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*Pathfinder & Starfinder
The Caller and the Mapper
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<blockquote data-quote="Ranes" data-source="post: 6694129" data-attributes="member: 4826"><p>Great post, thank you. It got me thinking, so I looked up the 3.5 DMG. Sure enough it mentions a player taking mapping duty but not in the form of a suggestion that it may be a good idea. It simply assumes a player might be doing so. Here's what it says:</p><p></p><p>"When one of the players is drawing a map as the characters explore a new place, give her a break. Describe the layout of the place in as much detail as she wants, including dimensions of rooms. For clarity, you might draw out the shape and size of a room on a grid in front of you. Be willing to repeat a description if needed. Describe anything the characters should be able to see (considering illumi- nation and their own vision capabilities) or reasonably estimate (such as the distance to the far wall of a cavern).</p><p></p><p>"Of course, when the PCs are lost in a dungeon or walking through fog, the whole point of the situation is that they don’t know where they are (or where they’re going). In cases such as these, don’t take pains to help the mapper. If the characters are sneaking through a maze and they make a wrong turn, it’s all the more fun when they have to backtrack."</p><p></p><p>So there's nothing here to educate the player about why mapping might be a good idea in the first place. It's just a nod and a wink to what might be going on and what you all might get out of that. And as to a caller or anything of that nature, I can find nothing, in the PHB, DMG, PHB2 or DMG2. Given that the latter two titles both contained chapters dedicated to improving different kinds of game, I find the absence of material of this nature more disappointing now than I did at the time (when I was just glad that both xII books distilled useful guidance to new players and DMs).</p><p></p><p>I realise, as others have stated in this thread and elsewhere, that the typical game has long since shifted towards four or five players and PCs per session, and less emphasis on epic-scale dungeon or wilderness exploration. That's all fine by me. But I'd still like to see our core books say, "But you know what? Here are these other game parameters and these are the means by which you might accommodate them."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ranes, post: 6694129, member: 4826"] Great post, thank you. It got me thinking, so I looked up the 3.5 DMG. Sure enough it mentions a player taking mapping duty but not in the form of a suggestion that it may be a good idea. It simply assumes a player might be doing so. Here's what it says: "When one of the players is drawing a map as the characters explore a new place, give her a break. Describe the layout of the place in as much detail as she wants, including dimensions of rooms. For clarity, you might draw out the shape and size of a room on a grid in front of you. Be willing to repeat a description if needed. Describe anything the characters should be able to see (considering illumi- nation and their own vision capabilities) or reasonably estimate (such as the distance to the far wall of a cavern). "Of course, when the PCs are lost in a dungeon or walking through fog, the whole point of the situation is that they don’t know where they are (or where they’re going). In cases such as these, don’t take pains to help the mapper. If the characters are sneaking through a maze and they make a wrong turn, it’s all the more fun when they have to backtrack." So there's nothing here to educate the player about why mapping might be a good idea in the first place. It's just a nod and a wink to what might be going on and what you all might get out of that. And as to a caller or anything of that nature, I can find nothing, in the PHB, DMG, PHB2 or DMG2. Given that the latter two titles both contained chapters dedicated to improving different kinds of game, I find the absence of material of this nature more disappointing now than I did at the time (when I was just glad that both xII books distilled useful guidance to new players and DMs). I realise, as others have stated in this thread and elsewhere, that the typical game has long since shifted towards four or five players and PCs per session, and less emphasis on epic-scale dungeon or wilderness exploration. That's all fine by me. But I'd still like to see our core books say, "But you know what? Here are these other game parameters and these are the means by which you might accommodate them." [/QUOTE]
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