Free Drawing?

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duckwagon
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Free Drawing?

Post by duckwagon »

I'm trying to set up my personal Tabletop RPG for network play... and I'm looking for a couple of particular aspects for a tool.

I need to be able to draw and edit the maps/npc's freely (as I improv more than I prepare). I can just use a white-board app for this, for all I care; it's not that complicated. Is this possible with RPTools? It's the main thing I see lacking.

I also need to be able to move some things freely, like npcs or chars. Putting notes or basic stats might be a plus, but like I said that needs to be on the fly.

Tertiary might be to manage some of the mechanics of the game, i.e. initiative, etc. But really, it's super simple, so just a tool to keep track of things might be sufficient. Even the pdf form I've set up might be enough, if I can share it easily enough.

Things I've thought of:
Something like Teamviewer + a desktop whiteboard/note-taking app.
Probably the best option, honestly, but I can't find a whiteboard that allows me to move stuff around easily enough AND can draw well.

An online whiteboard might work, but has the same issues as a desktop whiteboard.

I've looked into Vassal, but like this I can't figure out how to create on the fly.

...and RPtools. As I've discussed before.

RPTools is awesome, don't get me wrong; I just prefer the freestyle approach, and I can't figure out how to do it. :P

Any thoughts?

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JamzTheMan
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Re: Free Drawing?

Post by JamzTheMan »

Have you tied clicking the Paintbrush? (Second icon in on the toolbar at the top)

You can paint colors, textures, etc. Holding Control key snaps everything to grid.

*Edit: ya, control key, that's what I said. :)
Last edited by JamzTheMan on Thu May 02, 2013 4:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Azhrei
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Re: Free Drawing?

Post by Azhrei »

JamzTheMan wrote:You can paint colors, textures, etc. Holding Alt key snaps everything to grid.
No, holding the Ctrl key snaps to grid. ;)

To the OP: when selecting a tool from the toolbar, be sure to check out the help text that appears in the status bar at the bottom of the main window...

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wolph42
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Re: Free Drawing?

Post by wolph42 »

To answer your entire question: all that you need as you describe it is possible in maptool. You are however required to check out the video tutorials.

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JML
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Re: Free Drawing?

Post by JML »

Here's the tutorial site: http://www.rptoolstutorials.net/. You should take a look at the introductory video tutorial at first, which should answer most of your mapping concerns, there: Introduction to MapTool.

Otherwise duckwagon, you can take a look at the wiki there: Main Page. To answer specifically your questions I suggest you read Introduction to Mapping, Introduction to Tokens, Introduction to Properties and Shortcut Keys.

General purpose articles that should be useful: Introduction to Game Hosting and MapTool Preferences.

duckwagon
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Re: Free Drawing?

Post by duckwagon »

Thanks for the responses. I've looked through some of the tutorials a while ago, I may have to refresh my memory.

It looks like it might work, as you've said. To be clear, though, is it possible to draw the map on the fly? Or would I still have to set it up beforehand? I really don't want to have to search through the whole wiki of tut's to find it isn't what I'm looking for.

Thanks.

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wolph42
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Re: Free Drawing?

Post by wolph42 »

duckwagon wrote:Thanks for the responses. I've looked through some of the tutorials a while ago, I may have to refresh my memory.

It looks like it might work, as you've said. To be clear, though, is it possible to draw the map on the fly? Or would I still have to set it up beforehand? I really don't want to have to search through the whole wiki of tut's to find it isn't what I'm looking for.

Thanks.
yes!

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JML
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Re: Free Drawing?

Post by JML »

duckwagon wrote:To be clear, though, is it possible to draw the map on the fly? Or would I still have to set it up beforehand? I really don't want to have to search through the whole wiki of tut's to find it isn't what I'm looking for.
As Wolph42 said, the short answer is yes and it is demonstrated in the video I pointed to: Introduction to MapTool.

You can spend time on the rest (wiki and video tutorials) when needed (I tried to sort out the most relevant ones regarding your concerns so you shouldn't need to spend much time on something else unless you change your mind).

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Jagged
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Re: Free Drawing?

Post by Jagged »

duckwagon wrote: Any thoughts?
Using Maptool as you describe is exactly how I recommend people start off. So you can most definitely use it free-form, white-board style.

The thing that catches everyone out when they start is the way the drawing tools have a habit of drawing everything as an enclosed polygon. To stop it doing that, you just need to make sure the Fill-colour is set to blank.

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Bhoritz
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Re: Free Drawing?

Post by Bhoritz »

For my own use, I have finally settled for a framework that contains blank(s) squared map(s) upon which I draw with a very simple Wacom tablet. It works quite well for the improvised parts of the game.
It seems like the kind of things you are searching for, but even if it works in face to face games (like I am playing), I am not sure that this kind of very simplistic setting would work so well online.

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Simetradon
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Re: Free Drawing?

Post by Simetradon »

You can freehand it, however, if you want things like detailed maps, automation, line of sight and fog of war, you'll have to set things up beforehand and do a modicum of preparation.

If drawing maps is difficult, you can always look around online, there' plenty of repositories. Additionally, there are cartographers available for hire.

Here's a few generic maps I created that are free to use:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8229/8412 ... 715c_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8250/8579 ... 8f6f_b.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8234/8477 ... 88a9_b.jpg

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