Guide
How to project a D&D battle map onto your table
Point a projector down at the table, or lay a TV flat in it, show the map in a window your players can see, and calibrate the grid once so a square is one inch under 28 mm miniatures. The rest of this page is the detail.
What do you need to project a battle map?
Three things: a computer to run the map, a display your players can see, and software that draws the map at a known scale. The display can be a projector aimed down at the table, a TV built into a gaming table, or a second monitor standing beside it.
TableSync, a free Windows app, is built for this. It opens two windows: a DM screen you run the game from, and a table view that goes to the display. The table view shows the map, the grid, the tokens, light, spell zones and fog, drawn live from the DM screen.
Projector, TV table or second monitor?
A projector over the table puts the map under your miniatures on any surface, at whatever size the throw gives you. A projected image washes out in a bright room, so TableSync has brightness and saturation controls to push through the wash.
A TV laid flat in a gaming table gives a bright image with no shadows from hands, at the size of the screen. A second monitor standing upright is the simplest of the three: players read the map from it while the miniatures stay on a paper or tile grid, or are not used at all.
TableSync treats all three the same way: open the table window on the display, press F for fullscreen, and calibrate.
How do you get one square to equal one inch?
Calibrate the grid once, from the DM screen, until ten squares measure ten inches on the surface your players are using. Use a ruler or tape measure on the table itself, not on the computer screen. After that, the grid matches standard 28 mm miniatures and the 5-foot squares of the 5e rules.
Recalibrate when the projector moves, the zoom changes, or you switch to a different display.
Setting it up with TableSync
- Download TableSync for Windows and extract the zip anywhere; your Desktop is fine.
- Double-click TableSync.bat. The DM screen opens.
- Press Open Table Window and drag it to the projector, the TV table or the second monitor. Press F for fullscreen.
- Calibrate the grid until ten squares measure ten inches on the table.
- Load a map: a still image or a looping video. Paint difficult terrain and solid obstacles if the fight needs them; the projector shows the map as drawn, with no overlay.
What does the table see, and what stays hidden?
The table view shows what the DM has revealed: the map, the tokens in play, torchlight and other light at its real radius, spell zones, fog the party has not explored, and the turn marker. A hidden monster stays off the table view, and off the players' phones, until the DM reveals it.
Questions
Can I use any projector for a D&D battle map?
Any projector that can be aimed down at the table works with TableSync, because the table view is an ordinary window. Calibrate the grid on the table surface so ten squares measure ten inches, and use the brightness and saturation controls if the room is bright.
Is TableSync free?
Yes. TableSync is free to download and use, with no account, subscription, advertising or telemetry. The code is MIT-licensed and the bundled rules content is the SRD under CC BY 4.0.
Does a projected battle map work on a Mac?
TableSync's DM screen runs on Windows. Players can join from any device with a current browser, including Macs, iPhones and iPads.