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Saturday, November 21, 2020

Game Prep - Roll20, Tokens, and Maps

I pretty much spent today's game prep time doing the following:

- Making tokens with Token Maker 2

- Editing those icons so they have sight, so I can control them as the GM, so they have labels, etc. etc. etc.

- Then trying to take my maps of the dungeon area the PCs will likely go to in order to fight Durak, The Lord of Spite, and trying to make that into a hex combat map. Doing that with Dynamic Lighting and all of that is beyond me. I spent literal hours doing Fog of War on a pre-made map in the past. If I was good at turning images into other kinds of images, and editing them, and making fine adjustments to them, and making sure they're exactly as proportional as the minis are, I'd have gone into visual and graphic design like my sibling did. Instead of spending my time on tactics, reviewing the treasure in the area to make sure I'm on the ball, etc. I spent it scanning and uploading maps and trying to convince Roll20 to cooperate. Honestly, if I could just point a camera at a map and ask people where they wanted to move, I'd do that. This is way more time than it's worth, and there is roughly a 75% chance my players do something else and force the fight to occur elsewhere.

I spent a good hour on this already, and I'm not done yet.

I mean, I could leave this all for game time, but it'll ruin tomorrow instead of just messing up today. Roll20 makes me tired all over.*



* Second best line in The Usual Suspects.

3 comments:

  1. You got all that done in an hour? Whoa your fast

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  2. I know some people who run games with a webcam pointed at their game table, using minis and paper maps etc. It honestly sounds a whole lot more convenient, even though they do need to move the minis on behalf of the players.

    I also know somebody who's got a webcam showing his dice tower, so he can roll stuff physically and in full view. I respect that immensely.

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  3. This is why I keep resisting trying to run a game on Roll20 or any of it's ilk. I can run non-tactical games (and sometimes prefer it), but the people I game with prefer tactical combat so it would mean stupid amounts of prep time.

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