Mapping the old in a new way

[Alan Shutko]

Yesterday, a group of us started playing Temple of Elemental Evil. We're doing it in 1e with a definate old school bent so it's natural that we face one of the big expectations of the old dungeon crawls: MAPPING.

We got the obligatory pad of graph paper, but I had a different idea... so I brought my Macbook to the session and a wacom tablet, and spent some time before the session building some symbols, styles, to get it ready. Here's the result, mapped LIVE during the session.

The next improvement is to get it up on a projector or TV so other people can see the map live.

Edit:

It's the second session, and I skyped in from out of town. The map continues!

 

[darjr]

One of the reasons that is so cool is that it's really kind of not correct, just like the old player maps of mine.

 

[amerigoV]

Ah, Moathouse. A good time was had by all there in my campaigns (and the all, I mean me!).

When mapping as a player, I remember always asking - OK, where on the graph paper should I start drawing this room. A good hint as to the size of the complex

 

[Obryn]

I hope you guys have fun with it. Sorry I ended up never having time for it, and with the arrival of Little William, I don't know when I'll ever have time again! It's a heck of a romp - try not to get near-TPK'd again, eh?

-O

 

[Alan Shutko]

It should be fun. I'm going to keep track, on the map, of where all the deaths are. I am looking forward to seeing how it develops as we keep playing. Once we're done, I'm going to get the real map and see just how far off we are!

In the first session, I've found a few things. With a few symbols handy, it's fairly easy to keep up with the mapping. We have another guy mapping on paper and I'm about as fast as he is.

OTOH, it's much easier to fix things in Illustrator than on paper. We ran into some misunderstandings how the drawbridge was placed and where doors were, and it was much easier to move things around on the computer than on paper. Also, when I run out of room in a direction, I just extend the art board out.

Obryn, it's a shame we couldn't keep your campaign going. I was going to do the same thing there.

 

[Obryn]

And I would have loved it. I plan to run more 1e down the road, but "down the road" may be a year or more.

I think it's awesome you guys are going to roll with the adventure, though. I don't know that we ever would have gotten all the way through, but hey - that fight with the ghouls was one of my favorite scenes ever, and we even had a near-TPK in a Gygaxian death-trap!

-O