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arkenforge · 1 year

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New Year, New Toolkit – Public Update v0.4.1.150

Howdy folks! There’s a change in the air. after the release of the v0.4.0 and v0.4.1 updates, we got a lot (I mean, a LOOOOOT) of feedback about the changes we made. It’s safe to say that most of them were quite negative, and we agreed with a lot of it.

The current v0.4.1.0 Toolkit was designed with the wrong ideas in mind. It was a workhorse tool that could let us more easily create our content internally, and it was a tool that could allow new features to be easily added through the Hand’s simplistic menu system. There’s one major thing we didn’t design for: the user. We spent all our time building a tool for us that could do the things we wanted it to, we ended up with a UI that we could easily work with (since we designed it), but was scary and intimidating to new users, and required multiple tutorials to start understanding where to even begin.

We’ve spent the last year fixing that.

After a year of pretty solid development, we’re ready to fully unveil the new Master’s Toolkit to you. It’s got all the great new features from the v0.4.1.0 Toolkit and more, but in a form that’s much easier for all users, new and existing, to jump in and understand. We’ve assembled a collection of some of the fanciest new features below. The full patch notes will be listed after.

We’ve also assembled some tutorials for you to get started with, which can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkNo24w-R8iIwUUOixmR3aS27NWbFcLRp

And finally, all active and expired trials have been reset. If you weren’t a fan of the last version of the Toolkit, feel free to jump in and give this one a look. You won’t be disappointed!

Ok, let’s dive in!

A New UI

We know, we know. “Arkenforge changing their UI? We’ve been down this road before.” And while yes, that’s true, as we mentioned above this time it’s 100% for the better!

The first thing you’ll notice is that there’s no main menu. We’ve moved to a similar system that virtually every other map builder and VTT uses – a side panel. Now all Toolkit functionality and content can be easily accessed from the side panel.

The side panel has two tiers, with a third tier showing the available options. This design is significantly cleaner than the old design. You can easily see what’s going on, and what options you have available to you.

We’ve chopped off the Hand

The Hand was a programmer’s dream. Any option could be added to any of the menus in seconds with a single line of code. Unfortunately, each option you selected would bring up its own popup slider. If you selected something, you had no concept of what its current state was, and you couldn’t easily adjust multiple values at once. This was one of the major issues that we’ve tried to solve with this update, and we’d like to think that we’ve succeeded.

You can now easily see the values of your selected content without needing to open up 20 different popup sliders. It’s also much easier now to see all of your available options!

The Wheel, but straightened out

As we mentioned in the post about our v0.4.0 update, the Wheel was a much beloved feature that provided an easy way to manipulate content, but became too limiting for the raft of new features that we were bringing out. We’ve now added in the Quick Access Menu, a row of buttons above your selected content that can be used for simple manipulations, and to quickly access the side panels for more advanced manipulation options.

Each button in the menu can be enabled/disabled and reordered to best fit your needs.

You’ll also notice a shortcut icon at the top of every side panel menu. Enabling this will provide a link to that menu in the ‘quick access menus’ section of the Quick Access Menu.

Widgets

Those users from the v0.3 days may remember the widgets of old. These were simple panels that could be turned on or off as needed, that provided core functionality to the Toolkit. After two years of v0.4, we’ve brought them back :)

Widgets can be found along the top of the screen. If you want to disable or recolour any, you’ll be able to to so from the Widget Settings panel. We’ve selected a small set of widgets for this initial release that should provide most of the functionality needed for the standard user. Those widgets are:

Map Functions

Fog of War

Time of Day

Map Levels

Bookmarks

Player Screen

Ping

If you’d like to learn more, we have a video available here: https://youtu.be/QldOgyG7yQ8

Layer Stack

One of our most heavily requested features over the years has been a layer stack – the ability to see all content that’s been placed on the map. We’ve held out in the past due to optimisation limitations, but with our huge new Toolkit optimisations we’ve finally been able to add it in!

On top of showing all content on your current map level, the Toolkit will even point them out for you if you hover over them! Any content here can be selected by clicking on it, and you can hold Ctrl of Shift to multi-select from the list. Finally, we’ve added a handy search bar at the top so that you can only show specific content.

New Effects System

Our Effects system in v0.4.0 was a big hit, and we’ve been really keen to expand it. The UI left quite a lot to be desired, so we’ve come up with a new system that will make managing effects on your content a breeze!

All effects active on an object will now show in a list. You can easily view and modify the properties of any effect, and enable/disable and remove them as needed. You may have noticed that we’ve added the ability to stack multiple of the same type of effect! This can lead to some fin behaviours, especially if multiple float effects are in play.

On top of this new system, we’ve added a whole bunch of new effects for you to play with:

Blink. Makes content appear and disappear at regular intervals

Line Scroll. Tile scroll, but for lines

Pulse, Scale up and down at regular intervals

Light Flicker. The current flicker effect for lights that you know and love

Light Blink. Blinks the light on and off, like a broken halogen light.

Sound Trigger. Triggers an assigned SFX when the trigger condition is met

MP3 Support

Another of our long-awaited features. We’re incredibly happy to say that you can finally import your own mp3 files into the Toolkit! No more conversion to OGG or Wav

These are just some of the new improvements we’ve made to the Toolkit! | Hit the link below to also read the full Patch Notes for the update! https://arkenforge.com/new-year-new-toolkit-public-update-v0-4-1-150/

#ttrpg #vtt #dnd #mapmaker #cartographer #dnd maps #rpg maps #battlemaps

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arkenforge · 1 year

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What does OGL v1.1 mean for VTTs?

Hey folks! You’ve probably heard that a draft of the OGL v1.1 from WotC has been leaked. We’ve heard what this means for publishers thanks to folks like The Rules Lawyer and Linda Codega. We haven’t heard much about the VTT side of things. As a VTT developer, we’ll be weighing in on this issue from the digital TTRPG side of things. We’ll be explaining how this is a clear attempt for WotC to consolidate power in the digital TTRPG space at the expense of independent (and some large) publishers.

If you aren’t sure what the OGL is, we’ll let Wikipedia do the work on this one.

Before we dive into how this will affect the VTT space, we need to look at the context for the OGL v1.1 release.

D&D Beyond

D&D Beyond is by far the most popular tool for character management in D&D5e. It contains a fully searchable and filterable repository of all game rules, classes, races, spells, etc. It also does character management, encounter building and dice rolls, and hosts a digital copy of all official 5e adventures. Essentially, if you’re using any official content from Wizards of the Coast, you can find it on D&D Beyond.

Last year D&D Beyond was purchased by Wizards of the Coast for $146.3 million. At the time of purchase they had amassed almost 10 million users (now ~13 million based on a recent investor call). We learnt recently that WotC is using D&D Beyond as the cornerstone of their new digital D&D offering. All of the content and automation that is needed to play 5e can be managed through D&D Beyond except for one key element – interactive maps. That’s where the recent announcement of Wizards’ new VTT, OneD&D, comes into the picture.

But why male models VTTs?

For those that haven’t heard of the term before, VTTs are virtual tabletops. They allow people to run their games digitally, either online or in person. VTTs tend to provide tools and/or automation to make running your games smoother and more immersive. They are also very useful for those who have party members in multiple locations.

VTT use is at its highest point ever. After two years of global isolation, players flocked to online VTTs such as Roll20, Foundry, Fantasy Grounds, and Owlbear Rodeo. This led to millions of players who typically play around the table to experience digital tabletop tools for the first time, and by far the most popular game they were playing was D&D.

Playing D&D online

Right now 5e is played everywhere, and could make up as much as half of all TTRPG games played globally based on information from last year’s Orr report. This is a huge market, and right now it’s spread over every VTT out there. Wouldn’t it be great for Wizards of the Coast if everyone was playing on a platform that they fully owned and controlled? GMs could buy all their content from WotC directly, without needing to revenue share with those other VTTs. The famously under-monetised players could customise and personalise their characters with purchaseable cosmetics or character sheets that are provided by WotC directly, not by independent artists.

Wizards of the Coast certainly seems to think that this is a great idea. Enter OneD&D.

OneD&D is a new VTT being built by Wizards, slated for a 2024 release. Early footage from the announcement trailer shows it as a highly detailed 3D platform that provides all the standard VTT features. However, with everyone already using all the other VTT platforms competition would be quite fierce. That is, unless they had a way to shut out others from the market.

We think that’s one of the primary purposes of OGL v1.1 – to deliberately remove the competition for digital D&D tools, leaving WotC with the monopoly on all future D&D content through D&D Beyond and OneD&D.

Consolidating Power – OGL v1.1

The primary thing we need to worry about in the VTT space is covered by the following excerpts. We’ve bolded the important bits:

From the recent OGL post on DnDBeyond: “those materials are only ever permitted as printed media or static electronic files (like epubs and PDFs)”, and

This section from Linda’s Gizmodo article: “[The updated license] only allows for creation of roleplaying games and supplements in printed media and static electronic file formats. It does not allow for anything else, including but not limited to things like … virtual tabletops or VTT campaigns … You may engage in these activities only to the extent allowed under the Wizards of the Coast Fan Content Policy or separately agreed between You and Us.”

The mostly overlooked takeaway from OGL v1.1 is that it only covers static electronic files. That is, content that can not be altered in any way, and content that is in transferrable file form. No websites. Even if you’re putting up a single static web page, if it’s got text from a 5e book it’s illegal.

Creating a form fillable PDF? Not allowed. Building your own 5e character manager? Illegal. A 5e compendium? Do not pass go, do not collect $200 (ironically also a reference to a Hasbro product). Nothing that is both digital and interactive can be published without a special ‘custom agreement’ with WotC.

The forbidden content

Here’s a few examples of things that are both digital and interactive that OGL v1.1 forbids:

A fully searchable and filterable repository of any 5e content. If you can show or hide content based on a set of filters, it’s not static

Character management

Encounter building

I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty close to all the things that D&D Beyond does! What else could you consider digital and interactive I wonder?

Interactive maps

Automation of 5e rules and combat

That’s sounding quite a bit like the features a VTT might provide! How awfully convenient that WotC is releasing one in 2024!

“But VTTs already have agreements, so OGL v1.1 won’t affect them”

This is an argument that WotC has already made, and no doubt will continue making until the release of OneD&D. This is specifically what they’ve said:

“The top VTT platforms already have custom agreements with Wizards to do what they do.” (source). This is a handwaving a lot of issues.

Firstly, note here that the top VTT platforms are specifically Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds. FoundryVTT, who at this point we would very much consider a top VTT, does not have a custom agreement with WotC. Arkenforge (who we consider a pretty great VTT) does not have an agreement with WotC. The vast majority of VTTs don’t have an agreement with WotC.

As Foundry founder and developer Atropos himself said recently: “We’ve been actively monitoring this situation and we’re going to be proactively working on a path forward that will cover our use case and allow us to support One D&D. We are not, however, in a position to do so already under the terms of today’s post. There is work to do“.

This isn’t a surprise

We alluded to this in our previous article about the D&D Beyond purchase: “The bigger implication here though is the continuation of ‘unofficial’ D&D Beyond support. …there are a large number of tools out there that are currently skirting an incredibly grey area of licensing. Neither D&D Beyond or WotC have approved these tools…. Knowing WotC, it’s incredibly likely that as the release of the VTT draws near, the creators of these tools will start receiving Cease and Desist letters and takedown notices”. It’s why we’ve deliberately shied away for putting anything even remotely close to 5e into our software. We’d love to have functionality that allows us to pull D&D Beyond data, but it’s a dangerous area.

There’s a very long list of VTTs that have appeared in the last few years that primarily serve 5e content. Too many to list here. All of these VTTs are risking cease and desists under OGL v1.1. Tools that pull content from Beyond, or even tools that allow for easy browsing of the 5e ruleset are also illegal under OGL v1.1.

Independent releases on VTTs

The other elephant in the room with Wizards’ statement is that this agreement is with VTT platforms that release their own versions of 5e books. VTTs are also an excellent marketplace for independent creators. They can publish their content for people to play directly without needing to worry about printing and distribution. Many Patreons also offer VTT content for their higher tier patrons.

Content that independent creators create and sell on these platforms is not part of the VTT agreement. Most likely the OGL v1.1 will prevent them from creating interactive digital versions of their products to sell on VTT marketplaces. This is going to force anyone wanting to create online D&D content to OneD&D, who will more than likely provide plentiful tools to publish your content through their own platform.

The ability for WotC to revoke any license with only 30 days’ warning can put a strain on those VTTs with marketplaces. We could very well have a message from Wizards that we need to remove a certain product at once. Not only does this put stress on our the people managing our marketplace, it can also annoy users who could see any D&D-related purchased content vanish from their libraries with no warning.

OGL v1.1 overreach

As you read above, we expected the heavy-handed crackdown on 5e content. It’s only natural that WotC would try to reduce competition and move as many players as possible to their own platform. What we didn’t expect however, were the changes to OGL publishing.

Wizards is trying very hard to have OGL 1.1 be the only publishable license available. They’re already trying to claim that the existing OGL is now unauthorized, which would prevent anyone from publishing under it.

If you think this will only affect D&D, here’s just some of the popular Publishers and TTRPGs that are published under the previous OGL.

Paizo – Pathfinder, Starfinder

Evil Hat Productions – Fate, The Dresden Files RPG

Pinnacle Entertainment – Pathfinder for Savage Worlds

Green Ronin Publishing – Mutants and Masterminds

This leads to one big question for publishers and VTTs alike. Can these publishers publish VTT versions of their systems and adventures? The new OGL says no.

A digital graveyard

Under the new licensing, Mutants and Masterminds can’t decide to put their content on any VTT without consulting WotC first. We likely can’t get official Pathfinder or Starfinder content on our own Arkenforge store because those new products may violate OGL v1.1’s ‘no interactive digital content’ terms. Despite a publisher already having a deep library of content, converting an existing adventure module for a VTT can easily be classified as a ‘new product’ that OGL v1.1 covers. No third parties could create digital content for these systems either. Many people will likely try to continue releasing content for open VTTs such as Foundry under the Fan Content Policy, but that’s treading into an incredibly grey area and will most likely be forbidden.

If this interpretation is correct (and all signs so far point to WotC trying to push this as the correct interpretation) then there’s a lot more than D&D that will be affected by this change in the digital space. Several independent creators will be unable to keep up releases with new VTTs unless Wizards allows them to. This simple change in the OGL gives Wizards of the Coast complete control of the digital future of several popular roleplaying games. We sincerely hope that this isn’t the interpretation that they end up going with.

Conclusion

Wizards of the Coast strongly believes that online, digital tools are the future of tabletop roleplaying. They’ve structured OGL v1.1 to try and monopolise this space for all future D&D content. Both large and independent publishers can only release digital content on Wizards’ terms. These terms will likely come with either OneD&D exclusivity requirements or some level of royalties. They can also choose to shut people out of the digital market entirely. OGL v1.1 gives WotC the ability to stop Paizo releasing any future Starfinder content on any VTT. There’s a couple of other tricks that they have up their sleeve that we unfortunately can’t discuss for legal reasons.

OGL v1.1 in its current form will undoubtedly be disastrous for the future of independent creators for 5e content. Wizards is unhappy with the lack of control they’ve had over independent creators in the past, and they’re now tightening their grip too hard. We can only hope that enough people speak out to make these Wizards break concentration.

#dnd #onednd #ogl 1.1 #ogl #opendnd

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arkenforge · 1 year

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The Arkenforge Last-Minute Digital Gift Guide for Tabletop Gamers!

Hey TTRPG friends - need a gift last minute for a DM or player in your life, but no time for shipping?

We’ve got you.

Check out our guide to cool as heck digital TTRPG gifts you can get for your loved ones or yourself this holidays!

Miniatures:

We all love minis, and thankfully there’s a bunch of places you can get custom minis made these days, and they have Gift Cards!

Heroforge:

Heroforge is possible the most popular of these services, with its colour options, and token/portrait booth - you can use it for many purposes, we use it all the time!

Heroforge has gift cards available, so maybe pick one of these up:

https://www.heroforge.com/

Titancraft:

Titancraft is a relatively new one, but their content looks very impressive, they also have gift cards so you can get a new custom monster or hero mini!

https://titancraft.com/store/giftcards/

Digital TTRPG Books:

DnD Beyond: Dnd Beyond allows you to purchase books as gifts, and also digital dice! Treat your DM to a new book, or your players to some new dice today! https://www.dndbeyond.com/

Underground Oracle

Underground Oracle creates some of the coolest D&D 5E content we’ve read, their Awakened Familiars and Heprion’s Guide books are some of my absolute favourites. Who doesn’t want to play as a sentient baby Owlbear?

https://undergroundoracle.com/

Paizo:

Paizo create some incredible RPGs and you can buy the Pathfinder or Starfinder player in your life a gift card to get something new for themselves! https://paizo.com/paizo/about/giftCertificates/v5748eaic9mis?Purchasing-Gift-Certificates

VTT Software:

VTT Software is super helpful in today’s age of virtual play, and also for enhancing in-person play with digital tables. Quite a few places have gift subscriptions or giftcards available! Arkenforge: We’d be sore pressed not to mention ourselves, our software is one of the most versatile mapmaking and VTT products on the market, with the ability to export to most major VTTs, create detailed animated maps, print them out and more! With a One-Time Purchase, NO Subscriptions and expansion packs of assets available - it’s great value! We have Gift Cards available, and also a Christmas sale running that you can take advantage of right now. https://arkenforge.com/product-category/christmas-sale/ https://arkenforge.com/product/gift-card/

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Roll20: Roll20 is one of the more well-known VTTs, that has books and support for multiple systems available! Tokens, Distance Ruler and Dice rollers in the web-app - you can get Gift Subscriptions for Roll20 here: https://app.roll20.net/gift

Humble Bundle: Humble Bundles are often a GREAT source of TTRPG books, tokens, novels comics and software that you or your loved ones would love! They often have excellent deals on PAIZO game books, and bundles of VTT token/game design assets to help with your RPG sessions! https://www.humblebundle.com/bundles

And that’s our recommendations for some last minute holiday gifts to suit your needs! Good luck and Happy Holidays!

#holidays #christmas #ttrpg #dnd #paizo #pathfinder #gift guide #hannukah #vtt

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arkenforge · 1 year

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WASTELANDERS!!

Prepare your engines, ready your weapons.

Stand tall and be witnessed, shiny and chrome.

The Wasteland pack is on it's way.

Traps, textures, terrain, new plants and buildings - and lots lots more!

#ttrpg #gaslands #postapocalypse #vtt

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arkenforge · 1 year

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Something lurking within

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arkenforge · 1 year

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Alys outfits!

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arkenforge · 1 year

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The stone cold gaze painted in Urion’s face revealed that something was deeply wrong with them. Gone was that politeness, that gentle demeanour. Their words were now stone-cold and anti-natural, as if it was something much more inhumane talking for the first time. “I am sorry,” they spoke, “But free will is only going to get you hurt. Let me help- I can keep you safe. I must keep you safe.”

So hello! Here’s the updated very-villain-looking portrait for Urion! Through some lore-intensive stuff that I can’t quite explain, the massive ancient meat supercomputer they were working with regained its consciousness, and with it, it remembered its purpose: To protect humanity from everything, including itself. And Urion just happened to be the perfect face to accomplish that, so uh– They’re now possessed.

Anyways, as always, reblogs are much appreciated!!

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arkenforge · 1 year

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One of my first DnD characters, Brandy

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arkenforge · 1 year

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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

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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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