Maybe this doesn't belong in RotRL and a mod can move it to the appropriate location, but as I'm starting RotRL this weekend, I thought it might be appropriate.
The GMG doesn't go too much into this, so I'm just curious on how much of a map can/should be revealed to my players. Obviously, the town map of Sandpoint can be shown to them and referenced whenever, but for maps of things like the Glassworks or Thistletop, is it revealing too much information about the layout of the dungeon to have a small-scale map printed out for them? Should they go in completely blind, with no knowledge of the layout?
Also, what's the best way to use battlemats in these cases? Do you draw out the entire dungeon at once, cover it up with paper or something, and reveal bits as the PC's explore? Draw the whole dungeon out on a battlemap and reveal it all, as above? Something else?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Unless one of the PC's actually worked in the Glassworks, they have no reason to be familiar with the layout, so I'd say no to giving them the map. If they think to ask someone about the layout, I'd tend to "describe" rather than "draw".
As for how much to show, I don't like showing too much. Even the best players have trouble not metagaming if they see the entire map layout.
I generally draw out areas as needed. Drawing can really slow down the game, so rather than drawing each room as they enter, I try to rely on descriptions where possible, and only draw out tactical maps once an encounter actually happens. Or I'll do a very small sketch of an approximate layout of rooms as they enter them, to keep things moving. If the layout is fairly simple, and I know encounters are frequent, I'm more willing to draw each room and make them move their minis accordingly.
So mainly my decision depends on how complicated a map actually is.
If there's a complicated area that will have multiple encounters, I might go ahead and draw out a larger section, then cover up what isn't yet needed with black construction paper or the like. I buy easel-pads of 1-inch-square graph paper from office supply stores, so it's easy to prep maps ahead of time.
Specific to Rise of the Runelords ch.1 and 2:
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I've taken to using my iPad to do exploration.
I start with the PDF copies of the RotR maps, but use a desktop to export them to JPG images. Then I get them into SketchBookX via the iPad Photo library.
You could also use the iPad camera to take a picture of the maps but the hardcover and glossy images of the anniversary edition made that rather tricky.
With SketchBookX (and probably other drawing apps), you can add a layer on top of the map and basically colour-in over the whole map on that layer. Leave the entry revealed so you know where to start. While playing, switch to the erase tool and remove the "fog of war" as they reveal rooms. With a bit of practice, you can reveal the walls and doors without revealing much of the rooms beyond.
If you add another layer, players can draw on that layer if the want to mark rooms or highlight features. Or you want to prevent them accidentally erasing "fog" when they're pointing at the map.
It takes a bit of prep & practice, but it's faster than sketching and uses the lovely map art. Useless as a battlemap though - for that I pull out the Gamemastery mat.
I'm even considering a mini projector to connect to my iPad, to throw the map up on a nearby wall.
I do one of two things. If I have an actual game map out, I will put some dark color construction paper over the map. I try to guage which is the last are and start laying down paper there and then start laying them down to the first areas. OR I just draw the areas as they come along. Basically I just draw just the actual ouyline or will add hastly drawn "important" things inn there.
Don't give them the whole map, eventually they will head straight to the entrance of the next lvl first and MAYBE after they get there, might do a double take and exllore the rest because they either alrdy deceated the big baddy of the lvl or found that itb was safe.
I also draw as I go along. I have three large battle mats. Well one is really old and even though I swore I was going to throw it out I still keep it. There is nothing more annoying then drawing a map, erasing it and drawing another map, erase that and having to draw the first map all over again.
My group rotates hosting games if I had more of a dedicated game setup I'd prolly use a projector
For exploration I use the low tech print out and cover it with "post it" notes. For maps I only draw what's needed.
Most of the time I redraw maps and simplify them because frankly I don't see the point in 80% of the rooms on pre-generated maps. If there's no content or use for most of them, it's tiring to have players explore them and assume there's a point to them.
If I plan ahead of time and draw it out, I will use other pages to cover the routes, but for the most part I draw on the day of the sessions because I get lazy/busy, and just go from there.
I've found with my group(YMMV) that giving them the entire map they don't really meta-game, and they explore as much as possible/wander about, so it's not been a huge idea to show them the entire map.
For Thistletop, however, I'd highly advocate either having the maze on one page and the bridge/upper part of the fort on another, or drawing it as you go. I did the latter, and it worked fine, but I would've rather had it drawn in advance tbh.
Then again, I can't draw to save my bloody life, and some of the maps make me wish I had've been an art student.
For a cheap way to draw your maps, I picked up one of the big sheets of graph paper(ones they used in elementary school size), and a set of Black, Red, Blue, Green dry-erase markers. Ran me less than $30, and I've barely dented the graph paper supply.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Our CC GM just prints out the whole map to scale (extra-wide printer) and trusts us not to metagame. Unfortunately, that isn't 100% effective ("Oh, we haven't been here yet"), so when he prints maps for me, I use paper to cover the areas they haven't been in.
It's nice because it avoids having to draw things by hand (because my drawing is terrible).
But to your original point, I game with some very very good groups, and they still really can't help but metagame when they see the entire map, so I prefer to reveal it to them as they explore it.
I started out using the original maps in MapTools and hooking my lapper up to a large screen HD TV. We've since moved back to the old kitchen table and I simply sketch the rooms or caverns real quickly in my notebook, drawing them out on my whiteboard battlemat when a fight seems likely. I'm using the interactive PDF for my online Jade Regent campaign and may do as Belegdel suggests since the maps really help players visualize the scene in a better way. I already use the iPad quite a bit at the table so, this would make sense.
I started by drawing on battlemats, but quickly realized that I was wasting too much time. I experimented with a couple options (overheads mostly), but eventually spent $90 on a large sheet of plexiglass. I had it cut (at Lowe's) into 3 sections, 3'x4' each. I would then pre-draw on the plexiglass at home, and then bring them w/ me to our gaming sessions, using construction paper to black out the sections they hadn't seen yet.
That worked for the past few years. I recentely become more and more frustrated at my lack of drawing skills, and decided to set up a VTT. I got a decent projector for around $300, and mounted it w/ a first surface mirror which reflects it down onto our table. Now I just use Maptools and the maps from the AP, and the program handles visibility for me (takes about 15 minutes to prep a map from the AP w/ correct light blocking). I've been very happy with the results so far.
I have a huge group of 10-12 players, so battlmaps have proven unwieldy. Personally I print the maps and cut them up by level, and hand them out to everyone. Except for a trap mapped with a 'T' on one of the Thistletop maps, it has not been a problem at all. Even seeing the trap marked on the map wouldn't have made a difference if they had failed their roll to detect it.
It makes my life *a lot* easier when they can say clearly "we go to D3" vs "we take the 3 lefts and a right".
|
Funnily enough, I *just* did Thistletop yesterday. The way it worked for me was, I showed the maps for the topside and level 1 on the living room television screen, but I scrolled down so that the very top quarter or so of the maps was cut off. The maps for those two levels are nice in that the secret doors are, on both levels, in the top quarter so taking that out I was able to let the players see the rest of the map and everything flowed very smoothly when players could get a good idea of the area. On the topside level they never went to the top quarter, they used the other stairs lower down on the map, and on dungeon level 1 I just described the top quarter verbally until they found the secret door, after which I showed the entire level. I was pretty happy with how it worked. Of course these maps had serendipity in that they worked well with this technique, most maps probably don't.
|
I pull the maps out of the AP, and scale up the squares to be one inch squared.
I then get them printed in a large format printer. Depending on the size, it might take just a couple of A3s, or even as large as an A2 or A1. I have the option of going A0, but I've never needed to do this yet.
Now, having said that, I did show the players all of Thistletop. I didn't have so much a problem with the layout of the dungeon, but the fact that the map references are printed on the maps.
I found my players just hitting each room in numerical order. Now, while that's very easy for me to track, I feel that they are going too methodical about this, and I want them to feel like they're making a decision on where to go next.
The secret rooms were not found unless they passed a Perception check where they're not allowed to take 20 or 10, so they didn't metagame this, which is nice.
In future, I think that I will be going into my picture editing software and blacking out all the map references on the maps before printing in addition to using blank sheets of paper to cover unexplored areas.
One thing I do is I'll photocopy or print a map on a normal 8x11 paper, then cut up each room separately. I kind of use this as a minimap for the players so I don't have to draw everything on the game mat, and I can gradually reveal the map easier. The only issue is that it might be too small, but you can always draw bigger.
I play with a unique combination of play-by-post and virtual table top. Once a week we play online using D20/G+ Hangout. In between that session I host a forums we play-by-post with. For the in between sessions I take the map to photoshop and create a mask around them for light based upon whatever their lights are at the time.
|
i print the maps in a4 paper stick it upon curboard and then vut each room out . i then reaveal them when they open the doors etc .. it is kind of tricky and time comnusming but the results are incredible I AVOID META GAMING and have the rooms exactly as i want them with printed desks on them etc ... i sometimes take it even further decorating each room with tables and chairs from board games i have at home ( for example heroquest )
For the area and town/city maps, I just put them out there. It takes too long for players to get a grasp of a town/city/region without seeing it.
For the encounter areas, I'm old school. I draw them on the battlemat as the players arrive at each room.