How do you handle your Visual aids in PBP - OG Myth-Weavers

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How do you handle your Visual aids in PBP

   
How do you handle your Visual aids in PBP

Would like to ask the various GM's and such here, how do you handle your map's and visual aid towards players when fight scenes and areas needing such level of detail show up. If not using a digital image.

I would agree that sketching it up seems like about the only way to do this and then just posting it. Most players aren't too worried about something being perfect, just somewhat accurate to give them a mental picture.

I use a simple grid made in Microsoft Paint, and color circles in the grid to represent players/npcs as needed. There are easier ways to do what I do, but I can keep each picture to keep track of rounds also.

I use ditzie and Google Docs for my mapping and keeping track of combat for my players.

On Google Docs I have what they need to hit the baddies (I don't tell them how many HP they have) and I use ditzie for mapping as the players can then move their tokens, slide / push / pull baddies / etc

I've just put up a ditzie how to here: ditzie How-to.

As they do damage to the baddies, they add the -XX damage to the mob's HP column and they update the ditzie map when they move / moved an ally or an enemy and post the new ditzie link.

As I have players (and you will all have as well) in different time zones, having them able to know if they've hit and then being able to move themselves or others on the map does two things:

1. Means they don't have to wait for you to wake up while they were posting to analyse if they hit, change the map and then repost everything after doing that, and

2. Gives the players a sense of being at the table -- it's not as tactile as physically moving their figures, but it's damned close

This gives you exactly what you need, the players get a "proper" map and it's SOO much faster for you the GM to do,

Here is the link to my Google Docs document to look at / steal. PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING AS IT IS A GAME IN PROGRESS

NGP's Google Doc for AtG Campaign

NGP

Yes I use Google Drive as well and I find it simpler to use than any other map system. Also use it for battle tracker stuff.

Map Demo
Battle Tracker Demo

I'm running a game that has been going since last March and we're well over the 10,000 post mark, yet I've literally never used a visual aid. If done right, theatre of the mind works just fine in PbP.

Some people's theatres are not so great when it comes to positioning, AoEs and movement AoOs, however...

I pasted an image of a grid map into a Word document and then used the shapes and lines in Word to 'draw' over the grid map creating walls, terrain, etc. Then i have little shapes to represent the characters and npcs. I attach the document to a post. The player who's turn it is will open the document, move his marker and then save and re-attach the document for the next person. Seems to work and is easy, doesn't look as bad as it sounds and no one has to download anything funky.




 

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