D&D General Mapping: How Do You Do It?

Deset Gled · 2025-11-29T16:55:10+0000

Since going VTT I have been doing full maps, made ahead of time.

Pre-VTT, I used to draw maps live. I would come with a rough idea of the dungeon/town/whatever in my head. For more complicated things I would have lists of areas with details like number of exits, encounters, traps, etc. I would then use graph paper or a dry erase mat and draw the map as the characters explored.

The really great parts about drawing as you go is that it's more interactive. You can do things like make sure encounters are spaced out properly, traps are sized properly, etc. You can even have the players be more involved by having them do things like drawn their own home towns, or give one player recon info and have them map for the rest of the party. It also minimizes prep time by a large factor. Beyond the obvious time savings, it also means you only map what you need to (much less connectors, no mapping of areas that aren't explored, etc. )

I would love to find a VTT that supports that type of on-the-fly generation. I haven't found one yet.

Charlaquin · 2025-11-29T17:05:35+0000

Reynard said:
I am planning on running a big dungeon thing (using Shadowdark, but I don't think that is relevant) and I am considering options for how to deal with mapping from the player side.

My first impulse is to do "theater of the mind" exploration, letting the players map as they will (or won't; that's on them) and only drawing something out on the grid if a particular situation requires it for clarity (mostly thinking about fights, but maybe complex terrain or a trap room or whatever).

Note that I will be running this both on Fantasy grounds and later in person.

What is your go-to with regards to mapping big dungeon exploration, in person or on a VTT or anywhere in between? What have you learned to definitely do, or definitely not do? As a player, how do you prefer to deal with mapping that kind of exploration?

If you’re designing the dungeon yourself, you could design it to be easily mappable with a node graph by following a few simple design principles. Give each room a distinctive feature, ensure room exits always align with the cardinal directions, never have more than one room exit per cardinal direction, and always have at least a short hallway between any two connected rooms. This is how 3d Metroidvanias are generally designed, and it works really well to keep a very large explorable environment easy for players to conceptualize and to make a simplified map of.

Lakesidefantasy · 2025-11-29T17:10:50+0000

Lakesidefantasy said:
I draw a map for the players at a 1-inch = 5-feet scale on beige cardstock with sharpies and wedge-tipped black markers. I then meticulously cut out each of the rooms, and then during the game i and lay them down on the table as we explore them. This creates a fog of war effect as I pick up old, previously explored rooms when the dungeon sprawls across the table.

Here is an image of one of the recent ones I done and also I've experimented with blowing up Dyson logos, maps and using them.

UngainlyTitan · 2025-11-29T17:37:44+0000

Reynard said:
Never got turned around in a school or hospital?

How many times have you been mapping your progress along a school or hospital? Most times I have become lost, the cause is that I was distracted from remembering my journey or I was in terrain where it was difficult to establish where one was due to lack of distinct features to orient on.
I had a map, but it was not up to date with respect to houses and there were enough line-of-sight blocks (mostly forestry) along the road that I could not locate myself (This was pre gps, or pre phone based gps) along the road.
There are reasons people used trail marking and other techniques, especially in a forest.

In answer to your initial question, on a VTT I use Fog of War or the VTT's lighting system. Face to Face I have used interlocking tiles with the map predrawn. The players see what is immediately around and the area they just left. I slide the tiles around the table adding to the direction of movement and taking tiles away as it begins to overrun the table.
But I very rarely get the chance to play face to face.

Reynard · 2025-11-29T17:45:43+0000

UngainlyTitan said:
How many times have you been mapping your progress along a school or hospital? Most times I have become lost, the cause is that I was distracted from remembering my journey or I was in terrain where it was difficult to establish where one was due to lack of distinct features to orient on.
I had a map, but it was not up to date with respect to houses and there were enough line-of-sight blocks (mostly forestry) along the road that I could not locate myself (This was pre gps, or pre phone based gps) along the road.
There are reasons people used trail marking and other techniques, especially in a forest.

Yes. Exactly. You suggested there was no verisimilitude reason to map,and have now proved there is.

Lakesidefantasy · 2025-11-29T17:49:12+0000

Burnside said:
Have never seen a session wherein the players were required to map as they go that did not end in a frustrating fiasco.

Also not sure what it really adds to the game, tbh. "Draw what I verbally describe" doesn't add any particular verisimilitude to the exploration.

I've had both happen. I agree though, confusion at the gaming table is only good if that is what is expected from the table* not just the Dungeon Master.

Burnside · 2025-11-29T18:00:47+0000

Reynard said:
Never got turned around in a school or hospital?

If I did, it wasn't because I failed to accurately draw a visual map based on someone's voice audibly describing my environment which for some reason I couldn't see.

I don't mind if the DM conceals/removes areas from the map when the players have left those areas & can no longer see them. DM refusing to provide visual references for areas where the the characters currently are located and can see with their own eyes, but instead insisting that players draw that area based on verbal description has no verisimilitude - nothing like that happens in real life. If I walk into a room, I can see it. I'm not reliant on an audio narrator and what may be their own limited ability to accurately describe to me what I'm looking at.

Reynard · 2025-11-29T18:35:52+0000

Burnside said:
If I did, it wasn't because I failed to accurately draw a visual map based on someone's voice audibly describing my environment which for some reason I couldn't see.

I don't mind if the DM conceals/removes areas from the map when the players have left those areas & can no longer see them. DM refusing to provide visual references for areas where the the characters currently are located and can see with their own eyes, but instead insisting that players draw that area based on verbal description has no verisimilitude - nothing like that happens in real life. If I walk into a room, I can see it. I'm not reliant on an audio narrator and what may be their own limited ability to accurately describe to me what I'm looking at.

You are being pedantic. RPGs are a conversation about everything. Every element of gameplay depends on an "audio narrator." You are singling out mapping, pretending it is different than the rest of play, when it isn't.

UngainlyTitan · 2025-11-29T18:47:46+0000

Reynard said:
Yes. Exactly. You suggested there was no verisimilitude reason to map,and have now proved there is.

No, getting lost has very little to do with mapping, getting lost in real life in my experience is mostly do to either being unable to figure our ones current location or misremembering a turn. A map does not make one automatically unlost unless one can infer from some visual clue as to where one is on the map.
I very rarely get lost in the real world and even when locally lost, I generally have a good idea as to my current location relative to the larger geogrpahy around. That is, I generally know the direction to go even if I do not know what street or trail will most expeditiously lead to where I want to be.
Now, I regularly get lost in video game levels because one long stretch of corridor looks much like another.
I would also suggest that the act of actually traipsing along an endless series of corridors and connected rooms of an active dungeon and sitting at a table, attempting to map from a series of directions called out are not really the same thing.
Are you specifically trying to evoke the eighties dungeon crawling with angled rooms and corridors doubling back on themselves to pass under the already traversed corridor to lead the party to a lower level without their knowledge?

Reynard · 2025-11-29T19:02:37+0000

UngainlyTitan said:
No, getting lost has very little to do with mapping, getting lost in real life in my experience is mostly do to either being unable to figure our ones current location or misremembering a turn. A map does not make one automatically unlost unless one can infer from some visual clue as to where one is on the map.
I very rarely get lost in the real world and even when locally lost, I generally have a good idea as to my current location relative to the larger geogrpahy around. That is, I generally know the direction to go even if I do not know what street or trail will most expeditiously lead to where I want to be.
Now, I regularly get lost in video game levels because one long stretch of corridor looks much like another.
I would also suggest that the act of actually traipsing along an endless series of corridors and connected rooms of an active dungeon and sitting at a table, attempting to map from a series of directions called out are not really the same thing.
Are you specifically trying to evoke the eighties dungeon crawling with angled rooms and corridors doubling back on themselves to pass under the already traversed corridor to lead the party to a lower level without their knowledge?

I am a land surveyor by trade. I use maps a lot. It is easy to get turned around even when you have one on hand.

But really this isn't about realism. it is about making the game fun, and making exploration and the effort the PCs put into it worthwhile.

If (general) you don't think mapping is fun, awesome. But what does that add to this discussion?

D&D General Mapping: How Do You Do It?

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