In this tutorial, we take a moment to have a look at the settings within Fantasy Grounds Unity that you will use to control how your tokens appear during your adventures. The application includes several great features to help Players and Game Masters run their adventure games smoothly. The Mapping tools are excellent, but the controls for token art assets are a little rudimentary compared to some other virtual tabletop applications.
This is not to say the token controls are a detractor, but the creators of Fantasy Grounds Unity appear to have decided to foster a simplified system of token control – which in turn nurtures representation of character and monster token artwork in the form of a square or circular portraits that fit within a map grid square. Which is great, if you enjoy that style of character representation on the virtual tabletop.
For example, A screen capture from the Journeys through the Radiant Citadel Module is displayed to the right, displaying the use of Square and Circular Portrait tokens.
Here at Studio WyldFurr we have gone in a different direction with the creation of 3D rendered character and monster tokens. These tokens display the subject in a number of different dynamic poses that often result in token artwork that falls outside the map grid square area the token is defined by. Thus, we need to tweak the setting a little to get the best possible results when using our tokens in Fantasy Grounds.
How does Fantasy Grounds Unity Handle Token Artwork?
By default Fantasy Grounds Unity will scale all artwork employed as a token to fit within an entity’s predefined map grid size. For example, a Medium size NPC will have its artwork scaled to fit within one map grid square (one 5ft x 5ft grid square), while a large NPC will be scaled to fit within a two-by-two grid square area (10ft x 10ft).
If the artwork is smaller than this area, it will be enlarged to fit. If the artwork is larger, it will be reduced to fit.
Displayed above are the PNG images of two different tokens from the same token character set. The map’s grid is superimposed below the tokens with each tokens artwork box highlighted to show how much space each PNG image occupies.
Sample A: The token’s artwork fits neatly within one map grid square, but the character’s pose is not very dynamic and thus the character’s PNG image does not take up much space. This token’s artwork would be enlarged by Fantasy Grounds to fit within the grid square.
Sample B: The character’s pose is dynamic with motion, but the token’s artwork spills outside of one map grid square. This token would be reduced in size by Fantasy Grounds to fit within one grid square.
Fantasy Grounds Unity’s Simple Token Controls
Once you have assigned an art asset to a Character or NPC and placed it upon the game map, the controls that directly effect how a token looks consist of the follow functions:
- Change Scale: The scale of the artwork can be enlarged or reduced by hovering your mouse pointer over the token and then scrolling the middle mouse wheel button up or down while also holding down CTRL. Doing so will scale the artwork only, the defined map area the entity occupies will remain the same.
- Change Rotation: To change the orientation of the token, along with the entities facing. Hover your mouse pointer over the token and then scroll the middle mouse wheel button up or down while also holding down ALT. Doing so will rotate the token in place, this will also rotate the entities facing on the map.
As you can see, the simplicity of the controls is great if you are using simple portrait style artwork to depict the characters and monsters in your game world. While if you have dynamic artwork that falls outside that degree of simplicity, the chance that your tokens are going to be squished into a character square, is greatly increased.
To get around this, in my games I follow two simple procedures. Pre-game Prep, and Fine Tuning. Lets take a moment to discuss those tricks…
Pre-game Prep and NPCs
The number one rule of thumb is pre-game prep! Players and Game Masters should, before their next game, set up any assets that they’re going to need for the next game session. For Game Masters this is essential if you want your campaign to roll forwards without a hitch.
Whenever I run a game, I like to keep all the NPCs I plan to use in a specific campaign group in the NPC’s Menu. If I am using pre-generated NPCs – for example, a monster from the D&D Monster Manual – I will create a copy of the Monster entry and store it along with my own NPCs. I will then adjust this NPC Entry – specifically – by assigning a token to the NPC and checking that the NPC is set to the correct size entry (small, medium, or large, etc), as this tells the Combat Tracker how many of the maps grid squares the creature should occupy when placed upon a map.
When the NPCs token is placed on the map, the token will be scaled to fit within that area. For example, a medium size creature will have it’s token scaled to fit within one grid square (1×1), while a large creature will be scaled to fit within four (2×2) squares.
This automatic scaling is more than likely going to result in tokens from Studio WyldFurr ending up the wrong size. Don’t worry, you can fine-tune the scale of the placed token.
Fine Tuning Token Scale
There are going to be times when the token just does not look quite right, it may need to be ether a little bigger or a little smaller. This can be achieved by hovering your mouse pointer over the placed token, then scrolling your middle mouse button/wheel up or down while also holding down the Control Key (CTRL) on your keyboard. Doing so will enlarge or reduce the scale of the token while maintaining the grid settings of the placed character/monster.
For example, having setup a Giant NPC to occupy a 10ft x 10ft area (2×2 map grid squares), the placed token may appear a little small if it is shrunk by the application to fit the 2×2 map grid squares. By increasing the placed tokens scale, you can enlarge the Giant’s token artwork so that the Giant fills the 10ft x 10ft map area.
