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<blockquote data-quote="Castellan" data-source="post: 3693518" data-attributes="member: 639">I used to give my players graph paper and go to painstaking efforts to help them reproduce the maps I was using. But it's time-consuming, and can dominate the game. I also believe that unless a character has ranks in Profession (Cartographer) most maps will be more like scribblings on parchment than accurate surveys on graph paper.I now try to convey simple concepts to players who want to map: &quot;the corridor is wide enough for you to stand two-abreast. It's about 50 paces in length.&quot; I try to use visual concepts when describing exits from a room: &quot;there are two other exits from this chamber: one is immediately to your left, (I usually point in the direction, using myself as a 'reference pont') and the other is across the room, near the corner (pointing again).&quot;If someone asks &quot;how large is this room?&quot; I try to convey that with things the PCs have experienced: &quot;it's almost exactly the same size as the Gregor Family warehouse you were in the other day, except that the ceiling isn't as high.&quot; Or, &quot;this circular room looks just large enough that Twiggy could cast entangle in the center, and there'd be a small clear path around the outside.&quot;&nbsp;I still draw encounter areas on our battle-mat, and that is usally where I take many referencial concepts from. The players know they could cross the room in one round based on my descriptions.One fun thing about this is that you can introduce maps from NPCs that are useful only to that NPC. What if the PCs didn't know that the map they're using was drawn by a halfling? &quot;It says 'go 150 paces and then look for the arming pin for the trap in the third stone...'&quot; If humans travel 150 paces, they're going to set off the trap without knowing they had reached it since a standard human pace is probably 50% greater than a halfling pace (hence the 30' versus 20' movement rate).If a concept is really hard to convey, I draw a quick sketch on the battle-mat, but not in a &quot;1 sqare is x feet&quot; way. Rooms are squares, rectangles, circles, and corridors are lines between them. I ignore the lines on the mat completely during these moments. Once the players have the concept, I erase my map.If a player took ranks in mapping, I would allow them to make more detailed maps, but I have yet to see someone who wants to do that.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Castellan, post: 3693518, member: 639"] I used to give my players graph paper and go to painstaking efforts to help them reproduce the maps I was using. But it's time-consuming, and can dominate the game. I also believe that unless a character has ranks in Profession (Cartographer) most maps will be more like scribblings on parchment than accurate surveys on graph paper. I now try to convey simple concepts to players who want to map: "the corridor is wide enough for you to stand two-abreast. It's about 50 paces in length." I try to use visual concepts when describing exits from a room: "there are two other exits from this chamber: one is immediately to your left, (I usually point in the direction, using myself as a 'reference pont') and the other is across the room, near the corner (pointing again)." If someone asks "how large is this room?" I try to convey that with things the PCs have experienced: "it's almost exactly the same size as the Gregor Family warehouse you were in the other day, except that the ceiling isn't as high." Or, "this circular room looks just large enough that Twiggy could cast [i]entangle[/i] in the center, and there'd be a small clear path around the outside." I still draw encounter areas on our battle-mat, and that is usally where I take many referencial concepts from. The players know they could cross the room in one round based on my descriptions. One fun thing about this is that you can introduce maps from NPCs that are useful only to that NPC. What if the PCs didn't know that the map they're using was drawn by a halfling? "It says 'go 150 paces and then look for the arming pin for the trap in the third stone...'" If humans travel 150 paces, they're going to set off the trap without knowing they had reached it since a standard human pace is probably 50% greater than a halfling pace (hence the 30' versus 20' movement rate). If a concept is really hard to convey, I draw a quick sketch on the battle-mat, but not in a "1 sqare is x feet" way. Rooms are squares, rectangles, circles, and corridors are lines between them. I ignore the lines on the mat completely during these moments. Once the players have the concept, I erase my map. If a player took ranks in mapping, I would allow them to make more detailed maps, but I have yet to see someone who wants to do that. [/QUOTE]

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