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So here is my problem. When I signed up to GM for an upcoming game(Specifically,Tide of Twilight), I had more resources available to me and had some time to kill while prepping for it. Now that several unforeseen financial issues have arisen; I find myself with the problem of dealing with a rather LARGE logistical issue that makes things like large-scale copies/prints,extra flip mats and the like not overly available options for me.
I am uncertain if it would be ok for me to just run the scenario in question with a lot of breaks for scene changes/re-draws, or fudge the map down to the bulk of the action area?
What would/ have you done in similar situations?
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Um, what I would do is use the resources I have. If you only have one flip-mat, then expect to be doing a lot of drawing. The only issue with this is it may delay the game past the time slot allocated if you're not watching the clock carefully. Go into the scenario expecting to run it a little faster than you would otherwise.
I have a dozen of the original Tact-Tiles that I got years ago at MidSouthCon and that provide a great reusable surface. They were pricey but they're indestructible in normal use.
Gaming Paper is a cheap alternative to flip-mats, but you want at least one Sharpie brand permanent marker to draw on it with. Dry-Erase markers work ok, but it tends to dry them out quickly.
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Check with your gaming community, friends and fellow GMs. If needed, I have two friends who rival me in gaming accessories (well, until I moved a few months ago). Perhaps others have some supplies they won't be needing that day and can lend you.
Now that you mention it;I could definitely ask around with a couple of the regular GMs in my group.
Thank You, Everyone! :)
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Measuring tape. Move people by inches instead of squares until they get close enough to interact.most flip mat/ blank maps are 1 inch grid, so saying move an inch instead of squares is like saying don't eat an apple until you eat an apple.
I think he is assuming you don't have a surface with a grid on it already.
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We used Minecraft on creative mode to track things. Works in 3D and the demo version with just creative is free.
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Take inventory of what you have.
- Do you have a grid map rolled up in a closet somewhere? Time to break it out.
- Did you purchase that huge flip-chart with the grids on it way back when? Use it!
- Did you get suckered into buying the D&D board games a couple years back with those silly dungeon tiles? Grab 'em and go!
If you have none of those things, may I recommend some easy workarounds?
- Wrapping paper. If you're like me, you have a few rolls of wrapping paper about that you'll never use again (MLP with a big 4 on it? How many 4th birthdays for little girls or bronies in the making will there be?). Use the back side and make your own 1" grid on it. Some even have little marks to help you cut straight lines, so make use of them. Pretty on the table, easy to roll out. Lightweight, but also very easy to crinkle.
- Same as above but use the printer paper. As a work around, print off just the one inch grid in a light grey to use as a template. Won't use as much ink that way.
- Print the small maps, draw the big ones. Small maps can be printed in brightened greyscale with a little fiddling. Saves ink, saves time, lets you draw the big ones on whatever medium you have.
Of course, all of these depend on what you have access to right now. All else fails, ask the community! I'm sure your fellow GM's locally can help you out.
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A Good example of creative map use is when I ran Among the Living Recently. It has a huge 1 = 10 ft map area with closets, empty rooms, a stage etc. Its far too big to really draw in one hit.
What I did was on my print out of the scenario rip out the page with the maps on it ( I could of printed out that image itself) and when the characters went to actually buy a ticket, said that the map was up so people could perhaps pick where they wanted to sit. The numbers on the map meant nothing ( I said the numbers were not there anyway).
Then inside I drew parts of the map where the pcs were sitting and then as they moved around (although I had the party split 4/2 in terms of where they wanted to go), I redrew as they moved around , always referring to that printed map. There was no need to hide any locations from them in my view.
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A Good example of creative map use is when I ran Among the Living Recently. It has a huge 1 = 10 ft map area with closets, empty rooms, a stage etc. Its far too big to really draw in one hit.
What I did was on my print out of the scenario rip out the page with the maps on it ( I could of printed out that image itself) and when the characters went to actually buy a ticket, said that the map was up so people could perhaps pick where they wanted to sit. The numbers on the map meant nothing ( I said the numbers were not there anyway).
Then inside I drew parts of the map where the pcs were sitting and then as they moved around (although I had the party split 4/2 in terms of where they wanted to go), I redrew as they moved around , always referring to that printed map. There was no need to hide any locations from them in my view.
Good idea there, Matthew. I ran Among the Living a while back... and luckily I have a Mondomat (Chessex's 5'X8' battle map), and the 34" diameter map fit on this (barely). I drew the damned map out in all of its glory (including the chairs/pews, everything!) Impressed the crap out of my players, but I was not intelligent enough to take a picture of it.
That being said, I first tried to print it out, but due to the 1"=10', when blown up to the appropriate size it looked like crap. Also, my solution, while it worked (and took 2 hours to draw), is not an "affordable" one.
So, I have to agree... rely on friends who have supplies you could borrow. Use multiple battlemats if you can, and break things up. Maybe someone has the maps for your scenario already printed out, and you could borrow those. That's what I did when I ran The Accursed Halls!
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If you have enough time to do so, drawing the maps yourself is probably the least expensive: office max has a large (24x36-ish) pad of graph paper with 1" squares, otherwise you could use normal graph paper and tape them together. I've used colored pencils, and while no artist, I've been happy with the results.
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Measuring tape. Move people by inches instead of squares until they get close enough to interact.
By this, I asusme you mean the actual players and not the miniatures. I would love to do this as well, though finding enough space to do this and enough people willing to fill in for the bad guys might be a bit of a challenge.
;)
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Measuring tape. Move people by inches instead of squares until they get close enough to interact.By this, I asusme you mean the actual players and not the miniatures. I would love to do this as well, though finding enough space to do this and enough people willing to fill in for the bad guys might be a bit of a challenge.
;)
Hey, I think you've hit the solution. No more worrying about maps, just find an abandoned building and run it at 1:1 scale!
Now, just gotta figure out where to find some goblins...
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Measuring tape. Move people by inches instead of squares until they get close enough to interact.By this, I asusme you mean the actual players and not the miniatures. I would love to do this as well, though finding enough space to do this and enough people willing to fill in for the bad guys might be a bit of a challenge.
;)
If it was the players i'd be moving them by feat or something.
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Check with your gaming community, friends and fellow GMs. If needed, I have two friends who rival me in gaming accessories (well, until I moved a few months ago). Perhaps others have some supplies they won't be needing that day and can lend you.Now that you mention it;I could definitely ask around with a couple of the regular GMs in my group.
Thank You, Everyone! :)
Yep - I have pretty much all the Paizo flip maps, and I store them flat in an artists portfolio; I bring it too all my game days (whether I'm GMing or not!) in case GMs can use them.
One of the things I've found in playing PFS is that the community share materials pretty readily.
(I ran a table of Curse of the Riven Sky at a local Atlanta game day and posted to our forum for everyone to bring ALL their large humanoid and giant minis... quite a haul, and great for some of the huge encounters!)
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If you have enough time to do so, drawing the maps yourself is probably the least expensive: office max has a large (24x36-ish) pad of graph paper with 1" squares, otherwise you could use normal graph paper and tape them together. I've used colored pencils, and while no artist, I've been happy with the results.
I think the problem is that immense, and with encounters here-there-and-everywhere final location map.
I enlarged it in a graphics program and printed it on a color inkjet when I ran it locally at our game day. Took something like 12 or 16 pages, and a heck of a lot of ink. It also took up most of the table, including pushing people's character sheets, dice and notes into their laps.
Some maps are just not fun to work with.
Tide of Twilight's druid grove. Big, multiple encounters, and hard to keep fog-of-war going for the interior of the map...
The entirety of the map from The Accursed Halls, since it is another 1 square = 10' map, and it is immense even in that scale. For face-to-face on that one, I used up a whole roll of the cheap paper grid paper, and online I have it set up so each room is separate, but it requires side scrolling for the GM to move between some rooms. Especially since the PCs wind up back in the same room in there multiple times...
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"To Scale the Dragon" is another huge map. Those are 1 square = 20 feet, if memory serves! It was big enough even on a VTT, I couldn't imagine running it on a table, unless I cut out a lot of it.
I really think the part of that scenario with the map being that scale are better represented abstractly instead of on an actual battle map, breaking everything down to 5ft, etc.
I had a grid on the table purely to make visualizing it easier, but used it in measurements of 'sled lengths' (about 20ft when you take the dogs into consideration) and it worked well enough.
Yes, we might have taken a few liberties, but I think this falls into the category of 'make sure they have fun' before 'run as written'. Maybe they got to use a spell on someone who was 5ft further than the range of the spell. I dont know, but I know they had a lot of fun in that scenario.
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I really think the part of that scenario with the map being that scale are better represented abstractly instead of on an actual battle map, breaking everything down to 5ft, etc.
I had a grid on the table purely to make visualizing it easier, but used it in measurements of 'sled lengths' (about 20ft when you take the dogs into consideration) and it worked well enough.
Yes, we might have taken a few liberties, but I think this falls into the category of 'make sure they have fun' before 'run as written'. Maybe they got to use a spell on someone who was 5ft further than the range of the spell. I dont know, but I know they had a lot of fun in that scenario.
Yeah, that encounter is should be done pretty abstractly. The previous encounter is on a 1 square = 15ft. scale tactical map.
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Depending on how tight you are...get a pack of graph paper and make some paper tokens. Work in a scale smaller than 1 inch.
This is actually a really good suggestion. I actually keep a couple of laminated sheets of graph paper available for just this purpose. Sometimes at an event I get asked to run on the fly and it will be something no one has the maps for or all the writable maps are in use or inevitably it is a humongous map that won't fit on a single sheet of the basic set.
Sometimes you just need to ad lib a map and the laminated graph paper has come in tremendously useful for me. I use it frequently for figuring out area of effects, lighting effects, LOS, cover, concealment, etc... not just as a mapping substitute.
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Well here is what I do...
Mapping
I actually found 1 inch square rolls of paper 25 feet for $1.29 per roll on amazon...
it looks like it is currently out of stock but it was meant for an easel not for gaming which I guess makes it cheaper. But it works just fine and it is dirt cheap.
I have since purchased a few plain flip maps that work great and easier to carrier.
Paper Minis
I also would use the wonder of the internet to make paper minis you can get a bunch to sheet. Create a table with 1 inch row and columns and paste the pics right in.
Glass beads
The dollar store has bags of beads of different colors for cheap, the even have so that will fit a large base.
if you look around you can find some pretty good deals on non-gaming stuff that can be used in gaming.
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Yeah, that encounter is should be done pretty abstractly. The previous encounter is on a 1 square = 15ft. scale tactical map.
It is that one which I spoke of. Is it 1=15ft? Still, it's a pretty sizeable map they give us. I was tempted to use as much of it as I could. Almost succeeded, haha. But, again, if on a constraint for cost or space, it could be trimmed down to just the focal area.
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Speaking of maps, I blew up and printed the map of the Opera house from "Among the Living" for last Monday's game. It was almost too big (I added a 1inch=5ft grid. We had to play on the floor because it would not fit on any of the tables. Sometimes, the economy solution is better....Although, admittedly, it was pretty cool.
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Me printing it out? or the person who did it breaching copyright by making a new version of the old map?
A) Im not going to be using it to make money
B) Im not claiming credit for creating it myself
C) I own the scenario so Im not stealing the scenario to run it from a dodgy pdf
D) There is gonna be a lot of people in trouble if it is breaching copyright because there is a bucket load of similar maps in the gm shared drive. (but none for among the dead!.. get on that someone :) )
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Copying maps for personal use is fine, however you'll need to comply with Paizo's Community Use licence if you wish to distribute these wider than lending them to a buddy for his game night, GMs running gamedays in your local store, or at a convention you're organising.
You may not use artwork, including maps, that have not been published in the blog, although you may create your own interpretations of material presented in our artwork and maps, provided that your interpretations don't look substantially similar to our materials.
So, hand-draw or digitally create your own version of a map for distribution, and you're fine, but save a direct copy of the map as an image or PDF, and you're in breach.
For comparison, consider paper miniatures, the Wayfinder magazine, the "Monster drawing", "I'll draw your Pathfinder PC", "We'll Draw your Pathfinder requests" and "Art of Your PFS Characters" threads - they're examples of all new works inspired by Paizo products, but they're not a direct physical copy of Paizo's work.
While I appreciate the well-intentioned efforts of everyone using the GM Shared Prep Drive, I think closer adherence to the Community Use licence would encourage the creation of some truly original community-generated content.
Just my personal opinion - hoping to inspire more creative work, not start a storm in a teacup.
On amazon there are some graphing posters for cheap. Double sided 1in squares and are laminated. I got a 24x36 poster for 15 bucks and it cane with markers and eraser.
One ofb the best purchases I've ever made.
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Given how low resolution the map images are in the PFS scenarios, and the fact that Paizo does not provide map files that are printable w/o heavy modification in the scenarios themselves (scaling, adding grid-lines, stretching non square grids to be square) I had assumed putting printable versions of these files up would be ok....if it is not, I can pull them down....I just don't feel like its a problem if Paizo isn't themselves profiting from selling versions of these maps that can be actually used on the table w/ no changes. W/o the the scenario itself, the map files are useless.
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I just don't see that. The images in the PDFs are, on average, 32-72dpi once blown up to the standard 1inch grid required for gaming. I wouldn't think a 300dpi image is any harder to make than the shrunken down ones they have in the scenarios. In fact, I bet the source images they have are already way higher resolution than what they actually have in the pdf. Anyway...it wouldn't have to be higher resolution. Honestly though, I'd take the low res stuff if it was all chopped up ready to print.
As someone else mentioned, Roll20.net, but not an option if not everyone has a laptop/tablet. Sharing might help.
However, another option is to throw away the idea you need to faithfully reproduce the map, and draw relevant bits of it at a time. If you approximate, you can decrease drawing time. What you should aim to preserve are: approximate dimensions, visual obstacles, line of sight from one hallway to another, doors, platforms. In short, make a new room that is tactically similar.
Combined with the above, draw a "minimap" while the PCs are exploring, and draw a combat map when combat begins. This breaks down a little if the PCs start running through corridors, skipping fights (we did that once, it was actually really fun, though obviously very dangerous), but it's a good general strategy that's inexpensive on time and resources.
Edit: the aforementioned minimap consists of lines for hallways, and aims to present the logical branching flow from one room to the next rather than accurate distance.
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I just don't see that. The images in the PDFs are, on average, 32-72dpi once blown up to the standard 1inch grid required for gaming. I wouldn't think a 300dpi image is any harder to make than the shrunken down ones they have in the scenarios. In fact, I bet the source images they have are already way higher resolution than what they actually have in the pdf. Anyway...it wouldn't have to be higher resolution. Honestly though, I'd take the low res stuff if it was all chopped up ready to print.
Even still, a higher resolution image is larger data consumption which means it will need more bandwidth and upload resources (not to mention storage space in system) to accommodate it. All of that costs money to maintain. Increase file size, increase cost, which we pay a portion of with an increase in price.
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Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento
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I think his point is that you could scale the DPI of the image so that instead of what you have now (a 300 dpi image with 1/4 inch squares) you could have a 72 dpi image with 1 inch squares. Same storage space (little less actually) same bandwidth, easier to print to scale.
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Measuring tape. Move people by inches instead of squares until they get close enough to interact.By this, I asusme you mean the actual players and not the miniatures. I would love to do this as well, though finding enough space to do this and enough people willing to fill in for the bad guys might be a bit of a challenge.
;)
Hey, I think you've hit the solution. No more worrying about maps, just find an abandoned building and run it at 1:1 scale!
Now, just gotta figure out where to find some goblins...
In the case of Tide of Twilight....a woods!
As for goblins....Halloween is coming up. Ask your neighbors kids if they want to play with cardboard dog slicers.
To answer the OP's question, the tape measure is the best option. There is an article out there called Get Rid of the Grid, which talks about getting rid of the artificial grid in roepaying games, by using a tape measure.
Also, coordinate with other GM's. If you play at a FLGS, with multiple tables of PFS, someone may just have the resource you are looking for.
When we were kids, and just started playing, we used a roll of newsprint. Don't know where we got it, but it was cheap. (Our miniatures consisted of a nickel, a penny, a dime, a piece of lint and a screw.) It didn't have a grid or anything, but if you take time and draw it out beforehand, it doesn't really need to. In fact, if you are artistic, these maps could be something people talk about.
A lot of gamers don't have the resources to own a full set of flip maps. Heck, I wouldn't buy them because they are limited in their use. Figure out if there is a way to, as a group, make it all happen.
...and when you have money I will introduce you to the 3d card stock terrain I use with my players...
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Take inventory of what you have.
- Did you get suckered into buying the D&D board games a couple years back with those silly dungeon tiles? Grab 'em and go!
Oh! We can use non-Pathfinder accessories? That makes life a lot easier, but I thought it was frowned upon, PFS being a marketing tool and all (not that that's a bad thing).
Life just got a lot easier if I can use those old dungeon tiles, burst/cone/line templates, etc!
As to the problem of big maps and small budgets, I went to Hobby Lobby (or any other craft/fabric store) and got a sheet of cheap cotton broadcloth. Finding cloth pre-printed in 1 inch squares is easy enough, though it'll most often be a checkerboard pattern of black and white. Starting early will give you time to look for white with black grid (they can usually special order fabric too, if you know you need it a few weeks in advance). In my case, I found it in a 45' width, so I sewed two pieces together (no real sewing skills or sewing machine required) and now I have a fabric grid map that covers the entire table like a table cloth (and can be washed like one!)
No, I can't draw on it, so dungeon tiles are still nice. But it's better than nothing for simple tactics. When I'm feeling frisky, I pre-make basic terrein pieces out of cloth scraps and pipe cleaners. Even a flat piece of blue cloth will represent water, shades of green do various types of forest, grays and blacks for walls and rock formations.
And since everything is still flat, minis can be placed on the 'rock' or in the 'water' without having them fall over.
Just a thought.
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Take inventory of what you have.
- Did you get suckered into buying the D&D board games a couple years back with those silly dungeon tiles? Grab 'em and go!
Oh! We can use non-Pathfinder accessories? That makes life a lot easier, but I thought it was frowned upon, PFS being a marketing tool and all (not that that's a bad thing).
Life just got a lot easier if I can use those old dungeon tiles, burst/cone/line templates, etc!
As to the problem of big maps and small budgets, I went to Hobby Lobby (or any other craft/fabric store) and got a sheet of cheap cotton broadcloth. Finding cloth pre-printed in 1 inch squares is easy enough, though it'll most often be a checkerboard pattern of black and white. Starting early will give you time to look for white with black grid (they can usually special order fabric too, if you know you need it a few weeks in advance). In my case, I found it in a 45' width, so I sewed two pieces together (no real sewing skills or sewing machine required) and now I have a fabric grid map that covers the entire table like a table cloth (and can be washed like one!)
No, I can't draw on it, so dungeon tiles are still nice. But it's better than nothing for simple tactics. When I'm feeling frisky, I pre-make basic terrein pieces out of cloth scraps and pipe cleaners. Even a flat piece of blue cloth will represent water, shades of green do various types of forest, grays and blacks for walls and rock formations.
And since everything is still flat, minis can be placed on the 'rock' or in the 'water' without having them fall over.
Just a thought.
Absolutely. I know one GM who uses tiles and props from an old RPG that's no longer producing those props. Besides, it's not like you're being forced to use Paizo-affiliated miniatures or dice. It adds to the visual appeal of the game for both players and passersby, for them to see something and go "OO! What's that there?! What are you playing?!"
If I may suggest something, get a large cheap picture frame and take the plastic sheet from it. Lay it over the gridded cloth and draw on it with wet or dry erase marker. Only problem is keeping it from slip-sliding around. You can even put pre-printed maps or printouts beneath it to hold it flat.
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If I suggest something, get a large cheap picture frame and take the plastic sheet from it. Lay it over the gridded cloth and draw on it with wet or dry erase marker. Only problem is keeping it from slip-sliding around. You can even put pre-printed maps or printouts beneath it to hold it flat.
Oh, good call! That's definitely going on my shopping list. Though come to think of it, a simple piece of plexiglass would do as well, and might be cheaper, depending on the size....
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Oh, good call! That's definitely going on my shopping list. Though come to think of it, a simple piece of plexiglass would do as well, and might be cheaper, depending on the size....
If I suggest something, get a large cheap picture frame and take the plastic sheet from it. Lay it over the gridded cloth and draw on it with wet or dry erase marker. Only problem is keeping it from slip-sliding around. You can even put pre-printed maps or printouts beneath it to hold it flat.
If you can find it, do it! I just happen to have had a poster-sized frame lying around so used that. It somehow found a home at the FLGS and was promptly destroyed, but for personal use it should be fairly durable, haha.