Best sources for VTT maps and tokens?

[fieldworking]

I'm looking for decent VTT maps and tokens to use in a multitude of BRP games (RQG, Roman Empire BRP, Cthulhu Invictus, Bronze Age BRP). Does anybody have any favourite sources or leads for me? While free stuff is fine, I'm also willing to pay.

[Lloyd Dupont]

"VTT"?!
What's that?

[AndrewTBP]

I recommend registering an account with the Pelgrane Press website. There you can download all the maps from their 13th Age Organized Play adventures. I've got a lot of work out of them over the years. 

I've made myself PNG tokens for 13th Age Glorantha using the TokenTool app and my RQG, 13G, RQC, etc., PDFs. I can also extract maps & pictures as JPG files to show players. Obviously these can't be shared with anyone. 

There are token packs available for sale on the Jonstown Compendium, and they're excellent. 

Edited December 7, 2021 by AndrewTBP

[Questbird]

There are some diverse collections by a mob called Heroic Maps at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/5371/Heroic-Maps . I've used them for sci-fi games but there are plenty of fantasy options too. Not free though.

For dungeons and locations, there are some fantastic isometric view maps in Trilemma Adventures https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/286792/Trilemma-Adventures-Compendium-Volume-I . They look interesting, and 3d-style maps is something you can use more easily on a virtual tabletop than face-to-face. I'm all for pushing the strengths of virtual gaming when you are using it.

Just my 2c. I'm sure there are other good sources too.

Edited December 7, 2021 by Questbird

[Questbird]

1 hour ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

"VTT"?!
What's that?

 

Virtual Table Top

Things like Roll20, Astral etc. Usually a set of tools which let the gamemaster display shared maps or images with tokens that the players can control, as well as zoom-like chat and videoconferencing. There's also usually dice rollers and interactive character sheets to make the bureaucracy of running a game a bit smoother.

[Lloyd Dupont]

19 minutes ago, Questbird said:

1 hour ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

"VTT"?!
What's that?

 

Virtual Table Top

Things like Roll20, Astral etc. Usually a set of tools which let the gamemaster display shared maps or images with tokens that the players can control, as well as zoom-like chat and videoconferencing. There's also usually dice rollers and interactive character sheets to make the bureaucracy of running a game a bit smoother.

Thanks for the info.

BTW since we are talking about Roll20.. I understand it's quite popular.
In my spare time I am working on a mapping application, what if I want to share it on Roll20? Do I just need to export to png/jpg?

[Questbird]

10 minutes ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

Thanks for the info.

BTW since we are talking about Roll20.. I understand it's quite popular.
In my spare time I am working on a mapping application, what if I want to share it on Roll20? Do I just need to export to png/jpg?

 

Yes, pretty much. I've just used roll20 since the pandemic, to play D&D5e and Coriolis: The Third Horizon. The GM constructs screens which have layers, a bit like a limited Photoshop. There's a map layer, a tokens layer and a GM overlay layer. The map layer has the graphic -- your .png file and you can add a grid if you want. It's kinda zoomable too by anyone. The token layer is where you put little moveable images, like how you would use miniatures. Players can control those if the GM gives them that ability. Then the GM layer is where you can do things like have GM-only visible things like notes about the map, or have blocks of greyed-out shaders which make parts of the map invisible to players.

[Lloyd Dupont]

8 minutes ago, Questbird said:

Yes, pretty much. I've just used roll20 since the pandemic, to play D&D5e and Coriolis: The Third Horizon. The GM constructs screens which have layers, a bit like a limited Photoshop. There's a map layer, a tokens layer and a GM overlay layer. The map layer has the graphic -- your .png file and you can add a grid if you want. It's kinda zoomable too by anyone. The token layer is where you put little moveable images, like how you would use miniatures. Players can control those if the GM gives them that ability. Then the GM layer is where you can do things like have GM-only visible things like notes about the map, or have blocks of greyed-out shaders which make parts of the map invisible to players.

Alright.. easy to use with any mapping app then, Bob is my uncle! 😄

[AndrewTBP]

5 hours ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

I am working on a mapping application, what if I want to share it on Roll20? Do I just need to export to png/jpg?

You’ll want to read this on the Roll20 Help Center about images for use on Roll20. 
https://help.roll20.net/hc/en-us/articles/360037256634-Best-Practices-for-Files-on-Roll20

[Lloyd Dupont]

ha, good tip, I should remember to add a DPI option when exporting as images!!! 🙂 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Lloyd Dupont

[fieldworking]

10 hours ago, AndrewTBP said:

I recommend registering an account with the Pelgrane Press website. There you can download all the maps from their 13th Age Organized Play adventures. I've got a lot of work out of them over the years. 

I've made myself PNG tokens for 13th Age Glorantha using the TokenTool app and my RQG, 13G, RQC, etc., PDFs. I can also extract maps & pictures as JPG files to show players. Obviously these can't be shared with anyone. 

There are token packs available for sale on the Jonstown Compendium, and they're excellent. 

Thanks for the heads-up! I never thought about checking 13th Age. I'll check that out.

9 hours ago, Questbird said:

There are some diverse collections by a mob called Heroic Maps at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/5371/Heroic-Maps . I've used them for sci-fi games but there are plenty of fantasy options too. Not free though.

For dungeons and locations, there are some fantastic isometric view maps in Trilemma Adventures https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/286792/Trilemma-Adventures-Compendium-Volume-I . They look interesting, and 3d-style maps is something you can use more easily on a virtual tabletop than face-to-face. I'm all for pushing the strengths of virtual gaming when you are using it.

Just my 2c. I'm sure there are other good sources too.

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll take a look at those.

For anyone curious, I'm going to give Owlbear Rodeo a spin for games. It's a free VTT. My groups tend to prefer using paper character sheets and real world dice, and we use Discord for video, so we're going to give it a whirl and see what we think.

[KPhan2121]

Reddit is a good source of battle maps.

https://www.reddit.com/r/battlemaps/

https://www.reddit.com/r/dndmaps/

It looks like you're more interested in Historical Settings, but there should be a lot maps that'll be to your liking.

[JDS]

On 12/6/2021 at 10:09 PM, fieldworking said:

I'm looking for decent VTT maps and tokens to use in a multitude of BRP games (RQG, Roman Empire BRP, Cthulhu Invictus, Bronze Age BRP). Does anybody have any favourite sources or leads for me? While free stuff is fine, I'm also willing to pay.

Pinterest (free account) is loaded with free maps create by people who just like making maps. I've been using VTTs for year, most recently Roll20. They have plenty of tokens, except for top-down. I stop by and grab a map or two every single day.

Deviant Art (not what it sounds like) has plenty of maps. 

Oones Maps are on Drive-thru are superb, and inexpensive.  https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/61/0one-Games

[pansophy]

The Paizo webpage also has a nice shop for VTT maps or maps as PDF. Same for Tokens, if you need some.

https://paizo.com/store/gaming/accessories/gamingMats

[fieldworking]

On 12/24/2021 at 1:37 PM, KPhan2121 said:

Reddit is a good source of battle maps.

https://www.reddit.com/r/battlemaps/

https://www.reddit.com/r/dndmaps/

It looks like you're more interested in Historical Settings, but there should be a lot maps that'll be to your liking.

Just as an update to this in case anybody else needs direction--I've found these two subreddits to be the best source for free maps. I've been running an RQG campaign quite successfully with maps found there, and I ran a Cthulhu Invictus scenario with maps from them as well. Highly recommended!