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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Mapping During the Game
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<blockquote data-quote="DMZ2112" data-source="post: 6281957" data-attributes="member: 78752"><p>There's something wonderfully old school about player mapping, but it falls into that group of activities defined by the '70s and '80s "player as character" mentality. Why should it matter if a player can draw an adequate map? Isn't it sufficient that his character has the skills necessary to navigate a dungeon and not get lost, including some limited capacity for cartography?</p><p></p><p>I'm always glad when a player whips out the graph paper, but if it gets to the point where I'm repeating everything I say about the dungeon to him three times or having to actually draw things on his map for him, it's not conducive to efficiency or enjoyment. I never penalize my players for not drawing a map, but saying things like "we go back the way we came and take the other fork" absolutely do not fly with me if they can't describe the route in detail or at the very least make an Int check. I treat story elements the same way. What was the name of that NPC? Maybe you should have written it down.</p><p></p><p>But as others in this thread have noted, good player mapping doesn't require surveyor exactitude. You just need to know what connects to where and who lives there. You might recommend a mind-mapping system to your fledgling cartographer.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=mind+mapping&espv=2&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=H3k0U-iYC6XesATi7IHIBg&ved=0CEcQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=939" target="_blank">Mind Mapping</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DMZ2112, post: 6281957, member: 78752"] There's something wonderfully old school about player mapping, but it falls into that group of activities defined by the '70s and '80s "player as character" mentality. Why should it matter if a player can draw an adequate map? Isn't it sufficient that his character has the skills necessary to navigate a dungeon and not get lost, including some limited capacity for cartography? I'm always glad when a player whips out the graph paper, but if it gets to the point where I'm repeating everything I say about the dungeon to him three times or having to actually draw things on his map for him, it's not conducive to efficiency or enjoyment. I never penalize my players for not drawing a map, but saying things like "we go back the way we came and take the other fork" absolutely do not fly with me if they can't describe the route in detail or at the very least make an Int check. I treat story elements the same way. What was the name of that NPC? Maybe you should have written it down. But as others in this thread have noted, good player mapping doesn't require surveyor exactitude. You just need to know what connects to where and who lives there. You might recommend a mind-mapping system to your fledgling cartographer. [URL="https://www.google.com/search?q=mind+mapping&espv=2&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=H3k0U-iYC6XesATi7IHIBg&ved=0CEcQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=939"]Mind Mapping[/URL] [/QUOTE]
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