Visuals help turn average stories into unforgettable adventures, and while every great quest deserves great maps, not every Game Master has the skill, time, or budget to invest in them for every scene in their campaigns. But what if they didn’t need them?
Dungeon Scrawl is a free, easy-to-use mapmaking tool designed to make creating simple, spark creativity by enabling exploration, and take the stress out of creating maps for TTRPG campaigns. Now, thanks to a brand-new connection with the virtual tabletop, whether you need a last-minute tavern, want to prepare an intricate dungeon for your players, or simply love an excuse to get the creative juices flowing, it’s never been easier.
How does Dungeon Scrawl work?
Designed with beginners in mind, navigating the Dungeon Scrawl interface is a piece of cake, and learning how to use the software only takes a few minutes. Pan and zoom around the canvas easily, using simple but powerful drawing tools to create rectangles, polygons, freeform shapes, and paths. Plus, customize each element’s size, appearance, and style to your liking, while utilizing a built-in library of assets to add flare. Check out this tutorial by EncounterSmith, and learn everything you need to know in just 6 minutes:
Why Connect Dungeon Scrawl with Roll20?
Connecting Dungeon Scrawl maps to pages in your Roll20 campaigns unlocks the two programs' combined strengths for your table, allowing you to:
- Enjoy More Tools: Dungeon Scrawl’s features provide even more options for map-making than Roll20’s built-in drawing tool, allowing you to create with heightened flexibility
- Save Time: Game Masters who already use Dungeon Scrawl, forget about exporting your creations and uploading them to the tabletop. Now, you can create maps and configure tokens, lighting, and entire scenes seamlessly, getting into the game with less headache.
- Play With Less Prep: For those who live in the moment, run tons of games, or simply don’t enjoy in-depth game prep, Dungeon Scrawl is the fastest way to get an idea on the table.
- Improvise: An inevitable aspect of collaborative storytelling is going off-script. Even if you’ve already built your campaign around gorgeous battlemaps purchased from marketplace creators, there’s a high likelihood of party detours or wrong turns in most campaigns. Don’t sweat! Spin up a map faster than you can say, “snack break!”
- Build Together: Turn map creation into part of the fun! Role-play as a general contractor while your players design their guildhall, bastion, or home base. Dungeon Scrawl lets you collaborate and bring ideas to life in real-time.
- Real-Time Exploration: Game Masters who enjoy improvisational visuals can delight in the joy of drawing paths as players traverse them live, or “build by random” - using a rollable table to let chance decide what’s behind the next door!
- Create With Ease: Storytellers, creators, and publishers of adventures looking to create tabletop-ready conversions will find it easier than ever to provide basic maps alongside their written content.
These are just some of theways in which we’ve found ourselves using this new tool, but we know that with millions of players, your experiences and ideas are endless! We can’t wait to hear your stories and learn more about how you utilize drawing in your campaigns.
How to Access the Connection
The Dungeon Scrawl Connection works in games on Roll20 that use the latest version of the tabletop engine.
Create a New Map
- Select Build a Map from the Page Menu drop-down on Roll20
- A new tab Dungeon Scrawl tab will open
- Your map in Dungeon Scrawl is now connected to a new Page on Roll20, and any updates made to your map will reflect on the virtual tabletop
Note: Closing or refreshing your Dungeon Scrawl tab will end the connected session and you will lose your map in progress. If you want to save your changes or work on your map later, your options are:
- Download a copy of your map from Dungeon Scrawl using File > Download Save File. (Follow the instructions in the next section to re-access your map later.)
- Autosave: Dungeon Scrawl Pro saves maps to the cloud automatically and stores them in your user library. See the advanced feature section of the below for more information about Pro.
Connect an Existing Map
If you’ve started scrawling before connecting your page, or you want to connect an existing map, you can!
- In Dungeon Scrawl, open your map file from your computer, or from your autosaved library, if you have Dungeon Scrawl Pro.
- Click the Roll20 logo on the toolbar and toggle Connect On.
- Adjust the displayed area using shift and your arrow keys, then click the Copy Connect Code button.
- From the Roll20 Page Menu drop down, select Connect Existing Dungeon Scrawl Map.
- Name your page and paste your Connect Code in the VTT pop-up. Your map is now connected to Roll20 and you’re ready to play!
You can see a full tutorial in the video below, and check out more information and FAQ in our Help Center.
Unlock Advanced Features
While Dungeon Scrawl is free for everyone to use, subscribing to Dungeon Scrawl Pro unlocks several advanced features:
- Library and Autosave: Your maps and projects are automatically saved to cloud storage to keep track of everything you've done! No need to worry about losing progress, managing local files, or taking up precious storage space with uploads.
- Dark Mode: Control the software's look and feel by turning down the brightness.
- PDF Export: Export a map across multiple PDF pages with real-world cell size and printer margins all taken care of.
- High-res export: Surpass browser image export resolution limits using Dungeon Scrawl servers, useful if you want to create high-quality prints of your maps.
- Commercial Use Licensing: Perfect pairing with high-res exports; generate base layouts that you can further treat and enhance with your artistic skills to sell on the Marketplace and in adventures.
- Multiple maps per save file: Store multiple locations in one save file to avoid switching between tabs, or fiddling with keeping them apart in the same map.
- Import one save file into another: Do you have two save files you want to combine? Or perhaps there’s a dungeon you want to copy and paste into another save file. Clicking the “Import from save file” button allows you to do this.
- Paper texture overlays: Utilize a library of built-in paper textures to stylize your maps.
- Lighting: Distinct from Roll20’s Dynamic Lighting feature, add colored lights and ambient background lighting to set a mood for your Dungeon Scrawl maps.
Share Your Scrawls and Feedback
After giving the connection a try in your campaigns, let us know how it worked, how it impacted your prep and play, and what would make you love it even more. Plus, share screenshots of your creations and inspire others with your tips and tricks.
Your feedback guides future Dungeon Scrawl development, improves your experience, and helps tailor tools to support the scenarios that come up in real games in person and online. We hope you find this connection useful, and can’t wait to hear how you use it. See you on the Forums or in our Discord!
Found a bug? Let us know by reporting it within the VTT or here!
Dungeon Scrawl can now be connected to Roll20, bringing new drawing tools to the VTT without managing files or impacting your storage.