The maps in Dungeon are fantastic, but how exactly do you all use them during an actual gaming session? I could do a crude reproduction on a battlemat, but obviously a lot is going to be lost there. Maybe a photocopy that's blown up to the proper 5x5 scale and then is ready for mini's? Or perhaps, show the players only the part of the map their characters have actually seen, while covering up the rest?
I've been reading Dungeon for awhile now, and my 10 year old is bugging me to teach him how to play. And, the adventures in Dungeon are so cool, especially with all the player handouts you get.
Our group uses a white-erase map (actually, a poster of 1-inch gride from the original D&D minis box, in a hard plastic poster-sleeve) and wet-erase markers. I draw out the maps as the PCs enter each room.
If you want to go high-tech, a few groups actually mount a projector to the ceiling over a gaming table and project the maps from their computers down onto the table.
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I suspect that most DMs draw out the rooms of a dungeon on a battlemat or other tabletop surface during the game. The maps we print in Dungeon have to serve two purposes. First, they need to show the layout of rooms so that a DM can run combats and explorations of the areas in question. Second, they need to look pretty, and that's the main reason we take such pains to make them look so fancy. Sure, in most games, only the DM will ever get to see the maps, but since, in theory, the DM's the only one even looking in the magazine in the first place, that's not a problem.
If you want to go high-tech, a few groups actually mount a projector to the ceiling over a gaming table and project the maps from their computers down onto the table.
Wow, that's pretty slick. I wonder how difficult it would be to get the projection magnified to the 1" scale you'd need to do this. I've noticed the Dungeon magazine maps use mostly 5' and 10' grids. It sounds like you'd modify the projector's height and, in the case of a 10' scaled map, project onto a white 5x5 grid so you can use mini's.
It's not terribly difficult, check out the drool-worthy setup here. It's just a matter of having the right equipment and the know-how and the time to scan in the maps.
yeah, definitely not difficult, just somewhat expensive. I just draw the maps on a steel squire battlemat.
Thanks to the handy hi-res PDF web supplements, I actually either print the full maps out at 1" = 5' scale (thanks to a 42" x 84" printer at work) or cut them into pieces using an image editor (Photoshop or GIMP) and use cardstock to print out each area that would be "visible" as characters move around. This latter approach creates a puzzle, basically, that I piece together as needed as the players go through the adventure. This step also uses a standard size printer so anyone could do it.
I've also printed out wall-posters of overland areas, such as the map of Sasserine, Eberron, Faerun, etc. Having the Sasserine map laid down and basically covering an entire tabletop made it much easier to run the city-based adventures so far, while using the puzzle-piece approach makes dungeon crawls much faster, more visually appealing, and "real" (as players only see what the characters can see).
You could go the large-format printout route by going to Kinkos or such, and resizing the graphics to print the right size can be accomplished for free using GIMP if you don't have Photoshop or another image editor.
The setup at http://www.d20srd.org/extras/mapProjection.htm is very cool. I'm a little surprised that projectors cost so much, but this would definitely be the way to go. No map hardcopies required!
Blowing the maps up is a nice idea too, but that would add up pretty fast. Toner is pretty expensive; wouldn't you go through a lot of it if you print out every map?
We've got laser (black-and-white and color) printers at work, and we're approved for limited personal use...
I use a projector, and cut the pdfs up into pieces with Paint as described earlier. It's a pain, but none of the software discussed (NWN editor, etc.) is easy enough to use to (re-)create them from scratch.
All said and done, though, it looks damn purty!
if you use a projector, why not use photoshop instead of cutting the map into pieces?
it's not too hard to get though, and seems like a far better option than using ms paint.
I play online with kloogewerks. The maps get scanned and we play on the actualy maps. Those nice maps are a lot of fun to play on.
it's not too hard to get though, and seems like a far better option than using ms paint.
As long as you've got the cash to shell out for it (I'll assume we're not talking about pirating software here...). GIMP has many of the features of Photoshop (and even some stuff PS doesn't) and is a very well-supported app for absolutely free.
Anyone looked into the Battlegrounds software? http://www.battlegroundsgames.com/
It certainly looks interesting, but I've never had much luck with online gaming tools before.
Battlegrounds is a very cool tool; I was part of the beta test group for quite some time and even provided a very small amount of help (did some editing/proofing on the original users' guide, provided some initial area effect templates). Hop over there and you'll find the developer (heruca) on almost all the time, answering questions, fixing bugs, and tweaking things per customer feedback. I highly recommend it...