# Obsidian.md as a hex map maker ![[images/Obsidian-md-as-a-hex-map-maker.webp]] [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-HMOJR63EQ) · 2:34 · Josh Plunkett · 2023-06-28 > [!info] YouTube Short (2:34), uploaded June 28, 2023. Written from the video's full English automatic captions (en-orig track, downloaded via yt-dlp with the android player client) plus video frames. The video has no description and no chapters. It's a vertical phone recording of his monitor with a TikTok watermark (@obsidian.md.ttrpg) and on-screen captions reading "HEX Map Builder in Obsidian.md" / "www.obsidianttrpgtutorials.com". ## Outline ### 0:00 - The DM map question - **0:01 - What software for maps?** "One thing we see DMs asking all the time is what software can I use to make my maps." There's a new solution in town for **Obsidian**, "which is usually just a note-taking application… but what if you're wrong." ### 0:15 - Text Mapper - **0:15 - Meet Text Mapper.** This is called **Text Mapper**, "a new Obsidian plugin." It isn't out in the community store yet; you install it via **BRAT**. Google for "text mapper," grab the GitHub URL and install from there. - **0:21 - The hex map.** He opens his **Hex Map** note. A grid of hexes fills the pane: each tile shows a coordinate (1.1, 2.1…), a line-art terrain icon and a label — trees, forest, bush, fir-hill, mountain, lake, castle, shrine, keep, village, and coloured tiles like Deep Forest, The Keep and Safe Town. A Combat Tracker sidebar in the background lists Adult Sky Dragon, Fred and Bob. The vault sidebar shows folders for Bestiary, Compendium, FoundryImport, Rules and z_Templates (vault title **PF2e New**). ![[images/Obsidian-md-as-a-hex-map-maker-t0015.webp]] *The Hex Map note: a Text Mapper hex grid with terrain icons (trees, forest, fir-mountain, Deep Forest, The Keep, Safe Town) and the TikTok watermark @obsidian.md.ttrpg.* ### 0:30 - It's just text - **0:30 - Edit the source.** "It's just text. You can modify this text however you like to pull in different nodes and boom, you're going to have different sort of things going on." - **0:40 - Trees → castle.** "What if I want to change that tree to a castle?" He opens the `text-mapper` code block. Lines look like `0101 trees "tree"`, `0103 forest "forest"`, `0803 castle "castle"`, with terrain tokens for bush, brushland, fir, hill, mountain, lake, swamp, desert, shrine, keep, tower, thorp, village, town and city. ![[images/Obsidian-md-as-a-hex-map-maker-t0048.webp]] *The `text-mapper` code block: coordinate + terrain token + quoted label lines (trees, forest, bush, mountain, castle, lake…), with "trees" highlighted for the edit.* - **0:48 - Replace and refresh.** He replaces the word **trees** with **Castle**. "And now there's a castle" — hex 1.1 updates to a keep/castle icon. ![[images/Obsidian-md-as-a-hex-map-maker-t0054.webp]] *The hex grid after the edit: hex 1.1 now shows a keep/castle icon among the trees, bushes, firs, hills and mountains.* ### 0:55 - Early testing via BRAT - **0:55 - Not public yet.** "This hasn't been released to the public yet but is available for early testing if you'd like to give it a crack." - **1:04 - Install BRAT.** Settings → **Community plugins** → **Browse** → type **brat**. **Obsidian42 - BRAT** by TfTHacker ("Easily install a beta version of a plugin for testing") appears; Install, then Enable. "BRAT lets you install new plugins that haven't been released yet." ![[images/Obsidian-md-as-a-hex-map-maker-t0115.webp]] *Community Plugins browser with "brat" in the search box and Obsidian42 - BRAT by TfTHacker highlighted (Installed).* - **1:22 - The GitHub URL.** You need `github.com/modality/obsidian-text-mapper`. Copy that URL. - **1:33 - Add the beta plugin.** Back in Obsidian, click the BRAT smiley-face icon → **Add a beta plugin for testing** → paste the URL → **Add plugin**. He's already added it. Then Settings → Community plugins → scroll to **Text Mapper** and tick the check mark. "And then you're good to go." ### 2:04 - How to use it - **2:04 - Read the README.** "As for how to use it, come back here to the GitHub and have a bit of a scroll through. Look at all the instructions and the examples provided, and then you can just basically copy this example at the bottom into a note in Obsidian and off you go." ![[images/Obsidian-md-as-a-hex-map-maker-t0205.webp]] *The public GitHub repo modality/obsidian-text-mapper: src/, README.md ("Obsidian Text Mapper"), gnomeland.txt, manifest.json, styles.css and the usual plugin build files.* - **2:21 - Maps in Obsidian.** "That's how you can actually make some maps in Obsidian.md. Pretty cool, eh?" - **2:26 - Where to learn more.** Come along to **www.obsidianttrpgtutorials.com** — "that's where I house all my stuff. Have a great day, guys." ## Things mentioned ### Obsidian plugins and features - **Text Mapper / obsidian-text-mapper** (community plugin, then beta-only via BRAT; free) by **modality**: renders a hex (or node) map from a fenced `text-mapper` code block. Each line is `COORD terrain "label"` (e.g. `0101 trees "tree"`, `0803 castle "castle"`). Change the terrain token and the hex icon updates. At the time of this Short it was not in the community plugin browser yet. - **Obsidian42 - BRAT** (Beta Reviewer's Auto-update Tool; community plugin, free) by **TfTHacker**: installs plugins straight from a GitHub repo before they're published to the community store. Install from Community plugins → Browse → "brat", then use its "Add a beta plugin for testing" command with the Text Mapper repo URL. - **Community plugins** settings: Browse, Install, Enable — the path he uses both for BRAT and to tick Text Mapper on after BRAT adds it. - **Hex Map note**: the demo note titled "HEX MAP" / "Hex Map" holding the text-mapper block and its rendered grid. - **Combat Tracker sidebar** (visible in the background): lists Adult Sky Dragon, Fred and Bob — from his usual TTRPG combat/initiative setup, not the focus of this Short. ### Tools and websites - **Obsidian.md** (free app): the note-taking host for the hex map. - [github.com/modality/obsidian-text-mapper](https://github.com/modality/obsidian-text-mapper) (free): the plugin's public repo — README with instructions and examples (`gnomeland.txt` is one of the example files), plus `manifest.json`, `styles.css`, `src/`. - [ObsidianTTRPGTutorials.com](https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com) (free): Josh's tutorial site, named on-screen and in the sign-off. - **TikTok**: the clip is a repost of his TikTok upload (@obsidian.md.ttrpg watermark). - **Google**: how he tells viewers to find the Text Mapper GitHub URL if they don't already have it. ### TTRPG systems and content - **Hex maps / overland maps**: the DM problem the Short opens with — what software to use to draw campaign maps. - **Pathfinder 2e**: the vault title on screen is **PF2e New**, with Bestiary, Compendium, FoundryImport, Rules and z_Templates folders. - **Terrain tokens shown**: tree/trees/forest, bush/bushes/brushland, fir/firs/fir-forest, hill/mountain/mountains, fir-hill/fir-mountain/forest-mountain, fields, desert, lake, swamp/marsh, castle/keep/tower/shrine, thorp/village/town/city, plus coloured tiles (Deep Forest, The Keep/Fortress, Safe Town). - **Adult Sky Dragon, Fred, Bob**: names visible in the Combat Tracker behind the map (flavour from his demo vault, not discussed aloud). ## Bios - **Josh Plunkett**: Australian game master and YouTuber who makes Obsidian TTRPG tutorials, runs ObsidianTTRPGTutorials.com and offers a ready-made Obsidian TTRPG vault through Patreon. TikTok: @obsidian.md.ttrpg. - **modality**: developer of the Obsidian Text Mapper plugin (github.com/modality/obsidian-text-mapper), which turns a Markdown code block into a hex/node map. - **TfTHacker**: developer of Obsidian42 - BRAT, the beta-plugin installer Josh uses to load Text Mapper before it hits the community store.