The map consists of several layers drawn over each other in this order:
There are several ways you can lay out a map and tokens representing monsters and players. For example:
How do you get the image files for background and minis? Minis (image files representing creatures and players) can be found on-line very often and simple programs like TokenTool [[n]] by RPTools can be used to make minis that have a similar look and feel to each other. Background image maps can take a while to make using such generic image editors as Gimp2, or alternatively you can draw your map ahead of the session using whiteboard lines or "tiles" from kits and then, when you as the DM have the map drawn the way you like it, export the whole map as a single image file from OpenRPG, and use that file as the background during sessions.
The map window has a toolbar at the bottom of it and six tabs underneath the toolbar. The default tab is the "Miniatures" tab. The toolbar and the behaviour of mouse events on the main body of the map varies depending upon which tab is selected. If for example you find you cannot seem to drag or select minis, you might be on a different tab from "Miniatures". Similarly to use the whiteboard features you must have that tab selected. Together with the Fog tab (for those who use fog) these are the main tabs used in play while the other three tabs are more along the lines of setting the map up initially. Only a GM can use all the map features. A player can use the Miniatures and Whiteboard tabs. A lurker cannot use any map features except to view the map and scroll it.
You can perform the following functions with any map tab selected:
Only a GM can use this tab. Select "Texture", "Image" or "Color". Image loads a single image as the background and sets the size of the grid to be the size of the image. Texture also uses an image file but usually a small image that is repeated as a tiling to cover the size of the grid. In both cases "Browse" will find the image on your computer's hard drive or you can paste the URL of an image hosted on-line. If you select Color you can use the Color button to pick out a color as a solid background. In all cases hit "Apply" to make the changes.
These buttons and text controls define what the grid lines look like and are are mostly obvious. The "Snap" checkbox says if the miniatures should be "snapped" to the center of the square, hexagon or diamond they were moved to, or not. "Ratio" is a number used by the isomorphic grid only. It controlls the narrowness of the diamonds.
A minaiture is a small image (or a larger image that still looks good shrunk down) that is used to represent something on the map. Usually a PC or NPC although sometimes minis represent objects or even the background of the map. There are four ways to add a miniature (or "mini") to the map.
There are four ways to move a mini once you have it on the map.
To select multiple minis at once hold Alt while clicking on the minis to select them.
You can access the various possible miniature properties by right clicking on a mini or by bringin up a miniature property dialog. The small properties dialog is on the right click menu as "Properties" and the large dialog is brought up by pressing the button to the right of the Browse button on the toolbar.
Various other properties or features can be added to the mini right click menu by plugins.
It is possible to edit many minis properties at once using the large miniatures property dialog. This is sometimes useful, eg to make a number of minis become unhidden at once. Click on the button to the right of the "Browse" button in the toolbar. A list of all minis on the map pops up. Because even hidden minis are shown, only a GM can access this list and the large minis properties dialog. Select the mini or minis from the list. Right click and select "Edit". Changes made in the properties dialog effect all the minis you had selected in the list. Right clicking with multiple minis selected will NOT effect all the minis (except if "Move" is selected). Mulitple selection of minis on the map is only useful when moving minis.
While holding down SHIFT, left click on the map, hold down the left mouse and drag. A "tape measure" appears, anchored from where you left clicked. When you release the mouse button it shows the length of the "tape". The distance is calculated based on the length of a square or the height of a hex. The calculation does not take into account the iso grid's ratio so isn't much use there. Another left click clears the tape measure from the grid. Your tape measure is not seen by other clients. Even a lurker can use a tape measure.
You can use the whiteboard tab to draw lines and write text on the map. The text can be moved around the map after it is typed in but the lines cannot. Line width and color do the obvious things. The drawing mode changes what shapes are drawn. Freeform traces a curved line following your mouse as long as you hold down the left button. Polyline draws a series of straight lines starting from where you left click and extending every time you left click again. To end a polyline shape, double click. In either case right clicking during the operation cancels the whole thing. Once a line is drawn you may right click on it and select "delete". There is an undo last deleted line feature under the right-click of the map if you are NOT clicking on a line. These functions only work if a line drawing mode is slected (ie not when "Text" is selected).
To add text to the white board select 'Text' as the drawing mode and left-click inside the map. Enter a piece of text and it appears in the selected color. To move a piece of text on the map, click on it and then click elsewhere. You may delete a piece of text or change its appearance by right clicking on it and selecting delete or properties. Through the properties dialog you can also change the size of the text from the default, and make it bold or italics.
The Cone and Circle modes are intended for a square grid representing a 5'x5' grid pattern (specifically this is a d20 system feature to represent areas of effect). Note that these functions draw square grid frames, not actual curved shapes. Set the radius to be some multiple of 5. For a circle, click on a vertex on the map and a square frame of a circle area of effect appears (drawn from the top of the circle). The shape is a test pattern and won't be permanently added until you double click. This allows you to test a position and see which squares are under the area of effect. If you want to cancel just right click. The Cone mode is similar but you have to initially specify the center point of the cone with a left click. You won't see anything until you left click again to specify the orientation of the left hand edge of the cone (which is a 90 degree cone per d20 rules). The frame you see may not look much like a cone but follows the rules for determining what squares are within the area. Again as with the Circle you can left click repeatedly until you have the orientation just right. It does not need to be an exact angle of a multiple of 45 degrees (although if it is close to a 45 degree orientation it is assumed that is what you intend). Double click to make the cone permanent. Right click to cancel. Once permanent the circle and cone shapes are just the same as any other polyline.
The fog layer hides the rest of the map in a solid gray color (players and lurkers) or a speckled semi-transparent layer (DM) where the fog is placed. The rest of the map is seen normally. To cover the entire map in fog right click on the map and choose "Hide All". To remove all fog select "Remove Fog Layer". To fog or un-fog a specific piece of the map set the radio button on the toolbar to be either hide or show and then draw a line or shape on the map as if using the whiteboard freeform mode. If the ends of the line you draw do not meet up OpenRPG draws a line from the end to the beginning and then it fills the enclosed shape with fog (or removes all fog within the shape per the radio button). You can change the pen color of the line that defines the fog shape but this has no effect on the color of the fog as seen by players and lurkers.
Again the controls on this tab are pretty obvious. Note that if you want to make the map bigger after you've begun drawing on it that is perfectly safe but the extra space is added to the "bottom" and to the "right" hand side of the grid. It's harder to expand the map up or to the left (there's an experimental plugin to do it) so if in doubt leave extra room in those directions. Making the dimensions of the grid smaller might cut off whitespace and minis but they are still in place and will be redispalyed if the dimensions are increased again.
You can use image files on your computer hard drive or images on-line. The latter is preferable, and it is worth getting a (free) account with an image hosting site such as Photobucket or ImageShack. If you use a local file OpenRPG hosts the image itself on the image server. The image server will purge old images at times although it is certainly fine for images you'll be using only for one session.