Mapping/Story section help

[ransolot]

Let me see if I can explain this and make sense of it-

So, what I am wanting to find out, or figure out, is if there is a way to make direct links to "areas" of maps without making a thousand "story" entries or not. Example- I have a map of a warehouse opened up and I would like to make shortcut pins for each of the areas for general descriptions with links to encounters. Now, do I have to make story entries for each room in order to have shortcut pins for this purpose? That's the only way I've been able to do it so far and it REALLY fills up my "story" log and makes finding the entries (before the map is open, of course) a real pain.

It would be really nice to just be able to have story entries labeled "Episode 1, Episode 2..." and so on in my "story" section and just have all the info I need right in each entry.

I hope this makes sense and if not, please let me know if there is anything I can do to clarify. Thanks all!

[Blahness98]

Unfortunately, that is the only way that I am aware of that you can do this. However, when I create a module, I just create all the story entries in numerical order (ie 001 - Adventure Background, 002 - Adventure Hooks, ect) and have a table of contents story entry that covers the entire module that I am creating. That way I don't even look at the story entries and only look at the table of contents. I also have the ToC listed as !Table of Contents so it is always at the top of the story sheet.

That way is easier for me, since all I have to do is link the info for each part of a large map into it's own story entry in the ToC.

[Willot]

mmmmm You seem to be wanting to do it backwards from the way I do it.
I tend to have my map with a shortcut pin in each room and I follow the players through the map.
You can of course place shortcut pins from notes too. So I guess you could have a main story pin with a few note pins for placing in the room of interest
I tend to just have title in my Note pins. Like Secret Door DC 15, Hard: 15, Hits: 10 or whatever. That way when I hover over the note pin It just pops up with the stuff I need to know without opening the pin.
I do wish we could set different colours to different pins!

[ransolot]

I suppose I could do it with "notes" as well, good point

[Trenloe]

I'd still use story entries instead of notes, but add a category tab at the bottom of the story list and put all of your location descriptions in that tab - give it a different icon and colour and label it by dragging some text from the chat entry. This is great for keeping all of your story entries organised, you could have different tabs (categories) for Episode 1, Episode 2, etc.. Info on categories here: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/wiki/index.php/Campaign_Data#Categories

EDIT: If you do most of your prep in advance, you could make Episode 1, Episode 2, etc. modules and these will automatically be added as their own tab in the campaign data lists. This will also allow you to open and close the modules as and when you need the info in each module. It takes a little bit more organisation, as you'll need a "module making" campaign for each of your modules, but it's a good way of keeping your base campaign from getting too cluttered up with lots of data that you only need for a specific period within the campaign.

[damned]

when i do mine i call story entries:

ST001: The Entrance
ST002: A Cold Welcome

Encounters:

ENC001: Stangers
ENC002: Wildling

etc so that for a room it might have more than one of STORY, TRAP, ENCOUNTER, ITEM (it may even have them all) and so when I see the pins for that room I know Id better check all the pins and know which ones to use in what order...

[Trenloe]

when i do mine i call story entries:

ST001: The Entrance
ST002: A Cold Welcome

Encounters:

ENC001: Stangers
ENC002: Wildling

etc so that for a room it might have more than one of STORY, TRAP, ENCOUNTER, ITEM (it may even have them all) and so when I see the pins for that room I know Id better check all the pins and know which ones to use in what order...
Interesting, never thought of doing it that way. I usually create a single single entry for each location and then within that single story entry have the location description, box text, etc. and links to encounters, treasure parcels, mood images, etc.. Then add that story entry as a link on the map. One pin on the map per location and all needed info and links in one story entry.

Another thing I saw the other day and hadn't thought of it before - for multiple linked maps, put a link to the next map on the stairs (or whatever links the maps) so it's easy to move between map levels via pushpins on the map.

[Callum]

I think you do need to make all the story entries in order to put the pins on the map - that's what I do. I find it very useful to have each area description in a separate story entry! As well as the map pins, though, I make another story entry with links to all the individual entries - a sort of overview or index. You can see my approach here:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?21145-Content-Categories&p=175958&viewfull=1#post175958

[Griogre]

I do it in two ways. I'll use a note that has other links to encounters or maps and pin the map with the Note entries. I don't like to use more than one tab for each module so I can open several modules, if I want without worrying about running out of tabs. The other thing I found out with Rappan Atuk, it was so large I would forget with tab had certain encounters on it. If you put all your entries on one tab you could easily search for it. If you number your areas/levels with numbers you can use the filters to only show the part of the adventure you are currently running. IE an old Rappan Atuk module:

https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m222/Griogre/books2.png

And a picture showing just the main 2nd level using filters:

https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m222/Griogre/books2S.png

The Rappan Atuk dungeon was so large I split it up into multiple *modules*. One bit of advice when you have more than 10 of something, use a leading 0 to make it sort right. IE RA has more than 10 levels and most levels and sub-levels had more than 10 areas.

However if I am pressed for time I will just pin encounters and only use a notes for things like secret doors.

My last bit of advice is only input the minimum you need into FG. If you use voice than you can just read area descriptions and "box text." The only things you really need in FG are monsters (grouped into encounters) and maps (and you *can* just use the built in battlemap to make maps on the fly).