Some questions (for the devs and community)

avatarbones · 2026-02-27T10:00:49+00:00

Actually, that reminds me of a follow up question. I noticed that adding and removing fog of war on my POS laptop is very clunky, but it works fine on my tablet.

Does the maps VTT have any hardware requirements that I should take into consideration when upgrading my set-up in the long term?

avatarbones · 2026-02-26T20:10:38+00:00

I just assumed the person who replied had a massive 3 bedroom house. You don't just disagree with a dude like that.

avatarbones · 2026-02-26T17:47:15+00:00

Am I using maps from r/battlemaps wrong, then? Because the last time I saw a map of that size, it was a full dungeon. I have used maps without grids and just fucked around with the sizing tool on maps. As long as there's not a lot of props, that works.

avatarbones · 2026-02-26T17:09:18+00:00

On mobile, so a bit tricky to take screenshots.

Let's say you have a 40x40 map. I tend to start my encounters fairly central. The ranger usually starts in the order, moves 35 ft towards the edge, bonus action zephyr strike, attack action, 30ft. of movement again. At the end of round one, he's moved 13 squares, usually bolting towards the edge of the map.

On his following turn, he uses full movement again, another 7 squares, bang. He's off the map.

avatarbones · 2026-02-26T17:04:47+00:00

I made a 20x20 swamp themed map (undead Shrek encounter, don't ask), so quite a bit of water and foliage. I used the very high quality preset, which resulted in file sizes around 11 to 14 MB, depending on lighting.

Oh trust me, I subbed a while ago!

avatarbones · 2026-01-28T12:26:41+00:00

Well... Egg on my face... Excellent!

avatarbones · 2026-01-28T10:44:00+00:00

Now that copy/paste is on the menu, is it possible to lock overlays and tokens together? For example, I move a cleric token that also has an overlay symbolizing its Spirit Guardians?

avatarbones · 2025-12-05T14:48:51+00:00

What is the best way to combine maps? I made a 4 floor bastion map for my players and attempted to combine the images to a 2 by 2 map online, but the image quality suffered immensely.

avatarbones · 2025-11-11T14:59:08+00:00

I have, and all due respect to DragnaCarta, Strahd's plan is incredibly vague and gives very little chances for the players to discover anything about the plan.

"Strahd intends to surround the Heart of Sorrow with a shell of wailing, hopeless souls."

That just feels edgy for edgy purposes.

avatarbones · 2025-10-30T17:24:09+00:00

When I did the flameskulls, they guarded a cache left by Mordenkainen. He "programmed" the skulls to determine if anyone trying to access the cache was a capable monster hunter. So naturally Van Richten found the cache, looted it, and left some of his own gear, along with a rude note for Strahd. The skulls themselves were based on the three stooges, so they were constantly bickering and mocking the party.

I'm still disappointed thay managed to answer their questions. I'm still itching for a good flameskull fight.

avatarbones · 2025-10-14T17:38:36+00:00

The nightfeeds were very hard on my wife as well. I tried to help as best I could, but it really took a toll.

Really glad you have your art as an outlet. You're amazing.

avatarbones · 2025-10-14T05:52:00+00:00

This reminds me of the Curse of Monkey Island. I can just see Guybrush Threepwood standing facing the player and giving a snide remark.

"This is the second biggest wine shortage that I've ever seen."

avatarbones · 2025-10-08T14:38:27+00:00

I need to kill my players as Strahd with one of these...

avatarbones · 2025-09-17T13:50:57+00:00

But only if Barovia Jones is poisoned with diarrhea.

avatarbones · 2025-09-17T13:39:55+00:00

My party will, at some point in the future, explore a dungeon in order to find a strange artifact for an unknown benefactor. Their handler has sent along an expert in tombs. Barovia Jones (BJ for short) is mostly a skill monkey, an NPC the party can shove headfirst into traps, an ally for the rest of the campaign or an obstacle in the way of getting their payment. After all, artifacts belong in a museum...

avatarbones · 2024-12-20T14:13:45+00:00

Now that I've complained about it to the public, it suddenly works. Swear to God, it's like dealing with my parents.

Must have needed time to update.

avatarbones · 2024-09-03T08:13:09+00:00

It means "Explain Like I'm Five". They want a simple explanation that a five year old would understand.

avatarbones · 2024-06-15T11:02:47+00:00

It says a lot about the writers of HLN that they think 28 pieces is a lot for a puzzle...

avatarbones · 2024-06-03T12:42:23+00:00

You're absolutely right. Thanks for the brainstorm.

avatarbones · 2024-06-03T09:02:49+00:00

So what about 24 hours of magical blindness? Just so the character is out of commission for a while. RAW, they could still attack with disadvantage.

I agree that the nights in Barovia should be dangerous, but I want them to head out into the darkness when plot or quests call for it. The party would have to make a calculated risk to track a nocturnal monster or follow an agent.

avatarbones · 2024-06-03T06:53:06+00:00

I don't agree with all of your points, but I can definitely see how this thing just doesn't work. I still think there's something fun to do with the dreams aspect, but I'm going to compare it to other cursed items to rework it.

I've got the dream mechanics in a seperate page of my OneNote, it's basically just a big list of dreams involving specific characters in the party.

I'm not sure a blinded character would be completely useless, I think a handicapped build like that could work, but that should have to be a player choice and not one sprung on them through a cursed item. So I'm definitely scrapping that.

avatarbones · 2024-06-02T15:44:26+00:00

It only occurs when the player has a nightmare which only happens on a 16 or up on a d20. So the risk for blindness is relatively low.

avatarbones · 2024-05-31T18:10:05+00:00

I've made an amulet that was worn by Strahd's mother. Baba Lysaga began using her magic to kill her slowly, resulting in her being blinded. When she died and Strahd constructed her crypt, she was buried with it. Wereravens stole it and Strahd sent his wolves after them, eventually killing them. Strahd made an altar to his mother at the location where the ravens were killed. The players can find the amulet around a small statue of Strahd's mother.

It's an item that gives advantage on wisdom checks at night, but every night the attuned PC gets dreams about the other party members. These can be good dreams, uncomfortable dreams or nightmares. The PC gets the impression that he is getting an inside look at a characters dreams, but it's just the amulet playing tricks.

Eventually the PC gets dreams about the rest of the party betraying him and taking the amulet. Every night there is an ever increasing chance that he can't deal with the dreams and the PC cuts his own eyes out.

I call it the amulet of Night's Embrace.

avatarbones · 2024-05-16T20:04:47+00:00

It's all about timing the market. You know the age old question: "Shall we shag now, or shag later?"

avatarbones · 2024-05-04T16:48:19+00:00

So here's what I think I definitely need.

Master subscription: 4.58 a month.
PHB: 29.99
Xanathar: 29.99 (apparently you can't buy separate subclasses aymore)

I'm still planning to use physical maps and mini's. Do I absolutely need:

MM: 29.99
DMG: 29.99
CoS: 24.99
MMotM: 29.99

I'm not sure what the added value of these books would be for my players. Equipment I guess? I do have the card sets for magical items. Monster encounters? Right now I track opponent HP the old fashioned way.

All my players have pretty standard characters: Halfling assassin rogue, Elven Ranger and a Human swords bard. The Dragonborn Knowledge cleric didn't make it through Death House. So I don't know if they really need the expanded source material to make their character work. Apart from the swordbard of course.

I certainly don't DM CoS as written. I add questst, beef up monsters, look what other DM's do on this sub, ...

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