Battlemap for Fantasy Grounds

kevbeck43 · March 2020

This battlemap was made with symbols from CSUAC and DA symbols. I like this style. I have made three like this so far and will post them all. This is the first one. The others will have something unique about them.

Monsen · March 2020

Battlemaps for forests like this are tricky beasts. If you use tree symbols like you have done here, it looks good, until you introduce the counters, and everyone seem to be trampling on top of the trees. But using only tree stumps also look weird.

taustinoc · March 2020

I've seen macros in MapTool (I think the Bag of Tricks has it) that show the trees until a token moves close enough, then switches it to the stump. The same macros will show the roof of a house until a token moves into it, then switches it to the interior.

Monsen · March 2020

There are, problems with these is when you wish to draw a map outside the VTT software, because that reduces the map to a flat file. Map made inside the VTT can be more interactive, but generally they are impossible to make as nice as a CC3+ map. You can use CC3+ symbols in there, but you miss all the other tools.

Guess I can't have the best of both worlds

mike robel · March 2020

That would be a nifty trick if it happened without further intervention when pushing cardboard.

Merion · March 2020

Well, I'm not familiar with Fantasy Grounds, but if it supports layers, you could create two maps, one with canopies and one with only stumps

mattekure · March 2020

Fantasy Grounds Classic (the current version) does not support layers. just static images. Fantasy Grounds Unity (currently beta, estimated release in April), does support layers that the GM can toggle on/off. tokens however, will always be drawn on top of all the layers, never beneath.

Loopysue · March 2020

You could have individual tree tops on different layers - one tree top per layer, and switch them off as counters approach?

Wyvern · March 2020

Perhaps try setting-up the trees with a solid trunk/stump symbol, overlain by a transparent leaf-canopy one? You could create that using most image-processing software if the symbols are PNGs, which once saved would then become a single final PNG image, without needing to worry about layers or what the VTT system can currently handle. You could even create it using CC3+. The final symbol would then show the trunk you can't walk through (well, character-ability-dependent...) as well as the canopy overhead. Of course, for a wild woodland, the canopy could easily extend right down to the forest floor, where there are no grazing herbivores that can reach the leaves. Obviously, you'd be limited as to how you could create or reuse that dependent upon the EULA involved in the original symbol images.

kevbeck43 · March 2020

Fantasy Ground Unity has line of sight capability. My plan was to implement that in the maps. You can define each of the trees as blocking line of site. For example I can create a stump size construct in the map using their tools that will block line of sight behind the stump. I don't think that would make the trees disappear but at least it would give the player knowledge on what they could actually see and pass through on the map. I don't have it in front of me but I also think that you can put a certain level of transparency on the layers so that when a character moves over an area not blocked by line of site it will look like they are going under the tree. I may do a video of this to demonstrate.

Monsen, can I make tokens for fantasy grounds with symbols I bought from Profantasy or downloaded from DA or CSUAC? I am asking for a legal clarification. Would it be something like I can make them but I can't sell them?

Monsen · March 2020

As far as I understand the license, making tokens for personal use and use them in FG isn't a problem.

But given that a token is usually just a piece of existing artwork with a border, distributing them to others (free or paid) would be an issue, as you get into the distributing artwork territory.

(Keep in mind that I am not a lawyer nor a ProFantasy employee. These are just my personal interpretation, not a legal binding, nor necessarily correct, answer)

Loopysue · March 2020

Profantasy artwork: You can't sell or give assets or modified versions of them away as items in their own right, but you can use them in your maps - as long as they aren't maps designed to make it easy for others to extract those assets. (I think that is what the clause about Floorplans is about).

You can read the PF EULA here: https://www.profantasy.com/service/license.asp

Other artwork: Not sure. Best to check with respective publishers if they don't make it pin sharp and clear on their site, or if the EULA seems to be written in Marsian. If you aren't absolutely certain the best thing is not to do it - not even for a friend.

EDIT: Ninjad by Remy (well the question was directed at him to be fair!), but that will teach me to take over 10 minutes trying to find the PF EULA page! LOL!

EDIT2: Ditto what Remy said at the last. These are also only my personal interpretations of the way things are.

seycyrus · March 2020

Posted By: kevbeck43... I may do a video of this to demonstrate. ...

Please make this video, I would love to see it.

kevbeck43 · March 2020

I haven't forgotten about the video tutorial. I'm going to be doing it probably this weekend.

kevbeck43 · March 2020

Here is another Fantasy Grounds battlemap. I took some of the trees away rendered at a higher resolution and then used Infranview to reduce the size to this. I am currently making a package of battlemaps that I am going to put into a Fantasy Grounds module.

Loopysue · March 2020

I like the way that you have done the river banks in this one :)

Just a thought, but it might be wise to extend that river a short distance beyond the edges of the frame so that the effects don't make it look like it stops at them.

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Battlemap for Fantasy Grounds

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