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A field guide for game masters

Maps

“Maps. The one thing every GM swears they’ll prep ahead of time and never does. I can’t draw them for you — talons, no thumbs — but I can hold every map you own and throw it on the big screen the instant your players wander somewhere you didn’t plan. Which is always.”

— Quoth, the raven

Store & display, never rollYour dice and maps stay on the table — and now they’re on the screen too. Quoth is not a virtual tabletop: no tokens, no piece-moving, no dice.
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01  The basics

What maps are in Quoth

A map in Quoth is a reference image you store and project — a tavern floor, a city ward, the whole continent. You keep them organized where they belong, then put one on the big screen the moment the table needs it.

That’s the whole job. Quoth holds your maps and displays them. It does not turn them into a board: there are no movable tokens, no shared pieces, no dice on the screen. The grid you can lay over a map is a reference — for sizing and customizing for a projection, as some GMs are wont to do.

02  Organization

Where maps live

Maps can be uploaded in four locations: World, Campaign, Adventure, and Location in the World Codex. The World page’s Map tab is a world-wide map gallery.

L1Worldthe whole setting — continents, the map of everything
L2Campaignone story arc’s region
L3Adventurethe maps a single adventure needs
L4Locationone place — a tavern, a crypt, a single room
✗ No mapScenes do not get their own maps. To add a map to a Session, just link a Location from the Wold Codex or add the map to the Adventure map instead.
An adventure’s Map tab. Each level — World, Campaign, Adventure, Location — has its own Map tab that works the same way.

03  Getting maps in

Adding a map

Open the Map tab at whichever level the map belongs to, then upload your image.

  1. 1

    Go to the Map tab on the World, Campaign, Adventure, or Location and press + Add Map.

  2. 2

    Choose an image file from your device. It uploads and appears as a card immediately.

  3. 3

    Give it a name and, if you know it, the artist or source — see Attribution.

Accepted files

JPGPNGWEBP

Max size — 10 MB per image

Tip

Bigger source images stay crisp when you zoom in at the table. Compress to WEBP to fit detail under 10 MB.

Naming a freshly-added map and crediting its artist. The AI-generated checkbox keeps your credits honest.

04  Demystified

The World Maps tab, untangled

The World’s Map tab shows two different things stacked together, and this trips people up. They look alike. They are not the same. Here is the difference, plainly:

★ Editable

World Maps

Maps you pinned to the world itself. Your top-level maps — the continent, the realm. You can rename, re-credit, set a primary, project, and remove them right here.

  • +You added them to the World
  • +Fully editable here
👁 Read-only roll-up

Maps from this World

Every campaign, adventure, and location map beneath this world — gathered into one place so you can find a map without digging. A complete gallery of all of your world maps.

  • •Collected from levels below
  • ✗Can’t be edited here — they’re just visiting
The World’s map cards. The editable set carries Set Primary and Remove; the rolled-up set is there to find, not to change.

05  The default pick

Setting a primary map

Press ★ Set Primary on a map and it jumps to the front of that place — the default map Quoth reaches for first. One primary per place. Star another and the star moves.

A primary map is marked with a filled star and the word Primary — never by color alone, so it’s legible at a glance for everyone.

How it reads

Primaryat the front
Set Primarytap to promote

06  The exception

Location maps work differently

A Location is a codex entry for a single place, and it’s the one map kind that can reach your players. Every other map stays strictly behind the GM screen.

A Location holds two images: the illustration (the mood shot at the top of the entry) and the map (the layout). When you share a Location codex entry, its map can go with it — that’s the only path a map takes to the table’s other side.

Players can see this one

… but only the Location map, and only when you’ve shared that codex entry. More on the asymmetry in What players see.

A Location entry carries both an Image and a Map. The brief summary marked “read to players” is the part that travels when you share.

◆  The centerpiece

Running a map at the table

Hit Project Map on any map card and it fills the screen — a clean present surface for the whole table to look at.

Pinch / scroll to zoomDrag to panF to fit-to-screenOptional reference grid
Project Map, live on the big screen — map on the right, grid controls on the left.
The grid switched on — gold lines over the art for sizing and pointing, never for playing on.

The grid toolbar

A reference overlay for sizing and pointing — not a board to play on.

Show gridToggle the overlay on or off.
Line colorGold, Light, or Dark — named, never color-only.
OpacityHow strongly the lines sit over the art.
ThicknessThin, Med, or Thick lines.
Square sizeSized to a real inch, plus a 1-inch base guide.
AlignNudge the grid to line up with the art.
Save gridKeep your settings for next time.

“Here’s the part I’m proud of. Players see a map. You see a battlefield. Nobody sees me, perched smugly in the corner.”

— Quoth

A closer look at the grid panel

Every control is named in words — never a bare color swatch — so the panel reads the same for everyone at the table.

Appearance. Toggle the grid on, pick a named line color — Gold ✓, Light, or Dark — then set opacity, line thickness, and square size.
Fit & scale. Nudge the grid into Alignment, set zoom, and flip on the 1-inch base guide to size squares to a real tabletop inch — then Save Grid.

08  Mid-game

Maps during a live session

When you’re running a session, the session view has its own Maps tab. Every map that’s relevant — this adventure’s maps and the location maps in play — is gathered there, one tap from the table.

Enlarge opens a map big for you to read; Project Map throws it on the shared screen. No hunting through the codex while the party waits.

How maps land here

Add a Location that has a map to the session using the Session Plan editor, and that map automatically appears on the session’s Maps tab — ready before the party even sits down.

The session’s Maps tab, split into Adventure Maps and Location Maps, with the scene list at left.

The honest asymmetry

What players actually see

Players see almost no maps, on purpose. The only map that reaches them is the one pinned to a Location codex entry — and only when you’ve shared that entry. Everything else stays behind your screen, where the good secrets go.

✓Players can reach

A Location map — but only inside a shared codex entry.

✗Players never see

World, Campaign, Adventure maps — and any unshared Location. Behind the screen.

“Players see almost none of this, on purpose. The rest lives behind your screen, where the good secrets go.”

— Quoth

10  Credit where due

Attribution & credits

Most maps are someone’s craft. When you add a map, fill in the Artist / Source field — the cartographer’s name, the tool they used, or where you found it. The credit rides along with the map wherever it shows.

If a map was made by a generator, tick AI-generated image. It keeps your table’s credits honest and your conscience clear.

Name the maker

e.g. “Eric Mason (Inkarnate)” or “Ravensmaw using Inkarnate.” A name and a tool is plenty.

Mark AI work

Tick the box for generated art so it’s never mistaken for a hand-drawn commission.