Maps/Tiles or Dry/Wet Erase?

[Cor Azer]

I have a Chessex map, but I rarely use it now. I just have a large pad of inch-grid graph paper and draw out my maps ahead of time.

To avoid line of sight/fog of war issues, I'll sometimes cut up the bug maps into smaller chunks, so I don't have to lay it all out at once.

One of my players had an old blueprint tube and gave it to me, so I have a nice bug case for carrying them all around.

 

[the Jester]

Either a battlemat or custom maps for the adventure.

I do not like Dungeon Tiles much at all, and absolutely hate how they have crowded out a lot of good cartography.

 

[Oryan77]

I used to use wet erase mats until I got tiles. Then I used the tiles on top of the mats (keeps them from sliding and you can still draw or write on the mats if you need).

I got tact-tiles thinking that I would use them. But the dry erase seemed more annoying to clean than the wet erase, and players complained that the markers smell a lot stronger. I only used them a couple of times. I've been thinking about selling them.

I now use a VTT setup with Maptool that is really impressive. The only thing is that I'm a graphic artist and it is hard for me to "settle" for maps to use with it. If I'm going to use an HD TV for this, I want high quality graphics. So I'm finding myself making most of my maps since I run a lot of old modules and can't find decent maps for them.

So now I'm thinking about selling all of my tiles and I suppose the storage bins I custom made for them:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/4981334-post35.html

 

[jimmifett]

My primary is a chessex, in excellent condition. I keep it in a extendable blueprint tube, wrapped around a carboard tube for storage.

Also have a couple paizo flip mats, but i don't like how hard it is for them to lay flat.

I have a ton of poster maps that I have laminated and rolled into tubes. I need a solution to store them unrolled, as the don't always lay flat.

Have a ton of dungeon tiles, at least 2 or more of every set (trying for 4 of every set). I store them in gallon ziplock freezer bags, 1 bag for each sheet, grouped by set, and meticulously labeled with a printout legend with each bag. Took a few days to sort everything out, but now my system works well for finding the pieces I need.

I still have some gaming paper, but the cost to replace makes me hesitate to use it. Great for pre-making maps tho and placing pre-drawn rooms as explored. I've considered creating generic tiles and laminating them. Not sure how they'd like being laminated (heat). Also thought of printing on them, but not sure how that would end up either.

I'm working towards a multitouch table as a go forward mapping solution.

 

[Tamlyn]

I use my Chessex mat or pre-printed (I create them with Excel) maps when I think minis are going to be necessary. Otherwise I have a bunch of graph paper I bring with me. But I've been wanting to try battlemappr for a little while.

I will also steal heavily from anything online I can find. My current favorite is davesmapper. And I've even found & used a map of the Savannah, GA sewer system from 1880 that worked really well. I think we spent 10 sessions referring to that map.

 

[Argyle King]

At home I have two things I use. One is a large dry erase board which I framed into a small table. The second is a portable folding table which I bought from WalMart; the material it is made out of is able to be drawn on with wet erase and dry erase markers.

Marker-wise, I tend to favor wet erase markers, but I do also use dry erase sometimes.


For on the go, I have a piece of poster board upon which I placed a sheet of large graph paper, and then had Staples laminate the paper onto the board. It works very well, is lightweight, and was also cheaper than WoTC tiles.

I use wet erase markers with my portable solution.



Occasionally, I will also use large sheets of paper. Typically, I do this when I want a more permanent map for something such as the layout of the local inn or part of a castle or whatever.

With this, I use various things ranging from pencil to pen to crayon.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I use a combination of everything mentioned - Chessex, gaming paper, tact-tiles and the WotC tiles.

Since I run a supers game, mostly, I don't get to use the WotC stuff as much (but sewers and dungeons do appear from time to time). With the gaming paper, I have made city parks, hotel lobbies and stuff like that - things that are likely to get repeated use.

Since the characters have an abandoned Cathedral as their hideout, I bought the Paizo map for that. There is also a theater/opera house I invested in and some other things which are easily adaptable to a modern day setting.

If I were running D&D, I would probably get a roll or two of gaming paper to design some battle fields of something like that and then I would try to use WotC tiles and Chessex for ease of use.

 

[Waylander the Slayer]

I've found tiles like the ones put forth by Paizo and WOTC to be impractical to use unless you set up a scenario beforehand.

An old friend stole my Tact-tiles.

I currently use the Magna-Map Combat Grid and it's awesome. It's heavier, almost metallic, stays flat, plus you can get any object to stick to it by adding a magnetic base!

I recently ordered TerraClips buildings and streets set. Hopefully, they are as awesome and easy as they look in the videos posted [how awesome would it be to build out any building by clipping together a few pieces?].

 

[Alan Shutko]

Unfortunately, I've now ruined 3 chexxex mats with wet erase markers (and one accidental use of a dry erase marker), so I've sworn off their use.

Our group has found that the Mr Clean Magic Eraser does work like magic at removing even dry erase marks from a chessex matt.

 

[khantroll]

Our group uses high res scans of maps printed on a large format printer along with old fashioned miniatures. If the image in question is an old school dungeon type, then we vector trace it so that it scales appropriately. If not, then we blow it up as big as we can without significant degradation, and then print it out like that.

We've used tiles, and still do in a pinch, but they tend to be pain to sort through (as has been mentioned before).