Battle Map TV

Display battle maps for TTRPGs on a tv that lies flat horizontally on your table.

This Python application aims to do one thing: quickly show an image on your secondary screen, in the right size and with a 1-inch grid.

For GM's with little time or who improvise their sessions: much easier to use in-session than a full blown VTT.

Features

• Works on Linux, macOS and Windows by using Python.
• Doesn't use a browser.
• Free and open source
• Works offline
• Simple UI
• Two windows:
  • one on the TV with your map and grid on it
  • one on your GM laptop with controls
• Import local image files to display on the tv.
• Scale, pan and rotate the image.
• Store the physical size of your screen to enable grid and autoscaling.
• Overlay a 1-inch grid.
• Automatically detect the grid in an image and scale to a 1 inch grid.
• Save settings so images load like you had them last time.
• Simple initiative tracker

Installation

• Open terminal or cmd.
• Check that you have Python installed by running the python --version command.
  • If you don't have Python, it's easy to install. See here: https://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/Download
• Install Battle Map TV with this command: python -m pip install battle-map-tv
• Then run it with: python -m battle_map_tv

Manual

• Drag the TV window to your TV and make it fullscreen with the 'fullscreen' button.
• Ue the 'add' button to load an image.
• You can drag the image to pan. Zoom with your mouse scroll wheel or use the slider in the controls window.
• Close the application with the 'exit' button.

Set screen size

There are two text boxes to enter the physical dimensions of your secondary screen in milimeters. This is needed to display a grid overlay and autoscale the image to 1 inch.

Initiative tracker

In the controls window, you can add players and their initiative. The list will be sorted automatically. Just put a number and a name on each line.

The '+' and '-' buttons increase and decrease the font size.

Technical

• Uses PySide6 for the graphical user interface.
• Uses OpenCV to detect the grid on battle maps.
• Uses Hatch to build and release the package.