Question...

[mortavius]

Hello folks,

I've been a long time lurker on these forums; many of you folks do great work that aids me in my tabletop gaming.

I have recently discovered a virtual tabletop website that looks really promising, and will allow me to game online with a number of my old friends. (The site is roll20.net.) The site allows you to take maps and directly copy them into the program to use them in the system.

I have an older D&D module called "Eyes of the Lich Queen" for the Eberron setting in D&D 3.5E. I have the original hardcopy, and the PDF. I wanted to copy the maps into the system, but in the book, they're printed in such a matter that they are tilted by about 10-15 degrees. This makes copying them problematic, as it makes a vertical box around the whole thing, catching a lot of excess edging.

What would you folks do? I would really like to use these maps as they are, but I have no mapping experience, and I'm not prepared to dump a lot of money into a mapping program. Are there any alternatives? Has anyone done these maps already? I tried looking, but I wasn't able to find them anywhere.

[Jacktannery]

Hi there Mortavius. I also have this module, and I have used roll20.net.

Do you have a computer programme that can rotate an image by c. 10-15 degrees? Paint or Windows Photoviewer won't do it, you need something a bit more complex, for example Photoshop or the GIMP (the latter is free by the way).

Step 1: zoom in on the image in your pdf copy so it takes up most of your computer screen.
Step 2: take a screenshot (for me I just press PrtScrn button)
Step 3: open your computer programme (eg the GIMP) and PASTE your screenshot.
Step 4: Rotate image by -5.8 degrees.
Step 5: Select a rectangular area around the map and crop the image.
Step 6: Add grid co'ords if required.
Step 7: Save file as JPG at c. 85% quality, and import into roll20.net.

Does that help you?

[mortavius]

Thanks so much for the quick reply and directions! They have helped a lot, and if it's okay, I have some follow-ups:

Have you had any success making the grid lines on the map line up with the grid lines in roll20.net?

Also, how do I go about removing the icons on the map so that it is suitable for players to see?

[Jacktannery]

A Pleasure.

Yup - I checked back to the map I had set up (here https://app.roll20.net/join/14623/YCpthw) and saw how I did it.

Click on the little page icon at the top of the screen. Then on the page that looks like your map click on the settings wheel to the top left (it appears when you hover over it).

roll20.jpg

Also, how do I go about removing the icons on the map so that it is suitable for players to see?

This is quite easy, at least for Encounter map 1 (I didn't check the rest). If you are using a very simple programme like PAINT, just select a 'clean' grid square and press copy, then paste and move it over the grid square with a monster marked on it. If you are using something like the GIMP, just use the CLONE TOOL.

EyeLich.jpg