Bully - try going to the hilltop map and refreshing.  Sounds like you computer has the old map cached.

Yatta!! Thanks Jurz

Absolutely not !  The book might get damaged !  ;>

I'mm baaack !  And I see we've made some new 'friends' in the city ... go us !

The first days of training a new dog are always the hardest, no matter what you do they seem to think its all just a game.

Welcome back.

Back. Lost furnace, so was too cold to get on computer. Glad snow has melted anyways, even if it's still cold enough to get cold feet.

Lucky you! I'm sick of summer, its still 32C (90F) here. Roll on winter!  Mind you I think I'd change my tune if I was knee deep in snow :-)

I'm glad someone finally cracked a "grassy knoll" joke. I was trying to think of a good one but couldn't quite make it work.  ;o)

In reply to Wyrm of Wyrd (msg # 253):

INT    10


He can count, i'm just matching his accent to the other goblins for the sake of fun.
Time will tell how long he can survive though :D

I can't remember the last time I looked on my spell list to see if I had pyrotechnics .....

Love these maps/plans BTW -  what are you making them with?  Or are you grabbing them from somewhere online?

Sorry Oopses, all in the name of fun, no offense meant.  I think Minmorc claims to be strongest, fastest and dumbest.  Bully is the stealthiest - not!  :-)

In reply to Bulldust (msg # 256):

Looks like a simple program with TLC.

Maybe a saved grid on paint, some block tools, fill tools, and MAYBE a clipboard for the fire or just TLC and the star shape done 3 times.

Lots of TLC.

Damn straight Minmorc is the strongest, fastest and dumbest and proud of it! Best cook too, though the mighty wyrm gets the award for most artistic :P

In reply to Arlein (msg # 257):

Arlein has it spot on. I draw the maps in Paint, starting with a basic grey grid on white background I drew up years ago. I draw up shapes like that campfire as I need them (yes, that's just star shapes superimposed on top of each other). It is not an efficient process at all - very tedious in fact - but at least it produces a clear image and there is no doubt about distances, etc.

I'll probably experiment a bit more with use of PowerPoint instead of Paint as I recently discovered how to designate one background colour as transparent to allow irregularly shaped blocks to be cut and pasted on top of a base map.

I realise there are better tools out there but I basically just stick with what I know how to use.

In reply to Wyrm of Wyrd (msg # 259):

TLC, Tender Loving Care.

*grin* I do my plans / maps in paint as well -  and get a lot of pleasure from doing it.  Yours look a a bit more refined than mine do, so I might have to copy ....

In reply to Jurz (msg # 261):

I assume she keeps a grid saved and copies it as needed then block tools over things to create buildings and doors. Maybe evven copys small photos as needed and shrinks them to size for trees and such.

Simple tool does everything you need well, power point maybe keep the characters as objects so its easier to click and drag insstead of copy and paste, but

In reply to Oopses (msg # 262):

Yep - as I do.  You can image search for various mapping symbols and grab beds, cupboards, chairs etc from plans drawn in other packages :)

He, not she.  <grins>  That's the down side of this type of on-line format. Little details like body language, facial expression, gender, etc. are often misinterpreted.

The main problem I have with using Paint is what format I should save the images in. I moved away from bmp early on because of file size (back when the file size limit on RPoL was really quite restrictive. But jpeg's blur the images while gif and png often do strange things to an area of solid colour like pixelating it, which sometimes makes it difficult to change the colour of that area when I want to change an area from unlit to lit, for example, or just recolour a square after I move a character's symbol from one square to another. I end up working with a very limited palette of colours that don't get messed up when I save it in png format. Perhaps I really should make the effort to switch over to something else like PowerPoint - maybe still draw up the base map in Paint but use PowerPoint to easily reposition characters and monsters from one round to the next.

But you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks.  ;o)

I use PNG, mainly because most of mine finish up on a game or setting website somewhere and size IS important (or so my wife tells me).  However, I haven't noticed problems with the colours, although I tend to use a restricted palette anyway.

Most of mine are regional maps or building plans that are referenced on-line during a TT session, I don't have Character Markers moved around them - so that makes it a bit easier.

I must, however, practice using thinner lines  and steal your way of drawing doors and windows :P

In reply to Jurz (msg # 265):

For the pesky players, you can even add stuff like door handles and hinges in the same fashion.

Like the damage/bleed/cut marks on character bubbles

I did end up using PowerPoint on those maps for that latest encounter and it worked pretty well. Drew up the base map and things like character and monster markers in MS Paint, then copied and pasted them into PowerPoint. The combination seems to work fairly well and is much quicker to edit for each round, after setting it all up in the first place. Things like the semitransparent green circle for the entangle spell and textured rectangles for the collapsed tents made that a lot easier. It does result in bigger png files for the maps though, but fortunately still well within the limits allowed by RPOL. Overall I am pleased with the result and plan to continue using this combination.

Fwoooosh, Wyrm of Wyrd has levelled from level 11 to level 12 Dungeon Master!

Nice  :)

In reply to Jurz (msg # 269):

I was playing by text after the first round or two X.x