How to Handle "Exploration Mode"

[setzer9999]

So, when I first started GMing, I tried to draw dungeons and such on the grid as people explored. So, when people entered a hallway or a room, they would move their pieces around, not based on movement points like in initiative, but arbitrarily within one room or hallway at a time. I'd estimate how much distance their light source allowed them to see to, and drew that much of the room.

I figured this would help to decide if they walked over any traps or next to any still-stealthed monsters. Further, I thought it would help to define if they were able to see an object at all or not due to lighting conditions, it being at a different elevation like in a pit, if their detect magic could go out far enough to see it... all of these sounded like great things for the grid to express.

In practice, however, I found this to be unbearable and extremely unfun and difficult. I was constantly having to struggle to reach and draw all the time. In addition, I found that it raised more questions and gripes from the players instead of alleviating them. "Why can't I stand over HERE and disarm the trap" or "I didn't know I had to say that I was looking down into the water with my detect magic to make the cone intersect the aura" or "I should have been able to see that within the light radius"... sigh. Not that my players are that annoying or anything, I was (am) inexperienced too and we are having fun, there weren't any real upset people, just logical questions and concerns like those above.

So, I've decided that outside of initiative to not use the grid at all. I'm sure many here will say "No duh" to that, but... though using the grid has its own set of problems... not using it seems like it does as well. How DO I decide if they were looking into the pool of water with their perception/detect magic? How DO I decide if they were standing in the path of the trap when they were trying to disarm it? How DO I decide what was in their light radius. etc... any advice on that would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Oh, and another thing I forgot... when running the grid during exploration mode, everyones minis and tokens would be stacked up at the door inside the hallway with their designated "tank" or "scout" at the door itself. What inevitably ensued after almost every time the part entered the room was then that the person out front would typically succeed their perception check to see enemies, and initiative would be rolled where everyone was packed into the hallway, and it just became a standoff between the tank in the door with 2 or 3 enemies blocking all entry to the room for most of the battle. Sometimes, this was advantageous to the party, but in other situations it could leave people with literally nothing to do at all for several rounds. How can I fix that too? Damn cramped dungeons :P

[Ice Titan]

For cramped dungeons:

All doors are now double doors. Hallways are 10 feet wide.

Enemies engage at a distance of 30-10 feet instead of 5 feet. The PCs rush forward or "hold them at the hot gates" as intended.

As part of your question: Perception tells them where the squares of the trap are if they succeed. "There's a trap here!" Magical traps usually fire their spells from the trap's square, so knowing that the eye of the dragon is a magical trap doesn't mean much. Beating by 5 tells them what it does, and Disabling by 10 tells them how to bypass it. I'll give an example.

For instance, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. He goes into the dungeon and sees the points of light on the wall. He knows the trap is there, but he doesn't know what it does. He waves his hand in front of the light, and the trap sets off harmlessly. He then walks by the points of light, dodging the trap entirely and continuing on.

In gameplay, Indiana enters the temple and begins to make Perception as a move action every turn, taking 10, so he's moving at half. Because he's moving at half, he makes a stealth check as well at no penalty (there's no enemies, but he doesn't know that). His bonus is +11 (4th level character, 1 wisdom modifier, 3 trained, 3 skill focus) and so he gets a 21 as he moves. He sees the trap (21) and stops his friend. He then makes a normal Perception check and rolls a 15, getting a 26. He knows what the trap does since he beat it by 5. The GM describes what it does by showing and not telling, activating it and having it harmlessly miss Indy. Indy rolls Disable Device and gets a nat 20-- he's got a +12, so that's a 32 to disable a DC 20 trap. He beat the DC by 10, and knows exactly how it works. He chooses to bypass the trap without disarming it, because he knows he can't spare much time, and tells Alfred Molina's character how to as well. They bypass it and continue on.

For detect magic around corners and things: That's Perception. Have them make Perception checks. Perception skill covers looking up into the corners of rooms, glancing under standing objects and keeping a keen eye out for details.