Questions tagged [map-making]
For questions about creating maps of physical space and terrain, for use during preparation or play, from the scale of galactic jump-lane routes to the map of a dungeon corridor.
76 questions
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When should I tell my players that they have forgotten something?
My players have been operating out of a certain small town for my whole campaign. They've adventured around the area nearby quite a bit already (just finished Session 23).
Recently, my intended ...
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What information should I give the players for them to draw their map?
I am going to start an online Westmarches-style campaign, using a slightly patched version of Pathfinder 2.
I expect the whole adventure to happen on one big island (where the PCs arrive in session 0),...
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How many hexes do the different kinds of settlements take up on province scale maps?
On pages 16 and 17 of the DMG three sizes of possible settlements are detailed: villages, towns and cities. Their respective sections give details about the size of their population amongst other ...
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How can I convert The Touch of Death 2E module to run in D&D 5e?
I am including the Ravenloft: Touch of Death module from AD&D 2e in my D&D 5e campaign as I have repurposed the Hexad. However, the maps from the quest are a mess, the NPCs are disposable, and ...
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Is there a way to blend hex and square grid for battle maps?
I'm new to hexes and not too experienced with map-making in general, and I want to expand my understanding of them. While I was figuring out how radiuses would work for things like spells on a hex map,...
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Calculating distance on a map [closed]
I'm running a campaign in the Sword Coast, and like to provide consistent travel distance and time to my players. As far as I could find, there are no distance charts. And even if there were, they are ...
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Are there any problems using a mix of hex and square grids on a map?
I'm creating some maps with a 5ft hex grid and hoping to keep them system agnostic. There are some rooms that have a shape that doesn't fit the hex grid well and would fit a square grid much better. ...
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How do you measure distance on a battlemap/grid? [closed]
In the 5e master manual it says that, at a certain scale on a regional map, hexagons represent a certain amount of miles. Does it refer to sides or distance from the center of a hex to another?
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Kingdom Map and Travel Pace
I'm having trouble with scales when creating a kingdom map.
Quoting the Dungeon Master's Guide regarding province scale maps (p. 14):
For the most detailed areas of your world, use a province ...
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Is Forgotten Realms geo-location data copyrighted, or free to use?
I am in the process of creating a gis map of Toril, starting from the Faerun Continent. (More details are in this question on GIS.SE: Starting a QGIS project for a fantasy world map from raster images....
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Room and floor numbering conventions for large to midsized dungeons: most popular, advantages and disadvantages? [closed]
Introduction
I have been creating some multi-floor dungeons. It took awhile, but with time I found software, a notation format, and fidelity level that suited my needs. The one thing I'm still not ...
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Is a 5 foot square on a battle map 5 sq. ft.?
I am making a map for a modern day game my DM is running, and I have an architectural image of a floor plan with listed square footage.
For a D20 Modern's 5ft grid, how would I figure out how many ...
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Is there a good, cheap way of making isometric maps or similar for RPG campaigns? [closed]
I want to make a digital isometric world map for my campaign world, both for my own planning purposes and to share with the players as they explore my upcoming homebrew Pathfinder campaign.
...
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How can I get my long-distance friend to share a VTT with me when they have only an Android phone and I have only a laptop?
I have a friend I want to run a campaign for online. I'd like to use a virtual table-top (VTT) to facilitate play, but I can't get anything to run on my PC that runs on their Android phone and vice ...
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Setting up a Dungeon Map
So I don't know if anyone on here has used the 4E Keep on the Shadowfell but when you get to interlude 2 the PCs enter the dungeon, but the map is huge. When we play, I have the characters move over ...
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How to use battle maps in combination with large, open spaces such as a town square
I recently came across this problem when I DM'd a ready-to-use oneshot - its main battle took place on the town square, and the map supplied with the rest of the campaign guide would have required me ...
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How do I give dungeons sensible layouts that are still gameable? [duplicate]
When creating dungeons, I like to try to give them a history beyond "old place with traps and monsters and gold", since I like everything to feel real and have a purpose. However, whenever I try to ...
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Is wanting the players to map dungeons incompatible with a battle mat?
I would like to run a campaign that involves the PCs exploring an unmapped wilderness, including various dungeons and the like. I have it all mapped out myself, but I want the act of them mapping the ...
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How to turn hand-drawn maps to digital
I've been beginning to format my adventures for publishing, and the last hangup I have is that my maps are hand-drawn. I want to transfer them to digital format, but I'm limited to scanning them into ...
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Creating a map for a West Marches campaign [closed]
I'm about to start running a West Marches campaign and I am struggling with a way to build up a map that I can use. Here are my thoughts so far:
Create a DM only Hex based map that shows terrain and ...
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Map building\Map making [closed]
I have been running a star wars saga edition role playing game and I have made countless maps but I was wondering is there a place I can get better resources than drawing every thing my self?
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A question about fantasy map making [closed]
I'm a budding book-writer, YouTuber and game idea person, and I am wanting to make a fantasy map, but alas, I am a broke person. And I am wanting to make a good map for some fantasy/RPG worlds.
Is ...
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How can I figure out distances for a map I'm using? [closed]
I've made a map for my D&D game. But I forgot to consider its size and how long it would take to travel over it. How can I determine the size of my map? Someone guessed that it might be the same ...
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Necessities for a D&D map [closed]
I am fairly new to D&D but I have always been interested in making maps!
I was wondering if there are specific elements that must be included on a map for it to be usable.
Thank you in advance!
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How to create A4-sized hex paper with numbered hexes? [closed]
I'd like to draw a setting map on hex paper with numbered hexes for the purposes of hexcrawling. A google search resulted in several sources for hex papers without the numbering.
To be more explicit, ...
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11
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Looking for a Java keyboard-based map making program I lost
I used to have a Java-based mapper, but I lost it somewhere migrating between Win8 and Linux. As far as I remember it had the following specifications:
Coded in Java - not Javascript.
Not web/...
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How do you represent sloping topography on a battle mat?
So, the vast majority of combat happens on flat environments, but most real-world environments are topographically variable. They have hills, and trenches, and slopes, and stuff.
I have no trouble ...
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How do I get around players losing interest during mapping?
For the past couple months, my D&D hack game has been experiencing the same persistent issue. While all my players seem to have fun during the exploring/debating/combat/social parts of the game, ...
user5834
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DFRPG city creation via telepresence
I'm planning a DFRPG campaign for the first time since my group began gathering via telepresence. How can we best approximate sitting around the table to collaborate, talk, and work on city creation1 ...
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What other villages were affected by the events leading up to Hoard of the Dragon Queen?
Running Hoard of the Dragon Queen, “Episode 3: The Dragon Hatchery” on Roll20 and I'm editing the map of the Sword Coast to show only the Greenfields and the route they marked.
I also want to put Xs ...
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What are some good resources for designing maps (regional, provincial, dungeon, etc)? [closed]
Alright, I hope this question is narrow enough in scope that it's alright for RPG.SE. What I am asking for is a list of resources such as essays, books, blog posts, articles, how-to's, etc., that ...
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How to copy maps from adventure books [duplicate]
I recently bought a DnD 5e starter set and with it came the adventure book of the Lost Mine of Phandelver. It had a few maps with it. Now the problem is, I'm not sure how I should get those maps on a ...
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How do I balance detailed encounter maps with not wanting to give away my dungeon layout?
I'm in the process of designing a Megadungeon, and it seems like people run large dungeons like this using the theater of the mind to avoid giving the layout away and allow players to explore, get ...
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How to design and clearly represent a 3-D location?
I would like to design a dungeon-like location, a city surrounding a keep built on a limestone hill littered with caves. Tunnels and caverns would connect certain city locations to keep dungeons but ...
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What software is there for creating custom color hex maps? [closed]
I would like to find software to help me create an regional hex map, preferably in color. I already have the region mapped out by hand, but I want to re-create it as a classic hex map with each hex ...
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Coming up with building layouts on the fly
Sometimes in my shadowrun game(s), I have to invent a building interior on the fly for my players. I like to draw a floor plan or something similar for them. My problem is that I find it hard to ...
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How much time should travelling through a country take? [closed]
Im creating my world right now, and i have the basic layout
What i've been thinking about, is how large it should be, and im not sure how to do it to maximize the fun in the game.
At the moment i ...
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Colaborative map-editing tool for Paranoia games [closed]
I am running a multi-group paranoia with a couple of friends.
We are usually playing with 3 Gamemasters and 5 people per group at the same time in the same realm.
We are looking for a colaborate map-...
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Is there a good way of adapting Megacity One maps from actual maps of New York?
My group is starting a Traveller Judge Dredd RPG adventure set in Megacity One (New York area). We'd like to make, or appropriate, a street-level map of a specific few Sectors of the city, to serve as ...
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Is there a good tool for drawing the layout of a mansion/manor? [closed]
I'm in the planning phase of developing a Maid: the RPG game, and it occurs to me that at some point I'm going to need to design the interior of a mansion.
It's a mansion that currently has four ...
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Map making for the artistically deficient [closed]
I am woefully terrible at drawing, sketching, or even tracing. As to be expected, then, my map-making skills are underwhelming, to say the least. I have a specific overworld map idea in mind, but lack ...
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Is there an efficient way to make an interactive map? [closed]
I'm looking for a way to map a world as was done in the Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas. I want the ability to be able to zoom into areas while maintaining scale, and to get down to battle maps.
...
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How large should the Large Sheet of Paper be?
I always get one that's too big. We play with 3-5 people and don't want to spend more than two and a half hours straight drawing landscape at the absolute longest. What size paper would be best?
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Good mapping tools for odd topologies [closed]
I'm looking to host a game that takes place in an asteroid terrarium traveling through interstellar space. Does anyone know of mapping software for 1) the inside of the asteroid, which resembles the ...
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Where to get mapmaking software for Mac? [closed]
I've been looking for a program that can create maps on a Mac... Any ideas? I would like it to be a World Map, that the players just relate to, to know where they are and to tie all of the quests into ...
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Earth height-maps, with adjustable sea/fog level
I like the Eleven Pillars idea, hinted at the linked post, and I would like to adapt it to out Earth. In order to do that, I'd need something like a heightmap, with adjustable sea level, to simulate ...
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What software tools or websites are available for running RPG, grid-based combat? [duplicate]
Are there any software tools (or websites) that support creating tactical combat maps as well as actively running them for combat? I'm looking to do away with paper and battle-mats. Here are my ...
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Where can I find resources to create a realistic castle dungeon? [closed]
Shortly, I will send my PCs into a castle ruin, and I plan on them spending some time there, possibly to refurbish the castle and claim it as their own. I want to make this castle a realistic place, ...
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Where can I observe a world's creation as it happens?
The Adventurer Conquerer King System has specific and detailed instructions on how to map and detail a setting for use in play, and I'm trying to get the hang of them. Unfortunately, not having a real ...
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RPG Tools (Virtual Board w/ LAN support) (Automatic or Decent Map Generator) [duplicate]
I am in search of a free virtual board with LAN connectivity. All it needs to be able to do is allow different users connected via LAN to be able to move pieces in real time. A specific user-lock for ...
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