Handling maps in your game

[moticon]

mapping?

We bought the Mondo-battle mat (8'x4') after using the small battle mat for several years. It serves the purpose of protecting the dining room table from the dice and Mini's, and it's nice to be able to draw large maps for the PC's as they move along.

We erase and redraw when we run out of room, and the PC's have to keep up with their own maps.

I found for my players and for myself it helps a great deal to see the layout, although now we're starting to get into flying encounters quite a bit and it's once again complex to visualize and measure distance, etc.

any ideas about that would be great!

Moticon

 

[Raven Crowking]

I found for my players and for myself it helps a great deal to see the layout, although now we're starting to get into flying encounters quite a bit and it's once again complex to visualize and measure distance, etc.

any ideas about that would be great!

Wizkids' MageKnight game came with clear plastic pieces that could either turn the bases of the figures or be used to represent altitude. Another (maybe simpler) possibility is to place pennies near the figures to represent height. Each penny represents one unit of altitude....Of course, if they really soar high, use dimes to represent 10 units, etc. Luckily for us in Canada, $1 and $2 are coins!

RC

 

[Zulithe]

Thanks everyone, this advice has been invaluable. I think the best method for me would be to get one of these erasable mats everyone keeps going on and on about ^_^ Some of my players have bought the new plastic/pre-painted D&D minis so we are in no short supply of placeholders ... I'll keep all of the ideas in mind depending on what each individual situation may demand ... thanks again

 

[DaveStebbins]

I'll give my standard advice. No matter what type of battlemat you use (dry-erase, chalkboard, showerboard, etc.), if you have it on the table, make a mini-table support to raise it six to eight inches off the table. The battlemat is still easily accessible and prominent, and you've just opened up all that space underneath for books, paper, dice, and whatever else will fit. When my group first did this, it felt like we doubled the size of our playing surface.

 

[Eltern]

I take the maps, scan them in (or if they're PDFs, which they normally are, copy and paste) to Photoshop, and then use layering to add a layer of stone/dirt/trees/etc. over the different areas. This means that rooms they haven't seen just blend in with the "other stuff," not blackness. Project the map onto a screen from a laptop. Then, when a party enters a room, just click that room's layer to "don't see" and tada! you see the room.
Problems:
-Don't have photoshop, you're in trubs
-Takes some time, but you can read along with the adventure as you do it, prepping

Coolness:
-Don't want the party to know where they've been? Turn off the layers as they leave them!
-Want the party to know where they've been? Leave the rooms visible!
-Secret doors and similar objects look really nifty as they are uncovered in the middle of the room where before they had not been visible.
-Don't have to draw out every room, but when you do have combat you have the map there to sketch down on your battlemat.

Eltern

 

[Neo]

Regional Maps I let them buy a map in town and then effectively allow them to use the main overland overview map that the setting provides (e.g. FRCG's map).

Town Maps if one exists I scan it and remove or add what I need them to know about usually significant land marks and points of reference such as the tavern they're staying at etc..

Dungeon Maps... well in days of old when there were only straight corridors and square rooms I made them map themselves based on description.. however now I provide a pad of graph paper and add what they can see on as they explore... leaving off all things they miss, do not discover or do not explore of course..

For combats we use a home made battlemat thin bit of wood with 1 inch squares marked on and then I think it was clingfilm (surround wrap) stretched over it. It is sturdy and clear and allows markers to be used on it and washed off easy enough for drawing on walls, doors, marking peoples positions at the end of a session etc... We use miniatures on the battlemat for combats.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

The following scheme has served us well:

We draw all our maps on 5mm square graph paper. To show the locations of all characters, we put the map on a flat piece of styrofoam (a cardboard box will do in a pinch) and stick small pins into the map. PCs get pins with individualized flags to show their facing (as do some of the bigger foes).

With this method, it's possible to use some very large maps that simply couldn't be done if you used a larger grid (like the inch mentioned above). And since it's easily possible to stick more than one pin into a single square, you can make maps that cover an even larger relative size...

 

[Namfoddle]

Usually I do my maps with programmes like CCPro2 und Dundjinni. Those programmes offer the possibility to hide information on the player-print out. So I give my players a regional map as soon as they enter a new region, however they have to find the secret places on that map themselves.

I also use town-maps. The players can buy them from NPCs, but usually those maps are given to the players without a legend. They have to find out themselves where the important buildings are (e.g. by asking other NPCs or by just wandering around).

In dungeons I let my players map themselves which can be very interesting, especially when using stuff like teleporters For myself, however I also do those maps with Dundjinni or CCPro2. Since I bought Dundjinni I use the option to print out part of the map as battle-map with 5ft-grid and use them in battle (along with some cool miniatures) which has increased fun at the gaming table a lot!

 

[D+1]

Dungeons are drawn out on a battlemat, generally only as encounters actually occur, but often simply to show players where they are going even when nothing is really happening. We also use Dwarven Forge pieces for creating 3d representations of most dungeons.

Villages - I just give them a map that covers the main buildings; what they can see. Towns, I give them a map but it's generally going to be unlabeled and I'll point out a few of the known highlights. ("This is the tavern you're in, this is the mayors house, these are temples, here's the mill...") Cities - depends on the city. Either they get a map like they would for a town along with a key since covering all the highlights one at a time would take too long, or they get a players map and have to fill in details as they explore. But some cities don't lend themselves to the latter approach.

Overland maps - I give them a players map if I have it. Or I show them a generalized judges map and point out major features of rivers, mountains, nations, roads - and then take that map away. If they WANT accuracy, they can map it for themselves or at least note to me that their character is mapping and ask that I keep that in mind when they ask later what they know about the terrain, etc.

Players don't need to re-draw everything I draw, but it often helps. Players don't need access to fiendish levels of detail that a DM does - but they'll take it if they can get it.

In any campaign, if it goes on long enough, I'll eventually just say, "Okay, you've explored enough, and learned enough about the world. Here's the map to the world." Then hand them the game map. But there's still going to be things about that map that I know and they don't. Things on it that are wrong, things NOT on it that nonetheless exist.

 

[Buttercup]

I usuall provide the players with town maps, but I don't label much, if anything.

For combat, I've purchased a 22"x28" tablet with a 1" grid. I use magic markers to draw the dungeon as they progress through it. This has been helpful as well on a few occasions when we had to stop while the players were camped. We can mark on the paper where everyone's counter is, and just pick up where we left off at our next session. The tablets are about 15 bucks for 50 sheets, so it seems like a reasonable value to me.