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View Full Version : Illumination, light sources



DNH
November 3rd, 2010, 13:12
Yes, that old bugbear.

How are people handling illumination and light sources in 4e FG2? I have been running a series of encounters recently where the rogue is going for the full-blown sneak-thief and so we need to know what kind of cover and concealment is available. A lot of the time, that is simply down to illumination levels.

If we have a character that carries a light source, then I change that character's reach value to the light source. It is then just a case of mousing over the token to see the light from that character.

However, if there are light sources as part of the map - a burning brazier, say - then I find myself drawing squares all over the map. And things can quickly get messy.

Is there a quick and easy way of handling this? Does someone have some "light source tokens" or something?

Thanks.
David

Fot5
November 3rd, 2010, 18:24
I prepare my maps with Photoshop, and I predraw existing dark areas by selecting non-lit areas and then adding a dark but transparent layer to the map. That way the players can immediately see where shadows are and where lighting is needed.

AnAxeToGrind
November 5th, 2010, 02:44
This can also be done with tokens or boxes and circles as you state but gets messy fast. The flip side is true as well setting tokens/circles/boxes for vision but is a pain to update and maintain/move...

I did Effects for a while but became more of a hassle then multiple auras (Dim light; ATK: -2; SKILL: 5 stealth; or No light; ATK: -5; SKILL: 10 stealth etc) You have to toggle them on and off for different area of lighting...

Some other programs have been experimenting with player vision but not sure FG has the bones to make it useful.

Their was an extension that allowed for a second layer of tokens that were only DM moveable and all.
But it was broken by 2.7 last I have seen.

Maybe the Developer is lurking about and can give a Repair status etc.

VenomousFiligree
November 5th, 2010, 08:52
A was wanting to use the circular pointers (Savage Worlds ruleset) but could find out where to add them to the menu :confused:

Moon Wizard
November 5th, 2010, 20:43
I actually built a number of features into v2.7 that were requested by the makers of the layers extension. I would send the person who created the extension a quick note to see if they have plans to work on it further.

In the long term, we want to improve all aspects of the image/map. I have a laundry list of requests and ideas, but I always keep my eyes and ears open for more.

Thanks,
JPG

miniwheat
November 6th, 2010, 13:37
Most times the party has a sunrod or 2, 20 squares of bright light in all directions. That alone usually negates any need to determine light on my maps.

When the radius is more refined, say 5 squares as with a torch, I use the mask feature and leave the dark places masked until explored.

I tried using semi-transparent tokens scaled to the size of the light source but the problem then became the player and monster tokens dont stay "on top" of the larger light token and constantly get locked (on the players end) to the point where it was just too annoying having to shift the tokens around so the players could move theirs around the map.

I found the extension to make the different layers on the GMs side and thought that would be great and would allow me to use my overlays for light, but by the time I had found the extension it was broken by the new version.

Fot5
November 6th, 2010, 14:50
Miniwheat's post reminded me that I have also used semitransparent light source tokens at times. I had the same problem, and I found it to be easier to keep the token on the desktop (in a hotkey slot). I'd drag the token onto the map when I needed to determine the distance of the PC's vision, and then remove it so that the PCs could move their tokens around.