Requiring Players To Draw The Dungeon Map!

Gentlegamer said:
The purpose of the game is to challenge the players.
I'll disagree with you here. In my opinion, the purpose of the game is to have fun. I may also be challenged by any number of activities, from advanced physics to abstruse mathematics, but I don't want to do them while I'm playing D&D. Likewise, if it's faster and easier for the DM to draw them, that means we get to the fun part of fighting monsters and taking their stuff that much faster. I'm totally okay with that.
 
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I am the DM of my group. When we play and mapping is required I normally just do it myself.

I only have time to game once a fortnight at the moment. I would rather spend that time with everyone involved and having fun, rather than me trying to explain the room layout to one person repeatedly so that they can map it out correctly. It's just quicker and easier and lets us skip to the good bits. I like mapping and I am a bit of a cartophile but I still think there are plenty of better things to spend time on in an RPG session than arguing if the map is correct.

Olaf the Stout
 

I don't like requiring the players to map. My preference is to make up maps myself and reveal them room by room as the PCs explore the site.

Unless the dungeon is a maze, or has rooms which shift around, or whatever, I think mapping for the sake of knowing where you are is silly anyway. I can't be the only person who couldn't possibly lose his own trail going back through dozens of rooms, and I don't think it's fun to assume that PCs would.
 

Gentlegamer said:
In regard to mapping, it is interesting to note that many of the DM mapping "tricks" (teleporters, shifting walls, etc.) suggested in the original D&D rules were developed by Gary Gygax to challenge Rob Kuntz, whose near photographic memory allowed him to regularly adventure without manual mapping.

And Rob's maps were even more chaotic, IMO, than Gary's! :D
 

Greetings!

Hmmm...interesting discussion! Well, while I certainly don't *require* mapping, it can be fun, at least for some--like some members here have said. It seems to add something to the game-play; the players wondering what is in each room as they draw it, and as the DM describes the room and so on. I admit, some players are better at this than others.

With some, they seem to be able to draw the map to the description very well, and quickly; while others, it does seem like such a chore, as you figure why bother? And it's probably best to discard mapping with such players.

I always like to be flexible though. :D

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
 

As a player I love drawing maps -- it increases my sense of immersion, provides a sense of accomplishment (we've explored/cleared all this), and serves as a record of the game (this is where we met monster x and got treasure y, we still need to explore here and here and here). I don't care if the map is particularly accurate, and would just as soon draw it on non-graph paper. It frustrates and bores me when the dungeon isn't fun to map (too straightforward, not mazy enough) and annoys me greatly when the DM takes the map and draws it for me -- to me that's tantamount to rolling the dice for the player or telling him what spells to cast. It also annoys me when the DM describes things from a bird's eye view or with reference to map squares instead of a first-person "in the dungeon" perspective -- I know they're doing it to make drawing the map easier, but it ruins the immersion for me -- I want to feel like I'm in this dungeon exploring it and drawing the map as I go, not that I'm just taking dictation from the DM and creating a copy of his map (another frustration to me when mapping -- the DM showing where on the page to start so that everything will line up perfectly with his map).

As a DM, my attitude is that it makes no difference to me whether the players draw a map or not, and I have no interest in the map they draw if they choose to do so. I try to describe things as accurately as possible from the first-person perspective, and if a room is oodly-shaped I'll let the players show their map to me to say "is this right?" to which I'll give a general response (like if they've got the shape completely wrong, i.e. a triangular-shaped room with the party standing at the base, but they misunderstood the description and drew the map as i they were standing at the apex) but I refuse to draw on their map, or to correct mistakes, or to describe things in terms of squares to make it easier for them. If the players don't enjoy drawing a map and don't care if it's accurate I'd be perfectly happy if they chose to draw 'trailing maps' instead, and if even that's too much for them, I don't care if they don't map at all (because I don't describe things any differently depending on if they are or aren't drawing a map -- as DM, I describe what the characters see, from their perspective; if the players want to draw that onto a map, they can do so (provided they brought along mapping equipment, that is), but even if they aren't drawing a map I'm still going to describe what they see). In other words, when DMing I try to behave like I wish the DM behaved when I'm playing...
 

I have players who do not enjoy mapping, so I happily let it drop. I represent the majority of the dungeon in 3d using mastermaze and hirst arts stuff anyway. The map's pretty much on the table - we do not usually play old school sprawling dungeons that would not fit on a 5' x 9'.

A few years ago one of my players friends came down and played in our campaign one night. This player was a hardcore mapper. The questions he asked about room descriptions, etc. were totally uninteresting to the rest of the players. It only reinforced my dropping the mapping requirement.
 

The players would have a hard time drawing a map, considering I don't use one when I GM. I cut scenes, so how do you draw "You wind your way through the twisting passages for several hours, until you reach this really cool thing".

Piratecat speaks the truth. I game for fun, and if it isn't fun I'm not doing it.
 

I neither force nor encourage players to map, but then neither do I assume that they know where they are going if they do not.

I've had players draw rough maps even when I was drawing areas for minis, so that they could navigate, and for fun, and because they appreciated the complexity of the space that they were in. I've had players completely ignore mapping because a space was logical enough in its design, or small enough, that mapping wasn't necessary.

I don't care either way.

There is something to be said for maps, though, whether PC drawn or found in a dungeon, that makes the space seem "real". If you DM, and you enjoy pouring over maps in products such as modules and Dungeon magazine (RIP), then you know what I mean. An overview grounds the place, makes the connections between areas understandable, and simply adds to the "feel" of a location.

RC
 

Lately, we haven't even gotten the board out to map. I can't say I miss it, even though I did enjoy showing my rogue tumbling around things (by the simple expedient of doing cartwheels with the mini when moving it).

When we did, one of the occasional common decency things we did was to ask the DM where on the board to start drawing. After all, we'd get there eventually, and it sucks horrendously to have to go back and redraw the map to get the 30' or so of map that would go off the board.

The other fun when the DM did it was his mapping of the blobby rooms, and his commentary, most of which is not fit for grandmotherly consumption.

Brad
 

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