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

Making players draw out a map is often a huge time sink with few paybacks. Too many times I have watched a GM describe a location, only to see what the player drew and then spend still more time correcting. Erasing takes time. Sad thing is that painfully drawn map is almost never used again.

If you are using electronic screens, have the map(s) ready ahead of game time. Nothing makes a game boring faster then the GM saying "I only need a few more minutes to get this map ready..." after already spending 20 minutes on the thing. If using battlemap type things, have it drawn out prior to the game starting. Again, expecting the players to wait even 10 minutes while you slowly draw out a map leads to very bored players. Gets even worse when the party does option D when the only planned options were A~C.

If you can, make use of already made maps, either image files or physical flip type maps or sets of map tiles.

Koloth said:

Making players draw out a map is often a huge time sink with few paybacks. Too many times I have watched a GM describe a location, only to see what the player drew and then spend still more time correcting.

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Why correct? The players are the ones drawing the map, for their own purposes. If the the GM is going to correct the player maps, just show them the actual map. Which defeats the purpose entirely.

The only way to map it is to make it logical if it's based on geo-formation (and even then?), and make it historical if it is based on societal-formation.

Scott Christian said:

The only way to map it is to make it logical if it's based on geo-formation (and even then?), and make it historical if it is based on societal-formation.

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You know it is a fantasy game, right?

Burnside said:

It is if the DM is going to be exacting about the accuracy of player's mapping skills.

You asked what our experience was. I've DMed for ballpark a thousand players at this point. As a player, I've had maybe a dozen DMs, maybe 20.

There is exactly one guy I've played with who enjoyed mapping as a player. Granted, these days most DMs don't attempt to make players map. I've seen it tried maybe half-a-dozen times. Each time resulted in an evening 80% about "this map is wrong and we can't figure out why" and 20% about the rest of the things normally involved with playing D&D.

The rest of the game being theater of the mind and a verbal loop between players and DMs never, in my experience, caused the amount of non-fun that was caused by a DM forcing players to map when the players didn't want to.

If players ENJOY doing that, then full speed ahead. But like I said: one guy.

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Its of course anecdotal...I've had two different groups that self-initiated mapping...one tried drawing accurately with mixed success, the other just drew line connecting areas of interest.

Reynard said:

I think handwaving PCs being able to navigate back misses the point of dungeon exploration. If you are going to do that, dispense with fog of war entirely.

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Dispense with the fog of war, heh, heh, heh.

Several years back for a Pathfinder Society game our very experienced Dungeon Master tried just such an experiment.

He shocked us all by laying out the complete dungeon (1"=5') at the beginning of the scenario, secret passengers and all--everything.

I didn't think any of us liked it, but we had fun anyway. My character ended up summoning about two dozen giant frogs in the final battle, which shocked the Dungeon Master.

Laying it all out at the beginning can work. A eye opener for me was one of the very early WoTC live plays, with either Penny Arcade or Rooster Teeth, I cannot remember but Chris Perkins arrived at the table and roll out this gianormous beautifully drawn chessex map.

Reynard said:

Why correct? The players are the ones drawing the map, for their own purposes. If the the GM is going to correct the player maps, just show them the actual map. Which defeats the purpose entirely.

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GM <> Player miss communication? GM says left when she means right. Player draws door on north wall when GM said south. While the map is drawn by the players, it supposedly represents what the characters are seeing and drawing out. At least one of the GM/players I game with is very dyslexic. Others are colorblind to some degree. Such issues can make accurate GM - player mapping communication very interesting.

To some degree, this can tie back to the Player skill vs Character skill discussion. If one of the characters has a high cartography skill while the players all suck at drawing, should the map reflect the high character skill or lack of player skill?

Reynard said:

You know it is a fantasy game, right?

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Yes, I know. But if you have a spell, such as stoneshaping, that is part of logic. And don't you want it to have some sort of semblance to reality. I mean, fantastical is all well and good. Running Alice in Wonderland session? Great! Go for it. Yet, if you have a group of kobolds who have been reshaping natural caverns with their own devices and laying traps everywhere, don't you want some sort of geology and logic to come into play?

Scott Christian said:

The only way to map it is to make it logical if it's based on geo-formation (and even then?), and make it historical if it is based on societal-formation.

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It's perfectly fine to do this. It's also perfectly fine to not do this because a) we don't care, and/or b) magic! fantasy! oobleck!*

Concerning 'a' above: I often look at maps and wonder, "How the [CENSORED] do we have all of these five foot thick stone masonry walls on the 2nd floor** with nothing on the 1st floor*** to support them?" Then I remember, I don't care.

However, if you do care then make your maps accordingly. If your players care then they will appreciate the effort.

* .
** That would be the 1st floor for my British and German friends.
* Ground floor.**
**** 0th floor my [CENSORED]!