|
|
Post by cykotek on Aug 17, 2009 8:10:58 GMT
Hi there.
I recently started playing D&D via a virtual tabletop (I use MapTool rather than OpenRPG, but the core operation is similar). Due to RL circumstances, the former DM had to retire, and rather than let the group disintegrate I took over as DM and started a new campaign.
In preparation for the task, I have been scouring the Internet looking for stuff to use. Your online map tiles look brilliant, and I am likely to steal them for my use. Thank you for providing such a useful product - for free, no less!
I do have a couple of requests, if I may be so bold.
You have a "stairs down" tile, but no matching "stairs up" tile. Have you ever thought of making one to match? Also, did you ever consider making a tile to convert the dungeon to the caves, like you did for your old print-out floorplans? What about surface entrance tiles?
I know, doing something like this is a lot of work - I appreciate that. If I had suitable artistic talent, I would help, but I suck with images. Editing is as close as I get.
Your black and white PDF dungeons are also pretty cool, and I have extracted them and converted them to be used online. Black-and-white isn't an issue, because as I see it most stone is grey anyway, and I plan on recolouring the water. I've already figured out the system, I just have to do the work.
Once more, thank you for all your hard work. I, and later my players, really appreciate it.
|
|
|
|
Post by CSP Kris on Aug 17, 2009 12:08:26 GMT
Hello ...and thanks for checking out the site  I do have a few more things I still need to add that I created for my own games (I just need to break them down into 'modular sections') ...but here's 3 small images that may be of use: I don't have an 'up' version of the stair tile that currently appears on the website - but maybe it's something I should think about Also, if you liked the black and white maps then you may be interested to know that I've started to submit a map every month to the Grand OGL Wiki ...which will be very similar - but in colour. The first one can be found on the bottom of this page: grandwiki.wikidot.com/dm-sketchpad(or at least it will be at the time of posting this message  ) |
|
|
|
Post by cykotek on Aug 19, 2009 0:00:49 GMT
Thanks for those. They are exactly what the doctor ordered. Any more that you happen to make available, I will be glad to get my hands on.
As for the B&W maps, I have finished my tweak. What I did was extract the images from the PDF booklet, resize to 1000x1000px (this makes them 50px per square) and save them as a png file. Then, for the three that have water, I added a layer which I painted the water colour on (nearly transparent, so the ripples still show) and saved the new layer as a separate file. The water overlays are in two styles - blue and green.
If you want, I could send you what I did.
Oh, one last thing. I love the map you put up on that wiki - do you have a version without the numbers?
Edit:
While I'm asking for maps, do you have a version of Rodmorg Tower without numbers? That would also be cool to bring in to MapTool.
|
|
|
|
Post by CSP Kris on Aug 20, 2009 11:42:16 GMT
If you want, I could send you what I did. Thanks, but the idea of those maps was to have basic black and white images that folks can print off for an encounter or two, without worrying about their colour ink cartridge (as printer ink is the most expensive liquid in the world it seems  ). Oh, one last thing. I love the map you put up on that wiki - do you have a version without the numbers? I have removed the numbers (it didn't take more than a minute), and here is the 'clean' version: i95.photobucket.com/albums/l159/csp_kris/dmsp001_plain.jpgThere should also be a battle-mat version of the map appearing soon too (perhaps in their monthly compilation pdf). While I'm asking for maps, do you have a version of Rodmorg Tower without numbers? That would also be cool to bring in to MapTool. I could probably do the same with the tower map ...but I don't have the files on this computer at the moment  |
|
|
|
Post by CSP Kris on Aug 20, 2009 11:51:29 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by cykotek on Aug 21, 2009 6:54:05 GMT
I could probably do the same with the tower map ...but I don't have the files on this computer at the moment That's cool, I'm in no mad rush or anything. If you ever do manage to find the time, I would be most grateful, but don't feel at all pressured or anything. I think I have enough made to last for a couple of months, at least. Also, I wished to discuss something else with you. You have all of your low-res maps directly addressable on your server, and from what you've said it seems OpenRPG can access resources directly via URL. MapTool does not have that functionality, but it does have something similar called a repository. The purpose of a repository is to store the graphics files needed for a campaign on a web server somewhere, so that players can download them upon connection from a decent pipe, rather than having to pump them up the pitifully small upstream most home connections have. But to do this, you need to create a special index file to go with the images, and that index file is accessed by the clients, not individual URLs. If you are willing, I could either upload your images to the MapTool gallery (I would naturally give full credit to you and this site), or simply create the necessary index file that you could put in the same location as the image files on your web server. This would allow MapTool users the same remote-fetch capability that OpenRPG users currently have. |
|
|
|
Post by CSP Kris on Aug 22, 2009 11:54:20 GMT
I have to admit that I don't really know much about maptool, as I haven't played online for quite some time now - and when I did all I used was OpenRPG.
But I guess I should look into maptool and other free applications in the near future - and see how good/bad some of my images work with them.
So if you want to send me that file (assuming it is something you have already done), then I'll take a look at it once I find the time to play around with maptool ...but if you want to share it before then, then simply post a link to it on these forums if you like (so that other folks can check it out in the meantime).
|
|
|
|
Post by cykotek on Aug 27, 2009 0:09:04 GMT
I'm thinking the best bet might be adding the images to the MapTool gallery, with thanks to CSP. That way, they will be in a central location all the MapTool users can access, and they will automatically be added to the core MapTool repository, rather than having to run multiple repositories on multiple servers.
That is, if you don't mind me uploading your image files to someone else's server.
|
|
|
|
Post by CSP Kris on Aug 29, 2009 20:20:50 GMT
Hello again (sorry for the late reply ...I've been trying out one of those free MMORPG's :  . Anyway, is this the gallery you are referring to? www.rptools.net/index.php?page=community...if so, I don't really see how that is any different from how the maps appear on the CSP site (in fact on the CSP site you can see all the images on one page - rather than having to scan through a few pages to see them all). Of course if someone uploaded all my images to that galley, it wouldn't be that big a deal to me (so long as it states where the images come from) - it's just that I can't really see the benefit (though maybe I'm missing something or not understanding things right ). |
|
|
|
Post by cykotek on Aug 30, 2009 6:51:29 GMT
That is the place I am talking about.
There is one difference - it's not something visible, but it's a big one. That entire gallery is also one huge repository. Every image there is indexed in a single core index.gz file. MapTool uses that index file (and the MD5 hashes it contains) to cross-link images used in a map to images in the repository.
MapTool doesn't rely on filenames. Everything is linked through those index.gz files and hashes.
I shall put up what I have, and I will ensure you get full credit.
|
|
)
.