Adventure Module Creation Best Practices

[SneakyHaggus]

Hello FG. First post. I love this program. I have been looking for a way to play D&D remotely for years. A friend mentioned this to me and I am a subscriber and GM for a campaign. I want to create my own modules but I'm not sure how. My first question is how do I create maps and load them to FG? I have tried a few times with pre-made maps and I doesn't work. I can't get the map to update into FG. I want to make my own maps, what programs are available that would work best with FG. Thanks peeps!!

SneakyHaggus

[Zacchaeus]

When you say you can't get the map to update into FG what do you mean? To get an image into FG click the images and maps icon on the right and then click on the folder button. Now drag and drop or copy/paste the image into that folder. The image will then appear in the images list of FG ready for use (by clicking on its name).

Creating images for use depends on your skill and how much money you are prepared to throw at it. Photoshop, Campaign Cartographer, GIMP, even Paint are just 4 of hundreds of drawing and map making software packages. More information here. And here you'll find some community made maps.

[SneakyHaggus]

Thank you Zacchaeus. I might have an issue with that destination folder. When I open it it crashes back to desktop. Ideas??

Looks like I have it working for now. Seems like there is a corrupt file in there. When I try to do anything with it it CTD. Thanks for your help.

[Trenloe]

Thank you Zacchaeus. I might have an issue with that destination folder. When I open it it crashes back to desktop. Ideas??

Sounds like you have some file access rights issues. Some info on potential fixes here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...tc-Fix-options

[ravenloft713]

Just to clariy the steps here. If you want to modify an official published adventure (i.e. one that has been released by SmiteWorks, typically a WotC 5E product), then you need to do the following;
- Create a "Mod" campagin, such as "LMoP Custom Mods"
- Open the published adventure in this new campaign
- Take the entry that you desire to modify, such as a story entry or NPC and drag them to the campaign list for the same type.
- Open and Unlock this campaign version of the object. Modify to your hearts content.
- Rinse & repeat until you have all of your customizations done.
- Export to a module such as "My Custom LMoP Mods"

Now, when you want to run an LMoP campaign using your custom mods, do this;
- Create a new camapgin, such as "LMoP Friday Night Group"
- Open the published adventure, then open your custom module

Have fun!

Thank you so much!!!! I couldn't tell you how many experiments, YouTube videos, and forum searching I have done. This summed it up very nicely.

[LordEntrails]

Thank you so much!!!! I couldn't tell you how many experiments, YouTube videos, and forum searching I have done. This summed it up very nicely.

Welcome to FG and the forums!

Glad you found this and that you found it useful

[HavocSmurf]

Hey there. Is there a maximum file size for any Module that one should take into consideration? I am creating a 'maps' module strictly to keep maps/images for on the fly use during any adventure. If there is a max size recommendation then I'll take the time to break these into multiple modules 'havocs dungeon maps' 'havocs outdoor maps' etc. The master I've currently built is around 150mb's and I expect to keep building on it.

[Trenloe]

Hey there. Is there a maximum file size for any Module that one should take into consideration? I am creating a 'maps' module strictly to keep maps/images for on the fly use during any adventure. If there is a max size recommendation then I'll take the time to break these into multiple modules 'havocs dungeon maps' 'havocs outdoor maps' etc. The master I've currently built is around 150mb's and I expect to keep building on it.

The usual image recommendations. JPEG format, Quality 50-75 (or less), under 1MB in size if at all possible, 50 pixels per grid square (or a bit more if it's a large scale map), keep image dimensions to 2048x2048 pixels or less.

[HavocSmurf]

thanks Trenloe. I've checked all the image files and adjusted them to meet the individual requirements so I'm cool there. I was more concerned about the overall module file size. I was going to compare against some published product for a guideline, but they aren't visible. I just didn't want to crash anything or cause excessive load times because the module folder is large. I have a complete campaign that I built that is around 35mb's, but this module is around 150mb's because it's entirely image files.

[Trenloe]

@HavocSmurf - as long as you don't allow the players to open the image module (i.e. block the image module from the players) then it doesn't really matter the total size of the module - as long as the individual images are within the limits mentioned above you should be OK. Oh, and as long as the module doesn't have a thousand or more tokens in it!