My search-fu turned up nothing relevant to my specific questions about the Guards and Wards spell, so here goes ...
Should one allow an exploring party/individual to map an area at all if it is protected by a Guards and Wards spell? (The spell is Sorcerer/Wizard 6.)
My usual M.O. when running a dungeon crawl has been to "auto-map" for my players on a piece of graph paper, and then either they or I draw the same map on the battlemat (in case combat occurs or the precise location of their characters is otherwise important). In the past, this decision has cut down immensely on back-and-forth dialogues about map details. Now I'm wondering if I should forbid such mapping in a Guarded/Warded area, and just give vague, imprecise descriptions. Or would that be an exercise in un-fun frustration?
Secondly, how should one run the "minor confusion-type effect" which hits intruders at intersections (50% chance of heading in the opposite direction from the one chosen)? (This part is a mind-affecting effect, allows no saving throw, but can be by-passed by spell resistance.)
Would a group of characters all be affected in the same way, or is this supposed to divide the party? I'm thinking that the second option sounds very difficult to run, and might be by-passed if the group decides to hold onto the same rope or otherwise keep together.
And how would the direction-confusion effect interact with any mapping done? Should I - as an exception - let the players map according to my verbal-only description, and note their true location secretly on my own copy of the map?
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After a review of the spell, I would make them map it out. It would add to the confusion of the spell, and hence the confusion would also be transferred to the actual players when their map stopped making sense. let them double back, redraw, etc until they scream!!
Don't let it divide the party, though. It would be a big hassle. let them stay together and get confused as a group.
Thanks for the advice! :)
By the time I'd finished writing out the question, I was leaning in that direction too.