you may need to clarify your question.

*bump*

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Do you mean

Where do you make Battle Maps for PbP?


??

[Sornjss Lichdom]

yes battle maps. sorry didnt think it that confussing, but then again i knew what i wanted. yes the little map with squares detailing the area.

[....]

I think this is a good question.

I looked around, but couldn't find anything really useful and free.

[Hzurr]

Err...I always used MS Paint.

I'm fancy like that.

[Sornjss Lichdom]

Ok, but how do you do it. like a sort of simple tutorial.

[RS14]

I use Inkscape to get a .svg file, then convert it to .png with the GIMP. It requires a lot of work, but you can easily move characters about after completion, and it looks really good. I've also seen hand drawn maps scanned and uploaded and with little dots, and that also worked well.

I use 40x40px squares with 2px wide edges to form the map-grid (with the grid turned on in Inkscape (#), they'll snap next to each other). I group them all so they don't get dragged around by accident. After the rest of the map is done, I'll raise this to the top layer so that it covers everything

I then lay down a base ground cover with the rectangle or pen tools. I can add other features with any number of tools, but pen, pencil, and inset seem to be most useful for many objects.

Trees can be done with a single ellipse and a rounded and random star. Don't forget to make it transparent so you can see characters beneath it.

Rubble can be done with a large number of random, unrounded polygons of the different sizes. Just place them all out of the way, then select some randomly to get different colors until you've got a variety of colors. Then move them into location.

For interior areas, you can get your tunnels and rooms laid out and then cover them with a large rectangle. You then use the exclude command so that your tunnels and rooms show whatever is behind them, while everything outside shows solid rock (black).
You might consider using topographic or khaki color sets to show relative heights on the map.
For natural caves, I've had some success placing a large region of overlapping ellipses, then using union to generate one large, irregular room.

For the players and monsters, I use slightly transparent circles (width and height: 35px for medium creatures) of various colors. I track their last movement with a dotted line.

It's helpful to add grid numbers and letters on the edges of your maps so that your players can refer to a specific square. I do this in the GIMP just before saving it as a .png file. Then I just upload it to photobucket or something.

[Seffbasilisk]

I have an image file of a square I made in paint a long time ago. I copy/paste it a dozen times, then copy/paste that to quickly get hundreds. Color squares, and add a key saying what color is what.

[Ravyn]

Have you considered Googling AutoRealm? Slightly hiccupy when you use a lot of the precreated images, but other than that it's as good a mapmaking program as any I've seen, and works on just about any scale that'll hold still long enough.

[Sornjss Lichdom]

ok so i went to auto realm, but how do i transpose it to these forums?