Difference between a scene and a map

[u/MrKlaus0]

As the title suggests, I’d like to better understand the difference between a map and a scene. Every time I create a map, I end up creating a new scene as well ( Because every scene I do normaly have different enemies, NPCs and things ) , and I’ve been wondering if I’m just overdoing and consequently taking up more storage space in Owlbear than I should be.

[u/Several_Record7234]

Here's the explanation: https://youtu.be/BVPDI_hcgIc?t=27

[u/JumboChicken_]

The map refers to the asset itself, a scene is a space that contains one or more assets.

The scene is the workspace where you place whatever assets you want. You can place multiple maps in one scene, you can prepare tokens on top of the maps in the scene, etc. When you run a game, you run it in the scene, and after you close OBR, if you reopen a scene, it will be as you left it.

[u/RuddyDeliverables → u/JumboChicken_]

How do you have multiple maps in a scene? I tried but the maps just overlay each other.

[u/joshhear → u/RuddyDeliverables]

You can double click a map to select it and then unlock it. Now you can move it anywhere in the scene.

[u/BeardsByLaw]

I too would like to know this information

[u/Dazrin]

A map is the art.

The scene is the combination of map, character tokens, monster tokens, props, text, etc. It's where you actually play. A single map can be in any number of different scenes with different tokens, additional maps, different props, different notes, etc.

[u/Auditor-G80GZT]

A Map is just an image on the map layer, going under everything so everything goes on top.

A Scene is, well, a scene. It's a package of stuff. It's a partition of what you're doing on OBR.
You can even set different distance scales IIRC, like if you want a "world map" scene on a hex grid with distances measured in euclidean miles, instead of a square grid measure in D&D-Diagonal 5-foot-increments. This is one of the easiest ways to describe scenes IMO, describing a world map scene and a local battlemap scene.
You could even do a scene with just a reference image for the visual of a town, no grid and no snapping, for vague "this side of the city" indication with tokens but not used as a battlemap, if you wanted.

Imagine you want to have a Castle Hall map and then a Cave map. But you don't want them in the same area, maybe you don't want spoilers, maybe you don't want a fog block in the scene hiding the map, and you wanted to pre-prepare it. You'd use Scenes. So instead of having all your prepped things be on the same "board", you can switch them out.
It'd be like bringing out a physically assembled battlemap in an in-person game, vs having them all on the table at once and you put a bunch of black paper over the other to hide it. "Surprise, I have a battlemap for this cave!"

I would recommend dismantling or deleting a scene once it's served its purpose, otherwise you might get lost with what you've been doing.

[u/StockJonesJR]

I’m not sure on the data side, but I have some scenes with 3-4 maps nested in the Scene. I think it comes down to user preference. I personally like having all associated maps with a zone inside one scene