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<blockquote data-quote="GX.Sigma" data-source="post: 5931822" data-attributes="member: 6690511">I realized as I was running my first playtest game that this was the first time I had ever run a game so focused on dungeon exploration. In my zeal to run the playtest as old-school as possible, I defaulted to the traditional method of the DM dictating the dimensions of the dungeon to the players, one of whom would map it out.I found almost instantly that I had no idea how to do this.We got through the Kobold caves with a lot of west-east-left-right confusion, a lot of &quot;like this?&quot; and &quot;close enough&quot;. One recurring problem was that I didn't know how to describe a simple T-junction--from the cave mouth to the wall ahead is 30 feet, but there's only 20 feet of wall to each side before it opens on both sides... How do you describe that? If I say something is &quot;30 feet ahead,&quot; is it in the second square from them, or the third square from them? Do you count from square centers or edges?When we did Cave B (the first Orc lair), it got really bad. Look at a copy of your map. See how the entrance and area 9 connect with the hallway to area 8? See how area 9 connects with area 10 (twice with one 10-foot block in the middle)? How the hell do I describe that? We often fell into a rut of asking and answering map questions, which quickly got tedious for all. Worse, I was unable to do any sort of colorful description of the environment, as so much of my head-space and word-space was taken up by describing the physical dimensions of the dungeon.Do any of you more experienced with dictating dungeon exploration have any tips, pointers, or advice on how to handle this issue?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="GX.Sigma, post: 5931822, member: 6690511"] I realized as I was running my first playtest game that this was the first time I had ever run a game so focused on dungeon exploration. In my zeal to run the playtest as old-school as possible, I defaulted to the traditional method of the DM dictating the dimensions of the dungeon to the players, one of whom would map it out. I found almost instantly that I had no idea how to do this. We got through the Kobold caves with a lot of west-east-left-right confusion, a lot of "like this?" and "close enough". One recurring problem was that I didn't know how to describe a simple T-junction--from the cave mouth to the wall ahead is 30 feet, but there's only 20 feet of wall to each side before it opens on both sides... How do you describe that? If I say something is "30 feet ahead," is it in the second square from them, or the third square from them? Do you count from square centers or edges? When we did Cave B (the first Orc lair), it got really bad. Look at a copy of your map. See how the entrance and area 9 connect with the hallway to area 8? See how area 9 connects with area 10 (twice with one 10-foot block in the middle)? How the hell do I describe that? We often fell into a rut of asking and answering map questions, which quickly got tedious for all. Worse, I was unable to do any sort of colorful description of the environment, as so much of my head-space and word-space was taken up by describing the physical dimensions of the dungeon. Do any of you more experienced with dictating dungeon exploration have any tips, pointers, or advice on how to handle this issue? [/QUOTE]

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