Token Locking - GM Approved Player Movement

Owned by Derek Batting
Last updated: Jul 24, 2024 by Doug Davison
4 min read

Token Locking is a feature that allows the GM to lock tokens in place and force all movement to be displayed as planned pathways. The GM can then approve or reject movement on a per token basis. Once enabled on a map, any attempted move by players will need to be confirmed by the GM. GMs can continue to move NPC or player tokens without token locking, or they can use the same feature by holding ALT when they start their move.

Enable Token Locking for a Map

Step 1: Unlock the Map

Starting with a campaign map, unlock the map to expose the Image Data Control.

If you don’t see the Unlock button, make sure it is in your campaign folder. Drag the image to your campaigns images & maps window.

 

Step 2: Turn on Token Locking

Snap To Grid

Optionally, turn on Snap to Grid. This will snap all movement to edges, corners or mid-points of grids for all planned movement unless you are holding down CTRL.

Step 3: GM Movement

GM movement won’t appear to change if you use arrow keys for movement or drag tokens around. This is because GM’s are not restricted by token locking by default. To restrict movement for the GM just like it is for players, hold down ALT when performing your move.

  1. ALT+arrow keys

  2. ALT+drag (release after starting the drag if you also have snap to grid enabled)

Here is planned movement for the goblin token. Release the mouse to make a waypoint and drag again from the waypoint to start a new movement segment.

The GM can click on the Green checkmark to approve movement or the Red X to cancel the movement.

Moving Waypoints

  • Waypoints can be dragged to update the overall movement distance.

  • Waypoints can be dragged over top of another waypoint to collapse them into a single waypoint

  • Arrow key movement will create a new waypoint every time you change direction

Step 4: Player Movement

Players can show planned movement for any token they own. The movement path shown will begin with their player color. GM’s can see this and approve or cancel the movement.

  • Players can move into any area they have previously revealed.

  • Players can propose movement into areas they have not previously revealed. GM’s can approve this movement or edit it. If approved, the player will move as far as they can until they hit a wall or other obstruction (if using a map with Line of Sight defined).

  • SHIFT + arrow key rotates the selected token in the direction of the arrow

James Fingerlighter attempts to move into the room ahead and then back down. Since James has never explored this area, the path he is planning is only partially allowed. He would hit a wall at some point.

The GM can see this and can approve the movement anyway. James will move as far as he can until he hits a wall and then he will stop.

 

Calculating Diagonal Movement Distance

You may notice that total movement distance is calculated differently from ruleset to ruleset. The 5E ruleset has a Standard movement setting that counts every diagonal square as 5' of movement. This can be adjusted in the Campaign Options to use either Variant to show 5' followed by 10' for the 2nd diagonal movement (i.e. 5, 15, 20, 30) or Raw movement which shows decimal points and a true distance traveled.