Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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I'm currently re-prepping The Golden Serpent (GMed it once before) and I remember how difficult it was to find the location of what my players were about to enter. This scenario has fifteen numbered areas (and a few unnumbered) on one map, and all the descriptions are spread across more than 9 pages. When they enter a new room, I have to look at what place they're on on the map, check that with the map in the scenario, and find the corresponding number in the scenario. That's a lot of riffling through a book for not a lot of gain. I could've printed out a separate page with the map for easier cross-reference, but that's a waste of paper, I feel. Anyway, it isn't a big deal in some cases, as most dungeons are pretty linear, but some dungeons are pretty open (Beggar's Pearl, for instance), and while the art on the maps should give a hint of what they're for, I feel there's some room for improvement.
I had the idea of making a quick outline of the room next to the box text, if that's possible without using too much space. The general shape of the room in relation to its surroundings should be enough for me to remember what room number they're about to enter without me needing to riffle through all the pages every single time. One GM drew the numbers next to the rooms, but I don't really like that, as it could lead to metagaming ("oh, this number is much higher than the ones we've seen so far, maybe we've skipped a room? I roll for Perception," or "This must be the boss room, let's explore the rest first.")
This is purely a suggestion and I'd be totally fine if Paizo left this as it was, but I thought this was a nice experiment. PFS staff have been making incredible changes lately (the monster statblocks and printable maps are great!), so I felt like maybe I could offer a new suggestion. Anyone else have any suggestions on how to handle this? It's not a big issue, I admit, but I think this could be improved upon.
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What I've found most helpful is to print the page with keyed location map separately from the rest of the scenario. While you may view this as a "waste of paper," I find it worthwhile to avoid my own confusion.
Also after almost eighty PFS tables, I've also found that while printing two scenarios two sided may "save paper," it does make for more akward page flipping, mid encounter.
YMMV
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There are lots of great ideas in the GM Prep threads on how to deal with this. Also, running from a PDF on a tablet will save a lot more paper, and let you print just the map for your reference. (I know that's not an option for everyone.) if you reuse or recycle your scenarios, one extra page shouldn't really be a concern.
Venture-Captain, Pennsylvania—Pittsburgh
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Yeah. If you can open the same file twice on a computer or tablet, or export the map to PNG, whatever it takes, then open the adventure in one and the map in the other. Let the alt-tab or the local equivalent to task switching help. If it's printed, just print the extra sheet. If you think it's a waste of paper, just print something else on the back!
Venture-Captain, Isles—Online
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I usually print an extra copy of the map if theres lots of page flipping, its well worth the few pennies it costs. i also print scenarios single sided. I always keep the printed scenarios, and have quite the library now.
If the numbers next to the rooms is an issue, just give the rooms new numbers (or letters) that dont run in sequence