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arkenforge · 2 years

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How to build a touchscreen TTRPG table, and use Arkenforge with it.

Hey folks! Recently we put out this video (also shown below) showing off our new touch screen features, and it’s safe to say it was quite popular! In this article we’ll be giving you instructions on how you can build your own version of this setup at home. Product links in this article are affiliate links.

TLDR Links:

Touch overlays for TV-s or Monitors:

32-inch IR Overlay

42-inch IR Overlay

55-inch IR Overlay

Touch software:

MT Touch Client: https://arkenforge.com/mt-touch-client/

VTT:

The Master’s Toolkit

youtube

Map Display

The first thing we’ll need to organise is a way for your players to see the map. There’s three main ways to go about this, depending on your budget and available space. We’ll start with the cheapest/least space required and go up from there.

Horizontal-Mounted TV

The easiest way to get a digital setup up and running is to take an existing TV and lay it flat on your table. If your TV doesn’t have a flat back or you want something a little sturdier, you can design a mount that screws into the back of it to keep it flat. The image above shows one that we’ve designed for use at conventions and our home games.

Projector

Image source: http://projection-mapping.org/dungeons-dragons-projection-mapping/ If you’ve got a sturdy roof and don’t mind doing some wiring, a roof-mounted projector may be for you. This allows for any surface to be used for your play area. Minis with overhanging elements may cause shadows on the map, but arguably that just adds to the immersion.

Integrated Digital Table

This is the big one; a TV built directly into a table! These can range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands depending on the features and craftsmanship. The sky is the limit with this setup, as you can add speakers, lighting, or even cup holders! Depending on your touch screen solution, the TV will either be flush with the table, or slightly recessed. If you aren’t confident to chop up a table yourself, contact your local carpenter, or one of the many companies creating ready-made digital tables.

Now that our players are able to see the map, our next step is to make it interactive!

Touch Screen Options

The most important part of this build is the thing that will actually be detecting your minis. There’s two main types of touch screens you’ll want to consider: capacitive and infrared. The touch technology you use will determine if there’s anything else you’ll need to get your setup up and running.

Infrared Overlays

Image source: https://crystal-display.com/products/ir-touch/

IR Overlays work by firing out infrared light in a grid pattern and registering a touch point where the grid is broken. They’re cheap, relatively accurate, and they can detect any object that you put in the middle of them. We personally like these because it can detect any mini right out of the box. There are a solid list of cons though, depending on how you like to run your sessions.

Because the detection is done from the frame inwards, objects that the IR beam can’t hit won’t be detected. This can be noticed when clumping minis together, or if some unfortunate positioning leaves a mini in a dead zone. As the frame detects everything that enters it, dice rolls or accidental droppage can cause unintended reveals. This is something we will address with future versions of the Master’s Toolkit. An IR Overlay also doesn’t play nice with 3D terrain, so you may want to opt for a different solution if you enjoy busting out the Dwarven Forge dungeons. Finally, if you play somewhere with large amounts of IR light, your touch screen may have detection issues.

You can purchase IR overlays in various sizes to fit your screen. We’ve selected a few below for common screen sizes: 32-inch IR Overlay 42-inch IR Overlay 55-inch IR Overlay

Capacitive Touch Screen

Image source: https://www.iop.org/explore-physics/technology-our-lives/touchscreen

These screens are the ones we find in nearly every device today. They detect touch input by sensing when an electrically conductive material is applied to them. This is usually your finger or a stylus. There is no risk of blocking your minis, as the source of detection is the screen itself. There’s also no risk of interference from other light sources, meaning they can be used in all conditions.

While capacitive screens solve a lot of the issues that IR touch screens can face, there is extra cost and work involved in preparing your minis for detection. The main downside of these devices is that standard mini bases are made of plastic, and therefore are not conductive. You’ll need to find custom bases with a capacitive material, usually involving copper or aluminium. Aluminium foil can often work in a pinch, but results can be iffy. As a general rule of thumb, if it works on your smartphone, it’ll work on your screen. As capacitive touch screens put you in charge of what does and doesn’t get detected, you can safely use 3D terrain on these screens.

Capacitive screens can be purchased both as a full unit, or as a film that you can place on your existing TV. You can find one such film below:

Capacitive touch screen film

If you aren’t too big on the DIY side of things, you can increase your budget a bit and go for an already integrated capacitive touch screen:

40-inch capacitive touch screen

Once your screen has been organised, the next thing you’ll need is the software to run it!

Software

At this moment in time, there’s two pieces of software you’ll need to get your touch screen up and running. Our first version of this feature requires two devices, one of which must be running Windows. There’s no spec requirements for this second device. It just needs to be able to connect to WiFi. As time goes on, we’ll be working to get the second device to a much cheaper price point and more convenient size.

The Master’s Toolkit

This is the most important part of your setup! Right now the Toolkit interprets all touch points as vision to reveal. In the future we’ll be performing some software wizardry to allow selective touch reveal, touch dead-zones, and a bunch of other fun features.

In the first release of this feature, we’ve got some simple options available. For a full overview, check out our sister article that explains how to use and configure the MT Touch Client: https://arkenforge.com/mt-touch-client/

MT Touch Client software

Those of you on Windows may have noticed a new option in your Launcher – MT Touch Client. This software runs on a Windows device connected to your touch screen. Some of you may be wondering: “Why do I need a second device + software to use the touch screen? Can’t I just plug it into my main computer” That’s a pretty valid question. The primary reason is that touch input steals control of the mouse. This stops the Toolkit from being useable once minis are in play, and can lead to a lot of unintended UI selection. Another fun fact is that Windows clears ALL touch points if it detects a point for more than 60 seconds. This is counterproductive when dealing with minis that are often on the board for hours at a time.

For this reason, we created the MT Touch Client software to send touch information to the Toolkit over the local network. The only thing you need to do is run the software. It’ll automatically connect to the Toolkit and handle everything from there. One other benefit of having an external app is that the Toolkit can remain platform independent, so whether you’re running on PC, Mac, or Wine, you don’t need to worry about drivers or compatibility issues. For a full overview of the MT Touch Client, view our sister article here: https://arkenforge.com/mt-touch-client/

Integrating other devices with the Toolkit fog of war

For those who want to perform your own fun fog of war integration, the Toolkit receives fog data via OSC. Port 7001, Address “/FogOfWarPosition”. Data will need to be in the string format “[touch point]|[x position]|[y position]”, where [touch point] is an integer from 0 – 99, [x/y position] is a decimal value from 0 – 1 representing the screen position, and ‘|’ is the separator character.

Enjoy your new setup!

You’ve now got everything you need to get a touch screen setup up and running! If this feels like a bit too much work, we’ll be looking to release a kit that contains everything you need in the future. Be sure to stay on the lookout for that!

If you don’t have the Master’s Toolkit yet, try it free for 28 days at https://arkenforge.com/trial

See you in the next one!

#ttrpg #ttrpg maps #battlemap #VTT Maps #vtt #vtt software #map software #mapmake #cartographer #fantasy mapmaker #scifi mapmaker #fantasy cartographer #scifi cartographer #cyberpunk magicavoxel download.#dnd #pathfinder #digital tabletop

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lil-tachyon · 2 years

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have you done any pieces for a game that are more than just covers or interior art? Something like a map or a gameboard or a unique player handout?

The one time I ran a Lancer game for my buddies I had a blast making this map as a handout and also designing this flag for the space pirates they encountered.

I did a 3D cutaway map for Mycosis by Walton Wood which was a really fun challenge.

And I drew this geological survey-inspired map for my own book Coelum (quick plug, if you toss me a buck on Patreon I'll send you the pdf plus you get to see all the other stuff I have on there!)

And that's really it. I'd like to do more maps, cutaways, and graphic design stuff but nobody's asked me. We'll see what the future holds I guess!

#maps #ttrpg art #mapmaking #scifi art #vexillology #send me an ask!

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haknamindustries · 1 year

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analogue is digital. same information, different representations.

#graphic design #scifi #retrofuturism #data visualization #mapmaking #bitmap #isometric

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theclockworkkidart · 9 months

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I saw these tags from @photondoesstuff (I can remove the tag if you'd like) on my Celestite post and I've actually done a thing before of the mapping ability!

It's from 2016 and with their old design, and I can't find it on this blog but here it is:

Tumblr took the quality and ran it through the garbage so here's the text:

"Celestites are mapmakers basically. We can see things far away like worlds and stars and basic details about it so we can make models of them."

"They're like those 3D things on Earth and you can zoom in on them and spin 'em"

"VWOOM!" (sound of it being vacuumed small?)

"And we'll make them pocket size for easier storage since there's so much space to map. We can... unlock them to make them big again if another Gem needs them. Otherwise they'll keep these things in a... keep until it's needed."

Basically they're like those scifi maps you see of holograms of diagrams and stuff and they can be zoomed in on and interacted with.

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pnkrathian · 9 months

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god i would kill for a dnd mapmaking tool thats catered specifically for modern fantasy/scifi campaigns

#mapmaking tools are a blessing ofc but like.#it’s so hard to find assets for my campaign sometimes lol

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yessu · 10 months

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Okay y'all I need some help with worldbuilding tools again. I'm working on my ancient OC world from 2006 to try and give it some actual structure and depth but back then I gave... very little thought to map layout or locations and boy Howdy it's hard to visualize.

Do you guys have any tips and/or tools for both the mapmaking/terrain planning stage and Naming everything? (If it matters, this is a modern/near-future fantasy kind of setting with a lot of scifi elements thrown in.)

#yessutext #it's so much easier to just adapt something into a usable world AAA

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fantasymapmaster · 2 years

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Far away, on the lost Plateau of Leng, are the ruins of the once mighty city of Sarkomand. Which horrors may be hidden in this place? My latest Patreon map. This map comes in several variations, including day and night. Get it here https://www.patreon.com/Fantasy_Map and find more great maps at https://www.fantasy-map.net/

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creekmillillustrations · 3 years

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Frontier Forever is an upcoming sci-if comic and I am so proud to say that I’m the cartographer! The Kickstarter was fully funded in less than 7 hours and was named as a Kickstarter ‘Project We Love’! I am beyond words with how excited I am to be a part of this project! Here is a sneak preview of one of my drafts for the world map! Swipe to see the beautiful cover art and check out the rewards! A digital copy is only $6! Check it out at Tinyurl.com/FrontierForever . #frontierforever #indiecomics #indieartist #indieauthor #scifi #sciencefiction #comic #comicbooks #cartography #worldbuilding #mapmaking #books #kickstarter #scifibooks #scificomic #artistsoninstagram #comics #comicbookart #comicart #scificomics https://www.instagram.com/p/CIZyQ0RBS6j/?igshid=anplu24o1nzg

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wondrousworldbuilding · 7 years

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How do you create layouts for towns/villages without it being the typical rectangle shape?

Think about how the town came about. Think about how most towns come about. They don’t start as a metropolis. They typically grow along one or two main roads, or perhaps between a road and a water source. They can be shaped by rivers or cliff-sides, plateaus, or other land forms.

(My drawing tablet is on the other end of the house so excuse my laziness for not getting up to go get it and, thus, the crudeness of the following illustrations.)

If you’ve ever driven through a tiny little town that’s nestled on a highway, then you’ll notice that it sort of dwindles in and out on either side. A town starts out because the local people need a post office, groceries, a church, etc. Sometimes that’s all they ever need. Sometimes, people start moving in and from there, the town will grow.

Now, with a larger, expanding town, you’ll find yourself needing a power plant (that and other such industrial plants will be outside of town, most of the time), a hospital, schools, lots of houses. While developments will sometimes happen in rectangles, they don’t have to. And when you stick a bunch of rectangles together, the final product will often look nothing like a rectangle.

The growth will happen in waves, so development won’t always be one road at a time, they’ll add big parts in sections. But there will always be the edges of town that kind of fade away, whether because of shrinking or growing.

(Sometimes, that old part that was the original town will remain untouched or will be preserved so that it’s always got that history thing.)

You can also google search “aerial views of small towns” and get an idea of how real-life towns are shaped.

Also, and this might be a silly suggestion, but play SimCity. See what happens when you have to build a functioning town. It’ll help you brainstorm, at the very least!

Happy writing!

#worldbuilding #setting #towns #villages #maps #mapmaking #map making #writing #amwriting #help for writers #fiction #fantasy #scifi #writing things

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roll20 · 4 years

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Marketplace Roundup for July 9th, 2020

Burn Bryte has arrived!

Featuring innovative gameplay tailor-made for the VTT, story-driven character progression, and a science-fantasy setting built on the power of hope, Burn Bryte is unlike anything you’ve ever played. This TTRPG is the first of its kind and was made exclusively for the Roll20 platform complete with Charactermancer support. The Burn Bryte Starter Bundle contains everything you need to start your own story and dive into Olaxis with ease and is chock full of inspiration ready to play on Roll20. Looking for more burning details? Check out the Burn Bryte Landing Page or head straight over to the Roll20 Marketplace.

And now, here are some of our favorites this week from our Marketplace Creators (hint: These tried and true packs would be a great addition to your Burn Bryte game!)

Odinson's Sci-Fi Mapmaker by Odinson Games | $4.99

Battle Terrains Futuristic Tiles 05 by Peter's Forge | $5.99

Digital World Animated by Seinstheorie | $5.49

Chibbin Grove Scifi Rooms 1 by Chibbin Grove | $4.99

As a reminder, we’re matching donations to Code2040, “a nonprofit activating, connecting and mobilizing the largest racial equity community in tech to dismantle the structural barriers that prevent the full participation and leadership of Black and Latinx technologists in the innovation economy.” Learn more and donate through our Tiltify campaign here: http://roll20.io/Tiltify-Code2040

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mutantlord · 2 years

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Pitford Street Map Your character can buy a map of this fortified digger support town for a silver coin. It’s probably the first thing your team should do when arriving, although there is no public map for the dangerous basement level. The second map is for the game master. This concludes our look back at the interior art from the Pitford Source Book. Next we will be showing art from Muddy Mayhem, the adventure that is included with the free Quickstart Rules for The Mutant Epoch RPG. https://www.outlandarts.com/TME-Pitford.htm #RPG #ttrpg #pitford #bartertown #map #cartography #mapmaker #rpgmap #gamemap #bunker #mutantepoch #apocalyptic #postapocalyptic #outlandsystem #outlandarts #mutants #mutant #epoch #TME #tabletoprpg #gaming #tabletopgame #indiegame #gamer like #gammaworld or #fallout or #mutantcrawlclassics #gameart #scifi #art https://www.instagram.com/p/CZHs8rlppzy/?utm_medium=tumblr

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yeahmikeromeo · 6 years

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🏔🗿🚀Been sloooooowly making progress on this print. Lotsa fine detail, so shooting out screens has been a real experience. Aiming to have it wrapped up by next week! . . . . . . . . . #screenprinting #screenprint #printmaking #printmaker #diy #art #illustration #drawing #cartooning #cartoonist #landscape #monster #seamonster #screentone #halftone #mountain #scifi #fantasy #dungeonsanddragons #mapmaking #cartography #fluorescent #blacklight #blacklightart #blacklightposter #posterart #handmade #philadelphia #colorguide (at South Philadelphia)

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anmcarrow · 7 years

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Ехей! Да у нас первый участник на #Ru1PDC !! Весьма достойный #blueprint по мотивам Хайнлайна. Уже вечером - на http://ru1pdc.pnprpg.ru #карторисование #mapmaking #scifi #architectureofdoom (at Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovskaya Oblast', Russia)

#blueprint #scifi #architectureofdoom #карторисование #ru1pdc #mapmaking

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fantasymapmaster · 3 years

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Personal project. The island and province of Betanien, a few dozen miles off the coast, and important base for expeditions for the Imperial Navy. Find more great maps at https://www.fantasy-map.net