Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 7092476" data-attributes="member: 6796661">I spent a lot of time and some money on creating the world map for my home brew campaign. I printed it poster size and hang it in my game room. It helps when discussing where the party is and to help them plan their travels. It also helps with immersion. Is a world map necessary? No. But it helps when you are trying to run a long-term campaign.  Actually, I should say a "setting" map. You can run an entire campaign in a single city. But, whatever your setting, it helps to have at least a high-level map to help the players orient themselves to the setting. As for adventure/session maps, I mix it up. I would say 95% of the time I have one or more maps for the adventure I'm running. Often I plan my adventures from the map and some sessions are run entirely from a map with keyed information and encounters.  But there are some games where the story is more important than the location. I know some DMs sketch out a the main NPCs, some story elements, and just wing the descriptions. I, however, like my maps. Often, but not always, I display the map on a large TV screen revealing more of the map as the players explore. I use Realm Works, but VTTs like Roll 20 and D20pro are more commonly used options. As for battlemaps, sometimes I use time and sometimes I don't. It depends on the uniques of the location, how complex the terrain is in terms of combat, and how much time I have to prepare. In order of what I use most to least:1. Wet erase battle mats with 1" square grids and various colors of wet erase markersOften, it is easier to just quickly sketch out obstacles and room dimensions for combats than have to prep dungeon tiles or printed battlemaps ahead of time. Also, there will always be times when your players do not go where you planned and your carefully planned or you will want to put down miniatures for a random encounter but do not want to prepare battlemaps for every possible encounter. Because of this, wet-erase mats will always have a place at my table. 2. Felt battle matsI like 2D gridless terrain battle mats like those from CERI Design (<a href="http://www.ceridesign.com" target="_blank">http://www.ceridesign.com</a>) because they look nicer with miniatures than a wet-erase mat and are even easier to use. If I have a forest encounter, I can just throw down the mat and some 2-D or 3-D terrain pieces far more quickly than I could draw the terrain. When using gridless (and even when there are grids, because it is quicker), I use measuring sticks I made based on a DM Scotty video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTT1ZU5pDBg" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTT1ZU5pDBg</a>3. Pre-printedFor locations with a very specific look or challenges, I will print out a battlemaps at 1" = 5' scale. Some I buy or find on for free on the Internet and some I make myself with tools like Dungeonographer or Campaign Cartographer. Usually, I print a number of pages and have to puzzle them together at the table, but I also have access to a plotter printer and occasionally print poster sized pieces that take up most of the table.  I like printing to a plotter since I don't have cut out white space and spend time at the table laying out multiple tiles. But the ink gets expensive and I have to drive to somewhere else to print it. If I hat a plotter printer in my home, I would probably print out all my battlemaps as single pieces.4. Commercially printed dungeon tilesI bought a number of D&D Dungeon Tile sets from Walmart and some of the Pathfinder equivalents from my FLGS, but I find that I rarely use them. They don't save that much time. I really find I dislike having to dig through sets of tiles and try to piece together a location from them. Also, if you are trying to create a battlemap based on a location on your DM map, it is like fitting a square peg in round hold.  It is easier for me to whip something up in Dungeonographer and print it.  I do use the pieces from the forest set and other outdoor sets with my felt battle maps. I just don't find the floor/ground tiles of the commercial sets that useful. 5. Table space and various objectsSometime all you need to is to help picture position and distance. Just setting up miniatures on a table and using pencils, erasers, dice, etc as terrain features is all you need. In some ways this is best option because it give you perspective without trying to force an image on you. You can imagine the scene however you desire when everything is abstracted.</blockquote>

Verification