Hi guys, this seems like a helpful forum so I thought I would ask my first question.

I am a new but dedicated GM and have gotten a good grip on what I should be doing. However, I want to add visual aids to the game to help some of my novice players (my wife and my buddy's wife). They are first time roleplayers and are having a hard time grasping the "make believe" part and the mechanics of the game at the same time. I have rigged my computer to my living room tv so that I can throw maps, pictures, (and wookiepedia if necessary). I would just like a way to show character location on top the map images I put on screen. I have .png tokens of their characters and I was wondering if there was any software you guys knew of that would allow me to freely drag and drop the digital tokens on top of the maps. Software like GIMP is a bit too slow and distracting for use during a session and this is only temporary until our wives get the hang of immersing themselves in the scene. It just needs to run on Windows. Thanks.

For any TL;DR people, I asked if there is any software (on pc) I could use to actively move digital tokens across a map image to serve as a visual aid for my more novice players. I cast these maps onto my tv and want a way to make them active and useful for remembering and tracking things. Thanks.

Really depends on your players preferences.

I prefer to print/draw maps and tokens for all key PC/NPCs, pictures of the cities/planets/areas. My PCs love this sort of visual aids - "show, don't tell" always works fine.

In terms of maps we all like to have a map of the planet/area in front of us to have more structured feeling of space and time. I also try to come up with a more detailed area maps for any situations where it is relevant in terms of game mechanics. this should not be necessarity for combat encounters only - otherwise the PCs will know what to expect each time you pull out a new map.

I always tend to avoid using any devices except for (a) looking up the rules/stats in a situation where it is absolutely critical; (b) googling a picture of a creature/object that can not otherwise be visualized. At least in my group I do feel that this creates a feeling of something real being created at our table (not necessarily a table really as we do outdoor sessions if we can too). As much as I would like to have my computer at hand, I always feel that it distracts PCs more that it helps to create the world using imagination.

Roll20 can be used to throw up maps and lets you put tokens on the map. Opens in the browser so no extra stuff tjat you need to install.

Thanks for replying. We had a session last night so I have an getting to know my player's preferences better. Thanks for the tools to think about?

58 minutes ago, thesaviour said:

Really depends on your players preferences.

I prefer to print/draw maps and tokens for all key PC/NPCs, pictures of the cities/planets/areas. My PCs love this sort of visual aids - "show, don't tell" always works fine.

In terms of maps we all like to have a map of the planet/area in front of us to have more structured feeling of space and time. I also try to come up with a more detailed area maps for any situations where it is relevant in terms of game mechanics. this should not be necessarity for combat encounters only - otherwise the PCs will know what to expect each time you pull out a new map.

I always tend to avoid using any devices except for (a) looking up the rules/stats in a situation where it is absolutely critical; (b) googling a picture of a creature/object that can not otherwise be visualized. At least in my group I do feel that this creates a feeling of something real being created at our table (not necessarily a table really as we do outdoor sessions if we can too). As much as I would like to have my computer at hand, I always feel that it distracts PCs more that it helps to create the world using imagination.

We have been wanting to make, and print maps and tokens. What are your preferred ways to print things that will last multiple sessions? How do you make paper maps that are big enough for everyone to see? Do you have any favorite methods for finding or making your visual aids?

1 hour ago, OtakuEngine said:

Thanks for replying. We had a session last night so I have an getting to know my player's preferences better. Thanks for the tools to think about?

We have been wanting to make, and print maps and tokens. What are your preferred ways to print things that will last multiple sessions? How do you make paper maps that are big enough for everyone to see? Do you have any favorite methods for finding or making your visual aids?

For tokens, I print 1.1”x1.1” square (or 2.1”x2.1” for the larger size) “head shots” on card stock, then use a 1” round (or 2” round) scrapbooking punch to make tokens similar to those found in the Beginner Games. Having a 3D printer, I print out discs of the appropriate size to glue the tokens that will be frequently used onto to give them a bit more weight.

From l-r, an FFG Beginner Game token, a cardstock-only NPC CorSec Officer token, and a cardstock and disc token for my wife’s PC, with the 1” punch behind them.

As for maps, I purchased a tv on the cheap, lay it flat on the table, and display any maps on it from my laptop. Also serves to run an opening crawl at the beginning of the session, and show any other visual reference for the players.

13 minutes ago, Nytwyng said:

For tokens, I print 1.1”x1.1” square (or 2.1”x2.1” for the larger size) “head shots” on card stock, then use a 1” round (or 2” round) scrapbooking punch to make tokens similar to those found in the Beginner Games. Having a 3D printer, I print out discs of the appropriate size to glue the tokens that will be frequently used onto to give them a bit more weight.

From l-r, an FFG Beginner Game token, a cardstock-only NPC CorSec Officer token, and a cardstock and disc token for my wife’s PC, with the 1” punch behind them.

As for maps, I purchased a tv on the cheap, lay it flat on the table, and display any maps on it from my laptop. Also serves to run an opening crawl at the beginning of the session, and show any other visual reference for the players.

Those are really cool. I've got my fingers crossed for a 3d printer for Christmas. Thanks for the tips.

No prob. I’d originally planned to go the miniature route, but found that the tokens are not only far more cost effective, but quicker and easier to produce on demand as session planning needs call for.

I do exactly what Nytwyng does with the tokens, except that I don't even use a 3d printer. I just print the art on adhesive mate photopaper and stick them to cardboard tokens. In fact, since I've bought all 4 beginner sets (for dice mainly and for some other stuff as well), I mostly just re-use the original tokens sticking newly printed pictures on them. works just fine.

I've printed the galaxy map on A2 photopaper and laminated it so that it lasts longer.

For other maps I just print whatever I can google or get from artists like Miska at Patreon on A4 paper (try to use better quality paper or photopaper).

In addition to tokens I print pictures of important NPCs as standard 4x6 photos or make NPC cards using theDearth's wonderful templates. Like this one:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UtUBLC79Z8vH6Z5p4vDGsvPXDJxDk8dZ

Same for gear - in case I need anything that Kainrath has not already shared in his awesome blog :)

I also use some other props occasionally. For my next session I am currently looking for a coin that could go as an Ardos disk from Lords of Nal Hutta, for example. The players always love this sort of stuff.

in addition to all the awesome advice above you can also use X-wing, Armada and Imperial Assault miniatures for visual aids. They are great at showing players who may not be as knowledgeable about the setting what exactly a certain vehicle/creature looks like. Most people know an X-wing or an Imperial Star Destroyer. But only die hards know what a YV-666 or a TIE defender are.

I posted about this recently.

I use Powerpoint to present my sessions. https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/255364-how-i-ran-my-last-session-just-wanted-to-share/

It's not railroaded as some would immediately assume. I break out areas into sections. I do a lot of jumping around.

I usually start with a map and off that map I'll have slides for various buildings inside the map. Sometimes if I can't find anything visual it's just a blown up portion of the map with tiles of the people. I do a lot of copy/paste with my slides and label them as (Night/Day) and will remove PC's for night time if it's a shop and add them to a building if it's someones home.

You don't have to plan for everything. I have many times where I'll change the slide to a "generic" slide for that session. It means that nothing is prepared for this situation. Sometimes, I may have something prepared if that happens but for whatever reason I found no art work to represent it. This kind of obscures my players from what is "planned" and what is "unplanned".

I think the biggest help to my laborious process is that I've totally stopped dropping hints to my players. If they get stuck and can't figure their way for 2 hours then I have less to prepare for next session or I can spend time enhancing what I've made. Ultimately, they have more fun and they have found way more agency as players and the story becomes just as much theirs as your own.