Players adding notes to their maps

[mattcolville]

I have a map of my setting, I push it out to my players.

Now my players all have their own local version of that map they can see.

Can they make notes and add them to the map and get the little pins on the map like the DM does?

I seem to recall this functionality used to exist, I thought I remembered my players using it, but now I can't make it work and when I looked the subject up online all I could find was "Pins are for the DM only" which seems so weird I have a hard time believing it. Surely players write stuff on maps too!

[LordEntrails]

Nope, not in FG. Maps are GM only.

It's a neat idea, perhaps you would add the suggestion to the wishlist (https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/)?

[mattcolville]

Nope, not in FG. Maps are GM only.

It's a neat idea, perhaps you would add the suggestion to the wishlist (https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/)?

Ok! Players don't make notes on handouts. Obviously the folks who designed this thing had a very different experience playing D&D than me!

[Andraax]

They can makes notes in the notes section. You can link a map to a note, but not the other way around.

[damned]

Ok! Players don't make notes on handouts. Obviously the folks who designed this thing had a very different experience playing D&D than me!

I never let players at my table draw on my maps.
Hell no.
They can write their notes on their Character sheet or on anything they bring to the table.

[darrenan]

There is a rudimentary drawing tool that players can use to draw on images. It would be extremely hard to take notes, but markings or other reminders could be added. I believe the GM has to draw on the map first before the drawings from other players are shared with each other.

[jajen2003]

I always have 2 maps, a DM map and a player map. Sometimes, I let the players see the DM map, but for the most part they have their own. On the player map, I unlock the drawing layer and let them use the map however they want.

[mattcolville]

I never let players at my table draw on my maps.
Hell no.
They can write their notes on their Character sheet or on anything they bring to the table.

I think you have misunderstood me.

If, at the table, you gave a player a handout...would you allow the player to write on it?

If a player made their own map. Literally just took a blank piece of paper and started drawing on it, as a way to keep track of where they'd been, for instance...would you allow them to make notes on that map?

The DM's ability to write a note and pin it to a map in FG is super useful. The DM's ability to take, for instance, a map of the campaign setting and push it out to the players is super useful.

Telling the players "No, sorry, you're not allowed to make your own notes and pin them to your own map to, for instance, keep track of what you've learned about the world," seems a very draconic attitude to take. I'm not sure what's gained. I'm not sure how the DM benefits from the players being unable to make their own notes on their own copy of the map you gave them.

I, for one, would be THRILLED if my players could take what they've learned and pin it directly to the map. "Lich here might be someone we can reason with" for instance. It would mean my players were using the content I provided!

Of course, obviously, the players can just make a note. "The Lich over in the bottom left of the map...." But it seems very weird to me that we have the ability to make the maps MORE useful to the players, but deliberately tel them "No! No pins for you!"

[damned]

We may have even misunderstood each other.
I am all for players keeping notes but not on my copy of the map.

Anyway its a red herring. The feature you mention has never been a player feature. Players have never been able to place pins or add typed notes to a map.
They can freehand draw with the basic drawing tools but it is not particularly effective.

There are several pin related feature requests here: https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/ and you can add this if its not covered by the others.

[Trenloe]

The best you can do is create/find some basic tokens and put these in the shared tokens directory. Then players can add these tokens to the map - if you select a good range of note/map/info/number/letter tokens these can be placed by the players and then they can use a separate notes record and refer to the tokens they've added - works well if they use letter/number tokens.

[Bidmaron]

Never tried that Trenloe. The drawings layer is shared among the players. I would presume any tokens they add are also shared? Notes are not, so they each would have to add their own note tying to the lettered/numbered token, right?

[Andraax]

Players can share their notes with other players.

[Mathizsias]

This came up once again and seems like a missing feature.

[Zacchaeus]

This came up once again and seems like a missing feature.

Try this extension which allows players much more freedom to create and share notes https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?54284-Player-Agency-Extension

[Mathizsias]

Try this extension which allows players much more freedom to create and share notes https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?54284-Player-Agency-Extension

I've used that before, but its not what the players at my vtt wanted. They had hoped to make small notes on the maps, like the pins.

Ps. The idea informer is locked, it seems.

[Zarestia]

Cumbersome workaround:

1. Player creates a note
2. You copy paste that info into a story entry
3. You pin that story entry onto the map and share it to the players

Your suggested idea is already on the idea informer, vote for it here https://fgapp.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=135907

[damned]

The GM can pin the players notes or story entries or Investigator entries to the map.
If they are shared with the players they can read them.
If they are objects that the player has permissions to write too then they will be able to do that too.
The player cant do the pinning themselves is all.