This post is OOC and is for discussion of a combat mapping question I have for you all.
During our first combat session, there was a fair bit of confusion over locations of certain monsters and heroes in relation to each other. So, I have a couple of possible remedies to the situation.
First is to use actual miniatures along with a battle mat and/or D&D Dungeon Tiles. I don't have a lot in the way of terrain/scenery but I have enough to make it work. I would simply take pictures and post them to the blog. I have miniatures for each of your characters and more than enough monsters.
The second option is to use my Battle Mat iPhone App to build maps and post images from the app to the blog. This may be a bit more precise for our purposes, but the app has a limited number of actual images for use as characters and monsters.
Thoughts, anyone? I'm leaning towards pictures of actual minis on a tabletop, personally.
FWIW - I am heading out of town tomorrow for business. Don't know what my posting schedule will be like.
ReplyDeleteNow on the mapping. I would love to see some form of mapping for sure. I just don't know how well photos will work. It would be, it would seem to me, hard to describe how/where we would want to move.
I will give anything a try, but a simple hex/graph MS Paint doodle would work just as well. If it would help, I could throw an example together.
TB
This might work for you: http://pyromancers.com/ There's one there that can fit onto forums; might works for a blog too.
ReplyDelete@ the Bane: thanks for the heads-up.
ReplyDelete@ Simon: I'll definitely give that program a shot and see how it looks. My home computer is slow, which may limit its usability for our purposes here, but I appreciate the tip!
Of all the online mapping I've done, whatever is easiest for the GM/DM is the best IMHO, because it will take more of your time than our time. My only suggestion would be to include some sort of A to Z, 1 to 10 grid like a chessboard so individual squares can be called out.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I use Ditzie in my own game, http://ditzie.com , because my players can move pieces, update the map, and generate a new hyperlink. The documentation is sparse, but I don't find it too difficult. Here's an example from our last battle:
http://beta.ditzie.com/19534/4e93089002055
http://beta.ditzie.com/19534/4eb05d69a8097
http://beta.ditzie.com/19534/4eb84eeed5035
http://beta.ditzie.com/19534/4eb9c87ac1d86
That requires a lot of image work on the front end, but then requires nearly zero work for the rest of the fight.
I don't actually mind photos. It'd be different, for sure, though it might pose a few problems as Bane pointed out. Still, it'd be better than nothing.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about using Maptool, http://www.rptools.net/index.php?page=maptool , for my own game, as it has a ton of tokens and other goodies, but I just checked out that link from Simon and I've got to say, I think I like it a lot, though it's a bit of work.
But like Jake said, whatever will prove to be easiest for you will be best for us. A happy GM makes for happy players.
Thanks for all the great advice guys. I think I will probably experiment over the next few combat sessions with different methods before settling on one.
ReplyDeleteI think I would appreciate the photos the most, but I'll throw in with Jake and say that whatever is easiest for you is the best option.
ReplyDeletewhatever works best for the GM. so, yeah, add my vote to Jake's and the Jesters
ReplyDelete