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Tools / Display / Tabletop display
Display · Signature tool

Cast your map to the table, no install required.

Open a battlemap on your laptop, share a 6-character join code with the player screen, and reveal the fog as your party explores. Peer-to-peer, nothing uploaded anywhere.

Drop a battlemap here
or click to browse · PNG, JPG, WEBP up to 10 MB
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Brush 80px
Share with the player screen
Connecting to broker...
Join code
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Player URL
Connected players
None yet.
Tip
Open the player URL on the screen facing your players, hit the fullscreen button there, and use this tab to paint fog. The connection is peer-to-peer once established.
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Field notes

Why a browser-based tabletop display?

Every in-person DM who uses a TV at the table has the same problem: how do you get the map onto the big screen without running a full VTT, casting your entire desktop, or dealing with HDMI cables and mirrored displays? The existing options are either too heavy (Foundry VTT running on a second monitor), too fragile (screen sharing over Discord), or too expensive (dedicated hardware like a Game Master screen).

The peer-to-peer approach

WebRTC was built for video calls, but it works just as well for pushing a single image and a fog overlay between two browsers. The DM's laptop sends the current map and fog state directly to the TV's browser. There is a small public signalling broker (PeerJS at peerjs.com) that handles the initial handshake, but the actual image data never touches a server. Latency on a local network is measured in milliseconds.

What the DM sees versus what the players see

The DM view shows the full map with a fog overlay and painting controls. The player view shows the map with the same fog overlay applied: everything covered is hidden behind a dark wash, everything revealed is fully visible. The player view has no painting controls, no replace button, no chrome. Just the map.

Why not just use screen mirroring?

Screen mirroring shows your entire desktop, browser tabs, notes, stat blocks, and the secret boss room you have not revealed yet. You can crop the window, but then your map fills only part of the TV. Dedicated casting tools like Chromecast introduce latency and compression artifacts. A purpose-built tool sends exactly one thing to the TV: the player view, full screen, crisp, with no chrome and no accidental reveals.

Hardware requirements

Any laptop with a modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari) works as the DM device. Any screen with a browser works as the player display, smart TVs, Fire Sticks, Chromecasts with a browser, tablets, even a phone. The simplest setup is a laptop with HDMI to a TV, two browser tabs side by side. For separate devices the join code links them across your local network.

FAQ

No. The tabletop display runs entirely in your browser. The DM uploads a map, paints fog, and shares a 6-character join code. Players open the link on their device and the connection is peer-to-peer.

The image transfers peer-to-peer using WebRTC. A small public PeerJS broker handles the initial handshake, but the actual image data goes directly between devices. MakeMythic never sees the image.

PeerJS runs a free public signalling server at peerjs.com. We use it because it costs nothing and requires no infrastructure. If their service is down, the join code will not connect. The trade-off is acceptable for free in-browser play; a self-hosted broker can replace it later if needed.

The peer connection breaks. Refresh both ends and reconnect with the same code. Painted fog is preserved on the DM side; the player view re-syncs on reconnect.

The player view fills whatever screen it is opened on, scaling the map to fit. 1080p TVs and 4K screens both work. Browser zoom controls and the fullscreen button on the player tab give finer control.

Yes. Any device with a browser works as the player display. Open the join link, press the fullscreen button, and the projector shows only the revealed portions of the map.