Anyone else mark the monster population ON a copy of the dungeon map when preparing?

[Kyn@BattleBards]

Yeah I actually do something like this in my campaigns. I take a photocopy or print out a digital one and then mark it up similarly. I was introduced to HeroQuest before D&D and was accustomed to that visual map style and brought it over into my games whether it was a commercial module or homebrew. Of course this map is never shared with my PCs, but it makes my life easier when juggling everything else that the players are doing.

 

[miniaturehoarder]

I don't. And I actually dislike when written adventures do that.

Well, you'd still have to clean the map anyhow of number keys and secret doors.

 

[Dog Moon]

Well, you'd still have to clean the map anyhow of number keys and secret doors.

Well, number keys our group doesn't really care about and none of us are the type that would pay enough attention to the map to go "Wait a second, I don't see room number six. That must mean there is a secret room somewhere!"

And for secret doors, well, we just tend to not reveal quite as much of the room [using the Fog of War option] to hide the secret door. Sometimes in rooms this is a little awkwardly done, but most of the time no one realizes that the room is slightly smaller on the left side because no one knows just how big the room is.

And on those maps that we create ourselves... well it's easy for us to remember where our own secret doors should be which makes map revealing even easier. And secret doors tends to be room 5a, so no numerical confusion that way either.

 

[Verys Arkon]

I think that maps can be designed for a narrower focus; one map for players and one for DMs. Most RPG maps try to pull double-duty, and it constrains where you can push the design. You want a pleasing to look at map with minimal information on the player map. The DM's map should be designed to optimize its utility for running the adventure.

Here is an example, from Keep on the Boarderlands.
https://rpgcartography.wordpress.com/map-gallery-2/caves-of-chaos-map-redux/

 

[Zak S]

To the OP, yes.

Also: in official published products, this kind of info should always be on the map if at all possible.

 

[Morrus]

Yep. Always. I find it incredibly useful to annotate maps with all sorts of info.

 

[redrick]

One thing I've found that helps me understand a module I'm preparing is taking the time to mark out where each creature defaults to in the module's lay out. It's a little time consuming, but it helps me IMMENSELY to grasp how things are laid out and who might come running if PCs call attention to themselves.

Also it helps give me a heads up when an older module might need to have a room expanded a few squares so 30 some orcs don't have to be crammed hip to hip (Slave Pits of the Undercity, I'm looking at you).

Anyone else do this?

Yep, I definitely annotate maps. Sometimes I'll photocopy or duplicate an unannotated version for players before making my own additions. Other times I won't, drawing out details on a wet-erase mat as needed. (For a complex battle-map type situation, it can be nice to hand a small-scale map to a player and say, "the room looks like this," and let the player draw out the battlemat while I focus on something else. I haven't had one of those in a while. For more exploration type stuff, I just draw out a map as we go, or go without a player map altogether.)

When I play on Roll20, I'll sometimes type the entirety of my prep straight onto the GM layer of my maps. Very helpful, but it requires a lot of time at my home computer, so only viable on weeks when I'm not working.