Yawning Portal as a Campaign

@Naatkinson mentioned this in a recruitment thread in the Tavern, I figured I'd bring that conversation over here, especially in light of the "Mentoring Project" Jabes had brought up.

I'm currently running Tales from the Yawning Portal as a campaign. Granted, we're only part way into Sunless Citadel, but the idea is to treat it almost as a vignette set in whatever setting you choose (we went with Eberron). The players are adventuring currently based on rumors they picked up in the Yawning Portal tavern. Narratively speaking, when they conclude and head back to the main town, there will be some kind of breadcrumby option that will lead to the next Tale.

In regards to mapping, I found it VERY helpful to use Roll20. I purchased the adventure module there, so it came pre-mapped and tokened and everything else. Now, I just work my way through snipping bits of the map from that as static pictures as they explore different parts of it. Alternatively, players could join Roll20 and have access to the map "real time" if they so chose. It definitely is more on the DM cost side of things (since I had to buy the module there), but the actual set-up effort and maintenance is significantly lower, especially as it has all the creatures with stats and everything already there. I can account for lighting and such (since I'm a subscriber anyway), which makes it a lot easier for me to do descriptions and the like, knowing what people can and can't see.

Very cool!

That's a really cool idea! I wish I had any extra cash to add that touch to my games :(

I usually use Google Sheets and just make my own custom maps, granting edit access to my players in order for them to move their own "tokens" during combat

You can only access roll20 to edit the map via pc or tablet though correct?

ummm that sounds interesting...could you provide a little more info? Right now my technique just involves finding a map image online and editing through my pdf app on my iphone then uploading the image to imgur...this is convienient because I can do map updates from anywhere...but for the tokens I;m limited to letters to signify the characters.

@Naatkinson Roll 20 is free, it just takes the time to edit the map. but the dynamic lighting is like 50/yr i believe i don't remember what i paid for it.

@Sclasclemski : no you can do it on the phone but its a pain to do it on the phone, computer is SOOOO much easier.

Generally, what I do is something like this. I tend to just use letters to signify characters, but I've also used Token Tool to turn avatars into tokens which can then be inserted into the map!

Once you've done that, you just share the link with the group and you have a persistent map that updates in real-time :)

Isn't thoes tools pay to use?

thats cool...I wonder if I can import an image as a background for the spreadsheet...hmmm

I know that Token Tool, at least, is free to use :)

The other ones... I'm not sure about them.

Dynamic lighting is, I think, 5/month.

It would be a fun (hah) project to see if you could do dynamic lighting in a Google sheet. Once I'm done trying to figure out a dice roller for GroupMe, I may start in on that as a play around thing.

I don't think so. I also use Naatkinson's technique, here's a fight that's going on right now. It is pretty hard to recreate sophisticated WotC maps from the modules but you don't need to do it perfectly.

Google drawings is pretty neat...using the puffin browser I can manipulate layers and everything...seems easier to setup on the desktop and then I can move characters on the phone no problem.