A couple of sessions ago in my 4e campaign, the PCs explored a tower.
They didn't map; I assumed their PCs were competent enough to not get lost (they were planning on taking over the tower). They still got bored by the exploration though. After a certain point, I just read descriptions of all the rooms on a floor and gave them maps with notes once they'd explored the whole place.
As a player in another game (a converted 1e Greyhawk adventure, to 4e, using the exact same 1e map) I found myself getting bored as we wandered through a maze-like cave system as we hunted a naga "god" and fought its bullywug minions. In a way, the DM slowly revealing the map made sense; unlike the tower scenario, it was possible, even likely, that the PCs wouldn't discover everything, and the paths we took could put us in a good or poor strategic position.
I think whether you use mapping or not just depends on your group. I think players who enjoy mapping are less common these days, but they have certainly not disappeared. It can be a bit sad if you have both types of players in the same group, as it's hard to please both sets.
In the games I run, we use miniatures, so mapping is done on a Paizo flip-mat as the party explores. I either draw the map myself (as the DM), or give the picture of the room to one of my players to draw for me (this only works if there are no traps or secret doors on the map).
If the party is travelling overland, or through an area where there likely won't be a combat I don't draw the map out, I generally just describe things to the group. No point wasting time mapping for no real gain.
I don't get the "fun" of having players map and getting lost as a result. I just see that as time wasted when the players could be furthering the plot. The fact that we only game once a fortnight may have something to do with that though.
To me, mapping depends on the system and the requirements at the time. In DnD Next game, no mapping. The rules work really well without it. Run Pathfinder, maps-a-plenty.
However, I do add the occasional general map for a dungeon crawl in any system. If a player maps or has some sort of stone sense, then I just draw out a really small scale map for everybody to see. It just make life quicker. Especially if I can make that happen faster then the the players can respond to it.
As a DM, I don't bother with drawing maps for the players while the session is in progress. I just keep a set of battlemaps for each encounter, and then describe the dungeon to the players. However, what I also do is at the start of each session, I hand the players a printout of the dungeon that they've currently explored, which they then add on to as they continue to explore.
As a player, I'm always drawing a map, as I'm always forgetting things, so having a crudely drawn map helps
If the players (i.e. characters) don't make a map that's their problem - once they've gone around a few corners and through a few intersections I don't at all assume they'll automatically remember the way out, unless they map it.
Also, if they map it gives them a much better chance of noticing situations where physics doesn't work quite right (teleporters, rooms in the same place as other rooms already mapped, etc.).
We use a chalkboard and minis, for simple stuff I describe the room/corridor/etc. and they draw it out, for complex stuff I just draw it. But if it gets erased and they didn't map it they're on their own.
My very first essay on dungeon design would have failed 'Castle of the Mad Archmage' on multiple levels. Empty rooms are a big big no no. Empty corridors are nearly as bad, but I haven't figured out how to avoid that entirely.
Interesting. I once saw an article on dungeon design that said almost the opposite - that for every occupied room there should be one or two empty ones - and I don't mind this at all, in-game it's more realistic and from the metagame side it gets away from the players expecting an encounter in every room.
And by "empty room" I mean a room or cavern that is unpopulated and contains nothing of value or interest or danger.
Also, as someone very astutely pointed out above, the room that is (or appears to be) empty the first time you see it may very well not be empty the next time...
Interesting. I once saw an article on dungeon design that said almost the opposite - that for every occupied room there should be one or two empty ones - and I don't mind this at all, in-game it's more realistic and from the metagame side it gets away from the players expecting an encounter in every room.
And by "empty room" I mean a room or cavern that is unpopulated and contains nothing of value or interest or danger.
Well, I very much disagree. Good dungeon designs tend to be very tight and interesting at all points. Empty rooms are a failure of imagination, and in general, it's not realistic either. Each room in a dungeon should contain either something of value, or something of interest, or something of danger. It doesn't have to be all three, but it has to be at least one.
Now, I do agree that every room doesn't need a monsters and a treasure, but that's not the same thing.
I always try to make my rooms complex per my own advice, and though I try hard to add lots of detail, every time I run a party through a dungeon I inevitably realize how unrealistically simple my rooms actually are. The reason for this is that after the adventurers have past through, there is inevitably more details to the room than there were before - half eaten meals and campfires, urine stains, chalk markings on the walls, busted doors, scorch marks from magic, spent torches, and in some cases dead adventurers and their gear that weren't retrieved. Any reasonably old dungeon and yet realistic dungeon should have layers of detritus and stories far above that related to the current PC parties foray. I've never once had a dungeon that had all its treasures vacuumed up from it, all its secrets probed, and all its traps disarmed. Every dungeon in my current campaign could still be some other PC parties quest site. There is in my opinion nothing more unrealistic than empty rooms. The closest I have to empty rooms in the dungeon - simple places of little apparent danger - often end up becoming temporary camps for the party on those forays that they can't return to base.
So in general, I try to put into each room:
a) Something of interest. Setting color and information particularly things that may hint what lies further into the dungeon or which may pertain to the overall story of the campaign. Tracks or spore from some monster is a good example. However, even if it isn't immediately useful, if it gives a sense of scope, scale, and depth to the dungeon it can increase player involvement. Setting information can be used as a way to make non-reoccurring bad guys have some of the meaning you get from a reoccurring bad guy. It is similar in purpose to the scenes in the movie where we break away from the protagonists story to observe the antagonist for a while. Think for example how Tomb of Horrors builds a relationship between the PC's and Acerak the Eternal. Another sort of thing of interest that make the room non-empty can be hidden exits. This is a good time make use of skill checks: spot checks, search checks, decipher script, knowledge checks, open locks, strength checks, whatever you can do to get involvement.
OR
b) Treasure. This doesn't have to be obvious. In fact, the less obvious it is the better in some ways. Again, more uses for skill checks - appraise, knowledge, craft, etc. Treasure itself can actually be all three - something of interest, something of value, and something of danger.
OR
c) Danger. Monsters, traps, hazardous environment, crumbling ruins, diseases, parasites, curses, haunts, etc.
Of course, this is the ideal and its not easy to reach. If the setting of the dungeon calls out for a certain room to be present, but I can't figure out what to do with it, I may put it in and leave it 'empty' of anything but the sort of furnishings suggested by the room. That's emptier than I'd like, since my guidelines suggest you never have less than one hidden thing in the room requiring a skill check to discover (or understand). But, if it wasn't hard to design a great dungeon, everyone could do it. Attempting to refine rooms often leads to interesting inventions though and its a worthwhile exercise in creativity.
For example, the following room from a 'haunted house' themed dungeon came from my attempts to do something with an otherwise empty cellar:
Cellar This dark room seems to serve as storage for dry goods and other foodstuffs. A box of potatoes and other slowly decaying root vegetables is against the wall, along with several bags of rice, flour, oats, salt and sugar. Hams and rashers of bacon hang from the roof. There are also several wheels of cheese, some unbroken and others faintly covered in mold on a wooden shelf. On the floor however, there is a decaying rat, with a few flies buzzing above it. Something about this room makes you feel uneasy.
One of Alberic’s prized possessions, the reanimated corpse of his childhood cat calls this room his home. While neither woman that works in the house is aware the cat is undead, they are both terrified by it and generally refuse to enter the cellar. They have learned the cat is afraid of fire though, and so if they must take a lit candelabra with them. Smokey is so well preserved that he appears to be an entirely normal cat, but anyone with animal empathy observing the cat will receive the confusing sense that the cat isn’t really there. Also, the cat causes an uncanny fear in anyone observing it (DC 8 fear check), but most observers are likely to put this down to the startling way the cat ‘introduces’ itself.
A few rounds after anyone enters, Smokey will suddenly hiss from some hidden position within the room. As an excellent hider, he is very likely to go unobserved until he reveals himself. He attacks anyone that attempts to pet him or which disturbs the rat he’s saving for his dinner until it’s properly rotten enough for his digestion to handle. Smokey is a large grey cat with yellow eyes. He otherwise seems like and behaves like a normal living cat.
Smokey, The Ghoul Cat; Tiny Undead; CR 1; HD 1d12+4 (hp 11); Init: +7; Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (+2 size, +1 Dex, +2 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 14; Base Attack/Grapple: +1/–10
Attack: Claw +6 melee (1d3–3) ; Space/Reach: 2-1/2 ft./0 ft.; Special Attacks: Paralyzing Touch, Uncanny Presence; SQ: Undead Traits, low-light vision, scent, +2 turn resistance; Saves: Fort -5, Ref +3, Will +1; Abilities: Str 5, Dex 17, Con -, Int -, Wis 12, Cha 7; Skills: Balance +9, Climb +7, Hide +13, Jump +11, Listen +3, Move Silently +5, Spot +3
Feats: Weapon Finesse (Claw), Improved Initiative Ghoul Fever (Su): Disease—bite, Fortitude DC 8, incubation period 1 day, damage 1d3 Con and 1d3 Dex. The save DC is Charisma-based. An afflicted humanoid who dies of ghoul fever rises as a ghoul at the next midnight. A humanoid who becomes a ghoul in this way retains none of the abilities it possessed in life. It is not under the control of any other ghouls, but it hungers for the flesh of the living and behaves like a normal ghoul in all respects. A humanoid of 4 Hit Dice or more rises as a ghast, not a ghoul. Paralysis (Ex): Those hit by a ghoul’s bite or claw attack must succeed on a DC 8 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 1d4+1 rounds. Elves have immunity to this paralysis. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Discovering the seemingly living cat is undead provokes a DC 8 horror check. Destroying Smokey earns a visit and a boon by Jasper the Cat Spirit, who considers an undead cat to be an abomination."
So now, something of interest (recognizing the cat is undead is very suggestive that Alberik is more than he seems, something of value(the benevolence of Jasper the Cat Spirit), and something of danger (the undead cat).
Empty corridors are my current bugaboo that I'm trying to figure out what to do with. Corridors are useful dividers but they are properly rooms in their own right. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to deal with the tension between corridor as a scene framing device and corridor as a dungeon room, especially when the scale of the dungeon is large such as a realistic cavern, a sewer system, etc.
Also, as someone very astutely pointed out above, the room that is (or appears to be) empty the first time you see it may very well not be empty the next time...
In a properly designed dungeon, IMO a room that appears empty is probably one where you are failing your perception related skills, or you should cast divination spells. One device I also use quite often is to not give some of the inhabitants of a dungeon a fixed abode, but then for 'well travelled' rooms of a dungeon have a wandering encounter check called for whenever the players enter or linger in it to see if something is present.
