Revision as of 21:49, 10 March 2017

These are general guidelines that will help you get started creating modules for the Roll20 Marketplace. Whether you are using your own homebrewed game or creating modules on behalf of a publisher, using licensed content, there are best practices that should be followed for higher-quality content and a better user experience. If you have any questions that aren't answered here, please don't hesitate to contact us.

What Goes Into a Module

Modules are complete adventure campaigns, laid out in full in Roll20. They should utilize the Roll20 platform to the fullest:

• All adventure text should be organized into Handouts
• Link between Handouts whenever possible: for example, you can link a character’s name in a Handout, to pull up that Character Entry.
• Maps should be aligned to the grid
• Maps, tokens, and other information should be layered: when possible, GM information (such as trap doors and additional notes) should be scrubbed from the map background and re-created on the GM Info Overlay
• Encounters should be laid out, with enemy and NPC tokens placed as described in the adventure text
• Tokens should be linked to a Character entry in the Journal; enemy and NPC Character entries should have a filled-out Character Sheet.
• While not required, using advance features such as Dynamic Lighting on maps will increase the value of the module. Depending on the game and what you wish to accomplish, you can also explore using additional Roll20 tabletop features such as Rollable Tables, Jukebox, custom Card Decks, etc.

Payment & Distribution

The Roll20 Marketplace exists as a distribution center, promoting professional level content. You retain ownership of your content and receive 70% of all sales (with the remaining 30% going to Roll20 for distributing, advertising, and hosting the content, along with handling all credit card transaction fees).

How to Get Started

Learn how to use the Roll20 tabletop to the fullest! If you’re new to Roll20, the best way to learn about the many features available is to take our tutorial.

Licensing & Copyright

Many game systems have Open Game Licenses that grant permission to creators to modify, copy, and redistribute some of the content designed for the games, notably game mechanics.

In some cases, you will be required to request a license or other specific permission to use game-related content in a module you sell for profit.

Research and awareness of what is covered in any game’s OGL, or additional legal requirements, is the responsibility of the creator.

Art

If you wish to collaborate with an artist to create unique custom tokens for your module, this is absolutely encouraged. Fees and other payment for such commissions must be decided and executed between the module creator and the artist.

All content released on Roll20 must be wholly original. Any content that features another person's work without their knowledge and approval is prohibited. This includes free content you find on forums or anywhere else online.

Regarding content (textures, programs you use, etc) you acquire from a website, company, or any other source: you must be certain you hold the proper license to release such content for profit. For example, many sites that offer textures for artwork creation require you to purchase an "extended license" if you are planning to modify the image and use it in a product you sell for profit. It is the Creator's responsibility to attain these licenses. We stress these issues to protect all Creators from legal issues and copyright infringement.

A Note About Working with Publisher Graphics

Images provided by a publisher are typically designed for print which uses a different color system (CMYK) and a far higher print resolution (~300 PPI/DPI) than what is needed for web content. Leaving the resolution that high and keeping the CMYK color system puts a lot of stress on an individual user's bandwidth to download every single graphic that's displayed on the Roll20 tabletop. This can cause undesirable lag when playing the module. Images uploaded to Roll20 should be converted over to the RGB color system and their resolution should be downgraded to 72 PPI/DPI. You also may want to adjust the color balance and intensity as well as image contrast. Designing for print requires you to tone down on colors and contrast for an image to print as desired. These images may look very drab and muted on a monitor without a necessary touch up.

Image Presets

Any Image that Requires Transparency (Tokens, GM Layer labels, trap icons, etc.): 72 DPI/PPI, RGB Color, PNG file type
Any Image that DOES NOT Require Transparency (Handout images, battle maps, Character portraits, etc.): 72 DPI/PPI, RGB Color, JPG file type, each grid square should be 140 x 140 pixels in size

Game Setup

A module creator must put together their game materials within a Roll20 Game. Once a module is primed for release on the Marketplace, a master copy of the game is made and kept on our servers. This copy is used to generate the module for any user who has purchased it from the Marketplace. Here are some requirements to keep in mind when designing the module in Roll20:

Character Sheet

A Character Sheet of the intended RPG system should be loaded for use in the game's settings. Every NPC and PC character in your adventure should have its own dedicated character journal which has a sheet with pre-loaded stats. They should all also have a linked token to their sheet.

Pages

Here are what we recommend for handling a module's battle maps, land maps, and scenic illustrations:

Landing Page

A Roll20 game is always available to a player, regardless whether the GM is currently logged in to it or not. A "Landing Page" is just a page, usually the very first one available beside the "Create New Page" button, where the GM can move the Player Ribbon to at the end of a session. This prevents Players from moving tokens or pre-planning while the game isn't in session, so we typically recommend a module creator includes one. Typically this Page is named "Landing Page" for clarity. We typically keep the Page Size small (somewhere around 15 x 13 units) and the art we use the book cover of the module being converted. This would also feature the adventure’s title, publisher name/logo, and should include the RPG System the adventure is for (whether that’s in text or logo form, or both, depending on the licensing requirements). If there are provided PC tokens for the module, this is a great place to keep them so a GM's players are immediately greeted with them when they first load in to the game. When you're ready to publish the module, you should place the Player Ribbon on the Landing Page so that's the first thing your GM sees.

Non-Gridded Maps (overworld land maps)

Non-Gridded maps typically have a map key that allows you to measure distance traveled. You will want to use this key as a guide to set up the unit scale of the Page. When a player or GM uses the Roll20 Ruler Tool, it should match the key’s distance/mileage if you trace over the map key with it. This is typically easier to adjust the image size outside of Roll20 within a photo-editing tool like Photoshop that comes with its own grid. Once in Roll20, you may want to enable the Grid briefly to use it as a guide for sizing up the image, then turn the Grid off once you’re got the image’s scale correct. Leaving the grid on makes tokens snap to it, so that may not be what you want for large land maps.

Non-Gridded Maps (Scenic/Environment Illustrations)

Depending on how long you expect players to view the image, you may choose to add the image to a Journal Handout instead of a page. If you wish to make a page for the illustration, you'll want to size it so it'll fit completely on the Roll20 Tabletop where the players will not need to zoom out or scroll to see all of the Page's contents. Use the Landing Page as a guide for image/page dimensions.

Gridded Maps

Gridded battle/floor maps should be aligned to the Roll20 Grid and placed on the Background Layer. If you’re very lucky, the battle map images have the grid lines on a separate Photoshop layer and you can upload the battle map sans the grid lines so you can just use the Roll20 generated ones instead. In most cases, the grid lines are drawn on the map, so you’ll need to adjust them so they’ll line up nicely on Roll20.

A Guide to Aligning a Map’s Grid in Photoshop

1. Go to the Toolbar and click and hold on the Eyedropper Tool to bring up the secondary tools available. Choose the Ruler tool.
2. Use the ruler to get the best pixel estimate of the average grid square length on the image.
3. Go to top menu and select Edit > Preferences > Grids, Guides & Slices. Under the Grid settings, assign the grid line to that pixel measurement you got in step 2.
4. Go to the top menu again and select View > Show > Grid to make the grid appear.
5. Scale, skew, and shift the battle map around until its grid matches up with Photoshop's grid. Both the Photoshop and Roll20’s grid are mathematically generated so if it matches in Photoshop, it’ll match in Roll20. Once aligned, you can crop the image so its dimensions are a set number of grid squares wide and tall (and makes it easier to place on the Roll20 Tabletop later on).
6. The image format for a map should be in JPG format, 72 PPI resolution, and the final image dimension should have each grid square be somewhat close to 140 x 140 pixels (it depends on the quality of the publisher’s art).
7. If the battle map is very large, you may want to split the map up and reassemble them later in Roll20.

Grid Scale

Double check the map scale on the art for the feet per grid square rate. The following guide works for RPG systems that use 5' as its base movement system.

• 5’: Nothing out of the ordinary needs to be done. Line up the map grid to the Roll20 grid. The Grid should be Enabled in the Page Settings, but you should move the Grid Opacity slider to 0% (the far left) so it can’t be seen. The Players will be relying on the grid drawn to the artwork. (If you're working with a battle map that doesn't have a grid or you can remove the grid lines from the art, don't make the Roll20 grid transparent)

*10’: Line up the map grid to the Roll20 grid in the same fashion you would for a 5' battle map. Then, under Page Settings, set the Page Scale from 5 ft. to 10 ft. Under Grid, adjust the Size to 0.5 units. The Grid should be Enabled and a complimentary color should be selected for the grid lines to best match the ones on the art. The Grid Opacity should be set to be very translucent, but not completely transparent. The players will see the 10' grid squares subdivided by the Roll20 grid. *20’ and higher: We don’t recommend subdividing the grid up any further as the tokens become very hard to manipulate afterwards. Set the page up for a 10’ grid. Then include a journal entry that lists how a user would change their Page Settings to display accurate grid subdivisions if the GM wants finer grid accuracy.

Map Markers

In some instances, map markers such as room numbers, traps, secrets, and location names are drawn directly on the map. You will want these scrubbed from the map with photo-editing software. The cleaned up map without any GM notes or keys should be placed on the Background Layer and any map markers should be made into individual PNG files and placed on the GM Layer. The markers should be individual graphics, not one full map-sized PNG file (this makes it very hard for a GM to select NPC tokens that could also be sitting on the GM Layer).

Dynamic Lighting

Almost any battle/floor map should come with DL drawn for the GM. The only time when this isn’t required or expected are for maps that wouldn’t warrant it, like city/town/overworld maps.

Drawing Settings Line Weight: Regular Wall Color: Bright Green #00ff00 Doors/Secret Walls: Primary Red #ff0000

Don’t draw circles on the Dynamic Lighting layer, draw a roundish polygon instead. Draw the DL lines slightly behind the edge of a wall on the battle map art. That way, a player can still get a hint of the wall before their view is obstructed by the DL. Don’t attempt to retrace cavern walls or organic shapes too closely. Too many lines drawn on the DL layer can slow a game down. We want to make sure there’s line efficiency. Avoid retracing over previously drawn lines. The less line segments needed to block an area, the better. If there is natural illumination on the battle map, make sure Global Illumination is toggled on the Page Settings. Once you’re finished drawing, check your map for DL holes.

Tokens

Token Sizes and Template Info Fine to Tiny creatures: 280 x 280 pixel token (includes padding around the token), use the “Token Template for Tiny.PSD” Small & Medium creatures: 280 x 280 pixel token, use the “Token Template for Medium & Small.PSD” Large to Gargantuan creatures: 560 x 560 pixel token, use the “Token Template for Large Huge and Gargantuan.PSD”

Please use the PSD Token templates provided to create your monster tokens. Dropbox folder: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4ev5jy12birvfhy/AACWYnkB6dX9F1_X0_hPM1bMa?dl=0 Place the publisher art either in or next to the layer that’s called “Token Art”. If there’s a transparent background to the publisher art, copy the drop shadow applied to the “Token Art” layer on the publisher art. Adjust the levels and color balance of the publisher art if needed. In the Backdrop folder is a grey backdrop with two different color filters (red and tan). Either choose the grey backdrop without filters or with either the red or tan filter for whichever background makes the publisher art visually pop. If the publisher art does not have a transparent background, but has just a white background, you may want to try to remove the white background if at all possible.

Save the token images as 8 bit, RGB, 70 PPI, PNG files with transparency retained.

Rule of thumb with publisher image cropping on the tokens: Medium and Tiny tokens should focus on a portrait view of the face of the creature. A little bit more if there’s a detail on the chest/body that helps identify the creature. Large tokens can show more of the creature’s head and body. You just don’t want too much negative space around the creature.

Token Settings Tokens should have their nameplate visible to the GM All tokens should have “Has Sight” checked off. Creatures with darkvision, truesight, blindsight, etc., should have that range listed under the Emits Light field. Use the farthest sight radius if a creature has multiple vision types. Be on the lookout for any creatures who have natural illumination. Their illumination should be their Emits Light radius and make sure the All Players See Light is checked off. Tokens should be linked to their respective NPC sheet. Bar 1 is the creature’s HP(NOT linked to the npcd_hp value) Bar 2 is the creature’s AC(linked to the npcd_ac value)

Journal Tab

Utilize the folder nesting capability for best readability and give journal entries clear titles. The GM should be able to navigate and search through the journal entries easily. If your module comes with a PDF of the adventure book, you may only need

Transferring the Adventure Text to Journal Handouts

Break up the text of the adventure into subfolders (typically by chapters or acts the way the book is written). Avoid trying to put too much information in a single handout. The dungeon crawls are likely to be the largest handouts. Everything else should be split up for easier filing, linking, and reading.

Text Formatting: You should mimic the text formatting that is found in the adventure book whenever possible with Roll20’s text editor; utilizing descending/ascending headers, bolding and italicizing text as needed. This helps with reading clarity. Text color/highlight isn't necessary unless you feel it’s important to draw attention to a portion of text. Whatever format you do use, it should be consistent throughout the entire module.

Dungeon Crawls: These should have their own dedicated Journal Handout. This is a good place to attach the original image of the dungeon map with the map keys on it. It's recommended that even if you include a downloadable PDF with your module, you should still include the room and monster summaries here in handout form.

NPCs/Bestiary: Keep all the module’s NPCs in their own Journal folder, not all of them sitting on root. If there’s a lot of them, you might want to group them into subfolders if you think that would be easier on the GM.

Journal Linking: Roll20 can run an automatic linking filter once the journal entries are completed. This process runs a search through the contents of every Journal entry in the game and tries to pick up phrases within the text that match titles of any of the other Journal entries. If a search is found, it links the two automatically. For example, if you have a dungeon crawl handout that cites a room with two goblins in it. The phrase "goblin" would link to an NPC character journal called "Goblin" for easy referencing. If you need to link journals by hand include the name of the desired Journal

Handout Images: If the adventure supplies images other than bestiary pictures at will be used for tokens and NPC entries, add them to the module as scene handouts so the GM can present them to their group. Link to them if the scene is referenced in other handouts.

Collections

Utilize the Rollable Tables, Macros, and Card Decks if you think they’ll be useful tools for the adventure. For instance, rollable tables are worth creating if your adventure has a special treasure/magic roll table (remember include a macro that the GM can roll the table from automatically). You also might want to use a rollable table for an NPC who uses disguises and may need different token appearances (remember to lock these tables down so the players can not roll them).

Post-Production

Banner & Product Description

When your module is complete and has been approved for sale on the Roll20 Marketplace, you will be asked to send in the details for the product page.

• Banner Image: This will serve as the advertising image for your module on the site. Banner images must be 512x512 pixels, and should include the module title and publisher name.
• Product Description: Write a description to explain what is included in your module, to entice Roll20 users to purchase it. Make note of any Roll20 features you’ve used, any included custom artwork, as well as tidbits about the actual adventure.
• Price
• Up to 6 display images, showing off the interior of your module.

Review & Feedback from Roll20

Once your module is in near-complete form (maps & tokens are laid out, handouts & character entries are created, etc), you can send it into team@roll20.net for review. Simply send us the link to your Game Details page, along with an explanation of the adventure included, and the game system you’re using.

Feel free to ask specific questions if there are elements of your adventure you don’t know how to incorporate!

Still have questions? Email Roll20 at team@roll20.net for additional guidance on getting started with module creation.