Practical Map Usage Question

[The Other Librarian]

Just curious, how does your group or DM use pre-printed maps in game? I'm thinking of things like the Global Positioning style maps in Dungeon/Polyhedron, that are gridded, but obviously not to a battlemat size/scale. Do you just use them as a reference and draw them out on a mat/board, or do you enlarge them on a copier and play on that?
Cheers

 

[Arnwyn]

Do you just use them as a reference and draw them out on a mat/board,

That's the one. Using this method takes (far less!) prep time and resources, allows the players the think and formulate a bit while I draw it out, allows me to add additional features that the original map usually doesn't have (furniture, etc), and lets me quickly edit out any "secret" features that the players don't immediately know.

Further, I'm pretty darn good and fast at quickly drawing maps onto a battlemat, so the lag time during the game is minimal.

 

[The Other Librarian]

That's what I usually do too. The problem I have is that the GPS style maps are often so pretty, I want to get full use of the aethetics! Seems a shame to let all that nice artwork go to waste. I guess what I'm looking for is some compromise between form and function. Or maybe I'm just being cartographically fetishistic?

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Personally, I find it harder to count out on a heavily illustrated map. So I'd rather use something nice as a guide to draw out a cleaner one on the battlemat or oversized graph paper.

 

[Dagda]

I used to scan in the maps, then edit out the DM only stuff, then project them on a 2nd monitor a the table that the players could see.

I gave it up after a little bit. It was nice, and the players liked seeing the detail. But it was WAY too much work for me. Also, players would periodically spot my edits and deside to go check out "that" wall. Darn metagaming.

Now I just draw on the battlemap, they all seem okay with it, and I save a lot of prep time, and it doesn't slow the game down much at all.

 

[The Other Librarian]

I used to scan in the maps, then edit out the DM only stuff, then project them on a 2nd monitor a the table that the players could see.

I gave it up after a little bit. It was nice, and the players liked seeing the detail. But it was WAY too much work for me. Also, players would periodically spot my edits and deside to go check out "that" wall. Darn metagaming.

Now I just draw on the battlemap, they all seem okay with it, and I save a lot of prep time, and it doesn't slow the game down much at all.

I was looking into that idea, but seems like a lot of time and expense, at least for the initial setup. Maybe one day when I can have my gaming uberlair I'll do the full top down projection idea, but till then I guess the ol' battlemat will have to do.

 

[dreaded_beast]

While I would love to have really pretty maps, I have a hard enough just coming up with a few meager notes for game session. I just draw on the battlemat and hope it is roughly equal to either the map I have in front of me or the one in my head. My players don't seem to mind too much though.

 

[Buttercup]

I try to provide overland maps for areas that the players can be supposed to have, or quickly acquire, broad knowledge of. Examples would be town or village maps, or a map of their home duchy. Other than that, I usually embed maps in my game notes. I write everything up in Word, so I just insert an appropriate map, sometimes photoshopping it first to add numbers or other "secret" markings, then wrap the text around it.

For the players, I just draw on the battle mat. I have tried using large pre-printed maps, and while they're ok, I actually don't think they're necessary. Also, I find that I work harder on describing the scene if all the players can see are my pathetic scribblings on grid paper. Good maps make me a poor DM--conversely, pathetic maps make me a better DM.

 

[Sir Elton]

Just curious, how does your group or DM use pre-printed maps in game? I'm thinking of things like the Global Positioning style maps in Dungeon/Polyhedron, that are gridded, but obviously not to a battlemat size/scale. Do you just use them as a reference and draw them out on a mat/board, or do you enlarge them on a copier and play on that?
Cheers

I feel that maps are a bane on my players' imaginations. Of course, I use a map for my own use so I can see where everything is, but if my players get a hold of a map, their tendency to concentrate on the map rather than imagining a scene in their own heads really makes for problems.