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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lewpuls" data-source="post: 9628127" data-attributes="member: 30518">[ATTACH=full]401488[/ATTACH] <a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/game-of-thrones-book-books-map-4180794/" target="_blank">Picture courtesy of Pixabay.</a><h3>Maps Are Not Destiny</h3>Maps are important to games, and sometimes important to novels, although there are novelists like Glenn Cook who feel that maps restrict their freedom of action too much. I’m a big fan of maps, with a bookshelf full of (mostly historical) atlases, and I’ve always played RPGs with maps.I was surprised to learn that some people play RPGs without player maps - not even maps when they’re exploring a dungeon. Mapping for players goes from detailed on graph paper to drawings to connectivity-line diagrams to nothing at all. <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?168563-Dungeon-layout-map-flow-and-old-school-game-design" target="_blank">See this thread</a> for a more detailed discussion of maps in Dungeons & Dragons.Remember that “the map is not the territory.” What I’m really interested in is the physical layout of an area, as shown by a map. But it’s convenient to talk about maps rather than layouts. I’ll try to generalize, but remember different points of view (e.g. that a secret door is “a dirty GM trick” versus “an opportunity to display your and your characters’ skills”). See my previous article, "<a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/worlds-of-design-the-lost-art-of-being-lost.693871/" target="_blank">The Lost Art of Getting Lost</a>" for an in-depth discussion about secret doors. <h3>The Fun of Exploration</h3>What do we want in the layout/map, what makes this interesting for players?<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Alternate Routes: If there’s only one route to any particular thing, players may begin to feel like they’re “on rails” (as happens in so many video games), without a choice. Alternate routes (with differing encounters along the way) can avoid that feeling even if all of those routes lead to the same place!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Channelization: In this case the layout forces intruders such as adventurers to follow a particular route - a channel. For example, a valley between steep cliffs. It often leads to a chokepoint where some kind of defense has been established. Yes, the adventurers can decide to go back before reaching the chokepoint, but that usually achieves the goal of the defenders.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Choke points: Choke points aren’t quite the same as channelization. It’s a blockage. The choke point may be at the end of channelization, where the forced guidance of channelization leads to a particular spot. The spot may be easily defensible, or it may have a big trap. For example, there may be a fortress at the end of the channeled route.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dead Ends: From some players’ point of view, a dead-end is a waste of time. But that happens even in modern road systems, or in box canyons in mountains. From a GM’s point of view the adventures may go down a dead-end and then some hostile creature(s) wanders along - and the characters are trapped. Or there may be a desirable location at the end of the “dead end” such as the abode of a sage.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Multiple Ingress and Egress: This is typical of most structures, and most of the outdoor world. Something as modest as a private residence often has several doors in and out.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A Sensible Layout: A large dungeon isn’t easily explained in believable terms. But it could be a fortress (which would have to be mostly underground in a magical fantasy world). I’m not convinced by the “constructed by a mad wizard” excuse. But in the fantastical gameplay style you don’t need to explain why things exist, they’re just there.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ways to Get Lost: This was just about built into the original/Advanced D&D. Rotating rooms and one-way doors in a structure could achieve this, and some of the most memorable adventures occurred when you had trouble getting out of there. Outdoors, a landslide or bridge destroyed by weather can block the route back. But any way to get lost may be classified by some as another “dirty GM trick.</li> </ul><h3>There’s Always a Back Door!</h3>There are more chances for many of these features in buildings/underground than in the outdoors. Some can be used outdoors. Remember also the “wisdom of the ancients”: Players will “always” find a back door, if there is one! (At least, it’ll seem that way.) Back doors that only open from inside might be wise – though magic can defeat such things.Your Turn: What makes a map interesting to you and your players?</blockquote>

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