Having been there is not seeing everything now
Your party walked a corridor, saw a closed door and left. On returning, remembering the corridor does not reveal the room beyond the door or establish who is there now. Before showing the map, separate what was revealed, what can currently be seen and what remains unknown.
DMGrid 0.1.9 documents hidden, visible and explored fog states, plus map-only Player View. This guide proposes manual preparation for an invented scene. It does not claim the software decides narrative memory or each character’s vision for you.
Prepare three questions for the scene
Sketch a corridor, a door and a room beyond it. In your own preparation note, outside anything you intend to show, decide:
| Map area | What the party knows in our example | What you have not shown |
|---|---|---|
| Previously visited corridor | Its known layout | Later changes nobody has seen |
| Closed door | Its previously described location and appearance | The interior beyond it |
| Interior room | Nothing yet | Its contents and occupants |
This table records the game master’s decisions for our example, not software behavior. Neither “explored” nor a revealed area turns an assumption about occupants into established knowledge.
Check the result from the party’s side
- Prepare areas using the documented tools and states that fit your intention.
- Open Player View and inspect what is shown before considering it ready. The game master’s view alone does not establish what the party sees.
- If using manual reveal, check the outcome in that context. The official manual-fog video disables character vision; it does not demonstrate every combined vision configuration.
- In our invented scene, keep the room covered until you decide there is a reason to show it. When the door opens, reveal only the information warranted by events.
This is a preparation checklist for you. We have not run this scene in the application or validated automatic vision settings.
What the available documentation establishes
DMGrid’s facts page describes hidden, visible and explored states. Its complete information specifies that the manual-fog recording shows the revealed area across game master, player and fullscreen views with character vision disabled. Explored terrain is explained in text, not demonstrated in that clip.
Use the appropriate evidence: a recording of manual reveal does not establish an interaction it never shows. Nor does it imply arbitrary map-file import; import from supported map formats remains future work.
Choose a tool for your table
Simple Fog for Foundry describes another manual-fog approach, while MapTool documents its own behavior. Pages checked on 23 October 2026; the shared term “fog” does not make their rules or controls identical.
DMGrid is a local Windows campaign manager, currently beta 0.1.9, sold with a perpetual license for one device. Its documented use needs no account or subscription, and Internet multiplayer is not promised. Review the product overview and recordings before purchasing. The aim is to show the information appropriate to the scene you decided to run.