Do Players see your map?

[Scionwest]

I'm new to table top games and picked up Pathfinder tonight for the first time. I grabbed the beginner box and have started reading through the material.

My question is related to the maps. If I design a map, do I present the entire map to the players, or do I draw it as they progress through it (sort of a fog-of-war effect) ?
And when I say present the entire map, I mean reveal the whole map to them at once, at the beginning. Doesn't that take away from the exploring aspect? I'm not sure!

Thanks in advance for any help. It's appreciated.

Scionwest

[Marthian]

your choice. It varies by DM style.

[Xexyz]

Scionwest wrote:

I'm new to table top games and picked up Pathfinder tonight for the first time. I grabbed the beginner box and have started reading through the material.

My question is related to the maps. If I design a map, do I present the entire map to the players, or do I draw it as they progress through it (sort of a fog-of-war effect) ?
And when I say present the entire map, I mean reveal the whole map to them at once, at the beginning. Doesn't that take away from the exploring aspect? I'm not sure!

Thanks in advance for any help. It's appreciated.

Scionwest

There's no strict rule for this, but generally as a GM I like to reveal the map as the players explore it if it's practical to do so. So if I'm using a typical grid mat I will draw the rooms/hallways only when the players actually see/enter them. If I'm using a pre-drawn fold out map I try to cover unexplored areas if I can.

[northbrb]

My group always reveals the map as the players explore it. Revealing only as much of the map as the players have explored will help immerse the players into the game. If at all possible you want the players to know only as much as the characters know, it prevents meta-gaming. Meta-gaming is where a player plays his character based on what "he" knows weather or not his player knows it as well. You want to prevent this as much as possible.

[Dracorvid]

Scionwest wrote:

I'm new to table top games and picked up Pathfinder tonight for the first time. I grabbed the beginner box and have started reading through the material.

My question is related to the maps. If I design a map, do I present the entire map to the players, or do I draw it as they progress through it (sort of a fog-of-war effect) ?
And when I say present the entire map, I mean reveal the whole map to them at once, at the beginning. Doesn't that take away from the exploring aspect? I'm not sure!

Thanks in advance for any help. It's appreciated.

Scionwest

My usual is having a smaller GM map in front of me with notes, and a blank battle mat. I have 4 colors I use to draw the map as the PC's explore the area... That way, they only see what they've explored.

It helps that I use square graph paper and the grid side of the battle map, makes sure I'm drawing their map to scale!

Hope that helps!

[Scionwest]

Thanks everyone, helpful info here. I've been drawing maps tonight on my iPad using a app that has graph paper. I'm going to play my first one tomorrow with my wife, who has never played either. I'll use the Pathfinder Flip-Mat to draw what I have on my iPad as she explores it.

Thanks for the info!

[mplindustries]

I don't really use maps at all--I hate them and the just slow everything down.

The GM I play with sometimes, however, draws the whole map but offers zero explanation for the things we don't see.

[willhob]

In general, no. If it's an outdoor map, I'd say it's Survival, Knowledge geography, nature or something else.

[Calivan Mol]

Varies per DM, but there are a number of options and methods. For me, I do the following.

1. Large complex maps, I ask the players to map it on graph paper.
2. Simple map, I just describe it and draw it out on the battle mat.
3. Super simple map, I just describe it.

Also if you have a tech savvy group with mobile devices, there are a number of virtual battle maps out there. These let you display maps to your players real time to iPads and such. Some people are using these as well, but main for online role playing.