Balancing "Easy to Describe" with "Hard to Map"

[Red Baron]

When it comes to module maps, I look for two things.

1. Is it easy to convey what the players are seeing?
2. Is it easy to get lost?

The first is essential if you do not have access to a dry erase mat, or prefer not to use one. If its difficult to convey the shape of a room, or the location of doors, or anything else, it makes it a pain in the butt to play, and no ones going to have fun.

However, the players still have to be easily able to get lost on their own, without resorting to 'forced' pit traps and one way doors to achieve this.

[ffilz]

I suspect even the easiest dungeon to map will still result in player mapping errors that will lead to confusion, and maybe even getting lost, though really getting lost requires the players getting disconnected from their map somehow (by traps or a chase) I think.

Frank

[derv]

I game with my kid's quite a bit. It really doesn't matter how easy a room is to describe when you're not good at mapping

I usually end up telling them to forget about the map and just give them leeway if they already travelled an area. If a pursuit takes place, I consider them lost until they find familiar ground, which I'll then give them descriptive hints that they've been there before- there's that dead goblin you skewered an hour ago.

[scottyg]

From the beginning mapping was supposed to be part of the challenge, but it wasn't explained very well in the rules, and by the time I started playing with my own group of friends in the early 80s, most people had dropped it. That's the way I played for years. The DM would map for the party. I don't think I met a group in 20 years that mapped Old School. After spending time talking to Gary, Ernie, Rob, and Mike, I started to gain an appreciation for this aspect of the game, and I brought it back when I DM. At first there was a lot of resistance, and players would bog things down trying to make an accurate recreation of the DM's map, which seems to be common when I talk to players about mapping. Even the DMs that would map for the party would make the map look just like the map they were working from. Thoughts of mapping influenced the design of the dungeon, in reverse of the way it was supposed to work. Once they got past that, and started mapping function over form, it's been much smoother.

[Stormcrow]

Clearly, you need Map Master.



This ad was in Dragon #80. I've always wanted to get a copy. Still do. Even the experts over at Denial haven't heard of it.

[Zenopus]

Mar 11, 2015 8:38:39 GMT -6 Stormcrow said:

Clearly, you need Map Master.

Wow, flashback. I remember that 'hypnosnake' cartoon. I just checked and the ad is also in Dragon #81 - the first issue I ever had.

[grodog]

Mar 10, 2015 12:06:01 GMT -6 Red Baron said:

If its difficult to convey the shape of a room, or the location of doors, or anything else, it makes it a pain in the butt to play, and no ones going to have fun.

This came up in our discussion of map styles a couple of years ago @ odd74.proboards.com/thread/9049/dungeon-map-style

It's a worthwhile topic to not only discuss, but to write about from both the player and DM sides of the screen, since there are so many misconceptions about mapping and it gets such a bad rep that the record needs to be set straight, sometime!

Allan.

[dukeofchutney]

This is something I think about when designing my GM maps quite a bit, mostly because my players tend to blame me if they make mistakes mapping(noobs). I always put a compass on and give all descriptions based on a compass point. Left and right can get confusing. I tend to make all rooms simple shapes; circle, oval, square, L shape, trapeze, or occasionally something with a few strange angles that approximates to a rectangle. Secondly if i put two exits on one wall heading in the same direction i tend to set them far apart and give them some sort of distinguishing feature. I agree with Scotty G's point that its the form of the network that matters and not the players ending up with a map that is identical in appearance to the GMs.

I think having a confusing map is fine if that is a design goal. Sometimes you want the players to get lost or think they have descended a level when they have not.