AP help for new GM

[Harleequin]

Do the adventure paths contain all the relevant maps for encounters or do you have to purchase an additional pack?

Alternatively would you recommend purchasing a generic map pack?

[Rennaivx]

Adventure paths include all the maps you need in the book (except maybe random roadside encounters and the like, where a couple of squiggles or a blank space will do) - but how you get that into a form you can push minis around on is left up to you. We get great use out of our Chessex battle mat, onto which we just draw the basic (and sometimes not as basic) details of the book's maps with wet erase marker. The blank Pathfinder Flip-Mats work well for doing it this way, too, and have the advantage of being more portable.

You can also draw the maps out on large graph paper (or even wrapping paper - it often has a 1" grid on the back), or pay to have the maps printed. There's several options, but unfortunately no way to buy every map in the book as a ready-to-go battlemap.

If you're running Adventure Paths, I wouldn't worry about getting a generic pre-generated map. The pre-generated maps tend to be more useful when you're homebrewing adventures - they're a way to have a generic castle or campsite ready to go if you don't have other plans, but APs usually have other plans for all but small/random encounters. A blank mat or Flip-Mat, on the other hand, is worth its weight in gold.

[Kolyarut]

Yeah, AP's will have renderings of all the major map locations you'll usually need, but the maps themselves aren't folded up inside or anything. I second the use of 1" grid Chessex battlemats, both for their re-usability and for being able to use whatever color wet-erase markers I want to use. My players have a hard time distinguishing my terribly drawn doors from windows or debris or furniture, so I can use a different color for each.

[Olaf the Holy]

Yeah, I get your problem. APs don't provide useful battlemaps with them.

They often have drawings, even with grids on them, but they're 1) the wrong scale to use directly as battlemaps with minis. 2) not made for extracting from the book.

The so-called Map-packs aren't useful for your purpose at all - they're posters to hang on the wall, more like. I made that mistake too, when I started out.

Your best bet, honestly, is drawing up some yourself on a printed out grid. Unless you're into image manipulation on a computer - some people get great results out of that.

You can also try looking at the various AP's subforums here on the boards - some people have made really good collections of maps that can fairly easily be printed out.

I know Rise of the Runelords has more or less a full set, although you'll have to edit a grid onto most of them yourself.

Someone also made a more or less complete set of maps for at least Mummy's Mask, and IIRC Reign of Winter.

[GM 1990]

My son just started GMing us through RotRL and he drew out the opening scene town square on our 2'x3' battlemat. we have a zip-lock full of lego pieces and several woodblocks we used for 3d so he spiced it up with that. It took him a little prep time for the drawing but was worth it.

we have a huge roll of news-paper roll that I'm recommending he use to draw out maps in advance and then lay over the battle mat if there are multiple scenes we'll need on the same night (or multi level dungeons). You'd think 6 square feet of battle mat would be enough but its amazing how fast it fills up.

I generally just use wet-erase (multi-color) and then legos for tables, bars,etc and Lincoln logs (the 1" ones) work great for forest/trees. the tall ones tip over too easy.

[Harleequin]

OK.. cheers for the info

Essentially what I'm looking for are re-useable maps (dry wipe) that can be applied well to an AP. I dont mind spending some money but I'm certainly not spending loads just to ensure I have nice backgrounds for every possible scenario. Thats why I thought a generic map selection pack might be a good starting point?

Also to help with generating random encounters for off tangent stuff I was thinking of getting the pdf's (for use with tablet) the NPC and/or Monster Codex. The NPC codex looks especially useful for generating bad guy NPCs. What do you all think?

[captain yesterday]

The NPC Codex is actually nothing but already made NPCs, so no "generating" is needed. Just pick one and use it.

Truly worth the expense of a PDF.

[taks]

As noted, you'll get the most use out of Chessex (or similar) wet-erase maps if you want something with durability. In general, one megamat and one battlemat are sufficient for what I've seen, YMMV depending upon which APs you use.

From my experience, so far every map that has been in Mummy's Mask has fit onto either a single megamat or a single battlemat.

For Giantslayer, however, multiples of each, and even mondomats, are required for several locations (if you want to fit the mat at the proper scale). I fit the bottom level of Redlake Fort, for example, on 2 megamats. I have a third that I'm using with a Plexiglas cover so I can switch between a couple different things between the two campaigns I'm running.

I expect to be starting Hell's Rebels within the month, and so far, nothing seems to require more than a battlemat or a megamat.

Map-packs and flipmats have their use in some cases, but its very AP dependent. There are several that I'm using in GS (falls and rapids, marsh trails, etc.), but none that I could find for MM. HR may have a few city ones, I don't know for sure.

[Harleequin]

I've looked at the Chessex ones and they look fine - Im planning on getting some cheap pathfinder pawns for the players, are the Chessex maps appropriately scaled ie) a pawn fitting on a square so as to represent a 5" x 5" ??

Cheers

[Rennaivx]

Yes, the Chessex maps are sized to a standard miniatures scale, where a 1-inch square on the mat represents a 5-foot square in the world.

[Harleequin]

I assume for Chessex/PF battlemaps they are best stored in tubes? Or are they OK to fold?

Am concerned due to the stiffness that once theyre bent you cant get them flat again!