Maps: handout or abstract?

[Stormcrow]

When one rolls up a map as treasure, is this meant to be an actual map that the dungeon master prepares, either in advance or after the fact, or does the DM just inform the players where it leads?

Does the map indicate how much treasure it leads to?

Are these just maps to buried treasure in the wilderness or are they maps to dungeon treasure caches?

[scottyg]

All of the above? Pre conceived, developed maps would be ideal, but a lot of D&D 74 treasure was rolled randomly. Developing a few in advance to have on hand is the best I could hope for.

[tetramorph]

I imagine them to be like the one that set of booklets that Jaquay put together for the Judge's Guild.

Some have more info, some less. Some have what the treasure is, some don't. Some are nearby, some are far off. Some are in the dungeon, some are in the wilderness.

When player's roll up a map as part of a random treasure find, I usually note it and then imagine what it means later. Campaign events usually spur my imagination.

[makofan]

I do it the same as tetramorph

[howandwhy99]

Mar 10, 2017 15:16:54 GMT -6 Stormcrow said:

When one rolls up a map as treasure, is this meant to be an actual map that the dungeon master prepares, either in advance or after the fact, or does the DM just inform the players where it leads?

Does the map indicate how much treasure it leads to?

Are these just maps to buried treasure in the wilderness or are they maps to dungeon treasure caches?

I treat maps as the primary treasure of the game ...well, if you take it as a broad reading of the DM giving information. I think of the game as an information game, so any information the DM imparts is valuable. However, this comes in all manner of ways. Sometimes it's only surface impressions and other times, like in the case of the DMG treasure maps, it's the NPC knowledge / rumor system.

So treasure section maps derive from NPCs' personal discoveries and held understandings of their world. First, they are rumors; they may be all true, all false, or a mix. Second, they all claim to lead to more treasure, but this too may be wrong.

To answer your questions,
they are called maps of course because they refer to the game board behind the screen. They are copies, to whatever degree inaccurate, of portions of the game board. It's the DM's responsibility to draw them, but maybe some device could be used? A DM could prep it beforehand or on the spot. Practical concerns probably determine that choice.

A DM doesn't inform the players where the map leads because the map is an item, not the actual playing through of the game. The map may have a legend declaring what's what on its arrangement, what treasure it leads to, but that again can be true/false/obscured.

I don't limit where my maps could refer to. I mean, NPCs could point at any treasure anywhere, so dungeons, wildernesses, towns, more... it's all possible.

[Deleted]

I am toying with the idea of placing a mapseller in one of my cities who has figured out that he can make a fortune by compiling map information from a large number of adventuring parties and selling the results. For a fee he can give you a map, or you could trade a map of your own for one of his. Of course his best customers want to keep their "trade secrets" safe, and so bribe him into sneaking in faulty and misleading things.

Extended, this way of thinking would lead to a more formalized economy of maps wherein information is carefully traded and guarded. It should work very well for my dungeons, which are particularly complex and bear a reasonably high volume of traffic.